Backwards K Pod

During the 1976 Major League Baseball season, a shooting star blazes across the baseball universe, as the kid from nowhere is seemingly everywhere, becoming a 1970's pop-culture icon.

Mark " The Bird" Fidrych captures the imagination and hearts of seamheads everywhere with his dominanat pitching prowess, and his on-mound antics, becoming a character of the game, who won't be soon forgotten. #MarkFidrych #VirginiaFidrych #PaulFidrych #AnneFidrych #JessicaFidrych #DetroitTigers #BostonRedSox #JoeCusick #MonrgomeryRebels #LakelandTigers #EvansvilleTriplets #ClevelandIndians #NewYorkYankees #ElrodHendricks #BobUecker #BobPrince #ABCMondayNightBaseball #PawtucketRedSox

With players contractually bound to their respective MLB teams, via the oppressive Reserve Clause. 22 Major League players defect to the Mexican Baseball League in 1946. New commissioner Happy Chandler drops the hammer. and levies five year bans to all the players who jump the league, This week we take a look at the 22 players involved, and the consequences they faced, because of their actions. Nearly three decades before Curt Flood would smash the compensatory system, that shackled players to their clubs, these were the first 22 players who dared to challenge the system. #JorgePasquel #SalMaglie #MickeyOwens #HappyChandler #MonteIrvin #TedWilliams #BobFeller #StanMusial #MaxLanier #FredMartin #LouKlein #JoeGaragiola #DannyGardella #GeorgeHausmann #AdrianZabala #AceAdams #RoyZimmerman

In this week's biographical chapter of ballplayers and their stories, the focus is on the baseball journey and life of the great Eddie Matthews. In tandem with Hank Aaron, the duo would become baseball's most lethal power-hitting combo to ever play the game, As the two players developed into the game's prolific power-hitters of the day, the same Braves team that had just fled the city of Boston, for the greener pastures of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, only 5 years earlier, find themselves in back-to-back World Series appearances versus the dynastic New York Yankees. One of the toughest third-basemen to ever grace a diamond, he is the only player in Major League history to play for the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, setting an enduring legacy, that will surely span generations of time and eras at the Hot Corner. #EddieMatthews #TexarkanaTexas #SantaBarbaraCalifornia #BostonBraves #MilwaukeeBraves #AtlantaBraves #WarrenSpahn #ConnieRyan #FrankRobinson #DonDrysdale #LewBurdette #BobBuhl #BobGrim #BabeRuth #ErnieBanks #JuanMarichal #HarryKalas #DonWert #DetroitTigers #HoustonAstros #JimCampbell #MayoSmith #EddieMatthewsStadium

The 1981 MLB season is best remembered for two things; a strike shortened season breaks the season into a story of two halves, and the birth and rise of Fernandomania in Los Angeles. Fernando Valenzuela, was the youngest of 12 siblings, from the backwater town of Etchohuaquila, Mexico. He would rise from abject poverty, to become the bightest star, in the baseball universe in the early 1980's. His play would elevate the game to more new fans to the Major League product, than any player before or since. He would also unite the Dodgers organization with the Mexican population in Los Angeles, 20 years after Dodgers Stadium at Chavez-Ravine was built on a stretch of land, that saw three prominent Mexican-American communities, wiped off the map by eminant domain, for a failed public housing project. #FernandoValenzuela #LosAngelesDodgers #EtchohuaqilaMexico #MikeBrito #AlCampanis #TommyLasorda #Fernandomania #BlueMonday #BobbyCastillo #CarlHubbel #Screwball #BKP #BackwardsKPod #JakeRobinson

This week I do a deep dive into the history of baseball in the Steel City. I will give you the genesis backstory on a major league team that has been around since 1882. When a rag-tag group of guys from the Burgh, who called themselves the Alleghenies, would play the then young sport of baseball, after working all day in the mills. I will discuss the rich Negro League heritage of the city, where two of the most consequential Negro League teams, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays called home. And I dig into the history and construction of Three Rivers Stadium and the Buccos current baseball cathedral, PNC Park. #PittsburghPirates #RobertoClemente #HonusWagner #BillMazeroski #PittsburghCrawfords #HomesteadGrays #PNCPark #ThreeTiversStadium #ExpositionPark #Alleghenies #WillieStargell #ForbesField

With his famous corkscrew stance, off balanced follow through, and inside-out swing; line drives came off of Stan Musial's bat like bullets. He spent 22 years in the majors, all with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played in three World Series. and 24 All Star Teams, while winning 7 batting titles, and three league MVP Awards. This week we do a deep character profile dig on " The Man", who is best remembered for his brilliant consistency and gentlemanly disposition. #StanMusial #TheDonoraGreyhound #TheMan #Stashu #LucaszMusial #MaryMusial #OllieVanek #BranchRickey #DickieKerr #LilMusial #SaintLouisCardinals #SportsmanPark

I've had to re-learn the Ty Cobb story, that I've heard all of my life, because a fraudulent, hack sportswriter had always set the false narrative. This week i will do a deep character profile study of the great Tyrus Raymond Cobb. Discern between the researched facts and the myths, that made up this most complex man. And hopefully i can be but a piece of justice, for the Ty Cobb legacy, that has been unfairly maligned, in the generations after his death. #TyCobb #GeorgiaPeach ##NarrowsGeorgia #RoystonGeorgia #WHCobb #AmandaCobb #DetroitTigers #GeorgeLeidy #NapoleanLaJoie #TrisSpeaker #BanJohnson #ConnieMack #PhiladelphiaAthletics #WillieMays #RoyCampanella

At every level of baseball, Jim Abbott had doubters and skeptics. They doubted him in grade school little-league, high school, college, and the major leagues. He had model size, and a 95 MPH fastball. By any standard, he would be considered great. What made Abbott stand out during his amateur and pro career, were the challenges he overcame to compete at the highest level. Jim was born with a deformed right arm, and ostensibly played the game one-handed. This week we dive into his inspirational story. #JimAbbott #1998Olympics #MichiganWolverines #FlintMichigan #CaliforniaAngels #NewYorkYankees #ChicagoWhiteSox #MilwaukeeBrewers

This week we dive into the history of the Baker Bowl, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1887-1938. There were two versions of the ballpark. While both were considered state of the art engineering marvels of their day, both would be beset by tragedy, and both would devolve from sugar to shit. #BakerBowl #NationalLeaguePark #PhiladelphiaPhillies #AlfredReach #ColonelRogers #WilliamBaker #ReadingRailroad #PhiladelphiaAthletics #ShibePark #TheHump #EdDelahanty #GroverClevelandAlexander #GeraldNugent #ConnieMack

This week we do a deep dive into the legend of the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig.

While the roaring 20's was the perfect age, for the larger than life, overindulgent, and bombastic Babe Ruth. The 1930's saw the country headed for dark times, and economic collapse. Baseball now needed a hero who was solid, dependable and dignified. The baseball universe would find that hero in Lou Gehrig. #LouGehrig #NewYorkYankees #EleanorGraceTwitchell #HeinrichGehrig #ChristinaGehrig #CommerceHighSchool #ColumbiaUniversity #JohnMcgraw #AndyCoakley #MillerHuggins #BabeRuth #PeeWeeWanniger #WallyPipp #JoeMcCarthy #ALS