Touring the Bases With…Seattle Pilots Documentarian Steve Cox

I don’t have any special knowledge of the Seattle Pilots; like many thousands, I’ve read Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, but I’m nowhere near old enough to have firsthand experience of the team. Still, that book, along with an interest in baseball in Seattle, made me curious about Rainer Valley’s one-year wonder. So a few months […]

Touring the Bases With…Dick Drago

Pitcher Dick Drago began his career with the expansion Kansas City Royals in 1969 and split time between the rotation and the bullpen, winning 11 games in 26 starts and 15 relief appearances.  He led the Royals with 17 wins in 1971, but from ’69-’74 he went only 68-80 as a starter before becoming a […]

Touring the Bases With…Carmen Fanzone

A former versatile infielder turned accomplished musician who once played the “Star Spangled Banner” before a game at Wrigley Field, Fanzone–a flugelhorn player–was originally signed by the Red Sox and spent five years in the majors from 1970-1975, four of them with the Chicago Cubs.  Click here to watch a video of a conversation I had […]

Touring the Bases With…Ron Swoboda

My good friend Bob Lazzari, award-winning sports writer with the Connecticut Valley Times and NY Sports Day, has offered us fantastic material featured at his web sites, Bob Lazzari On Sports and Monday Night Sports Talk, which broadcasts on cable channel CTV-14 in North Windham, Connecticut.  Those of you who are used to reading interviews […]

Touring the Bases With…George Culver

George Culver pitched for the Cleveland Indians (1966-67), Cincinnati Reds (1968-69), St. Louis Cardinals (1970), Houston Astros (1970-72), Los Angeles Dodgers (1973), Philadelphia Phillies (1973-74), and Nippon Ham Fighters (1975), and tossed a no-hitter in 1968.  He only led the league in one category once in his career – hit batters (1968). In nine seasons, […]

Touring the Bases with Ray Sadecki

Ray Sadecki threw 2,500 innings in 18 major league seasons with the Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Royals, Brewers and Braves. He took the time to sit down for a Seamheads.com interview over the phone from his home in Arizona.

Touring the Bases With Tommy John

Tommy John was a major league pitcher from 1963 to 1989. He won 288 games and, most famously, underwent a risky elbow surgery that ended up bearing his name. Now, he’s one of several players who supports a children’s book called A Glove of their Own. The book has a great message for kids, and […]

Touring the Bases with…Gary Gillette

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is giving away free copies of The Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009.  Here esteemed baseball historian and editor Gary Gillette discusses the new Emerald Guide, his current and past projects, and his beloved Detroit Tigers.

Touring the Bases with…Jack Perconte

On October 2, 1983, Red Sox legend and Lynch family hero Carl Yastrzemski lofted a high pop-up to the right of second base in his final major league at-bat, the ball finally settling into the glove of Indians second baseman Jack Perconte.  Only a few months later, Perconte moved west and spent the next two […]

Touring the Bases With Brian Bannister

In an industry that’s getting brainier by the day, Brian Bannister is the epitome of the thinking man’s pitcher. After an unexpected breakout season in 2007, he shared an interesting sabermetric theory to which he attributed some of his success. Unfortunately, his sophomore campaign did not go quite as well, as he lost 16 games. […]

Touring the Bases With… the Veterans Committee

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with two members of the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee about the selection process and the thought that went into it. Both men declined to disclose their votes, but were forthcoming about other aspects of their involvement. Here are the edited transcripts of my conversations with […]

Olympic interview: Scott Crawford, Canada

Olympic interview: Peter Bjarkman, Cuba

Touring the Bases with…Bill Nowlin

Matt Sisson recently sat down with Bill Nowlin to talk about his recent trip to see the Red Sox play in Japan, Japanese players in Major League Baseball and his books on Boston’s favorite team.

Touring the Bases with…Rob Neyer

Matt Sisson recently sat down with Rob Neyer, ESPN columnist and author of the new book Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends, to talk baseball.

Touring the Bases with…Frank Russo

Matt Sisson recently sat down with Frank Russo, Author of the book Bury My Heart at Cooperstown: Salacious, Sad, and Surreal Deaths in the History of Baseball, and creater of the website thedeadballera.com to talk baseball.

Touring the Bases with…Gene Carney

Matt Sisson recently sat down with author, Gene Carney, to talk about his love for baseball writing, his new book, A Baseball Family Album, and the opening of a Shoeless Joe Jackson museum in Greenville, SC.

Touring the Bases with…Cory Schwartz

Matt Sisson recently sat down with Cory Schwartz, Director of Statistics for Major League Baseball and host of the show MLB Fantasy 411, to talk about his background in statistics, the 2008 Major League Baseball season and fantasy baseball.

Touring the Bases with…Jim Bouton

“You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” Former major league pitcher Jim Bouton ended his controversial book Ball Four with those lines in 1969 and the nation has been in his grip […]

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