Episodes
What a weird week it’s been in baseball. Bees, cats and sausages are only the tip of the iceberg. Beanballs in Philly before a game, the Rockies refuse to take the lead and blue collar baseball cards are now a thing. But this is a baseball history podcast, so let’s talk about Brad Lesley. The Animal played briefly in MLB, but he became a star both on the field and on the silver screen once he moved to Japan. A mixture of professional wrestler and fireball closer, Lesley was our kind of...
Published 05/03/24
A week late but never a nug short. This episode is all about April 20th. Who has the best 420 name in baseball history? Who was the best player to debut on 420? How good was the real Lil Stoner and how much would he make in endorsements today? We crunch the numbers and do the math. The new season of Wax Pack Heroes is here! Extra wax this season. Don’t forget, you can leave us a message at 607-216-8811.  Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/TwoStrikeNoise/Instagram - @twostrikenoiseBluesky -...
Published 04/25/24
We finally did it, we’re gonna talk baseball AND wrestling this week in honor of WrestleMania. Helping us in two time guest, author Brad Balukjian who has another book, The Six Pack that follows a similar to his first book The Wax Pack. But it’s not all body slams and choke slams, we also talk about minor league promotions, a team full of George Constanza’s, Kenny Lofton learned who the real Man of Steal was from Ron Washington and the long line of Giants Left Fielders. We also open up a pack...
Published 04/06/24
Our final spring training episode we’re ready to start the season. We dug up a Jorge Posada highlight we had never seen before as well as listen to a Boomer from the 80’s saying Boomer things about baseball, our show fact is pretty heavy but still good with a bat and we have our first debut of the season!Our main segment we talk about a Negro League player we’ve never talked about before, little known WW1 veterans in the big leagues, highlight some historic NPB things that later showed up in...
Published 03/23/24
Joey Votto is back! He’s a man of the people and we’re here for it. We also hear a story from Will Clark about some guy stealing bases, find out what cigarettes the 1934 World Champions smoke, listen to Keith Hernandez learn about Mets jerseys in real time and learn a couple of 244 facts.This week’s main story is about Bob Caruthers, he was Shohei Ohtani 135 years before Shohei Ohtani. He won 40 games multiple times on the mound while leading the league in on base with the bat. He also gave...
Published 03/15/24
Still spring training but we’re in mid season form. This week we tackle the hard hitting topics in baseball like reviewing Lance Parrish’ appearance on Different Strokes, Dwayne Murphy still getting paid by MC Hammer, George Brett wants a bathroom upgrade from Royals Stadium and does singing the national anthem before a game really matter?Our main topic this week is all about George Burns. Not the actor, but the baseball player he actually took his stage name from. A MVP and great hitter Mark...
Published 03/08/24
We’re back louder than ever after a week off with the first Lars Nootbaar update of the year, NCAA baseball HBP’s, a new Manny being Manny story, possible expansion city talk (with bonus state capitols)and MLBPA discounts. Our main story this week we look at Hack Wilson. We’ve referenced him plenty but know we get to know about him. He could hit the baseball, a person or the bottle equally as hard. Wax Pack Heroes is back for an exhibition game as we test out some new rules direct from the...
Published 03/01/24
Spring  training has begun but we’re already in midseason form. The Savanna Bananas had a new player but nobody could see him, Tommy Pham likes fantasy football more than the actual game apparently, Jeff Ballard’s IMDB page is better than we expected and some huge Blue Jays news.Our main segment this week is a lyric by lyric breakdown of the 1990 criminally overlooked rap by the Cincinnati Reds, Reds Hot. Barry Larkin gathered some of the best baseball players but worst rappers he could find...
Published 02/16/24
Not a Valentine’s episode but you’re going to love our special list. We found the new season of Banana Ball has some interesting new rules, we track Dan Uggla’s social media past, figure out where the Expos are going to play when they return and remember some baseball players who played basketball as well as baseball.For our main segment we’re cleaning out the closet. That means a bunch of short stories we wrote down and then forgot about. But it gives us the opportunity to talk about some...
Published 02/11/24
This week we celebrate one of the worst baseball owners selling the team (do Oakland next!!!!), update the Jackie Robinson statue saga, catch up on some of Barry Bonds hobbies after baseball and find some live baseball with bonus handlebar mustaches. Our main topic this week is about NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird. We’re a basketball podcast now! Just kidding, but Larry played baseball at one point for one game in college. We’ve got all the info on it and learn about the last bare knuckle...
Published 02/02/24
Covid strikes again, but we fight through it for another episode, a little later than expected. So much to catch up on from MLB! A former pitcher involved in an extra martial affair (shocked!), a former first baseman running for Congress poorly (shocked!), bad food in a major league clubhouse, two fan fests for teams that no longer reside in cities put on by fans, Hall of Fame reactions, Fantasy Camp stories and all the uniform news you could possibly ever ask for heading into the 2024...
Published 01/26/24
New year, new episode! Wonder Franco’s pants are on the move, Wade Boggs sells beer, Tommy Pham finally gets his ring and Chuck D goes hard with a baseball inspired album. Our main segment this week focuses on Larry Doby, the first African American player in the AL, who dealt with the same hardships as Jackie Robinson but didn’t get a movie made about it. He hit a big home run in the 1948 World Series and then got a hug that shocked more people than the homer did. The Wax Pack Heroes season...
Published 01/10/24
It’s that time of the year again when we reflect on the birth of that special somebody, Rickey Henderson. Our annual holiday special this year has some of the usual stuff like rules changes, Hall of Fame voting, Larry Doby and Jake Peavy. But this year we also threw in some of the best holiday adjacent names from our favorite sport and Mark rewrites a holiday classic to reflect some players Jeff has never heard of before. The final Wax Pack Heroes of the year could either bring Mark closer to...
Published 12/26/23
Attention Costco shoppers, we found a great deal on a baseball card, but you need to be a member to save! We review the year in Immaculate Grid, check out celebrity weddings (trust us it has a baseball angle), preview a baseball music festival, talk expensive players and announcers strange diets.If that’s not enough, this week we learn about brothers Leron and Leon Lee. They both played in the US but found their calling in the NPB. Hitting for power and average, they dominated the league for...
Published 12/14/23
Alot of voting going on this week. Hall of Fame, Veteran’s Committee and Japan’s GQ Man of the Year. We discovered a really cool new map tool from SABR, we root for John Smoltz and put a date on the calendar for a great new event MLB is holding in Cooperstown next year. Our main story this week is about Hall of Famer Big Ed Walsh. Big Ed literally pitched until his arm fell off. But before it did he was one of the best pitchers in the league. His spitball was as prolific as his innings...
Published 12/07/23
We’re back, still licking our wounds, losing your favorite team can do that to one. That aside, it’s fun to talk baseball again! Ichiro dominating high school girls teams while giving life advice, an Atlanta icon passes away but provides a great Ted Turner being greedy story, Mike Gallego remembers a great Dave Parker moment, Pete Alonso makes us cry and we come up with our best baseball Thanksgiving names. In our main segment this week we review and cast our votes for the Hall of Fame and we...
Published 11/30/23
This week we have a bunch of baseball stories the rest of big baseball won’t tell you about. Jimmy Hoffa, Mike Gallego, Ichiro, Charlie Finley, hot pants, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, lifetime bands and fish landing in the outfield during a NPB game. We could lose our podcasting license for telling their stories but we’ll risk it for our listeners. Wax Pack Heroes sees some AA cards from 1992 could best be described as a pitcher duel but still fun none the less.Don’t forget, you can leave us a...
Published 11/10/23
The baseball season is winding down but we’re just getting started. Jeff made a trip to Forbes Field, or what is left of it and visited the site of a former guests historic pitch, the new Contemporary Baseball Era Committee Hall of Fames names dropped, we pick them up, there’s a new baseball league for old names, Stew being Stew and we remember Frank Howard who recently passed away. Our main story this week is about the indelible Roberto Clemente and one neither of us had heard before. We...
Published 11/03/23
So many fun baseball things to talk about this week. We found an article that seems to think we’re obsessed with baseball, they are probably right. Was Honus Wagner the original baseball Boomer? Trevor May retires and tells John Fisher he sucks (give this man a statue!), Steve Garvey hopes all his kids will vote for him, Derek Jeter really makes us feel sorry for him and his tough life and the new Rolling Stones album has some baseball ties. Our main story this week is more Ty Cobb! Actually,...
Published 10/18/23
Sorry for the delay, but we’re back with your weekly dose of baseball history. The second best sport on the planet (hockey) took our editor out of town. But as a reward we have for you the following:-Angels fireworks encapsulates their season-Jeff Passon sings-Marlin’s Man hanging with other fan royalty-Possibly our final debut segment for the season?-The first fan to not give a foul ball backFinally, can you beat Mark’s score on our Quiz from the Dugout? Baseball and Canada, streaks and...
Published 10/13/23
This week, we talk baseball! The Barbie movie has seeped into historic Fenway Park, the A’s ownership continues to just suck, Rowdy Tellez makes a late push for the Cy Young, and a random Bob Gibson sighting. Our main story this week centers on the captains of the New York Yankees. There haven’t been many in the storied franchises history, but some of them have some great stories. One Yankee legend got screwed out of his captaincy while two others passed the baton and an iron-man streak at...
Published 09/27/23
This week, we talk baseball! I mean we do every week as well but this week the police track down some idiots who stole from Yogi Berra, we celebrate a city getting to keep their baseball team, we remember a game from 1993 when the Yankees got a do-over and used it to beat the Red Sox and we’ve got some good debuts as the regular season winds down. Our main segment is about a pitcher and a statesman, Jim Bunning. Perfect game, no hitter and a member of both the US Congress and the Baseball...
Published 09/21/23
This week, more baseball history and hijinks. We find out a couple of players the Angels ARE bringing back, see who the next great pitcher from Japan might be, learn of the greatest name of anybody in or outside of baseball, find a new baseball connection from the movie Little Big League and remember some players who made their debuts today, including an expanded story about one of those players and one of the strangest brawls between two division rivals that nobody really wanted to take part...
Published 09/13/23
Back at it again for another week of baseball history fun. We have improved the Immaculate Grid, now somebody just needs to listen to us, Jose Oquendo has entered chat, we review a Bill Murray SNL skit with last week’s guest in it and we return to our roots with a Gabby Hartnett story.Our main segment this week is all about Steve Bilko. The LA icon who was so popular he had a tv character named after him. But his impressive PCL numbers and Hollywood fans couldn’t earn him consistent playing...
Published 09/06/23