Baseball And Bbq

Episode 298 features Don Drysdale Up and In Author, Mark Whicker and Twisted D Cookers, Donnie Howard as we explore a Baseball Hall of Famers' career and a barbecue pitmaster's journey Mark Whicker worked for 49 years in the newspaper business and spent 34 of those years as a columnist for the Orange County Register.  Before that he was a columnist and beat writer for the Philadelphia Bulletin and a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News.  He is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame.  His latest project is the book, Don Drysdale Up and In: The Life of a Dodgers Legend.  Drysdale is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and this book is a fascinating look at Drysdale's life and career.  Donnie Howard is one half of Twisted D Cookers, a husband and wife barbecue  competition team.  Along with Donnie and his wife, Darlene impressively winning awards in competitions, they have also developed a line-up of spice blends.  These blends are among those they use to compete and are available f

Episode 297 features former Major League Baseball player and executive, Ed Lynch, inventor of the BBQ Hooker, John Garcia with his son, Gabriel, and winner of Netflix's season two Barbecue Showdown, Thyron Mathews Ed Lynch was drafted by the Texas Rangers and after three years in their minor league system he was traded to the New York Mets and had the opportunity to play with several outstanding players, including Dwight "Doc" Gooden and The Franchise, Tom Seaver.  Ed was  eventually traded to the Chicago Cubs, which is where he ended his playing career.  Ed then made the decision to attend law school and shortly after graduating was back in baseball working as an executive.  There is nothing better than hearing stories from someone who lived his life as a player and an executive and has many opinions on the game of baseball.   John and Gabriel Garcia are a father and son combo.  John, the father, is the inventor of the BBQ Hooker, a device which is meant to be a better way to flip your various prot

Episode 296 features Babe Ruth's great-grandson, Brent Stevens and author, Kelly Bennett discussing Out of the Mouth of Babe, while National BBQ Festival participants, Alex Fei of Roto-Q 360, Hunter Breshears of Plainville Farms, and Stefan Nicodemou of Saucy Rascals discuss their products Kelly Bennett is the author of many award-winning books for children.  She first joined us on episode 243 to discuss her book, The House That Ruth Built.  She is back to introduce her newest book, Out of the Mouth of Babe which she worked on with Brent Stevens, Babe Ruth’s great-grandson, and Stu Dressler, a long-time friend of the Ruth-Stevens family.  It is a collection of over 85 quotes by the Great Bambino, paired with photographs of the Babe during his incredible baseball career. Brent Stevens is the great-grandson of Babe Ruth and he has made it part of his life's mission to ensure a positive, lasting legacy for his great-grandfather.  Brent is a collector of baseball cards and owns some unique pieces of Babe Ruth mem

Episode 295 features baseball gaijin, Tony Barnette and an encore presentation of Barbecue Hall of Fame member, Lee Ann Whippen Tony Barnette is a former professional baseball pitcher and the main subject of the book, A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back written by our previous guest, Aaron Fischman.  Tony played in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.  Tony took a nontraditional route to the Major Leagues.  He started in the MLB's minor leagues, spent six years pitching in Japan for Tokyo's Yakult Swallows, and then at the age of 32 had his first cup of coffee with the Major League's, Texas Rangers.  Thank you to Aaron Fischman for helping to to arrange this.   Lee Ann Whippen is a member of the Barbecue Hall of Fame.  She developed her love of cooking barbecue from an early age learning from her dad and she has used that knowledge and love to become an extremely well-known and respected pitmaster.  As

Episode 294 is filled with members of their respective Hall of Fame's as we welcome Barbecue Hall of Fame member, Meathead and Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame member, Ryan Dempster. Plus we are joined by guest co-host Scott Crawford, Director of Operations for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Meathead is the founder and publisher of the immensely popular BBQ and grilling website AmazingRibs.com.  He is a   member of the Barbecue Hall of Fame and the author of Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling, a New York Times Best Seller and named one of the “100 Best Cookbooks of All Time” by Southern Living.  He is back with us to discuss his new cookbook, The Meathead Method: A BBQ Hall of Famer's Secrets and Science on Bbq, Grilling, and Outdoor Cooking with 114 Recipes.  For more information on Meathead, his books, and many other outdoor cooking related items go to https://amazingribs.com/ Ryan Dempster is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Ch

Hang up the disco ball, put on the bell-bottom pants, tube tops, halter tops, leisure suits, and platform shoes as we step back in time to 1978 with author, David Krell and then come back to 2025 as we chat with the cofounder of Big Dog Sauce Company, Dan Lloyd. David Krell is an author, baseball historian, and a reoccurring guest.  His latest work is, 1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era.  It is a fascinating look at a year which not only featured an exciting baseball season, but also included great music, wonderful movies, events that greatly impacted our country's history, and of course the sensation which swept the nation, disco.  We wrote this blurb for one of David's other books, but the same words can be applied to his newest tome by merely changing the year.  "David Krell weaves a magnificent tapestry of the year 1978; using baseball as the central thread, he magnificently combines the year's biggest events to make us all feel we are front and center and experiencing every moment."  F

Episode 292 features Chef Ray's highly anticipated annual Father's Day Gift Guide and Brett Moore dazzles us with his encyclopedic baseball knowledge as Gary Looney joins us as guest co-host. Ray Sheehan also known as Chef Ray is an award winning maker of barbecue sauces and rubs as well as an award winning cookbook author.  We continue with our annual tradition as he presents his Annual Holiday Gift Giving Guide.   Links for the gift guide follow: Big Green Egg  https://biggreenegg.com/  Mammoth Cutting Boards  https://mammothcuttingboards.com/  Flipgrill  https://flipgrill.shop/  Turbo Trusser  https://turbotrusser.com/  Roto Q 360  https://www.rotoq360.com/  Code 3 Spices https://code3spices.com/  Mr. BBQ Scrub Daddy  https://amazon.com/  Smokin' Hoggz BBQ https://www.smokinhoggzbbq.com/  Crisbee  https://crisbee.org/ Brett Moore is obsessed with baseball and has turned this life-long passion into a one many show you have to see to believe.  Brett has memorized more about baseball than anyone with access

Episode 291 features Will Bardenwerper, author of Homestand:  Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America and Nate Corbitt, founder of Nate's Smokehouse BBQ Blends Will Bardenwerper has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Harper's Magazine.  He served as an Airborne Ranger-qualified infantry officer in Iraq and was awarded a Combat Infantryman Badge and Bronze Star. Homestand:  Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America reflects the time Will spent in Batavia, New York, as he got to know the community and experience their love of baseball.  Since 1897, the Batavia Muckdogs ruled the summer nights of this small town and in 2020 when Major League Baseball shut them down as they did with the minor league teams in 41 other towns, this town did something about it.  They brought in a summer league team composed of college players.  All this and more fills the pages as we get to know the people and the game of baseball in Batavia. Nate Corbitt is the founder of Na

Episode 290 features former Major League Baseball player, Carlos Baerga and World Food Championships finalist, Michelle O'Guin Carlos Baerga is a former Major League Baseball player, who spent most of his playing career with the Cleveland Indians.  It was during his time with Cleveland that he earned three All-Star appearances, two Silver Slugger Awards, and made major contributions to their 1995 postseason run.  The preceding was impressive enough to earn Carlos a spot among the elite in 2013 with an induction into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame.  Carlos has also played for the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Washington Nationals, as well as playing for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization.  Carlos has also coached, managed, and broadcasted games in various leagues.  In addition to his playing career, we discuss the role family played in his career development and we also discuss Roberto Clemente.     Michelle O'Guin is a food sport competitor an

Episode 289 features HQ Trivia and ChangeUp's, Scott Rogowsky and King Louie's Meat Apostles, Michael Goff and a recap of the Jeff Michner Foundation BBQ Benefit at Pig Beach. Scott Rogowsky is a comedian and television personality. He is well known for his time hosting HQ Trivia, a mobile game show.  Scott also co-hosted ChangeUp, a baseball program broadcast on the subscription video streaming network, DAZN.  HQ Trivia was a huge hit and it is what put him on the map, but Scott has been performing and hosting many other shows and we discuss a lot of them, in addition to talking about his beloved New York Mets.     Michael Goff is one half of the creative founding force from the company, King Louie's Meat Apostles, makers of award-winning seasonings and rubs.  The barbecue industry is filled with top quality rubs which means if you want to stand out you need to be different.  Michael has done just that as he has created a flavor profile you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.  For more information on Mi

Episode 288 features Danny Torres discussing his career as well as his love, respect, and admiration for the legendary Major League Baseball Hall of Fame member and humanitarian, Roberto Clemente.  Plus we talk barbecue with pitmaster, Daddy Dutch who has a dedicated YouTube channel with plenty of food related videos.       Danny Torres is a freelance sports journalist and podcast host.  Danny has been a contributing writer to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s official magazine, Memories and Dreams. Danny’s work also appeared on mlb.com and in the New York Mets official publication, Mets Magazine (2007-2012).  He hosts the podcast, Talkin' 21 with Danny Torres which is dedicated to the legendary Roberto Clemente.  Danny is featured in the documentary, Clemente, which explores the life, career and legacy of Roberto Clemente and was produced by Lebron James and Richard Linklater.  He's traveled to numerous ballparks and conducted countless interviews with both current and retired MLB baseball players.   Kent

Episode 287 features the author of A Baseball Gaijin:  Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back, Aaron Fischman and Champion Pitmaster Fred Robles, With Guest Co-host, Doug Scheiding   Aaron Fischman is a sports writer, author, editor and multimedia journalist, who currently hosts the On the NBA Beat podcast, a weekly interview show he helped co-found with Loren Lee Chen and his brother, Joshua Fischman.  His first book, A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back is a very entertaining and informative look at the life and baseball career of Tony Barnette, who took a nontraditional route to the Major Leagues.  Barnette started in the MLB's minor leagues, spent six years pitching in Japan for Tokyo's Yakult Swallows, and then at the age of 32 had his first cup of coffee with the Major League's, Texas Rangers.  The book was nominated for the prestigious CASEY Award for best baseball book of 2024. Fred Robles of Rio Valley Meats has been cooking on the competitive barbecue circuit since 2013. Fred is the owner

Episode 286 features Pig Beach BBQ's, Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride Promoting the 5th Annual BBQ Benefit for the Jeff Michner Foundation and Author, Chris Jensen Discussing Baseball's Two-Way Greats  Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride from Pig Beach BBQ join us to discuss the 5th Annual BBQ Benefit for the Jeff Michner Foundation taking place at Pig Beach BBQ, 35 - 37 36th Street, Queens, NY 11106 on Saturday afternoon, April 26, 2025.  The foundation was set up in honor of Jeff Michner who passed away at the age of 36, but although young, meaningfully touched so many lives.  The organization embraces the things he loved best: family, friends, and great food. The Jeff Michner Foundation creates scholarships for culinary students as well as supporting families managing loss and grief.  The Jeff Michner BBQ Benefit celebrates Jeff with an epic barbecue featuring some of the countries greatest pitmasters.  This event will be a dine-around, where each participating pitmaster will prepare a tasting portion of their dish

Episode 285 features inspiring stories from athlete, Dave Stevens, a seven-time Emmy Award winner and congenital amputee, while Jimmy Carbone and Sean Ludwig promote upcoming barbecue events and barbecue's enormous growth.  Dave Stevens is an athlete and a seven-time Emmy Award winning sports broadcaster.  Dave is a congenital amputee and has wrestled, played football, and played baseball, all without legs.  Dave played college football and had a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys.  Dave was featured on the television show, That’s Incredible along with a very young and future golf pro, Tiger Woods.  Dave had baseball tryouts with the 1984 Olympic baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Minnesota Twins, as well as a three-week contract with the minor league baseball team, St. Paul Saints where he played alongside Darryl Strawberry and even pinch-hit for Strawberry.  Dave worked at ESPN for over 20 years.  He has covered Super Bowls, World Series, Final Fours and many other events.  Dave volunteers as a board m

Episode 284 features Butcher BBQ's, David Bouska and Former Major League Baseball player, Ryan Thompson, plus guest co-host, Gary Mack. David Bouska is an award-winning pitmaster and the owner of Butcher BBQ.  He has won numerous awards, including titles at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational BBQ and American Royal World Series of Barbecue.  He was featured on seasons four and five of Food Network’s, BBQ Pitmasters and BBQ Pitmasters All Stars.  David is a member of the Oklahoma BBQ Hall of Fame and will soon be inducted into the Kansas City BBQ Society Hall of Fame.  He has created injections, brines, seasonings and rubs, and sauces and grilling oils.  Go to  https://butcherbbq.com/ for more information on David and his company, Butcher BBQ. Ryan Thompson is a former Major League Baseball player who spent all or parts of nine seasons with the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Florida Marlins, and Milwaukee Brewers.  Ryan also played one season in Japan for the

Episode 283 features four-time Major League Baseball Manager of the Year and New York State Baseball Hall of Fame Member, Buck Showalter and Chicken Fried BBQ's champion pitmaster, Bill Purvis, plus guest co-host, Doug Scheiding Buck Showalter has earned a reputation for building baseball teams into postseason contenders in short periods of time.  The teams he has managed include, the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Mets.  Along the way he has won four Manager of the Year Awards, three in the American League and one in the National League.  He is the third manager to win four Manager of the Year Awards, the seventh to win the award in both the American and National Leagues, and the only one to win the award with four different teams in four different decades.  In addition to managing, Buck has also worked as a television analyst for ESPN, the Yes Network, and the MLB Network.  Buck is also a member of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. Bill Purvis 

Episode 282 is a rare triple play with Art Shamsky, a member of the 1969 World Series Champion Miracle Mets, Kell Phelps and Mike McCarthy, organizers of the National BBQ Festival, and Gary Looney, reporting from Los Angeles Angels spring training. Art Shamsky will forever have the honor of being a member of the 1969 World Series Champion Miracle Mets as that was a huge highlight of his Major League Baseball career.  But there is so much more to his story and legacy.  Since his playing days, he has worked as a radio and television sports broadcaster in the New York area, among other endeavors. He is the coauthor of The Magnificent Seasons and the New York Times best-seller, After the Miracle.  He joins us to discuss his latest book, Mets Stories I Only Tell My Friends, in which Art shares anecdotes from his 50-year association with the Mets.  He traces his playing career and beyond with never-before-heard stories about his life in and out of baseball. Kell Phelps and Mike McCarthy join us to discuss the Natio

Episode 281 features outstanding stories from Barbecue Hall of Fame inductee, Famous Dave Anderson and New York State Baseball Hall of Fame member, Dom Scala. Dave Anderson known worldwide as Famous Dave Anderson is dedicated to making outstanding barbecue.  In 1994 he opened The Original Famous Dave’s in a small Wisconsin town where he was serving as many as 6000 people a week in a place where only 2000 people lived.  The sucess of that first restaurant lead to the opening of over 180 restaurants nationwide and over $500 Million in sales and the creation of over 20,000 jobs.  How Famous Dave achieved this level of success and the road he took to get there is filled with plenty of curves, twists, and bumps in that road.  Listening to Dave talk about his life is an education in what to do, as well as what not to do.  Dave is one of the most award winning BBQ Grillmasters and has become known as “America’s Rib King!” Dave's philanthropy is another  part of his life as he and his family founded The LifeSkills Ce

Episode 280 features former Major League Baseball Umpire, Al Clark and barbecue aficionado, Big Rome sharing wonderfully entertaining stories and bringing the heat. Al Clark was a Major League Baseball umpire for 30 years, working more than 3,000 games, including two All-Star Games, ten playoff series, and two World Series.  We discuss his book, Called Out But Safe:  A Baseball Umpire's Journey.  The book was first published more than 10 years ago, but the stories are timeless and extremely entertaining.  Al has been on the field for many historic games, including Nolan Ryan's 300th win, Cal Ripken's record breaker, and the 1989 World Series which will forever be remembered, not becuase of who won, but due to an earthquake.  Al dealt with Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, and Dick Williams, all of whom were known for their harsh treamant of umpires.  Hearing Al tell the story of his "fake" confrontation with Lou Piniella is worth the price of admission. Big Rome has taken his love and passion for barbecue

Episode 279 is filled with baseball and barbecue as Talking Baseball's, Ed Randall regales us with baseball stories and Tailgate Guys BBQ's, Lyndal Scranton discusses barbecue and throws in some baseball talk, plus Jeff rants. Ed Randall is in the upper echelon when one mentions anything related to baseball media and storytelling. He previously joined us in our shows infancy on episode 34.  He currently hosts Remember When with former Red Sox manager, Kevin Kennedy on Sirius XM as well as working on camera for the MLB Network.  For many years he could be found talking baseball on WFAN Radio.  Ed has been a television baseball analyst, a one-time substitute for Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard, an author, and is considered one of the game’s foremost authorities.  Ed is a prostate cancer survivor and is now using his experience to help others by promoting awareness through his Fans for the Cure charity which he uses to promote awareness and educate, which includes the value of early detectio