Hooks & Runs
Hooks & Runs is a podcast about baseball, music and culture. Our podcast includes interviews with news makers in the sports and music world plus commentary from the co-hosts on interesting current and historical events. Hooks & Runs releases a new episodes every Thursday (more or less).
Episodes
190 episodes
240 - Texans in the Hall: Greg Maddux, plus, Arenado, Rose, Golden State Entertainment and Tales of the Tape.
This week Craig and Rex continue their series on native Texans in the Baseball of Fame with 355-game winner Greg Maddux. Also, the Nolan Arenado trade talks will not go away, Pete Rose's family petitions the Commission to lift the all-time hits...
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Season 6
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Episode 240
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45:25
239 - Willie McCovey: Remembering a Forgotten Superstar w/ Chris Haft
Author Chris Haft's new book, Willie McCovey: A Giant Among Giants (University of Nebraska Press, 2025) adds to the baseball literature by examining the life and baseball times of perhaps the most forgotten member of the 500-home run c...
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Season 6
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Episode 239
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54:36
238 - Artie Shaw's Nightmare: The Big Band Sound Goes to War w/ Michael Doyle
Author and journalist Michael Doyle's new book, Nightmare in the Pacific: The World War II Saga of Artie Shaw and His Navy Band (Univ. of North Texas Press, 2025) is an adventurous tale and a must read. Shaw, a leading big band leader ...
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Season 6
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Episode 238
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53:35
237 - Bugs Raymond, the Overlooked for Cooperstown, Kendrick's Halftime & Beyonce's Grammy
Bugs Raymond battled alcoholism while pitching for the Tigers, Cardinals and Giants as well as several minor league teams during the early Deadball Era -- this week we discuss Raymond's difficult and tragic life in baseball and afterwards. In C...
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Season 6
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Episode 237
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51:35
236 - Jim Gilliam: Replaceable in March, Irreplaceable in October w/ Stephen W. Dittmore
Stephen W. Dittmore's book, "Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger," (August Publications, 2025) hit bookstores this week and it's a good one. Dittmore joins us this week to talk about the man who won the 1953 National League's Rookie of the Year A...
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Season 6
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Episode 236
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45:06
235 - Texans in the Hall: Ross Youngs w/ David King
Journalist and author David King joins us in part 1 to talk about Ross Youngs, who was born in Shiner, Texas, in 1897, and later played 10 seasons for John McGraw's New York Giants. In that time he was a key player on four National League penna...
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Season 6
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Episode 235
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53:45
234 - The Miracle Braves of 1914, part 2
This week concludes our two-part series about the Miracle Braves of 1914 and concludes with Rex and Craig discussing Billy Wagner and the recent Hall of Fame balloting results.Episodes mentioned:
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Season 6
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Episode 234
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45:19
233 - The Miracle Braves of 1914, Part 1
This week Craig and Rex begin a two-part series on the Miracle Braves of 1914.The early 20th Century was not kind to the Boston Braves (previously, the Beaneaters, the Doves and the Rustlers). Mired in the second division for years with...
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Season 6
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Episode 233
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39:11
106 - Baseball Rebels w/ Professor Peter Dreier (From the Vault)
Rex and I are taking two weeks to recover from the holidays and holiday travel and will be back January 16 with the first episode of Season Six. Here are the show notes from our Episode 106:-------------------------------------------Thi...
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Season 6
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Episode 106
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55:47
46/50 - From the Vault: Our Interview with Larry Lester and the Best and Worst Super Bowl Halftime Performances (From the Vault)
Craig and Rex are taking two weeks off so we reached into the vault this week to present two segments from shows past.The first segment is our January 2021 interview with Larry Lester, baseball historian and co-founder of the Negro Leag...
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Season 6
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Episode 46
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55:46
232 - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The 1973 New York Mets w/ Len Ferman, The Sports Time TravelerTM
Len Ferman's new book, The 1973 Mets - You've Got to Believe, is a day to day saga about a Mets team that that rallied from last place with a 61-71 record on August 31 to win the National League East with an 82-79 record. The Eastern D...
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Season 5
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Episode 232
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53:15
231 - The 2024 Hooks & Runs Year End Music Review
Craig & Rex review their favorite albums of 2024 while Craig mourns Kyle Tucker being traded by Houston to the Cubs.Errata: The MJ Lenderman lyric on "Wristwatch" is " a wristwatch that tells me I'm on my own," not "I'm all alone." ...
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Season 5
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Episode 231
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32:58
230 - Lou Gehrig Goes to Hollywood
This week Craig and Rex look at Lou Gehrig's lone Hollywood film, "Rawhide" (1938), filmed in January 1938. The film stars Gehrig (playing himself) and Texas native Smith Ballew (Palestine), Hollywood's first singing cowboy as the film'...
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Season 5
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Episode 230
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30:35
229 - Texans in the Hall: Willie Wells, "El Diablo," Was Ahead of His Time w/ Dr. Bob Luke
Dr. Bob Luke, author of "Willie Wells: 'El Diablo' of the Negro Leagues," joins us this week as Hooks & Runs begins a new series featuring native Texans that have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. We begin with Willie Wells, "El...
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Season 5
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Episode 229
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52:45
228 - Close But No Cigar III: Sam Rice, 2,987 career hits.
Outfielder Sam Rice played 20 seasons in the Major Leagues - all but one with the Washington Nationals (later, the Senators). Rice retired from the game with 2,987 hits, 13 shy of the coveted mark of 3,000, making him the player that came the c...
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Season 5
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Episode 228
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26:47
227 - Gavy Cravath: The Deadball Era's Home Run King w/ Rick Reiff
Rick Reiff is our guest this week to discuss his essay in the Fall 2024 Baseball Research Journal, "Gavy Cravath's Hall-Worthy 200 Home Runs." Cravath, a late arrival, played 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and led the National League in ...
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Season 5
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Episode 227
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1:02:49
226 - Baseball's Most Unusual Feats
This episode was recorded on November 5.Craig and Rex analyze some of baseball's rarest achievements, ranging from Johnny Vander Meer's back to back no-hitters, Fernando Tatis belting two grand slams in the same inning off the same pitc...
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Season 2
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Episode 226
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39:30
225 - Heroes, Villains and Fools: Baseball and Theater in the Deadball Era w/ Travis Stern
Dr. Travis Stern's new book, "Ballplayers on Stage: Baseball, Melodrama, and Theatrical Celebrity in the Deadball Era" (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2024) explores the relationship betw...
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Season 5
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Episode 225
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37:01
224 - The Professor's Mysterious Concoction
Craig and Rex contemplate the end of the 2024 baseball season as the Dodgers took the first three World Series games from the Yankees. They then turn their attention to the 1949 film "It Happens Every Spring," starring Ray Milland, Jean Peters ...
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Season 5
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Episode 224
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36:27
223 - Close But No Cigar II: Barry Bonds, 1,996 RBI
Five players in MLB history have driven in 2,000 run in their career. Barry Bonds concluded his amazing 22-year career 4 RBI short of 2,000. This week we examine Bonds' career and try to find out how he came up short.Also this week, Cra...
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Season 5
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Episode 223
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47:30
222 - Rex Trolls Craig's Pre-Season Predictions: "You Might As Well Have Run Over Him With a Truck"
This week Craig and Rex review Craig's sketchy pre-season predictions and ruminate about the on-gong MLB playoffs.Errata: Met closer Edwin Diaz has one year left on his contract, not three.-->Join our Discord: https://discord...
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Season 5
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Episode 222
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38:53
221 - The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies
After beating the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium 3-2 to wrap up a 6-4 road trip, the Phillies cam home leading the National League by 6.5 games with 12 games to play. What followed remains the most dramatic late-season collapse in Major ...
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Season 5
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Episode 221
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54:43
220 - In an Instant It Was All Gone: The Ray Chapman Story w/ Scott H. Longert
Author Scott H. Longert joins the show this week to talk about his latest book, "Love and Loss: The Short Life of Ray Chapman" (Ohio Univ. Press 2024). Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman was hit by a pitched ball in the temple during a ballgame ag...
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Season 5
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Episode 220
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54:45
219 - Myths, Legends and Pete Browning, Baseball's Original Louisville Slugger w/ Tim Newby
In the great John Ford western, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," a reporter says, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Few 19th Century players muddled the waters between fact and legend as did the great Louisville slugger, Pete...
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Season 5
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Episode 219
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49:28
218 - The Flying Dutchman, Honus Wagner w/ Arthur D. Hittner
Our guest this week is Arthur D. Hittner, author of "Honus Wagner, The Life of Baseball's Flying Dutchman," Revised Edition (McFarland, 2024). Originally published in 1996, Hittner's book won the prestigious Seymour Medal for best basebal...
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45:33