Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

In 1960, Hall of Fame hitter Mickey Mantle signed a 1-year contract worth $65,000 a year—the Yankees were giving him a $7,000 pay cut. Since there was no free agency in 1960, Mantle had no place to go other than back to the Bronx. The situation didn’t change for players until Marvin Miller was elected as the first executive director of the players’ association in 1966. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, David Rothenberg discusses the lasting impact Marvin Miller has had on Major League Baseball and why it matters.

On May 30, 1921, an incident occurred in the elevator of a Greenwood office building. Though what actually transpired is unclear, a young Black man was arrested for attempted assault on a White teenage girl. The next day, a newspaper report about the arrest incited an armed White mob and things quickly escalated. Over the next day, the mob grew in size and burned much of the neighborhood to the ground, killing as many as 300 Black people, and leaving another 10,000 homeless. “Greenwood” choreographer Donald Byrd’s latest production for the legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater revisits the events that came to be known as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre through dance. On the day before the world premiere of Greenwood he joins us for a conversation on his own storied career and why he wanted to tell this particular story at this moment in history in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

In their new book Wildhood: The Epic Journey from Adolescence to Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals, Harvard evolutionary biologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and award-winning science writer Kathryn Bowers examine what the animal kingdom can teach us about childhood and adulthood. Join us for a discussion of Wildhood with Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote in a New Yorker profile that Bob Holman has “done more to bring poetry to cafes and bars than anyone since [Lawrence] Ferlinghetti.” He brought the spoken word scene and poetry slams to New York City twice, first as the co-director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, then as the founder of the Bowery Poetry Club. He further democratized poetry through his award-winning PBS documentaries The United States of Poetry and Language Matters. This month, Bowery Books is publishing two new books of poetry by Bob Holman—written 50 years apart. “Life Poem” and “The Unspoken” show the evolution of an artist, an art form, and a downtown art scene that’s gone from Allen Ginsberg to Lou Reed to Eileen Myles to Mahogany L. Browne. Tune in for a discussion with Bob Holman of the evolution of New York City’s poetry scene as seen through his own work over five decades.

Though considered too morbid for many Americans who aren’t visiting departed loved one to visit, according to Vincent and Robert Gardino, cemeteries are peaceful and welcoming places full of wonderful stories. In their new book “Grave Trippers: History at Our Feet,” the two brothers visit gravesites of noted historical personalities on the East Coast to rediscover the remarkable people buried there in the hope of dispelling the notion that graveyards are dark and depressing places. Join us for a new take on your local cemetery with Robert and Vincent Gardino in this edition of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

When Peter Asher was 19 years old, his younger sister began dating an up-and coming musician named Paul McCartney. Fueled by the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership, The Beatles were about to change the world and Peter’s life forever. When he asked Paul if he could record one of his songs The Beatles had rejected called “A World Without Love,” the song became a number one hit in the US and UK and launched his group Peter and Gordon to stardom. Peter went on to become the A&R manager for The Beatles’s label Apple Records and to produce iconic albums for James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt. Join us for a discussion his new book “The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour” in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

When it comes to fixing things around the house, there’s no one better to tell you what do and how to do it than Alvin and Laurence Ubell. In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI, we open the phones so that Al and Larry Ubell can answer your questions about all of the potential home repair projects that can come with transitioning into the winter months. No one knows more about getting your place ready for the cold than Al and Larry.

New York Times correspondent Sam Roberts has told the story of New York through its people (“Only in New York”) and its artifacts (“A History of New York in 101 Objects”). Now he rises to another challenge—can bricks, glass, wood, and mortar reveal how and why New York City evolved into the nation's largest metropolis. In his latest book “A History of New York in 27 Buildings: The 400-Year Untold Story of an American Metropolis” Sam has selected architecture from among the city’s more than 600,000 buildings through which he can tell its story. Join us for a vision of New York that only Sam Roberts could provide, in this edition of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

“If you’ve ever noticed a slimy film of algae on a rock, chances are you didn’t pay it much attention,” writes Carl Zimmer in his Nov. 14 New York Times article How Did Plants Conquer Land? These Humble Algae Hold Clues. “But some of these overlooked species hold clues to one of the greatest mysteries of evolution, scientists have found: how plants arrived on land.” Gane Ka-Shu Wong and Michael Melkonian are two of the 24 scientists behind the study that inspired Zimmer’s piece. Entitled "Genomes of Subaerial Zygnematophyceae Provide Insights into Land Plant Evolution," their research opens a window into plant evolution all by gazing into today’s algae. Join us for a discussion into this fascinating new frontier of plant science with researchers Gane Ka-Shu Wong and Michael Melkonian in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

According to a recent ProPublica article by Rachel Glickhouse, the number of police precincts across the US reporting hate crimes to the FBI fell slightly in 2018. With just 13 percent of the responding precincts admitting to any hate crimes in 2018 and Alabama and Wyoming claiming zero hate crimes over that same period, either a radical moral transformation has taken place nationally or something is seriously wrong with the data reporting. In this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, we discuss Rachel’s article “Police Don’t Do a Good Job Tracking Hate Crimes. A New Report Calls on Congress to Take Action.” and examine the ramifications for Americans intended to be protected by such laws.