The Moonlight Graham Show

There isn't a more perfect way to kick off this season of the podcast than with a perfect game. Most of us probably think about the pitcher when we hear 'perfect game,' but on the Moonlight Graham Show, we are looking for someone behind the scenes. Two-time Moonlighter Pat Hoberg is working his first World Series, and we didn't want to miss a pitch. And as it turns out, neither did he.

Pat Hoberg has made a name for himself as one of the top umpires in the league. According to Umpire Scorecard (@UmpScorecards), a Twitter account with over 300,000 followers that rates every behind-the-plate performance all season long, Hoberg called a perfect game in Game 2 of the 2022 World Series. There were 129 called pitches, and he got every single one correct. Throughout the season, Umpire Scorecard has Hoberg as the most accurate umpire in the league, and Game 2 was the best-called game of the season. This was the first perfect game tracked by Umpire Scorecard, which includes thousands of games dating back to 2015.

In the days since the game, the win by the Astros has become overshadowed by Hoberg's perfect game. The next few games of the World Series will have the nation's attention, but our eyes will be watching the K Zone and Umpire Scorecard to see if anyone can measure up to Moonlighter Pat Hoberg.

Every once in a while, a Moonlighter just falls into your lap. Matt Buschmann connected to the podcast on Twitter, and, as it turns out, he was just the kind of story we are looking for. Matt Buschmann is a 10-year minor league baseball veteran who made three appearances in the Majors. When his playing days were done, he became the bullpen coach for the Toronto Blue Jays. Buschmann has the kind of story diehard baseball fan loves to hear, and he came to the right place to tell it.

Matt Buschmann grew up in Missouri but headed east to play his college ball for Vanderbilt. Vandy is a premier SEC baseball program, and Buschmann was part of two SEC tournament runs in the early 2000s. After being drafted in the 15th round of the 2006 draft by the Padres, Buschmann had a lot of early success, earning various all-star awards in the California League and Texas League. Over the next several years, Buschmann moved between the upper levels of minor league ball and across organizations playing for the Padres, Rays, Athletics, Orioles, and Reds, before landing with the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was there that he finally earned his shot.

In April of 2016, Matt Buschmann was called up by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He made three appearances, throwing 4.1 innings, giving up one earned run, and recording three strikeouts. After his stint in the bigs, he was sent back down to Triple-A. He was signed by the Blue Jays for the 2017 season but made no appearances.

When his playing days were done, Matt Buschmann decided to stay in the game but in a new role. He spent a year with the Giants working in player development before returning to the Blue Jays in 2018. He has been serving as the bullpen coach for Toronto for the last few seasons.

This interview covers everything about Matt Buschmann's career as a player and coach. From his time at Vandy to his new role as a big league coach, Buschmann has seen just about everything on the diamond.

Neil and Tim discuss the CyHawk showdown this Saturday, Albert Pujols, Aaron Judge, and the new King of England.

Jon Wisnieski's name may be hard to spell, but it is even harder to forget for Des Moines metro Hawkeye fans. He was a star from Dowling Catholic High School and a highly touted recruit heading east to Iowa City. Jon played alongside some of the top names coming out of Tight End U during his five years in black and gold. Injuries sidetracked his college career but haven't slowed him down since. Just in time for Cy-Hawk week, Jon Wiznieski gives the inside look at his time for both Dowling and the Hawkeyes and life beyond football.

Jon Wisnieski was a multi-sport star at Dowling Catholic. He played baseball, football, and basketball and emerged as a two-way starter for the Maroon football team by his junior and senior seasons. He was highly recruited from high school with offers from many D1 programs. It seemed like his trajectory would lead him to be the next big name Hawkeye tight end when he chose Coach Ferentz and the Hawkeyes. Injuries early in his career coupled with TJ Hockenson, Noah Fant, Geoge Kittle, CJ Fiedorowicz, and Henry Krieger-Coble limited his opportunities to take the reins of the tight end role. Wisnieski stayed on the team for five years and saw playing time across three seasons on offense and special teams.

In this interview, Tim and Jon go through his experiences transitioning from a multi-sport high school athlete to trying to find his place in a crowded, tight-end room. One of the biggest challenges he faced was overcoming an injury his freshman year. He had to work his way back over the course of an entire year and saw his first game action in two years when he appeared against Illinois State in 2015. When his playing days were over, Jon Wisnieski had to adjust his worldview to fulfill his new goals for his life. This new journey included meeting Derek Jeter, contemplating the priesthood, and working with young people.

This week things get really nice on the podcast. That's right, the Iowa Nice Guy, filmmaker, actor, and Moonlighter Scott Siepker returns to the pod to talk about his new feature-length documentary film, Kinnick. Scott and Tim take the pod outdoors for an early fall evening conversation about Nile Kinnick and the years-long journey that Siepker set out on to tell the famous Iowan's story.

Nile Kinnick's name lives on in Iowa sports with the connection to the home of the Iowa Hawkeye football team. Each week it seems the tv broadcast either shows the players walking into the stadium near his statue outside of the south endzone, or the bronze statue of Kinnick is shown surrounded by hordes of fans in black and gold entering through the south gates. But the story of Nile Kinnick is about much more than the Heisman Trophy and playing for the Hawkeyes.

Siepker began the process of creating the documentary about Kinnick several years ago. He started his own film company and had to learn on the job as he funded, researched, and created the film from start to finish. The story of Nile Kinnick is genuinely incredible and something that all Iowans can take pride in, regardless of their hometown or Cy-Hawk allegiance.

Among Siepker's current and future projects, the story of Jack Trice is one that Siepker also plans to share in a documentary. Kinnick is showing at the Palms in Waukee and will show in Iowa City and other Iowa theaters.

Once again, Moonlight Tim returns to the course with Sam Meuret. This time they head west for the Mid-Amateur Qualifier. Like our previous episodes with Sam, this pod was recorded in two parts. Part one of the interview is Tim and Sam on the road to Shadow Ridge, and part two is the road home. The relationship between the caddie and the golfer is like the pitching coach and the ace or the quarterback and the offensive coordinator. Though Tim and Sam took a long break between podcasts and tournaments, they go together like a round of golf and an ice-cold 6-pack.

The road trip to Nebraska includes topics ranging from NIL deals to what it would take to get Sam into the LIV tour. The team talks about it all as they get ready for Sam's next shot. The design of a tournament like the Mid Amateur Qualifier is to give post-collegiate golfers (ages 25 and over) a shot at qualifying for the US Open or a US Senior Open. This qualifier takes Sam back to Omaha as he and Tim prepare to play Shadow Ridge Country Club.

In an effort to win an amateur title, Sam called Tim out of the bullpen. Tim went back to the exact outfit he wore the first time he caddied for Sam. However, the outfit didn't bring any extra luck, as Sam played well but not well enough. This was an 18-hole qualifier, so Tim and Sam had one day and one round to make it happen. Despite 15 solid holes, three scores added about seven strokes to his total and kept him from taking home the medal.

The drive home gives Tim and Sam a chance to break down the day. They go through everything from their flag-tattooed partners, an opponent withdrawing, figuring out where Tim can push as a caddie and where they can grow as a team. By the time these guys pull into Des Moines, they sound like they are ready to hit the range and get ready for the next qualifier.

The MLB coming to Iowa has led to many changes around the state over the last two years. Last year's game with the Yankees and White Sox was a spectacle. The sights and sounds of the movie site and new stadium, coupled with the production of a national broadcast and MLB, drew millions of eyes to the state. Tim and Neil attended the game as part of their official duties for the podcast and had the time of their lives (until the 8th inning, anyways). This year, the boys could not attend the game, so they had to bring in a reliever. Who better to serve as the Moonlight Graham Show's first unofficial correspondent than one of Iowa's favorite role players, Moonlighter Nick Collison?

Nick Collison reached out to Tim to get the inside scoop as he was planning to take his dad, Dave Collison, to have a catch and watch the game. The Collisons had a memorable night. This year's trip had everything from playing catch on the field to Harry Carey making a surprise appearance. Tim caught up with Nick the day after the game to catch up on all things Field of Dreams.

Game. Set. Sibling rivalry. This week the Moonlight Graham Show takes the pod on the road to the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club in Charles City, Iowa. This little-known gem has earned the nickname "The Court of Dreams." The AILTC might be the only true grass tennis court in the state. It is styled after, and named after, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which hosts the iconic Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament. Neil and Tim record while on the road to Charles City and then on the ride home from their match to reflect on their experience.

Mark and Denise Kuhn built the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club court as a passion project on their family farm. Mark Kuhn grew up listening to the Wimbledon Championships on the radio and dreamed of playing on center court. That dream became a reality about 20 years ago as the family began the process of converting a cattle feedlot into a top-tier grass court.

Mark Kuhn's research and preparation began with a call to Iowa State University to understand turf management and horticulture. The AILTC website includes images from the construction process, which included grading the tons of sandy soil that were brought in, planning drainage and irrigation, and picking up every little rock along the way.

If you haven't picked up on this yet, the Flattery boys are competitors. This isn't just a friendly exhibition match. This is the most important tennis match that either brother has ever participated in. Neither man wanted this to go down as a loss and had to devise a plan to manage their frustrations to avoid slamming/breaking rackets or taking a divot out of the Court of Dreams.

The match came down to a tie-breaker super set as Tim took the first match and Neil came back to win the second match. Their version of the Flattery Iowa-style Wimbledon took the full two hours of their court reservation and came down to the last point.

The term GOAT just gets thrown around right now. The goat emoji is tagged on every highlight on social media, and every recruit is the next big thing. This "prisoner of the moment" mentality also leads us to compare eras. Some are convinced that guy wouldn't stand a chance today or that no one could ever match the dominance of a certain era. Guys like Shohei Ohtani come along in the midst of the noise and draw comparisons to players from generations ago, but there is no way to actually know. The problem with that conversation is that it can't be settled. Instead, we can look to institutions like the Hall of Fame.

The Baseball Hall of Fame looks to celebrate the greatest from across all generations. Standards like 3,000 hits or 300 wins are looked at as certain marks of excellence that lock in a player's place in Cooperstown. While we don't know where Fernando Tatis Jr.'s career is heading or what Aaron Judge's next few years will be like, our resident baseball experts Tim and Neil sit down to prognosticate the Hall of Fame classes of years to come.

Tim and Neil break the field down into five categories. They take into account a host of facts and figures. They consider where the player is in his career, lifetime stats, impact on the game, and the types of teams they played on that might have impacted their notoriety. The categories are:

The Harmon Killebrews are the first or second ballot no-brainers. The players that will be enshrined as soon as they are eligible. Guys like Albert Pujols have made such an impact on the game that they are among the greatest of all time. These names will be called as soon as they hang up their cleats.

The Joe Mauers are the future Hall of Famers with a hole or two in their resume. They might not get in right away, but their names belong with the all-time greats. They don't have the certainty of the Killebrews, but they have earned their place through the totality of their career.

The third group is the Jim Kaat tier. Jim Kaat had to wait almost 40 years from the end of his career to hear his name called this year. These are the guys whose numbers and achievements place them in that Hall of Fame category but maybe lacked that dominance or star power that made them clear-cut entries.

Then we have the Torii Hunter category. Unlike the Jim Kaats, these are players that maybe had the star power or periods of dominance but don't have the overall resume that earns them their place in Cooperstown.

Finally, the Byron Buxton tier. These are the guys who have the potential to leave their mark on the game, but it is just too early to tell. These are the players that are exciting to watch and might even be changing the way the game is played today.

This week's Moonlighter goes way back with Moonlight Tim. Eric Stein was a sophomore leader for the Iowa Central Tritons when Tim joined the team as a freshman. Even as a 19-year-old, Eric Stein's baseball IQ made it clear that his future was in coaching if he wanted it. Roughly 18 years after that first meeting, Tim sits down with Eric to talk about Stein's progression from player to head coach for those same Tritons.

Eric Stein grew up on a farm outside Portsmouth, Iowa, and attended Harlan Community High School. After a successful high school baseball career, Stein moved to the big city of Fort Dodge to play for Iowa Central during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. After considerable success as an infielder, including recognition for his defensive skills, Stein played for Grand View University. When his playing days were over, he took a call from Rick Pedersen to come back as an assistant coach. Stein took over as a head coach in the 2018-2019 season and has had consistent success over the last few years, racking up 75 wins so far.

Tim and Eric both have a passion for Iowa Central and junior college baseball. This interview focuses on the world of JUCO baseball from the players' and coaches' perspectives. They cover everything from recruiting kids to a 2-year school to the impact of Eric Sim.

Tim takes Eric through his eight beliefs about success in junior college baseball. These nuggets of wisdom are explained from both the veteran player angle and the current skipper. Tim's list ranges from staying out of trouble to ensuring your attitude and work ethic keep you on the path to success. Stein has to recruit young men to Fort Dodge to help his program take the next step by moving on to 4-year schools when their time in JUCO is done. His success so far shows that he knows what it takes to win at the junior college level, but maybe Tim's list could be the Moonlight bump to help Stein and the Tritons bring home that world series ring.