Backwards K Pod

In the long and storied history of baseball, there have been a collection of street corners that have become synonymous with the throwback cribs that have claimed domain there. At the corner of Michigan and Trumbull once stood the iconic Tigers Stadium. 21st and Lehigh was the home of Shibe Park, You had the corner of Findlay and Western, where the Reds played at Crosley Field, and on the south side of Chicago, at the corner of 35th and Shields, stood Comiskey Park. Today that tradititon still holds firm with Clark and Addison housing the Cubs at Wrigley. To the old school St. Louis baseball fan, the corner of Grand and Dodier can be added to that list. This week we will examine the rise and fall of the structure that stood there, and housed two St. Louis MLB teams from 1860 to 1963, Sportsman Park. A plot of land, on the north side of the city, where the game takes it's roots, and fans of the game witness amazing chapters in the baseball story. #SportsmanPark #StLouis #StLouisBrowns #StLouisCardinals #GrandAvenue #DodierStreet #CharlesComiskey #AugustSolari #AugustBusch #BrownStockings #ChrisVanDerAhe #Perfectos #StanMusial #SamBreadon #UrbanShocker

This week. BKP chronicles the baseball life and career of the sport's first great manager. Cornelius MacGillicuddy, better known in the MLB universe as Connie Mack, spent 71 years in organized baseball, from 1884 to 1955 as a bare-handed catcher, a manager, a front office executive and an owner. He carried himself with a quier dignity, and he commanded respect from friends and rivals alike. Along the way through his journey, he would evolve along with the game, constructiong one of the greatest "Dead Ball Era" teams, with his dynastic Philadelphia A's, during the 1910's, as well as a second Philly dynasty with one of the more dominant "Live Ball" squads, at the end of the Roaring 20's. Statuesque, stately and slim, you could always find the "Tall Tactician" in a high starched collar business suit and tie. with a rolled up scorecard in his hand, standing on the dugout steps, observing his chess pieces out on the diamond. He was baseball" grand old gentleman, for the early generations of fans, as the young game grows into a national phenomenon. #ConnieMack #PhiladelphiaAthletics #PittsburghPirates #FederalLeague #WesternLeague #MilwaukeeBrewers #RubeWaddell ##EddiePlank #JackCoombs #ChiefBender #HermanLong #NapoleanLaJoie #EddieCollins #JackBarry ##FrankBaker #BenShibe #BanJohnson #JohnMcGraw

This week we do a deep character profile bio on the Wizard, Osborne Earl Smith. Ozzie Smith was one of the few players who could beat you with just his glove, and phenomenal defensive feats. The 15 time All Star, winner of 13 consecutive Gold Gloves, is widely regarded as the greatest defensive shortstop ever, if not the greatest defender at any position, in the history of the game. From being overlooked because of his diminutive stature, to owning the shortstop stage at Busch Stadium, the Wizard's climb to baseball immortality, is a story of resillence and perseverance. #OzzieSmith #SanDiegoPadres #RayKroc #WhiteyHerzog #GaryTempleton #JackBuck #TomNiedenfuer #JeffBurroughs #LockeHighSchool #EddieMurray #CalStatePoly

Ever since 1915, with the exception of the World War Two years, the Koshien Japanese High School Baseball Tournament has beome a national institution, with it's championship game broadcast throughout the country. pulling in millions of viewers who tune in to watch the drama unfold. The annual spring and summer tournament is the culmination of thousands of high school teams competing in regional tournaments for a coveted spot. This week we do an in-depth study of the country's most attended sporting event, where new heroes are made every year. #KoshienTournament #HanshinKoshienStadium #NishinomayaJapan #YuseiKikuchi #ShoheiOhtani #NipponProfessionalBaseballLeague #MajorLeagueBaseball #HiroshiSasaki #KyotoInternationalHighSchool #TetsuyaMizutani

In 1858, Cincinnati, Ohio is the second most populated city, per capita outside of Manhattan, New York. It is also one of the final destination spots for the Underground Railroad, freeing runaway slaves from the oppressive south, and the young and evolving sport of baseball, takes it's roots in the city. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first professional baseball team in America. This week, we examine the long and storied history of baseball in the Queen City, including a rich Negro League tradition, the rise and fall of Riverfront Stadium, and the construction of today's baseball cathedral The Great American Ballpark, where the Reds have called home since 2003. #CincinnatiReds #RiverfrontStadium #GreatAmericanBallpark #CrosleyField #BigRedMachine #RedStockings #RedLegs #TownBall #BomDeBeck #WilliamCoolidge #UnionCricketClub #EdRoush #FrankRobinson #PeteRose #JoeMorgan #CincinnatiBengals #CincinnatiTigers #CharlieGrant

During the 1976 Major League Baseball season, a shooting star blazes across the baseball universe, as the kid from nowhere is seemingly everywhere, becoming a 1970's pop-culture icon.
Mark " The Bird" Fidrych captures the imagination and hearts of seamheads everywhere with his dominanat pitching prowess, and his on-mound antics, becoming a character of the game, who won't be soon forgotten. #MarkFidrych #VirginiaFidrych #PaulFidrych #AnneFidrych #JessicaFidrych #DetroitTigers #BostonRedSox #JoeCusick #MonrgomeryRebels #LakelandTigers #EvansvilleTriplets #ClevelandIndians #NewYorkYankees #ElrodHendricks #BobUecker #BobPrince #ABCMondayNightBaseball #PawtucketRedSox

With players contractually bound to their respective MLB teams, via the oppressive Reserve Clause. 22 Major League players defect to the Mexican Baseball League in 1946. New commissioner Happy Chandler drops the hammer. and levies five year bans to all the players who jump the league, This week we take a look at the 22 players involved, and the consequences they faced, because of their actions. Nearly three decades before Curt Flood would smash the compensatory system, that shackled players to their clubs, these were the first 22 players who dared to challenge the system. #JorgePasquel #SalMaglie #MickeyOwens #HappyChandler #MonteIrvin #TedWilliams #BobFeller #StanMusial #MaxLanier #FredMartin #LouKlein #JoeGaragiola #DannyGardella #GeorgeHausmann #AdrianZabala #AceAdams #RoyZimmerman

In this week's biographical chapter of ballplayers and their stories, the focus is on the baseball journey and life of the great Eddie Matthews. In tandem with Hank Aaron, the duo would become baseball's most lethal power-hitting combo to ever play the game, As the two players developed into the game's prolific power-hitters of the day, the same Braves team that had just fled the city of Boston, for the greener pastures of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, only 5 years earlier, find themselves in back-to-back World Series appearances versus the dynastic New York Yankees. One of the toughest third-basemen to ever grace a diamond, he is the only player in Major League history to play for the Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, setting an enduring legacy, that will surely span generations of time and eras at the Hot Corner. #EddieMatthews #TexarkanaTexas #SantaBarbaraCalifornia #BostonBraves #MilwaukeeBraves #AtlantaBraves #WarrenSpahn #ConnieRyan #FrankRobinson #DonDrysdale #LewBurdette #BobBuhl #BobGrim #BabeRuth #ErnieBanks #JuanMarichal #HarryKalas #DonWert #DetroitTigers #HoustonAstros #JimCampbell #MayoSmith #EddieMatthewsStadium