Rock & Roll Shin-Soo Choo (Audio)

The year 1992 was superb for both music and Canada. In baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays claimed Canada's first World Series title, while the premium trading card market started to set a new standard for decades to come. In music, dozens of exceptional releases from new and veteran acts filled the shelves of Musicland and Sam Goody.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into Donruss baseball cards. We primarily focus on the company's first decade or so of baseball card sets, discussing design motifs, iconic cards, and, of course, Diamond Kings. We even share a few of our favorites from over the years.

Every year we hold the Choo-In Hall of Fame inductions, which are intended to recognize artists that are unlikely to be enshrined into the actual Rock Hall, but we feel are equally deserving of the recognition. This year, Jonathan inducts Fu Manchu, Levi inducts Robert Palmer, and Gabe inducts Sananda Maitreya. And, for the first time ever, we draft our All-Choo team of former MLB players.

In this episode, we take you beyond the late '60s and into the heart of the Bay Area's diverse musical landscape. We also round the bases with two of baseball's more successful franchises, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants. From Rickey Henderson to Madison Bumgarner to franchise owners with never-ending wanderlust, we discuss some of the area's baseball history. Then we share some of our favorite music from the area, from the Pointer Sisters to the Doobie Brothers to Metallica to Too Short, and much more.

In this episode, we welcome guest panelist Tom Snyder as we cover country music from the 1980s and into the 1990s - an era that would welcome new trends, slicker production, and early forays into music video. From Urban Cowboy to Curb Records and Hank Jr. to The Judds we discuss the highs and lows of a genre that further cemented its place in the mainstream. Of course, we also attempt to tackle the 800-pound gorilla that is Garth Brooks.

The Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota have been the source of a fair amount of rock and roll and baseball history. Along with guest panelist and musician Paulie Matushek, we cover a bit of each in this field guide. From the Replacements to Prince to Cory Wong, we share some of our favorite music to come from the area. Then we tackle some Twins history, from their championships at the Metrodome to all-time greats like Killebrew, Blyleven, Carew, and Puckett.

We have reached the end of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll. Our shared items include an iconic piece of sports equipment, an important first name in the history of rock guitarists, a team that bounced back from a heartbreaking finish to the season, and much more.

We enter the top 15 of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a non-traditional instrument in rock, an all-time Chicago Cub, an influential collaboration at an early '90s award show, and much more.

We enter the top 25 of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including band loyalty, a trailblazing music festival, a couple midwestern baseball stadiums, one west coast stadium, and much more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a high school tradition in vagrancy, a renewed interest in a rock sub genre, a Sunday childhood tradition, and much more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a gut-busting nostalgia sports Twitter account, an all-but-extinct music buying experience, a curse-breaking grand slam, and much more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a sinister musical craze, a classic baseball card set and subset, a 1980s music video, a nightly baseball program, and much more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including bygone eras of ticket outlets and baseball card shops, an emotional supergroup reunion and pennant clinching win, our favorite artists from Illinois, and more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a pair of surprisingly popular bands, a too-good-to-be-true record club, an 8-bit baseball game, a baseball card set from the '80s, and more.

We continue a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll, including a baseball player's unusual equipment choice, a champion of heavy metal, a relatively obscure baseball collectible, a defunct streaming audio service, a record store in Kansas and more.

To celebrate this landmark episode, we begin a countdown of our 100 favorite things about baseball and rock and roll. Whether this is your first episode, your 100th or somewhere in between, thank you for listening.

Every year we hold the Choo-In Hall of Fame inductions, which is intended to recognize artists that are unlikely to be enshrined into the actual Rock Hall, but we feel are equally deserving of the recognition. This year, Levi inducts Average White Band, Gabe inducts The Tubes and Jonathan inducts Gov't Mule. Warning: No baseball content in this episode.

The year 1989 was a heckuva way to close out a decade. Upper Deck disrupted the trading card industry, giving us one of the most iconic baseball cards of all time, while an earthquake shook up the World Series between two Bay-area teams - the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants. In the music industry, veterans like The Cult, XTC and Chris Rea offered superb albums that may be overshadowed by all-time classics from Tom Petty and the Beastie Boys. But newcomers like Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, and - yes - even Milli Vanilli, made breakthroughs nobody would soon forget.

In what has become an MLB Opening Day tradition, we welcome back Ricky Cobb of Super 70's Sports as a guest panelist. In addition to catching up on Ricky's whirlwind year, we critique sports uniforms, discuss underrated '70s ballplayers and share our favorite vintage baseball video games. We then go around the horn to share some storylines we are looking forward to in MLB in 2019 and our playoff and World Series predictions.

For our Field Guide to Philadelphia, we welcome Philly natives Craig Rosen and Perry Shall as guest panelists. Craig shares his memories of attending Live Aid at JFK Stadium, while Perry tells us about his involvement in the Philly music scene as both a graphic artist and musician. We all discuss local artists like The Hooters, Hall & Oates, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Marah, The War On Drugs and many more. Craig then tells us about his favorite memories for a Phillies franchise that has experienced many highs and lows over the years.

Detroit, Michigan has exported some of the finest baseball, rock and, ahem, Motown in history. In this Field Guide, we pay homage to the city's World Series champion 1968 and 1984 Detroit Tigers, the franchise's best players (along with our more obscure favorites), old Tiger Stadium and much more. Then we shift to music and share our thoughts on Detroit's place among American music hubs, choose our Detroit "Mount Rushmore" of music and share favorite lesser-known album releases from the city.

Joe Carter hit a World Series-winning home run off of Phillies reliever Mitch Williams in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series, making the Blue Jays back-to-back Series champs. And back-to-back winners was a theme carried throughout 1993 by rock's newest heavyweights. Both Nirvana and Pearl Jam followed their previous massive hits (which were still in the charts), with equally acclaimed follow-ups – In Utero and Vs., respectively. But the year was about much more than angst-ridden alternative rock. Hip hop continued its ascendency, both critically and commercially.

It's 1988 and the revolution has begun. With debut albums from Soundgarden, Jane's Addiction, NWA and Eazy-E, rock is shedding its hairspray image and rap is getting ready to take over the mainstream. In MLB, a "performance-enhanced" revolution will introduce itself to America's Pastime in the form of The Bash Brothers, as sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire will lead the Oakland A's to 104 wins and its first AL pennant since 1974. Ultimately, a hobbled Kirk Gibson will provide one of the most iconic World Series moments in history and a lights-out Orel Hershiser will lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to their first championship in more than 20 years.

Every year around the time of the actual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions, we hold the Choo-In Hall of Fame inductions. The Choo-In Hall of Fame is intended to recognize artists that are unlikely to be enshrined into the actual Rock Hall, but we feel are equally deserving of the recognition. This year, Gabe inducts folk pioneers Fairport Convention, Levi inducts acoustic guitar virtuoso Michael Hedges and Jonathan inducts multi-faceted bass player Mike Watt. Warning: No baseball content in this episode.

We examine the ashes of the Black Crowes, as brothers Rich and Chris Robinson have each formed bands that lean heavily on Crowes material. We share our thoughts on Chris's new project, As the Crow Flies, and why he is such a contentious figure. We also discuss Rich's project, Magpie Salute, and our excitement surrounding their future.

We celebrate MLB's Opening Day by inviting back Ricky Cobb of Super 70's Sports as a guest panelist. Ricky shares some details on his podcast and upcoming book. We then share some storylines we are looking forward to in MLB in 2018 - from new rules and players to old rivalries. After sharing our ALCS, NLCS and World Series predictions, Ricky shares his favorite 1970's baseball card set. Then Levi reviews his 2018 Topps collection before Gabe opens a brand new pack. Happy Opening Day, folks!

To help us recap the year in baseball and rock that was 1982, we welcome guest panelist Paulie Matushek - a lifelong Milwaukee Brewers fan and lead guitarist for the People Brothers Band. Paulie discusses the Brewers team that lost to the Cardinals in the '82 World Series and other baseball memories. We then share some of our favorite music of the year, including the lesser-known releases from ABC, the Blasters, and Phil Lynott, as well as the more popular releases from KISS, Dire Straits, and Michael Jackson.

We welcome back filmmaker Adam Galassi as we take a deep dive into movie soundtracks and scores. From original scores like The Godfather, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and The Shape of Water to group compilations like Judgment Night, Say Anything and Rushmore, we cover quite a bit of ground - referencing more than 60 films over the course of 70 minutes. And we still didn't get to everything we wanted, which explains the rumors of a sequel already in the works. So buckle up and enjoy the ride as we take you through this blockbuster of an episode.

Collin Dupuis is a two-time GRAMMY-winning mixer and engineer credited on of our favorite albums of 2017, Marty Stuart's Way Out West. Collin has also worked with Dr. John, the Black Keys, St. Vincent, Lana Del Rey and Angel Olsen, as well as other personal favorites like Grant-Lee Phillips, Brownout and Bombino. We chat with Collin about his sessions with Bombino and Marty Stuart, as well as his "old-school" recording techniques, some of his favorites moments in recorded music and DIY recording tips. But to start the show, we discuss the Cubs' top brass insisting Sammy Sosa come clean if he wants to be involved with the organization moving forward. This leads to a discussion on the evolving opinion of confessed and suspected steroid users in baseball.

We celebrate the end of 2017 with a chat about our highlights of the year - including album releases, concerts, MLB moments and much more. We also discuss the new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of inductees. Thanks for listening in 2017. Here's to another generous year of rock and baseball.

Graphic designer Margo Z. Nahas is best known for her work on Van Halen's 1984 and Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, along with albums by Seals & Crofts, Rick James and Autograph. Margo chats with us about the process of designing those albums and much more. She also shares some of her favorite album covers and whether or not connecting with the music on the record is important in the design process – an answer that may surprise you.

We pay tribute to AC/DC founding member Malcolm Young, who passed away at age 64. AC/DC's Back in Black album has sold 23 million units in the United States. As part of the grab bag portion, Gabe and Levi guess other all-time best selling albums in U.S. history. We then discuss bands that, like AC/DC, made the transition from one lead singer to another. But for the heart of the order, we honor Malcolm Young and discuss what made him so special and, relatively speaking, under appreciated. Finally, we share some baseball cards to close the episode.

In light of Tom Petty's untimely death, we create an around-the horn-setlist to celebrate his deep catalog. The opening grab bag portion of the show includes a debate on whether you'd want to forever wear Dodger or Astro uniforms (if you had to choose one), Metallica's recent appearance in Manchester, England and a trivia question on two former MLB players born on Halloween. We wrap up with a Show Your Cards segment.

Danny Clinch joined us to discuss his upcoming film, "Let's Play Two", which documents Pearl Jam's two nights at Wrigley Field during the Chicago Cubs run to the 2016 World Series. Danny also shares his connection to baseball and elaborates on another project of his - a documentary on the late Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon. We also have a grab bag of discussions to start the show and a Show Your Cards segment to close the show. Enjoy!

We are back! In this episode, we catch up on late season MLB developments before delving into a grab bag of topics, including Mark Twain's umpiring debut, expansion team all-timers and feuds in rock. Our main topic covers late bloomers in both rock and MLB. Rock's late bloomers may include artists who we feel produced their best output either late in life or simply later in their career. We then close with a very satisfactory Show Your Cards segment.

Patrick Sullivan joins us to discuss the Tall Tales Festival, which he organizes and will take place on August 11 and 12 in Burlington, Wisconsin. In the spirit of discovering new music at festivals, we share some of our favorite artists that we discovered in a live setting. Patrick then shares his experiences growing up as a Milwaukee Brewers fan and his take on the current state of the team. We all then show our cards!

We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love and all things baseball and rock from 1967. The 1967 MLB season featured the Impossible Dream Boston Red Sox, led by Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski. The Red Sox ultimately faced the Bob Gibson and Orlando Cepeda-led St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. While the year in music was largely dominated by the release of The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers, we discuss some other popular, though overshadowed albums from the year, including LPs by Love, Procol Harum and Bobbie Gentry. We then share some favorite 1967 baseball cards.

We start the show discussing potential MLB expansion cities, gourmet stadium hot dogs (we even build our own) and this date in music history, which leads to a discussion of what one tour we'd want to have caught in the 1980s. Then we each share three bands that are on the top of our to-be-seen checklists. We follow that with three games of MLB's past that we would have liked to have seen in person. Finally, we each share baseball cards.

We welcome guest panelist Adam Galassi as we remember the lives and musical contributions of Chris Cornell and Gregg Allman. Helming Soundgarden and the Allman Brothers Band, respectively, both Chris and Gregg are all-time rock icons, and both are deeply entrenched in our musical tastes. We close the otherwise heavy show with a bit of levity, bringing back the Show Your Cards segment. Adam celebrates Star Wars 40th anniversary with a unique trading card, while Gabe, Levi and Jonathan share cards of Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves.

We hold the Choo-In Hall of Fame inductions every year around the time of the actual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions. The Choo-In Hall of Fame is intended to recognize artists that are unlikely to ever be enshrined into the actual Rock Hall, but we feel are equally deserving of the recognition. This year, Levi inducts guitar god Roy Buchanan, Jonathan inducts Seattle mainstay Mudhoney and Gabe welcomes Tesla. We then conduct our first ever Build-A-Band by holding a fantasy draft which includes all of the 2017 Rock Hall inductees. Jonathan also shares a story of an unlikely encounter with a Royals player outside Kauffman Stadium earlier in the week.

Pearl Jam nerds unite! Guest panelist Michael Davis joins us for our Field Guide to Pearl Jam on the heels of the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We talk about what we feel makes Pearl Jam great, including the band's studio work, live shows, attention to detail and activism. We then hold the requisite Desert Island Album Draft of Pearl Jam LPs. Finally, Michael provides his dream Pearl Jam Bridge Benefit setlist.

Guest panelist Ricky Cobb joins us again as we prepare for the 2017 MLB season. Ricky is the host of the Super 70s Sports podcast. In this episode, Ricky helps us decide which current Major Leaguers should be zapped with a '70s ray gun and what acts would've played at a 1977 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. Finally, we dig deep into predictions for the upcoming 2017 MLB season, including awards and playoff contenders.

Hope springs eternal, especially at Major League Baseball's Spring Training. In this episode, we recap the MLB offseason and discuss some relatively anonymous Spring Training heroes of yesteryear. Levi shares some Spring Training factoids. Gabe dishes out some Arizona and Florida rock and roll trivia. We close with stories of failed comebacks from Babe Ruth and Bret Saberhagen.

While the 1970s were a period of grand experimentation for rock and roll, country music was also going through its own metamorphosis. The social upheavals that molded much of pop music during the 1960s found their way to Nashville and Texas the following decade. We discuss artists ranging from Porter Wagoner, Don Williams and Ronnie Milsap to Waylon, Willie, Jerry Jeff Walker and many, many more. Tag along as we scratch the surface of one of country music's most important decades.

The Beatles and Elvis were some of the first two-way entertainers - both on the stage and on the screen. In this episode, we discuss some of the lesser known attempts at juggling the two talents - from Bruce Willis and Don Johnson to David Johansen and Dwight Yoakam. We also discuss the various baseball players who have also taken the plunge into acting, notably Bob Uecker and various Mets and Yankees on Seinfeld. We wrap up with a casting of the 2016 MLB season, calling on the likes of Ryan Reynolds and Alec Baldwin to help fill out our film of the Cubs championship season.

Three is the magic number for this episode. We start by discussing some of the most significant trios to ever play together in MLB outfields, from the 1961 New York Yankees to the 1995 Cleveland Indians and several before and since. We then discuss power trios in rock, including all-time bands like Rush and Nirvana, as well as lesser known acts like Radio Moscow and Taste.

We recap the MLB transactions during the hot stove season, which included all three of our teams. We then pitch trades where we suggest swapping musicians between bands. Finally, we bid adieu to the often soulless year that was 2016. Alas, we find the high points, recapping our favorite moments in MLB, album releases and live shows from the year.

We kick back and have some fun discussions about the recent MLB awards, including Kris Bryant's MVP and a continuing string of Dodgers winning Rookie of the Year. We then offer our own MVPs of rock for 2016. On the heels of a significant hidden track discovery on Pink Floyd's new box set, we share our favorite hidden tracks. Finally, we go around the horn discussing our MLB teams' offseason needs.

Not sure if you heard, but the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Lifelong Cubs fan Levi Leach shares his emotions during the roller coaster ride. We then remember Black Crowes keyboardist Eddie Harsch, who passed away at age 59.

We kick off the show talking baseball, covering the playoffs and some notable stats from the 2016 season. We then discuss the Desert Trip music festival that was held over two weekends in Indio, California. To close, we give our votes for each of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees, which were announced last week.

In anticipation of the incredible Desert Trip music festival, we team up to create dream setlists for Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Roger Waters. Check out episodes 55 and 64, respectively, for our Bob Dylan and Who setlists. Get ready for our requests for deep cuts and incredible collaborations.