Tales From The Booth Episode 2

Simmons, Gehrig, Ruth, Foxx -- four of Hubbell's strikeout victims (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

I wasn't sure about doing Episode 2 of "Sean's Dad Does a Podcast*," more formally known as "Tales From The Booth."

* One day, I'll explain the podcasts that I'm listening to. That might make more sense then, and after producing my latest episode, I'm a bit punchy. It was a roughly five-hour process.

By midweek, I had sort of an idea in place. I wanted to go back to the oldest surviving full game broadcast. But I had to figure out what and how to present it.

In my initial plan, I'd fill in more about the place and time of where this took place, but that didn't come together tonight. Instead, I filled in the game and lots of other tidbits.

With the passing of Julia Ruth Stevens, daughter of some guy named George, I thought there was a certain synergy to the show, so I worked from that.

Ruth and Carl Hubbell, the great Giants' left-hander, are the stars of this episode. Tom Manning, who handles the play-by-play for the majority of the show, co-stars in a big role.

Now that I've posted the show, I realize I should have explained a little more about Manning, who has largely disappeared from broadcasting history, but was described upon his death in 1969 as "one of the most important men" in the history of the city of Cleveland (National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum). Manning was the lead broadcaster for the Indians on WTAM from 1929-1931.

Manning worked for NBC as well.

I also found it interesting that, as you'll hear, Graham McNamee was the pre and post-game host. Ford Bond, who wasn't in sportscasting very long (Wikipedia) serves as an analyst only in that he fills in between half innings. There are no commercials.

Again, our little podcast is a work in progress. I'm quite happy with how it turned out but also have nitpicks already. If you haven't learned, I have a fairly critical mind.

The show is now available on TuneIn, iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, as well as our home base of Whooshka. I'd really appreciate it if you'd listen and tell your friends. Write a review (hopefully a good one!).

We'll keep trying to make them. I might stay in 1934 for next week, but I have to think about it. Also, I know I can find plenty of baseball broadcasts, but I have to find football (college and pro), hockey, basketball, the Olympics, and anything else.