Sean and Eds Do Baseball

Sean winds up and delivers the story of Pascual Perez, a slim, erratic pitcher who had one of the wildest careers in baseball history. Whether in the middle of brawls, pennant races or drug controversies, Pascual was a spark plug for his teams, just don’t ask him for a ride if you wanna get to the ball park on time.  

Eds steps to the mound to tell the life story of Lou Novikoff; one of the game's purest hitters. Born in the Arizona desert to Russian immigrants, Lou tore it up on the fast-pitch diamond and worked his way to the majors becoming one of the most feared flash in the pan hitters of his day. He wasn't a Hall of Famer in Cooperstown but all who saw him play couldn't deny that "The Mad Russian" certainly made baseball more fun.

Due to some technical difficulties in the recording this week Sean and Eds are forced to revisit an episode from January of 2021.Sean and Eds record remotely this time as the number of Covid-19 cases is on the rise. Sean listens through the power of the internet as Eds tells the tale of baseball's one millionth run scored, how 4 men had their chances to ink their name to the pages of oddball history and how the contest was decided by a foot race 2400 miles apart.

Sean tosses a curveball with the story of one of the first famous fans of the game; "Howlin'" Hilda Chester. Hilda lived a rough life but found solace in the bleachers of Ebbets Field screaming at her beloved Brooklyn Bums. Soon she was as big of a story as the Dodgers and became part of the team. That is until they broke her heart in 1957.

As Sean and Eds enjoy the All Star Break we turn back the clock to July of 2021 when they welcomed friend and former high school baseball teammate Matt Marchese (host of The FAN Hockey show, former producer of Prime Time Sports at Sportsnet 590 The Fan & writer for Sportsnet) to the podcast as Eds stumbles upon another story; this time with a local twist. A tale from the nebulous depths of baseball history that tells how the meteoric rise of a man who shovelled his way to the major leagues from the train yards to the ball fields was ultimately stymied in a surprisingly spectacular fashion.

Eds steps back into the chalked box and throws a complete game with the life story of Silver King. One of the "speediest" pitchers of the late 19th century who had a chip on his shoulder and very few friends on or off the field. King had a strong start to his career but the games growth during its infancy ultimately caused Kings promising career to fizzle out quickly, not before he left his mark in baseball's record books though.

Sean goes back to back with the tragic story of speedy first baseman Dennis "Dan" McGann. McGann was a star at the turn of the century who set records on the base paths, fought numerous opposing players as well as his former coach. Sadly, his family life off the field was marred by tragedy and he would be gone far too soon.

Guest Liz McGuire does some baseball with Sean and Eds as Sean delivers a wild pitch about possibly the worst team in modern professional baseball history; the 1988 Medicine Hat Blue Jays. Their record setting losing season wasn't pretty in the box scores or the standings, it sure was a lot of fun though!

Eds continues to deal as he finishes off the Christie Pits saga with the story of the 1933 riot that had been brewing on the streets of Toronto for years. The rise of anti-semitism in Hogtown and around the world catalyzed a six hour race riot between the Jewish youth of the city, their Italian neighbours and the Nazi punks that wished to see them banned from public spaces. Special Thanks to Stephen Dame of SABR for anchoring most of the research for this story. Check out his article at sabr.org or the Fall 2023 editions of SABR's baseball research journal.

Eds returns to the bump with the story of how Hog Town's famed Christie Pits came to be. A beautiful park in the heart of Toronto that hosted the city's early softball leagues soon became the site of an event that catalyzed one of the darkest moments in 20th century Canadian history.