Turn-of-the-century catcher Billy Earle became a pariah among baseball players despite his passion and work ethic. In this episode, Paul and Ted revisit a nomadic player with a harrowing biography and an ending you will not see coming.
Episode Highlights:
- Old baseball superstitions
- A scrappy minor league catcher hitches a ride with A.G. Spalding’s Baseball World Tour
- Baseball rat by day, performing hypnotist by night
- Stories from the teammates who feared his “mesmeric powers”
- The bottom falls out of Earle’s career, but tough-as-nails baseball legend John McGraw picks him up
- The real reason a useful player and manager couldn’t keep a job
- Starting over in baseball
- The shocking (really, you will be shocked) end of Billy Earle
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Original Research and Writing: Paul Jackson
Production and Music: Ted Walker
Design: Ketaki Kulkarni
