Hooks & Runs
This 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.
Episodes
178 episodes
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
217 - We are Getting Worried About Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander is struggling in his latest return from the injury list. Roger Maris would have celebrated his 90th birthday in the 10th -- he died in 1985. We noticed a lot of pretty famous people were born or grew up Maris's home town of Hib...
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Season 5
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Episode 217
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30:15
216 - Celebrating the Baseball Road Trip w/ Timothy Malcolm
Timothy Malcolm wrote the newly revised and updated, "Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby" (Moon Travel, 2024) being released September 10. He joins us this week to talk about b...
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Season 5
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Episode 216
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54:48
215 - Close But No Cigar I: Bobby Mathews, 297 Career Wins
Bobby Mathews pitched in three major leagues from 1871 to 1887 and ended his career with 297 career wins. Why did he stop playing when he was so close to 300? This episode looks into Mathews' career as well as wins as a statistical category and...
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Season 5
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Episode 215
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26:01
214 - The 1961 Phillies: A Cavalcade of Losses
On August 6, 2024, the dreadful Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland A's 5-1 at the Coliseum. This win snapped a 21-game losing streak, the longest losing streak in the Majors in 36 years. The Philadelphia Phillies own the modern record losing st...
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Season 5
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Episode 214
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42:16
213 - Talking 1890 Players League Blues w/ Robert Ross
Professor Robert Ross, author of The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League (2016) joins us this week to discuss the first attempt at unionization by Major League players -- the Brotherhood of Professional ...
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Season 5
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Episode 213
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56:37
212 - Ken Johnson Has a Secret
This week Craig and Rex take a deep dive into Houston's Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero contract fiascos and come away glad we're not the Angels. In Part 2, Ken Johnson did something on an April week night in 1964 that had never been done before ...
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Season 5
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Episode 212
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41:53
211 - The Money Went Dry, The Liquor Went Wet: The Life & Times of Bob Caruthers w/ Dave Heller
Journalist, author Dave Heller joins us this week to discuss his new book, "Parisian Bob Caruthers: Baseball's First Two-Way Star" (McFarland 2024). Caruthers played in the American Association and National League from 1884 to 1893 where he led...
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Season 5
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Episode 211
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43:02
210 - Craig Goes to Cleveland.
Craig reports on his short getaway to Cleveland, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Progressive Field. The hosts speculate on stadium drama in Oakland, Tampa and Anaheim. The Mariners blew a 10-game lead in the American League West over a 24-...
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Season 5
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Episode 210
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44:14
209 - Rex Goes to Minute Maid
Rex attended his first in-person Major League game this week - his Rangers beat Craig's Astros and Rex did an okay job suppressing the urge to be a sore winner. Also this week, a look at standings going into the All-Star Break, Wander Franco ma...
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Season 5
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Episode 209
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35:18
208 - We Are Not Miracle Workers: The Post-Beryl Episode
Hurricane Beryl dealt a blow to our hometown but 36 hours after it passed Hooks & Runs is on schedule against all odds. This week, Craig and Rex riffing on the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame inductees,
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Season 5
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Episode 208
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35:32
207 - Fourth of July Fireworks and 20-Game Losing All-Stars
In part one, Craig and Rex recall some memorable Fourth of July baseball fireworks featuring the ubiquitous Guy Hecker, the irrepressible
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Season 5
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Episode 207
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38:30
206 - 1901 and the Chaotic Birth of Modern Baseball w/ Timothy J. Zarley
Timothy Zarley has written a wonderful new book, "1901: The War of the Baseball Magnates." (Yelraz Publishing 2024) about the chaotic birth of what we now call baseball's modern era. We talked about some of the franchise movements, contract bat...
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Season 5
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Episode 206
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40:14