Lanky, mop-topped, and nicknamed for his resemblance to Big Bird on Sesame Street, Fidrych exploded onto the national stage during the Bicentennial summer as a rookie with the Detroit Tigers.  He won over fans nationwide with his wildly endearing antics such as talking to the ball — and throwing back the ones that “had hits in them;” getting down on his knees to “manicure” the mound of any cleat marks; and shaking hands with just about everyone from teammates to groundskeepers to cops during and after games. Female fans tried to obtain locks of his hair from his barber and even named babies after him.

But The Bird was no mere sideshow. The non-roster invitee to spring training that year quickly emerged as one of the best pitchers in the game. Meanwhile, his boyish enthusiasm, his famously modest lifestyle, and his refusal to sign with an agent during the days of labor disputes and free agency made him a fan favorite.  A rare player who transcended pop culture, Fidrych was named starting pitcher in the All-Star Game as a rookie (the first of his two All-Star nods) and became the first athlete to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Baseball researcher Doug Wilson delivers the first biography of this once-in-a-lifetime player. Through extensive interviews and meticulous research, the author recounts Fidrych’s meteoric rise from Northborough, Massachusetts to the big leagues, his heartbreaking fall after injuries, his comeback attempts with the Tigers and in the Red Sox system, and one unforgettable night when The Bird pitched a swan song for the Pawtucket Red Sox against future star Dave Righetti in a game that remains part of local folklore. Finally, Wilson captures Fidrych’s post-baseball life and his roles in the community, tragically culminating with his death in a freak accident at the age of 54.

Listen in — as we celebrate The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych…

“I don’t know whether Ron Kaplan took any performance-enhancing drugs, but he has accomplished something amazing.  His book is the ultimate guide to baseball literature.  If you love baseball or books or any combination thereof, you should pick this up now.” -A. J. Jacobs, editor-at-large at Esquire magazine and author of four New York Times bestsellers

From a bewildering array of baseball books, Ron Kaplan has chosen 501 of the best, making it easier for fans to find just the books to suit them — or to know what they’re missing.  From biography, history, fiction, and instruction to books about ballparks, business, and rules, anyone who loves to read about baseball will find in this book a companionable guide, far more fun than a reference work has any right to be.

In addition to working as a sports and features editor for a weekly New Jersey publication, Ron Kaplan is a freelance writer, specializing in book reviews.  A long-time member of the Society for American Baseball Research, he serves as editor for the Bibliography Committee Newsletter.  Ron writes about baseball books and other media regularly at RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com.

Since the pages on a calendar continue to turn for us all, listen in to the lively Clubhouse discussion about 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die…

Tracing the careers of four instrumental players who turned around the New York Yankees, Core Four shares behind-the-scenes stories from their early days together in the minors through the 2012 season, and follows them on their majestic ride to the top of the baseball world.  At a time when the Yankees were in free fall, having failed to win a World Series in 17 years and had not played in one in 14 years — the Bronx Bombers’ longest drought since before the days of Babe Ruth — along came four young players whose powerful impact returned the franchise to its former glory.

Phil Pepe is the author of more than 50 books on sports, including Few and Chosen Yankees: Defining Yankee Greatness Across the Eras, The Yankees: An Authorized History of the New York Yankees, as well as a biography of Yogi Berra, and collaborations with New York Yankee legends Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin, and Whitey Ford.  He is a former Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily News and a past president of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The legendary Phil Pepe filled the Clubhouse with fascinating stories about the Core Four, Yankees history, and a touching memory about Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey.  Listen and enjoy…

Baseball in the 1930’s was more than a national pastime; it was a cultural touchstone that galvanized communities and gave a struggling country its heroes despite the woes of the Depression.

Hank Greenberg, one of the most exciting sluggers in baseball history, gave the people of Detroit a reason to be proud.  But America was facing more than economic hardship.  With the Nazis gaining power across Europe, political and social tensions were approaching a boiling point.  As one of the few Jewish athletes competing nationally, Greenberg became not only an iconic ballplayer, but also an important and sometimes controversial symbol of Jewish identity and the American immigrant experience.

When Hank joined the Detroit Tigers in 1933, they were headed for a dismal fifth-place season finish.  The following year, with Hank leading the charge, they were fighting off the New York Yankees for the pennant.  As his star ascended, he found himself cheered wherever he went.  But there were other noises, too.  On and off the field, he met with taunts and anti-Semitic threats.  Yet the hardship only drove him on to greater heights, sharing the spotlight with the most legendary sluggers of the day, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig.

Enter the Clubhouse, as award-winning author John Rosengren discussed his new book, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes.  Director Aviva Kempner joined the discussion and screened exciting new extra footage from the DVD of her Peabody Award-winning documentary, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.

In visiting baseball’s inner sanctum, the “No Visitors Allowed” sign that has barred the clubhouse door for So Many Seasons In The Sun is taken down for the first time for a unique look at what is the real center of all that is important with any baseball team.

Join Larry Hogan as he takes us into major league clubhouses at this special event hosted by the New York Giants Preservation Society…

Author Jim Kaplan, who covered baseball for Sports Illustrated in the 1970’s and 1980’s, initially planned to expand a magazine story he’d written about the game into book form. The more he researched the principals in his travels from San Francisco to South Buffalo to Santo Domingo, however, the more fascinated he became with their biographies. Spahn was one of the most decorated ballplayers to fight in World War II. Marichal narrowly escaped death three times. Despite their obvious differences — Spahn was white, American, and left-handed, Marichal is bronzed, Dominican, and right-handed — Kaplan found extraordinary similarities between the friendly rivals.

Listen in as Jim Kaplan takes us back, 50 years ago, to The Greatest Game Ever Pitched…

A CELEBRATION OF BASEBALL ENTERTAINMENT

SPECIAL GUEST: FORMER MLB PLAYER, BILLY SAMPLE

YOUR HOST: CHRIS LUTKIN

BIG FLY BASEBALL RADIO HOUR PROGRAM

RAPHAEL BADAGLIACCA  - THE YOGI POEMS & OTHER CELEBRATIONS OF LOCAL BASEBALL

Author Raphael Badagliacca reads from his book, “The Yogi Poems,” a collection of 25 stories and poems is for anyone who loves baseball. http://www.theyogibook.com/

BROOKLYN BRAD – CASEY AT THE BAT

Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw, President of the Flemington Neshanock Base Ball Club and historian of the MAVBBL and VBBA (Vintage Base Ball Associations), performs his rendition of “Casey at the Bat”  by Ernest Lawrence Thayer (1888).

Brad will also share insights on playing in Vintage Baseball leagues in the area, including his team, the Flemington Neshanock, from Huntington, NJ.  Chris Lutkin also plays Vintage Baseball, for the Hoboken Nine. The Hoboken Nine are partially sponsored by the Hoboken Historical Museum.

http://www.neshanock.org/

www.HobokenNine.vbba.org

A READING FROM SCREENPLAY ‘BULL’

Written by Chris Lutkin and Enrico Falconi / Directed by Enrico Falconi

CAST:

Johnny Lancaster as Bull Smith

Brian Kelly as Honus Wagner

Jack Mulcahy as Pittsburgh Pirates Manager Fred Clarke

Enrico Falconi as Umpire Silk O’Connor

“Field of Dreams” meets a modern day “League of Their Own” in this new feature film screenplay, “Bull.” Seen through the eyes of a troubled 17-year old All Star athlete, we uncover the life of her Great Great Grandfather, “Bull,” a real life ball player from a bygone era.

https://pro-labs.imdb.com/title/tt2609368/filmmakers

http://www.bullsmithmovie.com/

MORTY’S SONG by LEFTY

The Big Fly Baseball Radio Hour is proud to host LEFTY as our first House Band.

LEFTY IS:

Todd Montgomery, guitar, vocals

Todd Grapes, guitar, harmonica, percussion

Dave Bergman, flute

Bridget Hayes, percussion, vocals

In addition to music throughout the show, Lefty performed a special song honoring anyone who ever played softball in Central Park: Morty’s Song. Morty Gilbert has been playing Softball on the Hecksher Fields since WWII. Now 82 years old, he still holds the permit for Sundays at 11am; he no longer pitches but still bats in his games.  Diana Gross has made a documentary, “The Regulars,” about Morty and his longest running (and one of the last) pickup softball games in Central Park.  Please go to the website to donate or get more info:  www.TheRegularsDocumentary.com

BILLY SAMPLE  - REUNION 108

INTERVIEWED by JACK MULCAHEY

“Reunion 108” is a full-length, comedy feature film that promises to be a no holds barred behind the scenes and in your face look into the world of professional baseball.

Billy Sample is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as an outfielder from 1978-1986. Sample played for the Texas Rangers (1978-1984), New York Yankees (1985) and Atlanta Braves (1986). His new baseball comedy “Reunion 108,” based on many of his own experiences in baseball, comical and otherwise, will have its first showings at the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair, N.J., on April 8.

Jack Mulcahy is the epitome of the working New York actor with over 80 stage, screen and television credits.  He has starred in a wide array of feature films, from the award winning and critically acclaimed “Brothers McMullen” all the way back to the box office smashes of the “Porky’s” trilogy.  Jack has several films set for release in 2013, including “Stuck in the Middle”, a theological slacker comedy, and “Reunion 108”, a baseball comedy that’s certain to ruffle the feathers of baseball’s establishment.

www.reunion108.com

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME - Led by Brad “Brooklyn” Shaw

“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written by Jack Norworth in 1908 after seeing a subway add for the NY Giants.  The music was by Albert Von Tilzer. Neither had ever been to a baseball game.

Listen in as author Matthew Silverman takes us back to 1973 — Baseball’s Wildest Season…

“My job as a columnist and feature writer, primarily — as opposed to a beat writer covering the game itself — was to give a sense, a feel of being there, to write about elements of the on-field participants that the spectator is not aware of, and cannot be aware of from his vantage in the grandstands, or on a couch in front of his television set.” -Ira Berkow

Former New York Times columnist Ira Berkow captures the spirit of the New York Mets in this unforgettable collection of opinions, stories, and observations.  On this night in the Clubhouse, memories and reflections about Casey Stengel, Tom Seaver, Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Art Shamsky, Ron Darling — and even Michael Jordan & Abba Eban.

Ira Berkow, a sports columnist and feature writer for The New York Times for more than 25 years, won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2001 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer for commentary in 1988.  He is the author of 20 books, including the bestsellers Red: A Biography of Red Smith and Maxwell Street: Survival in a Bazaar.

On March 14th, we had a standing-room-only crowd in the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse — and an hour’s worth of stories from a Pulitzer Prize winner.  Listen in…

(This podcast is dedicated to the memory of Audrey McGinn)

Through dogged research and extensive interviews, award-winning author and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this majestic and enigmatic pitcher.  A stirring account of the child born to a poor Alabama washerwoman, the boy who earned his nickname from his enterprising work as a railroad porter, and the young man who took up baseball on the streets and in reform school before becoming the superstar hurler of the Negro Leagues.

Larry Tye reveals how Paige, hurt and angry when Jackie Robinson beat him in breaking the Major League color barrier, emerged at the improbable age of 42 to help propel the Cleveland Indians to the World Series.

Over a career that spanned four decades, Satchel pitched more baseballs, for more fans, in more ballparks, for more teams, than any player in history.

Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend

Listen in as author Larry Tye leads the discussion in the Clubhouse.  And, remember, don’t look back.  Something might be gaining on you.

Enjoy this special event — live from the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse on December 13, 2012…

As a child, she bounced on Babe Ruth’s knee, made sandcastles on the spring training beach with Joe DiMaggio, and won card games with Cy Young.  Growing up in a baseball family, Vernona was a tag-along with her parents at Old Timers’ games, World Series, and Cooperstown Induction weekends.  A concert pianist, Vernona made her debut at Carnegie Hall — at the age of 8.

On December 13th, we were extremely fortunate to have hosted a special night with Vernona Gomez… stories, rare films and personal memories about the dusty streets of turn-of-the-century California, to the frenzied roar of Yankee Stadium and the exuberant sophistication of Broadway.

Our final author of the 2012 Event Calendar in the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse.  Enjoy Part One of this special evening with Vernona Gomez…

“Much of sports can leave us skeptical if not cynical. But I defy anyone to read Ray Negron’s remarkable story and not come away believing that there still can be genuine heart, soul, and even redemption in the games we watch and play.” -Bob Costas

“Full of fascinating personal anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details, it brings back memories of what it was like to be in Yankee Stadium on a warm summer afternoon.” -Henry Kissinger

On October 25, 2012, we hosted the Inaugural Meeting of the New York Giants Preservation Society.  The Clubhouse was packed with mensches who happen to love the Giants.

Listen in to a bit of this evening, as Joshua Prager, author of “The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and The Shot Heard Round The World,” told story upon fascinating story.

(This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my Dad.)

Showcasing original cards for legendary players such as Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Derek Jeter, this unique package provides a fun and fresh approach to revisiting America’s pastime.

“Yankee Greats” will let all baseball fans revel in and reminisce over many of the players that helped make baseball the game it is today.  These legendary cards will fill you with fond memories, whether you’re young — or young at heart.  Join Bob for an evening in the Clubhouse…

Bob Woods is a freelance writer who grew up in upstate New York during the 1950s and 1960s, loving the Yankees and collecting Topps baseball cards.  His affection for the Yanks only increased when he moved to NYC after college, and later intersected with his career after he teamed up with Topps to create “Topps Magazine.”  Bob’s ongoing association with Topps ultimately led to this labor of love.

Danny Peary, author of Gil Hodges: The Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend, is joined for Q&A by a special guest — beloved member of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets, Art Shamsky.

Enjoy!

Dutifully following the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958, Hodges longed to return to New York City. He joined the original Mets team in 1962, and he finished his playing career with them. In 1968, he took over the manager’s spot on their bench. Under his steady hand, the Mets went from a joke to World Champions — the 1969 Miracle Mets.

Yet behind his stoic demeanor lay a man prone to anxiety and worry. Hodges was scarred by combat on Tinian and Okinawa during World War II, and his inner turmoil was exacerbated by tight pennant races and excruciating defeats. His sudden death in 1972 — at the age of 47 — shocked his friends and family, and left a void in the hearts of baseball fans everywhere.

Acclaimed authors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary delve into one of baseball’s most overlooked stars, shedding light on a fascinating life and career that even his most ardent fans never knew. An exciting biography that paints a portrait of an amazing era of baseball as much as it does an admirable player, Gil Hodges is sure to please fans of America’s pastime.

Danny Peary gave us a wonderful Clubhouse event a couple years ago with Roger Maris.  Listen in to Part One of Danny’s return to the Clubhouse for Gil Hodges: The Brooklyn Bums, the Miracle Mets, and the Extraordinary Life of a Baseball Legend.

Some people think Jay-Z is just another rapper.  Others see him as just another celebrity/mega-star.  The reality is, no matter what you think Jay-Z is, he is first and foremost a business.

You can slip into his Rocawear clothing - official sponsor of the New York Yankees - wake up to the local radio station playing Jay-Z’s latest hit, spritz yourself with his 9IX cologne, lace up your Reebok S. Carter sneakers, catch a Nets basketball game in the afternoon, and grab dinner at The Spotted Pig before heading to an evening performance of the Jay-Z-backed Broadway musical “Fela!” and a nightcap at his 40/40 Club.  He’ll profit at every turn of your day.

But despite Jay-Z’s success, there are still many Americans whose impressions of him are foggy, outdated, or downright incorrect.  Surprisingly to many, he honed his business philosophy not at a fancy B school, but on the streets of Brooklyn and beyond as a drug dealer in the 1980s.

“Empire State of Mind” tells the story behind Jay-Z’s rise to the top as told by the people who lived it with him.  This book explains just how Jay-Z propelled himself from the bleak streets of Brooklyn to the heights of the business world. Join Zack O’Malley Greenberg, live from the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse…

Zack O’Malley Greenburg is a Forbes staff writer and author of the Jay-Z biography Empire State of Mind.  He pens The Beat Report at Forbes, where he’s covered finance and music since 2005, profiling the likes of Bon Jovi, Justin Bieber, Richard Branson and 50 Cent.  Along the way, Zack’s stories have taken him from Omaha’s rail yards to the diamond mines of Sierra Leone.  He has also written for The Washington Post, Vibe, McSweeney’s, Sports Illustrated and others.  He has served as a guest lecturer at Yale, Berklee School of Music, Georgetown and Harvard, and has appeared as an expert source for BBC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, E!, MTV, Reuters and other outlets.

Join Moe Resner — and special guest Perry Barber — for a fun evening in the Clubhouse…

In “Stillpower,” Garret Kramer provides a revolutionarily simple explanation and understanding.  Could the secret to excellence exist in returning to a childlike state where “the zone” comes naturally?  He reveals the innate principles behind consistent performance and success — on and off the field.  Virtually all of us are looking outside of ourselves, hoping to unlock the keys to happiness and success.  In “Stillpower,” Kramer encourages us to look within to finally find the answers.

Garret’s revolutionary approach to performance has transformed the way players, coaches, and professional teams view the athletic and life journey.  Listen in to Garret’s appearance in the Clubhouse…