30 With Murti

What are some of your favorite sports movies? "Miracle"? "The Rookie"? "Invincible"? Did you know that the same man in Hollywood is responsible for making them all and several others?

On this episode of “30 With Murti,” a conversation with Mark Ciardi, a former major league pitcher turned movie producer. And his specialty has been making some of the best and most inspirational sports movies of the past two decades.

Ciardi shares his thoughts on the magic of sports movies, including the stories behind the ones he’s helped make. Ciardi also shares memories of his one month in the major leagues when he was part of the Milwaukee Brewers record-setting streak of 13 straight wins to start the 1987 season. 

What’s your favorite sports movie of all-time? “Hoosiers" is near the top of the list, right? And isn’t March the perfect time to hear all about it since we don’t have real March Madness this year?

In this episode of “30 With Murti,” host Sweeny Murti chats with Angelo Pizzo, the screenwriter of “Hoosiers.” You’ll hear tales of making the 1986 classic about a small-town Indiana high school basketball team and how it just might have been George Steinbrenner’s favorite movie ever.

And Pizzo -- who also wrote “Rudy” -- tells us about his script for a Mickey Mantle biopic that he thinks is the best thing he’s ever written but somehow has never been turned into a movie yet.

Listen now to the latest episode of “30 With Murti.” And don’t get caught watching the paint dry!

Bobby Richardson was one of the pillars of the great Yankees teams of the late 1950’s and early ’60’s.  A member of 8 All-Star teams and a 5-time Gold Glove Award Winner, Richardson helped the Yankees to World Series Championships in 1958, 1961, and 1962.

On the latest "30 With Murti” podcast, Richardson looks back on the most famous moment of his career—catching the line drive off Willie McCovey’s bat for the final out of the 1962 World Series.  The only World Series MVP from a losing team (1960, when the Yankees lost to the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski’s famous home run), Richardson also explains why he traded in his prize Corvette for a station wagon.

At 84, Richardson still is a regular at Old-Timers Day and loves following the Yankees from his home in Sumter, South Carolina.  

Curt Flood was a seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, a three-time All-Star, and a two-time World Series champion in additon to being a trailblazer for free agency in modern sports. Is all of that enough to make him a Hall of Famer? His family thinks so.

In this episode of "30 With Murti," Curt Flood, Jr. tells us about his family's campaign to have his father elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. And while free agency helps players earn hundreds of millions of dollars these days, Curt Jr. tells us in detail about what the fight for free agency did to his father and his family.

"This thing broke my dad," Flood Jr. says. "It eviscerated him."

For more on the Flood family's fight to honor the longtime St. Louis Cardinal, listen here to the latest "30 With Murti" podcast.

Lindsay Berra has been a journalist for the last two decades. Baseball is among the things she has covered, and why not? As you may have already guessed by seeing the last name, baseball is in her blood -- Lindsay is the granddaughter of Yankees legend Yogi Berra.

In this episode of "30 With Murti," Lindsay discusses some of the interesting hires made by the Yankees this winter, in particular two people who she has known and written about for many years: Eric Cressey, the recently named director of player health and performance; and Rachel Balkovec, the first female hitting coach in the organization, who will be working out of the Tampa, Florida, complex.

Lindsay also discusses some great stories about her famous grandpa and the happenings at the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University, including the Discover Greatness exhibit, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues.

Phil Hughes has gone from Yankees phenom to YouTube card breaker. The heard-but-not-seen star of "Phil's Pulls"-- which at the moment has about 14,000 subscribers -- is the former Yankees right-hander, who helped the Yankees to a World Series title in 2009 and became an American League All-Star in 2010.

On the latest "30 With Murti" podcast, host Sweeny Murti talks to Hughes about his career and how he feels he never was the same pitcher after a hamstring injury in his second major league start in 2007. Hughes reminisces about his early days in Yankees camp, the 2009 World Series champions and his Hall of Fame teammates.  

The Baseball Winter Meetings have been full of activity so far. In this episode of the “30 With Murti” podcast, we break down the big stories with a roundtable discussion with the experts.

First, Jack Curry and John Flaherty of the YES Network join Sweeny with their reactions to the Gerrit Cole signing.  Then it’s a national perspective from ESPN’s Jeff Passan and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Cole, Stephen Strasburg and the explosion of the pitching market this winter.

Kevin Long of the Washington Nationals just won his second World Series championship as a hitting coach. He was previously hitting coach for the 2009 world champion Yankees as well as for the 2015 National League champion Mets.

On the latest "30 With Murti" podcast, Long joins Sweeny Murti to discuss the Nationals' run to the title. He also talks about the evolution of hitting in the "Launch Angle Era" and where it might be headed next.  

Also, you'll hear Long's insights into Nationals stars Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick, plus his thoughts on new Mets manager Carlos Beltran, a player Long has known since Beltran was a teenaged prospect in the Royals farm system.  

The 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame election is upon us.  The ballot was officially released this week to voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Results will be announced in January, but the arguments have just begun.

Can anyone justify not making Derek Jeter unanimous? Is it time to stop penalizing Larry Walker for playing in Colorado? 

Can we appreciated a career like Alfonso Soriano's without electing him to the Hall? And what does last year’s election of Harold Baines mean moving forward?

All of these questions and more are answered on the latest episode of the “30 With Murti” podcast featuring guest Tyler Kepner, The New York Times baseball columnist and best-selling author of the book “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.”