Midnight Library of Baseball

Today the idea of paying to see a baseball game is perfectly normal, but there was a time when this notion was insane, and this new breed of human, known as the fan, was considered out of their minds. In this episode, I explore with a number of expert guests, the very beginning of professional baseball, and how it changed so much in America.

Over the last 100+ years, we've come to associate amateur sports (Olympics, college sports), with purity, sanctity, honor. In many cases, athletes trying to turn professional and make money from their performance has been seen as dirty, dishonorable. This conflict is at the heart of a scandal surrounding Jim Creighton, and it has to do with a skewed understanding of where amateurism came from in the first place. Tonight we discover the truth.

In this episode, I talk to a living, breathing reincarnation of Jim Creighton, to shed light on historical mysteries that have been lost to time. I'll also talk with Tom Gilbert to figure out exactly how fast Creighton was throwing, and what the difference between his speed and the speed of his contemporaries would look like today. Here's a hint. It would have looked bonkers!

The knuckleball is not only the most mysterious, most fascinating pitch in baseball, it might also be the most interesting phenomenon in all of sports. In this episode, I talk with journalist and documentarian Brian Gaffney about the story of the knuckle ball and how his three sons pursued this elusive pitch, and are still pursuing it. The full story can be found in Brian's book, The School of Hard Knucks, recently published and available online.

We've been talking about how Jim Creighton broke the game of baseball. In this episode, we pull back the curtain and see exactly how he did something no other player could do.