Dr. Travis Stern's new book, "Ballplayers on Stage: Baseball, Melodrama, and Theatrical Celebrity in the Deadball Era" (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2024) explores the relationship between professional baseball and professional theater in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stern joins us in this episode to talk about his book and the how baseball and the theater contributed to the rise of the American culture, culminating with Babe Ruth's emergence as a national hero in the early 1920s.

Stern is an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Bradley University.

Travis Stern on Bluesky (@travisstern.bsky.social)
Travis Stern at Bradley University

In Part Two, Craig went to a Duster show and talks about Duster, the show and the unusual opening act, Dirty Art Club.

Errata: At one point Stern mentions seeing the "Yankees and Mets." We believe he meant to say "Yankees and Dodgers" as the Mets were not a team in the Deadball Era.

Episodes mentioned or discussed:
205 - Baseball at War: Working and Playing Ball in the Bethlehem Steel League w/ William Ecenbarger (https://tinyurl.com/hooks2051114)
82 - Rube Waddell Would Make A Hell of a Movie w/ Prof. Alan H. Levy (https://tinyurl.com/Hooks821114)

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

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Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.

Craig and Rex contemplate the end of the 2024 baseball season as the Dodgers took the first three World Series games from the Yankees. They then turn their attention to the 1949 film "It Happens Every Spring," starring Ray Milland, Jean Peters and Paul Douglas. It's a screwball comedy with a baseball-related plot. Thumb's up all around. Finally, a few words about a North Carolina man that combined artificial intelligence with internet bots to try to take on the online music business. The man is innocent until proven guilty, of course.

Justice Dep't press release in the AI, music bot case.

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Hooks & Runs on Twitter
Craig at Bluesky
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.

Five players in MLB history have driven in 2,000 run in their career. Barry Bonds concluded his amazing 22-year career 4 RBI short of 2,000. This week we examine Bonds' career and try to find out how he came up short.

Also this week, Craig and Rex with their favorite new albums released the third quarter of 2024.

Errata: The reports are Bonds' head circumference grew by 1 to 1.5 inches, not that his hat size grew by 1.5 sizes. The book, "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero," by Jeff Pearlman, released in 2006, not 2007. The book is available through our affiliate link below or wherever you buy books.

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-->You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including the books featured in this episode, through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Hooks & Runs on Twitter
Craig at Bluesky
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeritus:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.