Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Episode 44 (Frank Tursi's Book, Baseball Evolution, Frank's Journalism Career)
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Episode 44 (Frank Tursi's Book, Baseball Evolution, Frank's Journalism Career)
Send us Fan Mail
In this episode of the Hot Ashes Podcast, Lee and TK sit down with Frank Tursi—four‑time published author, longtime journalist, and former Swansboro commissioner—to talk about his new book Tar Heel Boys of Summer, a deep dive into North Carolina’s Major League Baseball history.
Frank shares how the book began as a COVID project and grew into a comprehensive look at the 501 North Carolinians who made the majors, including often-overlooked Negro League players. He tells rich stories about legends like Catfish Hunter, Buck Leonard, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Tom Alston, weaving in themes of free agency, money, race, alcohol, and how baseball mirrored American society across the 20th century.
We also get into Frank’s decades in journalism—covering cops, sports, and the environment—how working on deadline kills “writer’s block,” and how those skills carried into his environmental work and time as a local elected official.
Grab a cigar, pour a drink, and settle in for a conversation that’s as much about America and North Carolina as it is about baseball.
Get Frank’s book “Tar Heel Boys of Summer” here: https://a.co/d/03KuJ9Tx
#HotAshesPodcast #FrankTursi #TarHeelBoysOfSummer #BaseballHistory #NorthCarolinaBaseball #NegroLeagues #MLBHistory #CatfishHunter #BuckLeonard #MickeyMantle #BabeRuth #SportsHistory #CigarPodcast #CigarLoungeTalk #NorthCarolina #Journalism #LongformStorytelling #BaseballBooks #PodcastEpisode
Support the show
View all episodes
By Lee and TKSend us Fan Mail
In this episode of the Hot Ashes Podcast, Lee and TK sit down with Frank Tursi—four‑time published author, longtime journalist, and former Swansboro commissioner—to talk about his new book Tar Heel Boys of Summer, a deep dive into North Carolina’s Major League Baseball history.
Frank shares how the book began as a COVID project and grew into a comprehensive look at the 501 North Carolinians who made the majors, including often-overlooked Negro League players. He tells rich stories about legends like Catfish Hunter, Buck Leonard, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Tom Alston, weaving in themes of free agency, money, race, alcohol, and how baseball mirrored American society across the 20th century.
We also get into Frank’s decades in journalism—covering cops, sports, and the environment—how working on deadline kills “writer’s block,” and how those skills carried into his environmental work and time as a local elected official.
Grab a cigar, pour a drink, and settle in for a conversation that’s as much about America and North Carolina as it is about baseball.
Get Frank’s book “Tar Heel Boys of Summer” here: https://a.co/d/03KuJ9Tx
#HotAshesPodcast #FrankTursi #TarHeelBoysOfSummer #BaseballHistory #NorthCarolinaBaseball #NegroLeagues #MLBHistory #CatfishHunter #BuckLeonard #MickeyMantle #BabeRuth #SportsHistory #CigarPodcast #CigarLoungeTalk #NorthCarolina #Journalism #LongformStorytelling #BaseballBooks #PodcastEpisode
Support the show