Due to a personal conflict, Mike was unable to help with a new episode this week. So, in honor of Memorial Day, we are re-running a very early episode of TWIB History, in which Mike and Bill celebrate the life and career of Eddie Grant, an underappreciated Phillies, Reds, and Giants third baseman who gave his life in the Argonne Forest in the closi…

Bobby Doerr is not talked about much outside of Boston these days, but was a pretty big deal back in the 1940s, when he suddenly elevated his game to become a perenial All Star and a Hall of Fame caliber player. The Red Sox recognized that 37 years ago this week, when they made him just the third player to have his number retired by the club. Mike …

It's one of the most iconic records in sports, Joe DiMaggio's unbelievably improbable 56 game hitting streak, that began 84 years ago this week. With Kyle Schwarber's 47 game on-base streak now snapped, Mike and Bill thought it was appropriate to revisit the greatest streak of them all, going step by step through this incredible accomplishment and …

Sometimes it takes a while for a prospect to reach his full potential. Sometimes, all it takes is five starts. That's what happened with Kerry Wood, who not only pitched the game of his life 27 years ago this week, but possibly the greatest game anyone has ever pitched, striking out 20 Astros batters while walking zero and allowing one scratch hit.…

One of the most awe-inspiring superstars of all time, Jimmie Foxx didn't start out that way, joining Connie Mack's Athletics at the age of 16. Foxx spent three years mostly ridiing the bench while he matured, during which, 100 years ago this week, he collected his first hit. Mike and Bill look back on The Beast's incredible career and sad end and f…

Every great story begins somewhere, and the world home run king's journey to 868 career home runs began 66 years ago this week, when Sadaharu Oh hit his first career home run. To celebrate that, and the man who became a baseball god on the other side of the globe, Mike and Bill talk to MLB.com's Michael Clair. During the Tokyo Series to kick off th…

Between the generations of three inning late game relievers like Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage and the one inning high leverage relievers like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, there was Lee Smith. Smith bridged the gap between these groups, starting his career as a stopper and ending it as a closer. Along the way, 32 years ago this week, Smith…

The Joker famously believed that all it took to drive someone insane was one bad day. But Gordon didn't have to go through what MLB pitchers did 25 years ago this week, on April 7, 2000, when batters hit a combined 57 home runs around the league, setting a new record. Mike and Bill look back on this absolutely wild day and the players who made it s…

55 years ago this week, if the story is to be believed, a truck waited at a rest area in the middle of Utah, waiting to find out if it should travel west or east. In the balance hung the hopes of two cities that each wanted a big league baseball team. In Part 1 of a two part episode, Mike and Bill look at the troubled first year of the Seattle Pilo…

Continuing their recent run of outfielders who may or may not be Hall of Fame material, Mike and Bill look back this week at the life and career of "Cuy" Cuyler, on the 92nd anniversary of him breaking his leg in an exhibition. It was his second straight year missing time with a broken leg. Did that ultimately hurt the case of this early all star a…

As they gear up for the start of the regular season, Mike and Bill proudly present an encore episode from the early days of the show: With all due respect to the 1899 Spiders, the worst team in baseball history was undoubtedly the one managed by Charlie Brown in Peanuts, the iconic comic strip written by Charles Schulz. And no one knows more about …

The parade of questionable Hall of Fame outfielders continue, as Mike and Bill celebrate Chuck Klein being elected to Cooperstown by the Veterans Committee 45 years ago this week. Klein put together some of the greatest seasons in baseball history, but in some of the weirdest contexts in baseball history, before suddenly flaming out. What happened?…

Despite being a fine player for 17 seasons and a World Series hero three times over, Harry Hooper is one of the least discussed Hall of Famers in 2025. But 124 years ago this week, he was the only man who could replace Joe Jackson and return credibilty to the White Sox, who acquired him from Boston. On this anniversary, Mike and Bill look back on o…

Over more than a century, the Yankee pinstripes have perhaps become the most iconic uniform element in all of sports, instantly identifiable to fans everywhere. And 113 years ago this week, the New York then Highlanders announced they'd be wearing them for the first time. Mike and Bill looks back at the history of the uniform pinstripes, as well as…

Mike accidentally deleted his description of the 6th inning and the unappreciated efforts of Frank McCormick from this week's episode, and so re-presents it here. Apologies!By Mike Bates and Bill Parker

With the baseball history cupboard relatively bare this week, Mike and Bill fire up the ol' randomizer, which settles on an early season Reds and Pirates game from April 24th, 1937. In the process of talking about the game, they learn about Paul Waner, Frank McCormick, pitchers who refuse to allow home runs, batters who don't strike out, Forbes Fie…

After threatening for years, Mike and Bill finally get around to the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Assocation to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the league's only championship. How did this glorious thing come to be and why did it fail? What happened in between? Was its downfall inevitable, or could the idea actually work today? All th…

There has never been an infield that has played together longer, more often, or perhaps better than the Dodgers' incredible combination of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, a dynamic foursome that lasted 9 years and 833 starts together. But it all came to an end 38 years ago this week, when Lopes was traded away. Mike and Bill e…

More maligned than most inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Earle Combs has developed an unfair reputation over the last decade or so as one of the worst choices of the old Veteran's Committee, 55 years ago this week. Mike and Bill look back at the Kentucky schoolmaster to see whether that reputation is warranted and find a much better player…

In 1961, Chuck Dressen told Bob Uecker that there was no place in baseball for a clown. But Uecker proved him wrong over the next 64 years, becoming a beloved backup catcher, World Champion, scout, broadcaster, actor, raconteur and, eventually, Hall of Famer. He became the very manifestation of the American Dream, the son of an immigrant and high s…

Apologies for the truncated version of this episode that appeared initially. This has been rectified in this re-posting. Bernice Gera tried exceptionally hard to become one of baseball's pioneers. And, in many ways, she succeeded when, 53 years ago this week, a court ordered the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues to hire her as t…

Apologies for the re-run. Bill's family had a medical issue this week (everyone is fine, thankfully), so we are re-releasing our 2018 episode on the fascinating Glenn Davis and the disastrous trade that Orioles made to acquire him. In the long history of trades, few have ever been so disastrous for a team than the Orioles acquisition of Glenn Davis…

Either traveling or recovering from travel, Bill and Mike break format to run through the current Hall of Fame ballot, and each find themselves at least one vote short to accomodate all the deserving candidates. But will the agree on who those deserving candidates are?By Mike Bates and Bill Parker

In memory of his passing and in celebration of what would have been his 66th birthday, please enjoy this re-release of our episode focusing on the great Rickey Henderson: One of the most dynamic players of all time, Rickey Henderson still has many fans polarized. But everyone seems to agree that he was the best leadoff man and base stealer in baseb…

Free agency doesn't seem that complicated, but 44 years ago this week, the Boston Red Sox made a colossal error, accidentally non-tendering two of their biggest stars, Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk. Mike and Bill trace the careers of two of the 1970s and 1980s best players, find out what went so wrong at the end of 1980, and sort through the fallout o…