This Week In Baseball History

By Mike Bates and Bill Parker

History Professional Sports & Recreation

What's This Week In Baseball History about?

This Week In Baseball History is a weekly podcast devoted to the history of baseball, hosted by Mike Bates and Bill Parker, the co-founders of The Platoon Advantage and writers on many fine websites.

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Episode 285 - Los Dos Tiantes

03.16.2023

Perhaps the greatest father/son pitching duo in baseball history, Luis E. and Luis C. Tiant pitched at least a total of 29 years at the big league level, and an unknown number of other seasons in the Caribbean and for ...

This Week In Baseball History episodes:

03.16.2023 Episode 285 - Los Dos Tiantes Perhaps the greatest father/son pitching duo in baseball history, Luis E. and Luis C. Tiant pitched at least a total of 29 years at the big league level, and an unknown number of other seasons in the Caribbean and for ...
03.10.2023 Episode 90 (Rerun) - Marvin Miller Joins the Fight (with Jay Jaffe and Michael Clair) Few, if any, non-players have had a bigger impact on the game of baseball than Marvin Miller, the legendary head of the MLB Players Association, who was elected to his position at the head of the union 57 years ago ...
03.02.2023 Episode 284 - Life of Pie Pie Traynor was widely regarded in his time, and for long after it, as the best third baseman in baseball history and earned the honor, 75 years ago this week, of being the first third baseman elected to Cooperstown by ...
02.24.2023 Episode 283 - Denny McLain, Rebel Without a Cause The '60s were such a great time for the counterculture. For people rebelling against injustice, prejudice, and war. But Denny McLain didn't care about any of that. He was just kind of a jerk. And 53 years ago this week, ...
02.16.2023 Episode 36 Rerun - Edith Houghton Scouts For the Phillies In 1946, 77 years ago this week, Edith Houghton walked into the Phillies office with a binder of press clippings and asked for a job. Team owner Bob Montgomery reportedly hired her on the spot, making her the first professional ...
02.10.2023 Episode 282 - Might As Well Jump When the American League declared war on the National, it caused all kinds of chaos. Dissatisfied and underpaid players like Napoleon Lajoie abruptly switched leagues, as Nap did 122 years ago this week. But, while the most prominent, Lajoie was ...
02.03.2023 Episode 281 - Al Spalding, Incorporated Perhaps no one shaped the public perception of baseball as America's pastime more than Albert Goodwill Spalding. Pitcher, team executive, owner, tycoon, politician and pseudo-historian, there wasn't anything on which Spalding tried to leave his mark. That mark is still ...
01.27.2023 Episode 280 - We May Have Cursed Sal Bando After two straight weeks mentioning Sal Bando and his brother Chris, Mike and Bill were alarmed to find out that Bando passed away. They're pretty sure it's a coincidence. Nevertheless, one of the most underrated players of all time deserves ...
01.20.2023 Episode 279 - Our Idiot Brothers, Part 1 Sometimes it's hard being brothers. It's even harder being brothers when you're the black sheep of the family. The guy who has to watch his sibling, who shares so much of your DNA, exceeds all your wildest hopes and dreams ...
01.12.2023 Episode 278 - Dominant Teams and the Writers Who Love Them (with special guests Steven Goldman and Rob Mains) Who cares who the best team of all time is? We want to know who the most dominant is. What team didn't just defeat their competition, but routed and embarrased them? Mike and Bill turn to special guests Steven Goldman ...
01.05.2023 Episode 277 - The Robins Get Grimey The last of the legal spitballers, Burleigh Grimes moistily made his way toward the Hall of Fame 104 years ago this week when he was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Brooklyn Robins. He would immediately take to his ...
12.22.2022 Episode 276 - A Less Perfect Union (with Special Guest Justin McKinney) Shrouded by time, the Union Association has gone almost ignored by baseball historians in recent years, dismissed as an inferior league that doesn't belong in the same ballpark as the American, National, or even the Federal Leagues. But, as special ...
12.15.2022 Episode 275 - The Wages of Rube Marquard's Sins We have entire websites and a whole industry devoted to reselling tickets these days. But in 1920, Rube Marquard was arrested for trying to scalp his World Series tickets to an undercover cop. Marquard's arrest would lead to his trade ...
12.08.2022 Episode 274 - Gaylord Perry Gets Caught (Again) With Gaylord Perry's passing last week, Mike and Bill are reposting their profile of the big righthander from 2019, on the 37th anniversary of the only day he was ejected for doctoring the baseball. RIP to one of the greatest ...
12.02.2022 Episode 273 - Weirdos, Part 1 Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball is a game that seems to have cultivated weirdos. It's a home for people who probably wouldn't fit in anywhere else. Maybe the weirdest of those is Turk Wendell, who signed a three ...
11.23.2022 Episode 272 - The Braves Cease Spahning When they moved to Atlanta, the Braves decided to leave some things behind in Milwaukee. Their stadium. Their loyal fans. And the greatest pitcher in team history to that point, Warren Spahn. Like an old sofa, he was left on ...
11.18.2022 Episode 271 - Pedro, No Mo' An Expo As the most electrifying pitcher in baseball at the time, the trade of Pedro Martinez from the Expos to the Red Sox overshadowed everything else 25 years ago this week, including an expansion draft. Pedro was simply too exquisite to ...
11.10.2022 Episode 124 Rerun - Girls Win One Off the Diamond (with special guest Justine Siegal) With Mike sidelined this week, please enjoy this classic episode of TWIB History. From its founding in 1939 through 1973, Little League Baseball refused to let girls play, and was deeply and intransigently committed to that position until a New ...
11.04.2022 Episode 270 - '76 Athletics End the Big Parade Everything ends, but some things end better than others. The way the Oakland A's dynasty of the 1970s ended was one of those others. At the request of a patron, Mike and Bill look back at how everything finally fell ...
10.27.2022 Episode 269 - The World Series Goes Global Despite its name, the World Series was purely an American affair 89 times in a row, until the Toronto Blue Jays won the AL pennant and beat the Braves 30 years ago this week to take the trophy back home ...
10.21.2022 Episode 268 - Sutter and His Splitter One of the greatest relievers of his day, Bruce Sutter also was a pioneer who helped turn the split-fingered fastball into the pitch of the '80s. As we mourn his passing, Mike and Bill look back on one of the ...
10.14.2022 Episode 267 - Joe Gordon for Allie Reynolds It's not often you get straight up one-for-one trades. It's even less often that you get one that works out as designed for both teams, but that's what happened 75 years ago this week when the Yankees traded future Hall ...
10.06.2022 Episode 18 Rerun -- The Red Sox Dream the Impossible Mike is traveling this week and Bill was too busy to scrounge up a Bud, so instead we're taking you all the way back to 2017, to an episode that in turn takes you allllllll the way back to 1967, ...
09.29.2022 Episode 266 - Maury Wills Requiem The list of players who transformed the way the game was played is a short one, but one of those few left us last week when Maury Wills passed away. Mike and Bill look back at a player whose impact ...
09.22.2022 Episode 265 - Polo Gets Grounded On the 59th anniversary of the final game played there, Mike and Bill look back at the long and exciting history of the Polo Grounds (or Polo Groundeses, given all the different sites and constructions that ultimately were hung with ...
09.15.2022 Episode 264 - A Long Conversation About Baseball's Brief Lives (with special guest Steven Goldman) Before getting back into more traditional episodes next week, Mike and Bill talk to @gostevengoldman about his new book, Baseball's Brief Lives, an enthusiastic recounting of the lives and careers of 100 of baseball's best, worst and most meh players. ...
09.08.2022 Episode 263 - Cheaters Often Prosper (with special guests Mark Armour and Dan Levitt) If you ain't cheating, then you ain't tryin', as they say. Or at least that's what special guests Mark Armour (@MarkArmour04) and Dan Levitt (@dlevs1) say that they say in their new comprehensive book of extra-legal baseball behavior, Intentional Balk. ...
09.05.2022 Episode 262 - SABR Pirate Radio, Part 4 (with special guests Jeff Hubbard, John Asel, Liz Roscher, Dan Cichalski, Michael Clair, and Jacob Pomrenke) In the final dispatch from SABR in Baltimore, Mikes Bates and Duncan (@mikeduncan) and Bill talk to a plethora of old and new friends about how baseball can help those living with dementia, pitch tracking systems, The World Baseball Classic, ...
08.31.2022 Episode 261 - SABR Pirate Radio, Part 3 (with Rob Neyer and Tom Shieber) In their third dispatch from SABR, Mike and Bill and Mike Duncan (@mikeduncan) talk with two guests who have shaped the way untold numbers of fans have viewed the history of baseball. First, they talk with the great Rob Neyer ...
08.29.2022 Episode 260 - SABR Pirate Radio, Part 2 (with Melissa Ludtke) Some people podcast about history. Some people witness it. Melissa Ludtke (@MelissaLudtke) made it happen, successfully fighting back against Bowie Kuhn and Major League Baseball to ensure women in journalism could be on equal footing with male sportswriters. Mike, Bill ...
08.25.2022 Episode 259 - SABR Pirate Radio, Part 1 (w/ Jacob Pomrenke, Hans Van Slooten, and Sean Forman) For the first time, and with the help of podcasting superstar Mike Duncan of The History of Rome and Revolutions, TWIBHistory is presenting interviews with some of the most interesting and insightful people in Baltimore for SABR50. In the first ...
08.17.2022 Episode 258 - Branch Rickey's Ill-Fated Venture There have been several attempts to break into the monopoly that has traditionally been considered major league baseball, but no one has had much success for more than a season. But that's not to say the attempts were futile. In ...
08.11.2022 Episode 257 - The Incomparable Vin Scully For 67 years, Vin Scully was interwoven with the fabric of baseball, serving as one of its most prominent, if soothing, voices and perhaps as its soul. As they mourn the loss of probably the greatest broadcaster in baseball history, ...
08.04.2022 Episode 256 - The Mariners Give Away Their Sox In a trade that's become a punchline almost since it was completed, 25 years ago this week the Mariners sent Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe to the Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb. But was the trade actually so lopsided? Or ...
07.28.2022 Episode 255 - A Game For Addie The first official All Star Game took place in 1933, but 22 years before that, and 111 years ago this week, the Cleveland Naps played a collection of the American League's best in an exhibition to benefit the family of ...
07.21.2022 Episode 254 - The Cobra Strikes Twice While Mike is on vacation, Bill digs into the 1979 All Star Game and Dave Parker's game saving throws. Plus, happy birthday to Bobby Thigpen and Sparky Lyle. This episode sponsored by Stathead.
07.15.2022 Episode 253 - Cycling With Brooks As Mike and Bill get ready for SABR 50 in Baltimore, they look back at one of the greatest players in the city's storied history, Brooks Robinson. 62 years ago this week, the greatest fielding third baseman in history became ...
07.07.2022 Episode 252 - Mike and a Mate (with special guest Jacob Pomrenke) Bill's on vacation, so Mike takes the opportunity to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the 5th SABR conference to talk to our old friend Jacob Pomrenke (@buckweaver) about his work with SABR, and the upcoming 50th "annual" convention in Baltimore ...
06.30.2022 Episode 251 - Billy Williams Endures Billy Williams is too often forgot about today as one of the great stars of the Sixties and early Seventies, but he set the National League mark for consecutive games played 53 years ago this week in the midst of ...
06.23.2022 Episode 250 - Zombie Hack Wilson Knocks One In It's not often that the record book gets updated when nobody does anything on the field, but 23 years ago this week, Hack Wilson gained an RBI on his record breaking 1930 total, going from 190 to 191 RBI. Mike ...
06.16.2022 Episode 249 - Ghosted By Greatness Mike and Bill's plan for the week fell through, but they had a bunch of stuff ready to go anyway. So.....short episode! Happy birthday to Andres Galarraga and Russ Ortiz!
06.09.2022 Episode 104 Rerun - The Shooting of Eddie Waitkus Bernard Malamud's iconic novel The Natural has many inspirations, but its most iconic may be the shooting of Roy Hobbs. The inspiration for it occurred 70 years ago this week, when Eddie Waitkus was gunned down in his hotel by ...
06.03.2022 Episode 248 - The Life and Work of Roger Angell Called by many the greatest baseball writer of all time, Roger Angell wrote enough about the game in just the second half of his life to fill four lifetimes, and virtually all of it gold. Mike and Bill look back ...
05.25.2022 Episode 247 - Only Nixon Could Go To Queens (with special guest Richard Staff) He was our nation's most unpleasant president until recently, but it turned out that Richard M Nixon was far worse than anyone ever suspected. He was a Mets fan. With special guest Richard Staff (@RichardStaff), Mike and Bill talk about ...
05.19.2022 Episode 246 - Michael Baumann - Bill and a Bud Episode 4 It's another week where we have to make a go of it without Mike--or at least, without the Mike you're used to. Bill welcomes in friend of the podcast and the podcasters, Michael Baumann, to talk about one of his ...
05.12.2022 Episode 151 Rerun - 19 At Bats in 1952 Due to personal conflicts, it's a rerun this week on the 70th anniversary of the Dodgers reaching base 19 straight times against the Reds.
05.05.2022 Episode 245 - No Hits For Maloney and Wilson In the long history of baseball, it's only happened twice that pitchers on opposing teams no-hit one another's clubs in back-to-back games, but the second one happened 53 years ago this week when Jim Maloney and Don Wilson authored brilliant ...
04.28.2022 Episode 244 - Wes Ferrell, the Protohtani It was 91 years ago when Wes Ferrell no-hit the Browns while providing almost all of his team's offense. In honor of that, Mike and Bill look back at one of the most underrated players of the early 20th century. ...
04.21.2022 Episode 243 - Colavito For Kuenn It was an iconic trade that occured two days before the start of the regular season, 62 years ago this week as Cleveland sent beloved star and home run champ Rocky Colavito to Detroit for batting champ Harvey Kuenn. Did ...
04.14.2022 Episode 242 - Here's Jackie Perhaps there is no more important anniversary in baseball history than Jackie Robinson signing and debuting with the Dodgers, reintegrating the National League 75 years ago this week. Mike and Bill go through the first two seasons of Jackie's career ...

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