Tag: baseball

The Sports Story

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“I trained 4 years to run 9 seconds and people give up when they don’t see results in 2 months.” – Usain Bolt

I was six years old and living in the Philippines when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier came there to fight the Thrilla in Manila. There was so much excitement in the days leading up to the event that it felt like the city was crackling. It was such a big deal that they even let my first grade class watch it on tv at school.

Whether it’s because of the hoopla of that fight or because I just love a good story, I’m up for watching just about any sporting event when I know the players’ stories. Todd Fulginiti and Brian Hannon wrote some great stories about the Eagles which helped me be all in for the Birds in this last Super Bowl.

The fun continues in Episode 111 of the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast because Vicki Atkinson and I were lucky enough to talk about baseball player stories with author and publisher, Rick Kaempfer.

This is the second game in our baseball double-header as we talk with the hilarious and engaging Rick about his labor of love, EveryCubEver. He swears this seventh edition of the book is the last time he’s going to update it until the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.

There are 2600 Cubs in this book – 2296 players and the rest are managers and back office. Rick provides the storytelling in each entry so it’s a great read for history buffs as well as baseball fans. He tells who became a dentist and who ended up in jail, who was on the beaches of Normandy, and who went on to become a governor.  

As an example of the engaging storytelling, he tells us why manager Frank Chance traded for pitcher Jack Harper just to ruin his career.

He gives us the background on the 200 photographs that are included in this edition of the book and where he found them.

Rick tells us the touching story of how he got invited to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony this year. Such a fantastic way to round out a year that includes publishing this seventh edition of EveryCubEver.

Join us as we explore the scenic and beautiful places we go when we tell baseball stories. You won’t want to miss this great conversation with the amazing and entertaining, Rick Kaempfer!

We know you’ll love it!

Please subscribe to our author, creator, and storytelling podcast! Search for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 111: EveryCubEver with Rick Kaempfer

Episode 111 transcript

And please subscribe to our YouTube channel to see great author and storyteller videos from our podcast: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter. We have so many great authors in the line-up!

Links for this episode:

EveryCubEver

Chili Dog MVP

Other episodes with Rick Kaempfer: The Loop Files

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith

(featured photo from Pexels)

Spring Training

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“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth

It’s Spring! I know because my five-year-old son, Mr. D, had his first Little League game.

My friend Eric quipped “Isn’t a Little League game at this level where a batter hits and then everything that happens next is an error?”

Well, he wasn’t far off. The games last for an hour. Each side bats their entire lineup and then they switch to the outfield. A batter gets four coach pitched balls. If a hit hasn’t happened by then, they bring in the tee for the child to hit off of. Each team got to bat twice.

In the outfield, the whole team of 10-12 players go out. Figuring out who to throw to is understandably confusing. Who’s on first? Practically EVERYONE.

In one play, a kid on the other team fielded the ball hit by his own team as he ran to second base. Eric laughed, “I wouldn’t even know how to score that. He gets a forced out and an assist? “

The teams practice getting outs but no one actually sits down on the bench as a result.

It struck me as a great lesson in low stakes learning. How to set up environments where hits and errors are all just scored as lessons. Even for adults, we can learn pickleball or improve our writing without going full-on into performance or competition mode.

So here’s to learning to pitch things and trust they’ll teach us something. To swing for the fences and be able to laugh when it all goes wrong and the ball ends up behind us. And maybe if we don’t want to consider sliding for home, we can at least pounce on the finish line when we find it.

 Because even if we’re not in the Spring of our lives, we’re still in training! Right?

(featured photo is mine)

You can find me on Instagram @wynneleon and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wynneleon/

I co-host a storytelling podcast featuring authors and artists with the amazing Vicki Atkinson. To tune in, search for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts (and subscribe) or click here. Or the YouTube channel features videos of our interviews. Please subscribe!

My other projects include work as a CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), speaking about collaboration and AI through the Chicago Writer’s Association, and my book about my journey to find what fueled my dad’s indelible spark and twinkle can be found on Amazon: Finding My Father’s Faith.

Stealing the Show

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“You gotta keep swinging. You gotta keep believing.” – Babe Ruth

I remember the moment that I realized one of the ways that Mr. D is different than Miss O. He was about two-years-old when I came into the kitchen and found a plastic ball in the middle of my pot of simmering spaghetti sauce. It’s not that Miss O didn’t/doesn’t play with balls – it’s that it’s almost constant with Mr. D.

So it’s been so fun to see him able to turn that constant batting, catching, dribbling, bobbling, and kicking into team fun when he started playing Little League this spring at age five.

Mr. D is so excited about starting on a Little League team that he asked to podcast about it. Which is saying something because he’s not as naturally voluble as his older sister. Vicki and I had so much fun talking with him on Episode 110: Little League with Mr. D.

I’m clearly biased about our guest. But in my opinion listening to the enthusiasm of a kid excited about a team, a sport, and the crack of the ball against a bat stirs the well of our own passions.  

Mr. D shows us all the equipment necessary for Little League – including my favorite, the bubble gum.

We talk about the magic that often happens when we go to MLB games. Vicki tells us about the ball parks and teams in Chicago.

This podcast meanders a bit as we ride along with a young and curious guest. But he brings it all together with an incredible answer when Vicki asks him what he likes best a little before minute 17 in the recording.

We also included a little easter egg after the credits at minute 19. Mr. D shows you don’t have to know how to spell in order to capture hearts.

Join us as we explore the scenic and beautiful places we go when we tell baseball stories. You won’t want to miss this heart-warming and refreshing perspective of five-year-old Mr. D!

We know you’ll love it!

Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to it from your computer on Anchor: Episode 110: Little League With Mr. D

Episode 110 Transcript

AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to see a video clip of each story: @SharingtheHeartoftheMatter.

Links for this episode:

Want more baseball? Check out this episode where Bruce Bohrer talks about being an usher at Wrigley field: Episode 13: Best Seat in the House podcast with Bruce Bohrer

From the hosts:

Vicki’s book about resilience and love: Surviving Sue; Blog: https://victoriaponders.com/

My book about my beloved father: Finding My Father’s Faith;

Hitting It Out of The Park

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“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” – Michael Lewis in Moneyball

Sometimes when my kids and I are looking for something to do on a weekend, I’ll take them to ride the light rail. We ride from our Seattle neighborhood just north of downtown to the stop near the baseball stadium that is just south of downtown. Last year we lucked out with perfect timing on a day the Seattle Mariners were playing. We watched at all the people streaming towards the stadium, bought peanuts from a street vendor, and sat on a bench munching salty goodness as the first sounds of the game started drifting towards us.

This year I’m planning on actually taking my kids to a game but I’m always amazed at how fun just the atmosphere of baseball is. So when Vicki suggested we podcast with her friend and former colleague, Bruce Bohrer, about his post retirement stint as an usher for the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, I was game.

There is something perfectly poetic about Bruce, the former director of admissions at Harper College going on to be in “admissions” at Wrigley field as an usher. And then jotting notes about the marriage proposals, the vendor songs, and all the sights, sounds, and smells of a ball park to write a book about it.

As we recorded this episode, we swung for the fences and Bruce short-stopped a question or two. Ss we were waved on for home, we squeezed in some more of Bruce’s great stories. I could go on and on with the baseball puns because they are so baked in to our lexicon. But I’ll end here with an item on the gratitude list of playwright and author Jack Canfora, from his post Dear Lord, Not Another Post on this Blog About Gratitude:

“For the sound of a bat hitting a baseball and a fastball hitting a catcher’s mitt. Anytime, but especially in early spring.”

Jack Canfora

Doesn’t that crack open a memory or two? If you are up for listening to a podcast, I think you’ll find this one really fun and enjoyable. Search for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts or click here to listen to the episode on Anchor:  Episode 13: The Best Seat in the House with Bruce Bohrer

And for links to Bruce’s book, here are the show notes and more info on Heart of the Matter: Episode 13 show notes