Pretty Big News

On episode 26 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Bobby Valentine. Bobby is a former MLB player and manager and is currently running to be the mayor of Stamford, Connecticut. Matt asked Bobby about the mayoral race, his thoughts on Blake Jamieson's Project70 card that features him, collecting cards, what it was like managing the Mets after 9/11, and much more!

Follow Bobby on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BobbyValentine

And check out his website: https://www.bobbyvalentine.com/

On episode 25 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Ken Karl. Ken is a talented sports artist, based in Missouri. Matt asked Ken about attending The National, coaching his kids in sports and the youth sports industrial complex, starting his art business, completing his first NFT project (81.Gallery), working with Topps, and much more!

Check out Ken's website: https://www.kenkarlsportsart.com/

Follow Ken on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kenkarl01

And on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ken_karl_sports_art/

On episode 24 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Donovan Lopez a.k.a. Donny B. Donny is a card artist, comedian and podcaster, and one of the best ambassadors for card art in the hobby. Matt asked Donny about the National and his experience in Chicago, the podcast that he started - Outside the Wax - with Kard Killer and Peter Packman, his first time doing standup, his collection of comedy cards, how collecting has helped his sobriety, card art, and much more!

Follow Donny on IG: https://www.instagram.com/donnybcollectibles/

Listen to and follow Outside the Wax here: https://open.spotify.com/show/758QaLM0sw4GDFXaHsVQr1

And follow Donny on FB: https://www.facebook.com/DonnyB-Exclusives-235830947369019

On episode 23 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Andrea Williams. Andrea is a journalist and the author of Baseball's Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues. Matt asked Andrea about working at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Branch Rickey not compensating the Kansas City Monarchs for Jackie Robinson's contract, what Effa might have thought about MLB's decision to recognize stats from the Negro Leagues, the writing process, and much more!

Follow Andrea on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreaWillWrite

Buy Baseball's Leading Lady here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250623737

On episode 22 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Ruppert Jones. Ruppert played in Major League baseball for 12 years, made two All-Star teams, and won a World Series with the Tigers in 1984. In 1980, while playing for the Yankees, Ruppert suffered a traumatic brain injury that went undiagnosed for 30 years. Ruppert recently wrote a book, #NeverGiveUp: A Memoir of Baseball and Traumatic Brain Injury, which is available exclusively on Amazon.com. Matt and Ruppert discussed Ruppert's book, his childhood, his baseball career, dealing with a TBI, and more!

Follow Ruppert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonesRuppert

And buy his book here: https://www.amazon.com/NeverGiveUp-Memoir-Baseball-Traumatic-Injury/dp/B093B6J8SR

On episode 21 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Bill Nowlin. Bill is a director at SABR, has authored and edited dozens of books about baseball, and was one of the co-founders of Rounder Records. Matt and Bill talked about a ton of topics, including two books, Baseball's Biggest Blowout Games and Working a "Perfect Game", some upcoming projects Bill has in the works at SABR, his passion for the Red Sox, some of the artists he worked with at Rounder Records, including Alison Krauss and Steve Martin, and much more!

To learn more about SABR, go here: https://sabr.org/

Check out Bill's Amazon author page, here: https://www.amazon.com/Bill-Nowlin/e/B001JRZ7VK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

On episode 20 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Slade Heathcott. The Yankees drafted Slade in the first round of the 2009 draft and he made his MLB debut in 2015. He currently works as director of operations for More Than Baseball, a nonprofit, which he co-founded.

Matt and Slade talked about a bunch of things, including More Than Baseball, Slade's career, what inspires Slade to do the work he does, Slade's favorite MLB teammate, and more.

Follow Slade on Twitter: https://twitter.com/heathcott_slade

To learn more about More Than Baseball: https://www.morethanbaseball.org/the-team

On episode 19 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Larry Lester. Larry is an author, historian, and speaker. He was co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and served as its Research Director and Treasurer for five years. Matt asked Larry about his work looking for and discovering box scores from Negro Leagues games, what is stopping MLB from recognizing stats from the Negro Leagues among the official major leagues, his greatest accomplishments, the legendary Sam Lacy, whom from the Negro Leagues should be in the Hall of Fame, and much more!

To learn more about Larry Lester, visit his website: https://www.larrylester42.com/

To buy his books, go here: https://www.larrylester42.com/shopping-cart.html

Or visit his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Larry-Lester/e/B001KHM44C%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

On episode 18 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Kelsey Caine. Kelsey is a NYC-based comedian and writer, who is working on a book of essays. Matt asked Kelsey about a ton of topics, including: entering a Beauty Pageant (and writing about it for the New York Times), the comedy scene in Austin and New York, how dyslexia affects her comedy and writing, going viral for her Louie parody video, her Penis CK character, her favorite comedians, and much more!

Content warning: There is discussion of sexual assault in this episode. See time codes below for specifics.

2:30 - Kelsey on the Pretty Big News intro song

5:00- Kelsey on entering a Beauty Pageant and being a Miss New York State finalist

14:00 - Kelsey on life in Austin and the comedy scene there

24:00 - Kelsey on moving to New York City

27:00 - Kelsey on how dyslexia affects her comedy and writing

32:00 - Kelsey on her book of essays and sexual assault in comedy

46:23 - Kelsey on her viral Louie CK video and creating her Penis CK character

1:05:00 - Kelsey on people reaching out to her about sexual assault

1:09:21 - Kelsey on her favorite comics

1:16:22 - Kelsey is on Rizzle (see below!)

Follow Kelsey on Rizzle: https://rizzle.tv/u/kelseycaine

And Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelsey_caine

And IG: https://www.instagram.com/kelseylcaine/

On episode 17 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Mike Rosenbaum. Mike is a writer for MLB.com and MLB Pipeline and Matt and Mike previously worked together at MLB Pipeline. Matt asked Mike about him and his wife, Julia, having their first child during a pandemic and the challenges there, his journey from playing baseball at Grinnell College to writing about professionally, some of baseball's top prospects and his thoughts on them, what this year has been like for a prospects writer without Minor League Baseball, his baseball card collection, and much more!

Follow Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoldenSombrero

And check out Mike's work here: https://www.mlb.com/pipeline