Rogers Hornsby won seven batting titles, hit .358 in his 23-year Major League career and remains the all-time batting average leader both among right handed hitters and in the National League. He managed the 1926 St. Louis Cardinals to franchise's first World Series title only to be traded two months later in a salary dispute. Hornsby's career and personal life were marked by conflict, antagonism, lawsuits, acrimony and bitterness. But the man could hit. This week we return to our series, Texans in the Hall to discuss the life and time of the enigmatic Rogers Hornsby.

Also this week, our favorite albums from the first quarter 2025.
Craig - Lonely People With Power, by Deafheaven (Roadrunner)
Rex - Year of the Four Emperors by Ex Deo (Reigning Phoenix Music)

Episodes referenced this week: No. 172, "They Were Two People Desperate to Stay in the Game w/ Bob LeMoine." (https://tinyurl.com/hooks172)

Errata: Two of the top 13 career batting average leaders were right handed hitters. Hornsby hit .424 in 1924, not .427. Alienation of affections is a gender-neutral offense.

Sources:
Alexander, Charles C., "Rogers Hornsby: A Biography" (Henry Holt & Co. 1995).
Fimrite, Ron, "The Raging Rajah Rogers Hornsby, One of This Century's Best Ballplayers, Was Also One of its Biggest Boors," Sports Illustrated (October 2, 1995) (accessed online April 2025).
Rogers III, C. Paul , "Rogers Hornsby," www.sabr.org, accessed March, April 2025.
"Rogers Hornsby" at www.baseball-reference.com, accessed March, April 2025.
Dozens of contemporary newspapers articles from around the country.

Hooks & Runs will return with its next episode on June 5.

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including books featured in this episode (if any were), through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link.
https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - https://hooksandruns.buzzsprout.com/
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Craig on Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Ed Wheatley, president of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society, joins us this week to discuss the Browns, an American League team from 1902 to 1953. Wheatley is the co-author of "St. Louis Browns: The Story of a Beloved Team" (Reedy Press 2017), which was selected best book published on baseball in 2017 by Sports Collectors Digest and nominated for the Larry Ritter Award as the best book on baseball published in 2017 by Society for American Baseball Research.

Wheatley was also technical advisor for the award winning PBS documentary " The St. Louis Browns - The Team Baseball Forgot" (2018) and was executive producer of the award winning sequel "A Baseball Legacy - Fans Remember the St. Louis Browns" (2019).

Ed Wheatley on Facebook, at Reedy Press
https://www.facebook.com/edward.wheatley.56/
https://reedypress.com/author/wheatley/ed-wheatley/
The St. Louis Browns Historical Society webpage
https://www.thestlbrowns.com/
Stream "The St. Louis Browns - The Team Baseball Forgot"
https://tinyurl.com/baseballforgot
Stream "A Baseball Legacy - Fans Remember the St. Louis Browns"
https://tinyurl.com/fansremember

Hooks & Runs - https://hooksandruns.buzzsprout.com/
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Craig on Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

David Krell is author of "1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era," (University of Nebraska Press, 2025). His book explores the wild 1978 major league season with features on the American League East race that went to a 163rd game, iconic players from the era like Pete Rose and Dave Kingman and cultural flashpoints from film, TV and music. In this interview, Krell gives us a glimpse into this tumultuous, pivotal year in American history and culture.

SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains a spoiler if you have not seen "Saturday Night Fever."

David Krell's website, Twitter/X.
(https://davidkrell.com/)
(https://x.com/davidkrell)

Errata: Burt Convy was not in the Made for TV movie "Murder at the World Series." "Catfish" Hunter is credited with saying, "When you open a Reggie bar it tells you how good it is."

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including books featured in this episode (if any were), through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link.
https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - https://hooksandruns.buzzsprout.com/
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Craig on Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.