Backwards K Pod

BKP starts off this week with the first Hot Stove Report of 2024, as Jake breaks down the particulars of the trade between the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox; Vaughn Grissom for Chris Sale. Soon after the trade with Atlanta, the Red sox sign RHP Lucas Giolito to a one year contract, with an option for 2025. What do the Braves get out of this deal? Will the Red Sox, with an all right-handed rotation, be aggressive in their pusuit of a southpaw among Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery or Japanese import Shota Imenaga? The Reds continue to make moves to solidify their bullpen and rotation. Will the large markets begin to show agression in the market, now that so many of them lost out on the Sho and Yo Sweepstakes tour? All this and more, in week eight of the 2023 0ffseaon. Then we dig into the life and career, of baseball's first Jewish superstar, Hank Greenberg. He played in an era with the Great Depression and World War II, in the background. Amid the anti-semetic environment playing out on MLB ball fields around the country, and with Adolph Hitler, and his evil Nazi thugs rising to power in Europe. Hank displays the courage to take on prejudice in the game, and sacrifice four years of his amazing career, to fight Hitler's New World Order and his final solution. #HankGreenberg #HammerinHank #TheBigMoose #GreenwichVillage #NewYorkCity #Bronx #HenryFord #JackieRobinson #BabeRuth #LouGehrig #DetroitTigers #SandyKoufax #PittsburghPirates #EdgarGuest #AdolphHitler #TheGreatDepression

For week seven of the MLB offseason, the show kicks off with the final Hot Stove report of 2023. With the Dodgers spending over a billion dollars on big fish free agents Shohei Ohtani and Japanese import pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, as well as the extension given to new starting pitcher, Tyler Glasnow, Jake wonders aloud if the Dodgers are done with their free agent spending spree? Or could there possibly be another bullet in the gun, left to be fired? Also what does this mean for the next three big free agents in Cody Bellinger, Blake Snell and Josh Hader.. all this and the updates of the latest moves of the last week.
This week, BKP does a deep dive into the life and career of the great Sandy Koufax. The kid from Brooklyn, who grew up with dreams of playing basketball for his beloved New York Knicks In the NBA, but would wound up having a twelve year career, pitching for his hometown Dodgers, that is earmarked by a tale of two halves to a career. From a mediocre six year beginning to his career, to becoming one of the greatest southpaws who ever lived, with one of the best 6 year peaks of a career, the baseball universe has ever witnessed. To his stunning retirement, at the age of 30 years old, while he is on top of his game. We celebrate the Hall Of Famer's birthday this week, by digging into the mystique that is Sandy Koufax. #SandyKoufax #DodgersStadium #VinScully #MiltonLaurie #FredWilpon #CincinnatiBearCats #AlCampanis #TommyLasorda #CarlErskine #NormSherry #YomKippur #DonDrysdale #WalterOMalley

This week we celebrate the 89th birthday posthumously, of the baseball icon, who went straight from Southern High School in Baltimore, to the Detroit Tigers, all the way to the Pantheon of immortals in Cooperstown, New York, without spending one day in the minor leagues. As the 2023 calendar melts away, we add Mr Tiger; Al Kaline to our collecrion of ballplayers and their stories. #AlKaline #NicolasKaline #DetroitTigers #SouthernHighSchool #EdKatalinas #SpikeBriggs #FredHutchinson #WillieHorton #DaveMcNally #HarveyKuenn #BillAnderson

What do you get when you have two baseball teams play each other, after having a dugout clearing brawl a week earlier? Combined with a stadium, full of angry fans, fueled for nine innings, on unlimited cups of beer, costing only a dime? You get absolute chaos, is what you get. This is the unforgettable story of Ten Cent Beer Night; The Texas Rangers vs. The Cleveland Indians. June 4th, 1974, Municipal Stadium #TexasRangers #ClevelandIndians #RichardNixon #ArlingtonStadium #MunicipalStadium #BillyMartin #KenAspromonte #TomGrieve #MiltWilcox #LennyRandle #JohnLowenstien #GeorgeHendricks #TobyHarrah #MikeHargrove #Strohs #LeronLee #TenCentBeerNight

This week we will bear witness to the scintillating career, and the journey, of the kid from small-town BInger, Oklahoma, all the way to the pantheon of the baseball immortals, in Cooperstown, New York, as arguably the greatest catcher, the sport of baseball has ever seen. This week we are talking Johnny Bench. #JohnnyBench #TedBench #BigRedMachine #ThurmanMunson #SparkyAnderson #TonyRobello #JohnnyEdwards #RandyHundley #JimMaloney #RollieFingers #PeteRose #JoeMorgan #TonyPerez #BingerOklahoma #CincinnatiReds #HallOfFame #BackwardsKPOd

As Ivan Rodriguez was awaiting the ceremonial first pitch, from former President George W. Bush, at Game One of the 2023 World Series, Pudge ostensibly saw his baseball life flash before his eyes. The kid from the Puerto Rico countryside, who would run around Vega Baja, carrying a stick-bat, and a ball made of rolled-up tape. That same kid who would sign a contract with the Texas Rangers, at the age of 16, after team scouts witness him throw a single 93 MPH pea to second base. Through his amazing career, as arguably, one of the greatest all-arond catchers to ever play the game. Culminating with his induction into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, in Cooperstown, New York, as only the second catcher in the game's history, to earn induction in his first year of eligibility. This is the Journey of the short and stocky catcher, the fans called Pudge. #IvanRodriguez #TexasRangers #MiamiMarlins #DetroitTigers #PuertoRico #GeorgeWBush #SandyJohnson #OmarMinaya #LuisRosa #MannyBatista #Pudge #JohnnyBench #JeffConine

Lyman Bostock had it all. He had the genetic lineage, as his father was a star outfielder for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro Leaguess during the 1940's. He had a sweet left-handed stroke, that seemingly launched gap-seeking linedrives at will. He had blazing speed, great baseball instincts, and played Gold Glove caliber defense in Center Field. In his first two full seasons while playing for the Minnesota Twins, Bostock is in contention with his future Hall Of Fame teammate Rod Carew, for batting titles in both years. He is then signed by the California Angels, before the 1978 campaign, for the largest contract in American team sports at the time. His star is blinding, as many of his peers and opponents, consider him a superstar in wait. While standing on the precipes of greatness, all of that comes to an end, in the blink of an eye. The 27 year old phenom, becomes the first and only major leaguer to be murdered during the season, when he is violently gunned down in the streets of Gary, Indiana over a women, whom he literally knew for only 30 minutes of his life. One of the most tragic baseball stories, that has largely been forgotten, as time melts away. #LymanBostock #LymonBostockSr #AnniePearl #ManualArtsHighSchool #SanFernandoValleyUniversity #EarlWeaver#GeneMauch #RodCarew #MinnesotaTwins #CaliforniaAngels #DonBaylor #BobbyGrich #CarneyLandsford #YouveneBrooks #KennyLandreaux #EdTurner #FergusonJenkins #RayKroc #BuzzBavasi #GeneAutry #JoanHawkins #BarbaraSmith #LeonardSmith

This week we take a deep dive, into the life and career, of arguably one of the greatest pitchers of the modern game, Bob Gibson. From his humble beginnings of abject poverty, growing up in a project housing complex in Omaha, Nebraska, to becoming the first African-American student-athlete, to earn a full scholarship at Creighton University to play basketball. His amazing four month run, playing basketball with the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters. Not to mention his breathtaking career, pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals, with his baseball journey ending, in the pantheon of baseball immortals; The National Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, New York #BobGibson #Gibby #OmahaNebraska #JoshGibson #CreightonUniversity #HarlemGlobetrotters #JohnnyKeane #SolleyHemus #TimMcCarver #BillWhite #CurtFlood #StLouisCardinals #KenBoyer #DickGroat #OrlandoCepeda #RedSchoendist #NewYorkYankees #BostonRedSox #DetroitTigers #PeteLaCock