Baseball Journeys: Recent Episodes
The Bell Boys
Baseball is a game of connections. The baseball journey brings people together directly and indirectly through relationships, shared and vicarious experiences across time and distance. Join the Bell Boys on a quest to rediscover their baseball journeys and find connections throughout the game and in life. In the process relive your baseball journey and share your own baseball connections.
Fewer than 150 players in the history of major league baseball have won three World Series rings, Dick Tracewski is one of them. He added a fourth as a coach for the 1984 champion Detroit Tigers. "Trixie" won titles with the Dodgers in 1963 and 1965 and with the 1968 Tigers. From a coal mining town in the hills of Pennsylvania, to the bright lights of the iconic Dodger and Tiger Stadiums, Dick shares his baseball life, playing and winning alongside legends Sandy Koufax, Al Kaline and Sparky Anderson. Dick participated in some of the most memorable baseball moments over is 40 plus years in the game.
Local journalist Joe Blackstock shares the stories he has chronicled of "long gone" baseball journeys while recalling his coverage of Fernando Valenzuela's epic 1981 World Series win and fondly recalls his favorite player of all-time, a Southern Californa Ruthian legend who lives on as long as Joe (nd others) remembers his name.
Listen in with Doug Kurkul the author of "It's a Beautiful Day For Baseball - The National Pastime in the 1960's." Doug provides an insightful glimpse of the last decade in which baseball was in fact, the National Pastime. His book chronicles the baseball journeys of 250 players during that era. From super stars to one-game wonders. Doug's and the Bell Boys baseball paths crossed through the 1967 season providing ample fodder for interesting connections and a great conversation about the transcendent nature of the National Pastime.
Think you know Dave Roberts? Guess again, the San Diego Padres made this Dave Roberts the first draft pick in the nation in 1972, a "one/one' in baseball parlance. He was drafted, signed and in a major league game on the same day! Dave played more than 10 years in the majors with or against many of the stars from the 1970's, including his idol Henry Aaron. Listen in as Dave shares about his career in baseball and the importance of his faith in a journey that lasted for a half century.
The Bell Boys are baseball fans first, then loyal Dodger fans. Needless to say 2024 ended well for LA and the Boys are back with an unplugged post season session to put a big blue bow on things...and to collect some Whoppers from big brother Scott whose sensible World Series prediction came up against a battle-tested team that simply would not be denied.
Hot off the press! Join the Bell Boys for a fast-paced jam session highlighting the 2024 season, road trips, ball park jobs and more, including real-time prognostications as we head into the League Championshiip Series. Recorded an hour before the start of the Dodgers - Mets series.
Baseball Journeys welcomes its first female guest, Adrianna Brown. Brown coached the Etiwanda Eagles High School softball team to the 2024 Califorina State Division 3 Regional Championship. The Eagles went 31-5, which included an 8-0 playoff run to close out the seson as state champs. Listen in as Adrianna recounts her journey in the game which has lead her to a dream job, doing what she loves right in her home town.
In 1966 Larry Jaster was a promising 22-year old rookie left-hander for the St. Louis Cardinals. Listen in as Larry shares his amazing baseball journey that took him from the sandlots of Michigan, to a World Series championship, then on to a quarter century tenure as a minor league pitching coach. Along the way he competed against, played with and coached a long list of star players, including several hall-of-famers. He holds two big league distinctions that will never again be duplicated, including a season of dominance against a single opponent matched only by legendary pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.
John Werhas' baseball journey took him from cleaning the bleachers as a kid in Detrot to the sandlots of San Pedro, CA , to a national championship at USC and the opening day third-baseman of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1964. He would play 14 years of professional baseball...most of it in Triple A Spokane and Hawaii, with a brief stop in Japan. Trouble with the slider limited his success at the major league level, but these travels opened a door for a much higher calling as a pioneering sports Chaplain for several Southern California teams including the Dodgers, Angels, Rams and Lakers. John shares the ups and downs of chasing an elusive dream, only to find it once he gave it all up on a beach at Waikiki.
Enjoy Part 2 of the interview and reunion of high school teammates Lance Parrish and Dave Berry. Lance recounts the historic 1984 World Championship season in Detroit and his encounter with the brutal business side of baseball during the days of colusion against free agency. He and Dave also share about their common faith and family values. A bonus segment with Dave describes an incredible teenage experience with the Amazing Mets that made him a fan for life involving no fewer than three future Hall of Famers.
Mike reunites high school friends over 50 years after they played baseball together in the Southern Califorina of Walnut . Dave Berry went on to a successful career in the fire service. Lance Parrish was a number one draft pick of the Detroit Tigers and parlayed that into a 19-year Major League career that included eight all-star appearances, six SIlver Sluggers and a World Series Championship in 1984. These guys pick up where they left off, and catch up on the incredible baseball journey of one of the game's best.
One of the oldest living major leaguers chronicles his life in baseball in this episode. Don Ferrarese, a little left-hander with a huge heart and a wild and wicked curve carved out an impressive and inspiring career from his highschool all-star days in post-war Northern California to a ninth-inning show down with Mickey Mantle at Yankee Stadium in 1956. The 94-year old Ferrarese recalls a life in the game that connects Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Stan Musial with the dusty sand lots of Southern California's high desert. This is an amazing journey told by a special man who knows how fortunate he was to play the game and who spent a lifetime giving back to generations of aspiring ballplayers that came after him, including the Bell Boys.
The Bells Boys reconvene to settle a World Series whopper wager and discuss the Dodgers decision to deliver a DH in the diamond deal of the decade. A short session on Shohei to be sure.
The Bell Boys reunite for a "real-time" discussion of the post season and a recap of the 2023 regular season. Analysis, predictions and minor pontificating highlight this unique episode of Baseball Journeys as the brothers and Brad all come together for the first time this year to talk baseball. Find how who will win the high stakes World Series "Whoppers" wager and where the Boys believe Shohei Ohtani is headed for the 2024 season. The chat runs the gamut from Hall of Fame Minor League Mascot Tremor, the Savannah Bananas, Joey Votto's final Reds at bat (maybe) and foul ball failures. A long overdue, fast paced and fun session with the full cast from Baseball Journeys!
Baseball Journeys returns from a brief hiatus as Uncle Mike interviews longtime family friend Ryan Marks, a 28-year old baseball protege whose love of the game has been developed from a close family of lifetime Yankee fans, to an Ivy League career on the hallowed grounds of Lou Gehrig's alma mater to the offices of the Southern California corporate baseball world. This is a young man with an old baseball soul coupled with analytic acumen that helps ensure the game is in good hands for future generations of fans.
Mike and Scott conclude their conversation with the Reed family, brothers Jeremy and Mark and their dad Dennie. The Reeds make the transition from professional baseball players to Major and Minor League coaches. Along the way they find a passion for investing in others and work along side some of the greatest players managers and coaches in the game while never losing their strong family values and appreciation for the relationships their involvement in the game has brought their way.
Meet the Reed Family. The Bell Boys finally catch up with their life-long friends who share their baseball journey in the first of a two-part series. Jeremy and Mark Reed have made a career of professional baseball as players and coaches in the minor and major leagues. Their bond with their older brother and parents runs far deeper than the brickdust of a ballfield. Throughout the roller coaster ride of a baseball life their strength comes from their faith and their deep love for one another.
Rejoin the Bell Boys as they complete a two part interview with Andy Strasberg who realized a lifelong dream of working in Major League Baseball. Andy continues his special relationship with Roger Maris and his family and embarks on a long career in baseball that left a lasting impact on how we all experience the game.
Meet Andy Strasberg, a Bronx-born baseball fan who, in the early 1960's bucked the Mickey Mantle band wagon for his lesser known teammate Roger Maris which led to a lifelong friendship with the quiet home-run hitter and his family. Andy has told this and many other great stories from his life in baseball at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and many other venues across the country.
Author Brad Balukjian joins the Bell Boys to discuss his baseball journey tracking down the players he found in a single pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards, including his all-time favorite, Phillies left-hander Don Carman. A college professor by trade, Brad ventured out in the summer of 2015 finding and speaking with most of the players in his pack of cards. He chronicled the adventure in the book, Wax Pack, a great baseball read which reminds us all that ballplayers are human like the rest of us, especially once the lights go out on the game of summer.
Join Baseball Journeys for Part two of Chad Zerbe's amazing career as he ascends the minor league ranks for the San Francisco Giants just time to be part of the 2002 World Series team where he not only gets into three games but comes away with a Game 5 victory. A very special guest joins Chad as he recounts his time with Dusty Baker's Giants.
Relive the emotional baseball journey of Chad Zerbe, a crafty left-handed pitcher from Florida who endured a nine-year minor league odyssey before realizing his dream of pitching in the big leagues for Dusty Baker's San Francisco Giants.
The Bell Boys, along with some special guests pay tribute to the legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. Growing up in Southern California gave the boys an opportunity to listen to Vin night after night, forging deep and meaningful memories that have lasted a lifetime. So pull up a chair and recall your own Vinny memories with the Bell Boys.
Join the Stevens family; Dad, Nolan and Luke, as they describe an epic summer road trip that took them and their entire baseball team across the country to play in Iowa at the Field of Dreams and New York at the Cooperstown Dream Fields...a 27-day, 8000 mile journey they'll never forget.
For Dan Henley the game was literally in his DNA. His dad Gail was a baseball lifer as a player, scout and minor league manager. In a career that spanned 40 years, Dan etched his own legacy, playing with and for some legends of the game before leaving his imprint on generations of Southern California students and athletes in the classroom and on the field.
Take a trip back in time to post-war Cleveland, where a 13-year old farm girl sees the heroes she had only heard before, who, while on their way to the last World Series Championship the city has ever seen forged a story that left an indelible mark on the game and the country.
in Part 2, Connie has an epic encounter with the Boys of Summer at Vero Beach, a life changing detour courtesy of Uncle Sam, a great comeback in '61, then makes a decision that sets the course for realizing his true passion....along the way, he befriends hall-of-famers and bus-driving minor league managers, with a final defining moment on a ball field in Mexico City. You will never forget Connie Muñatones, the power-hitting prospect from East L.A.
Meet Conrad "Connie" Muñatones. Born in 1930's Aliso Village in East. L.A., he played ball at fabled Evergreen Park, Roosevelt High School and UCLA before becoming the first local Latino to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers after their move from Brooklyn in 1958. In Part 1 Connie recalls the impact of a coach and a community that shaped his early baseball journey and prepared him for many big moments on the diamond and in life.
Chuck's baseball journey does not stop after his pro ball days. The game takes him to three continents and back to his beloved Cal Poly Pomona where he assumes the coaching reigns from his mentor John Scolinos, only to embark once more into a mission of service that continues to guide his steps to this day.
Chuck Belk overcame early baseball setbacks to forge a path from high school bench warmer to college and professional champion, college coach and baseball emissary. In Part 1 of his story, Chuck recalls legendary coaches and a persistent belief in his ability to compete at a high level helped him beat the baseball odds and accomplish much more in the game than even he thought was possible.
Our first non-family guest on Baseball Journeys went from an unsigned NAIA infielder, to an international collegiate all-star to St. Louis Cardinal farmhand in the span of a few furious weeks of baseball in 1978. Join Mike as he interviews good friend Pat Proulx who, after a stellar college career spent five years in the Redbirds system.
A very special guest steals the show in Part 2 of Mike's Journey. A life-changing encounter, a legendary college coach, lean times, a moment in the sun and a midnight finale in the desert completes Mike's journey...at least for now.
Brad interviews Uncle Mike who fills in the gap in the the Bell Boys Baseball Journey. Inspired by the "Pioneer" and a great coach, Mike's love of the game was forged behind the plate and on the hill. A sandlot fusion of the "wild thing" and "pig pen", win or lose, this character leaves it all on the field.
Scott returns to share the details of his pioneering baseball journey. As the elder statesman of the Bell Boys he ventured out from the backyard sandlot into the uncharted waters of organized ball. Scott went from a two-inning per game rookie to a perennial all-star during his 11-year career and eventually circled back to coach kids who would go on to play college and pro ball. The Bell Boys baseball journey may have never happened if Scott had not overcome some initial adversity and stuck with a game both fraught with failure, and wrapped in joy. He truly paved the way.
Retrace the baseball journey of Joe and his son Brad. Epic Little League bombs, high school heroics, baseball in Big Sky Country and a Mickey Mantle thread from beginning to end. Their story may remind you of your own.
Follow the incredible pioneering Bell Boy baseball road trip with brother Scott who at 15 decides to ride his ten speed 30 miles to just be near the 1974 World Series at Dodger Stadium....he and his friend are rewarded for their daring deed in a most unexpected and unforgettable way.
Join Brad and his Dad Joe as they recount an epic 2005 baseball road trip through the midwest. Four games, big stars, memorable moments, a baseball angel and a permanent scar as a Wrigley souvenier.
Explore and relive your own baseball journey and the connections made through the game as Uncle Mike and Brad discuss baseball stadium road trips in this debut episode. (Note: the title has changed from Baseball Connections to Baseball Journeys, hang in there as we learn the podcasting workflow...thank you for listening)