90secondrecap

Before Little League, Williamsport already had an extraordinary baseball history.

George Stovey and Javan Emory were two Black players from Williamsport navigating professional baseball just as the sport’s color line was being hardened. Stovey later teamed with Moses Fleetwood Walker to form Organized Baseball’s first Black battery.

After his playing days, Stovey returned home and spent years organizing baseball for local kids.

That makes this story feel especially appropriate on Little League World Series weekend.

Jackie Robinson is unforgettable.

Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe became Brooklyn legends.

But there was another Black Dodger who arrived before Campy and Newk — and whose place in baseball history deserves a lot more attention.

Dan Bankhead.

On August 26, 1947, he became the first Black pitcher in modern AL/NL history.

His debut was anything but easy.

But in his very first big league at-bat?

Two-run home run.

Bankhead later roomed with Jackie Robinson, appeared in the 1947 World Series, and played for years in Mexico — including four seasons with the Pericos de Puebla.

Episode 381 of 90 Second ReCap looks back at the Dodger pioneer time forgot.

Before Minnie Miñoso became a White Sox legend, he was already drawing huge crowds at Comiskey Park.

On August 22, 1948, more than 42,000 fans watched Miñoso and the best players in Black baseball compete in the Negro Leagues’ East-West All-Star Game.

Minnie had one of only three East hits that afternoon.

What happened away from Comiskey that same day would soon send his career in an entirely new direction.

Three years later, he was back on the South Side — this time wearing a White Sox uniform.

And the first pitch he saw as a Sox player?

415 feet. Home run.

Episode 380 of 90 Second ReCap: Minnie Miñoso Before He Became Mr. White Sox.

More than three years before PCA was born, the Cubs took the first-ever meaningful game at Wrigley against the White Sox via...

..an extra-inning blast.

For generations, Cubs vs. Sox was one of Chicago’s great baseball arguments.

They played exhibitions. They played the old City Series. They even faced each other in the 1906 World Series.

But regular-season Cubs-Sox baseball at Wrigley Field?

That didn’t happen until June 5, 1998.

And if you’re going to wait that long, you might as well make the first one memorable.

The game went to the bottom of the 12th tied 5-5 before Brant Brown sent one into the right-field seats and sent the White Sox home, 6-5 losers.

More than eight decades after the two clubs began sharing Chicago, the Crosstown rivalry finally had a regular-season chapter at Wrigley.

And the first one ended with a walk-off.

🎥 Episode 379: The First One That Counted

One of the strangest Michael Jordan stories happened at Wrigley Field.

April 7, 1994.

Jordan had retired from the NBA after leading the Bulls to three straight championships and was trying to become a professional baseball player.

But before reporting to the Double-A Birmingham Barons, he had one more stop:

The Friendly Confines.

Jordan started in right field for the White Sox against the Cubs in the Windy City Classic.

He struggled early...

and then he delivered.

MJ finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, including a double that drove in the tying run — and somehow, Cubs fans at Wrigley were cheering for the guy wearing a White Sox uniform.

One day later, Jordan was on his way to Birmingham.

Before he ever wore a Barons cap in a game, Michael Jordan had one shining afternoon where he looked like he belonged on a Major League diamond.

🎥 90 Second ReCap — Episode 378

Wrigley Field hosted four Negro League teams and two games that counted on August 15, 1943.

The Kansas City Monarchs defeated the Cleveland Buckeyes in the opener, with Satchel Paige pitching three scoreless innings and Booker McDaniel earning the win in relief.

The Birmingham Black Barons then battled the Memphis Red Sox to a 3–3 tie before darkness ended the second game.

At the time, AL/NL baseball was still segregated and Jackie Robinson’s debut was nearly four years away. Yet fans at Wrigley watched four all-Black professional teams compete on the North Side—including the eventual 1943 Negro American League champion Black Barons.

It’s an extraordinary piece of Wrigley Field history that deserves to be remembered.

Episode 377 of 90 Second ReCap. Every cap tells a story.

Most baseball fans know Jackie Robinson’s story.

Far fewer know Willard “Home Run” Brown.

Brown had already become one of the Negro Leagues’ great power hitters with the Kansas City Monarchs when he finally got his AL/NL opportunity with the St. Louis Browns in 1947.

On August 13, he stepped in against future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser using an unusually heavy bat whose k**b had broken off.

One pitch later, Brown drove the ball deep into center field and raced around for an inside-the-park home run — the first home run by a Black player in American League history.

And then came one final twist involving the bat itself.

Here’s the story in 90 seconds.

Episode #376 — 90 Second ReCap

Sometimes the best thing an uncle can give a niece or nephew is simply this:

One more person who will always show up. ❤️

For National Gay Uncles Day, Episode 375 celebrates the guncles — and the families who proudly love them right back.

🏳️‍🌈 Love is love.



PFLAG National GLAAD New Era Cap Family Equality Out Magazine Queerty LGBTQ Nation

Happy International Beer Day! 🍻

And I’m celebrating with possibly the most appropriate baseball cap ever made.

These are the Beer City B**g Hammers, an alternate identity of the West Michigan Whitecaps.

But here’s the fun part: A b**g hammer is an actual beer-making tool.

So how did an obscure brewery tool become the inspiration for a baseball team — and one incredible logo?

That story is today’s 90 Second ReCap.

🍺⚾️🔨

And now I need to know: What’s your favorite beer — local brewery or national brand?



New Era Cap West Michigan Whitecaps Minor League Baseball Lids Fanatics Sketchbook Brewing Company Sketchbook Brewing Company

Somebody is shouting “WHOOPIE!” after pulling a one-of-one Shohei Ohtani baseball card that reportedly sold for $11 million.

But for most of us opening boxes of baseball cards?

In the immortal words of Charlie Brown:

“I got a rock.” 🪨⚾

Recorded from the floor of the National Sports Collectors Convention while wearing two things that perfectly explain the hobby:

A Portland Sea Dogs Maine Whoopie Pies cap for the collector who hit the card of a lifetime—and a Peanuts Halloween shirt for the rest of us.

Because every box offers that tiny possibility that this time, you won’t get the rock.

You’ll get the candy.

Or maybe even an $11 million Shohei Ohtani card.

The National Sports Collectors Convention Inc. Topps Los Angeles Dodgers Portland Sea Dogs MLB Snoopy MLB Japan Fanatics Kevin O'Leary