Ohio native Benny Kauff made his Major League debut in 1912. He jumped to the Federal League in 1914 where he emerged to stand among that circuit's best hitters. After the Federal League folded, Kauff signed with John McGraw's New York Giants and claimed the team's center field position.

Kauff held that spot until a New York grand jury indicted him for grand larceny (car theft) after the 1919 season. Kauff, also burdened with gambling accusations, played just 55 games for New York in 1920 then was traded in early July to a minor league team. In May, 1921, a New York jury acquitted Kauff of the grand larceny charge, but the baseball never lifted Kauff's suspension during his life.

Kauff's is a wild tale about baseball, Tammany Hall justice, city life during the dead ball era, and a ballplayer that just maybe got a raw deal.

Sources: ( ) Gary Joseph Cieradkowski, "Benny Kauff: Stealing Bases and Automobiles," Cieradkowski at https://studiogaryc.com/2018/08/03/benny-kauff-stealing-bases-and-automobiles/ (last accessed October 11, 2025); (2) David Jones, "Benny Kauff," Society for American Baseball Research at https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/benny-kauff/ (last accessed October 11, 2025); (3) Dozens of newspapers articles accessed via newspapers.com and (4) Statistics were available via Baseball Reference, https://www.baseball-reference.com/.

Errata: Benny Kauff suffered from diphtheria in March 2021, not Kennesaw Mountain Landis.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Scipio Spinks rose from junior college ball in Chicago to the Major Leagues with Houston and St. Louis. He pitched 5 seasons before injuries derailed his promising career. Spinks talks about his pitching in the late 60s and early 70s, the wind at Candlestick, the heat at Busch and hitting his one and only home run as a big leaguer.

Today, Spinks resides in Houston where he is head coach for the University of Houston-Downtown Gator collegiate club baseball team. Spinks has coached the Gators to the NCBA World Series in Alton, Illinois twice.

Episodes Featured:

133 - We Weren't Rained Out, We Were Rained In w/ Roger Metzger

Errata: Stu Miller was the pitcher blown off the mound in the 1961 All-Star Game at Candlestick ... Jim Presley hit 19 home runs with 72 RBI with Atlanta in 1990 - he signed with the Padres and was released after hitting .136 in his first 20 games as a Padre ... Robby Thompson was caught stealing 4 times on June 27, 1986 - three were on blown hit and runs (Jeffrey Leonard) ...

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Joe Morgan, a native of Bonham, Texas, a small town near the Oklahoma border, is generally regarded as baseball's greatest second basemen in the post-World War II era. Originally Colt-.45 then Astro, Houston traded him to Cincinnati after the 1971 season is perhaps Houston's most ill-fated (and bone-headed) trades. Morgan went on to win two Most Valuable Player Awards with the Big Red Machine.

Also this episode - three coaches fired already in the NCAA FBS season, the Astros are on life support, the Padres clinch, festivals are faring no better than the Astros

Episodes Mentioned this Week

• 133 - We Weren't Rained Out, We Were Rained In w/ Roger Metzger
• 144 - Bill Virdon's Baseball Life w/ David Jerome & Shirley Virdon
• 195 - Looking Back at Houston's 1963 All-Rookie Lineup
• 232 - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The 1973 New York Mets w/ Len Ferman, The Sports Time TravelerTM
• 244 - Power Outage! The 1979 Houston Astros
• 258 - "I Was a Kid Too Back Then" w/ Rick Wise

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

The fallout from the 1919 World Series gambling scandal rocked the baseball world when the affair broke into the public's view late in the 1920 season. Just when baseball emerged from that threat, two of baseball's biggest stars, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, found themselves immersed in betting scandal arising from a seemingly meaningless game late in the 1919 season. The scandal led to acrimony, finger-pointing and three major resignations. Ultimately, the two stars were cleared and they returned to baseball in 1927, but the reverberations were felt for years to come. Naturally, Babe Ruth figures in the story as well

Dan Taylor, the voice of the Fresno Grizzlies, wrote "Baseball at the Abyss: The Scandals of 1926, Babe Ruth, and the Unlikely Savior Who Rescued a Tarnished Game" (Rowman & Littlefield 2023) about the scandal and the stars put under the spotlight. Taylor joins us this week to talk about gambling in baseball, which has emerged the last two seasons as an on-going challenge for the sport.

Dan Taylor on Twitter (https://x.com/WritinGuy)

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Andrew "Rube" and William "Bill" Foster were half-brothers born in Calvert, Texas, 25 years apart. Rube (b. 1879) left home in the late 90s to pitch for barnstorming teams deep into the late teens. He established his name as a top pitcher in the circuit as well as a savvy businessman. In 1920, he organized the Negro National League, the first and leading organized Black baseball league.

Bill (b. 1904) left the South in 1918 to look for work and play baseball and after catching on with the Memphis team in the NNL, eventually landed on his older brother's Chicago American Giants. He is regarded as the best left-handed pitcher in the Negro Leagues. He pitched the American Giants to titles in 1926 and 1927, then was the winning pitcher in the first East-West All-Star Game in 1933.

Both brothers were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously.

Rube Foster on Seamheads, SABR
Bill Foster on Seamheads, SABR
Robert Charles Cottrell, "The Best Pitcher in Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant (New York University Press, 2004).

Errata: Henry Mathewson had zero wins in his big league career, not one.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Bill Bevens came within one out of throwing the first World Series no-hitter in Game 4. Also, a look at the pennant and wild card races plus some 1988 Topps baseball cards.

Errata: The Giants were 14-14 in August, 9-15 in July. In the second half so far, Texas is 24-19, Seattle is 22-21 and Houston is 20-23. San Diego went 23-43 after the All-Star Break in 2021 and for some reason Craig thinks they collapse like this every year. San Diego was 43-20 in the second half in 2024. Pete Reiser won the NL batting title in 1941, not 1945. Craig was thinking of Mickey Mahler when he should have been thinking of Mike Mason. Wade Boggs played 5 seasons for the Yankees before going to Tampa; he also admitted to drinking 73 beers on a flight, not 57. Clint Hurdle turned down a football scholarship to the University of Miami, but he turned it down to sign with the Royals.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

David Krell is a returning guest and the author of "Bo Belinsky: The Rise, Fall and Rebound of a Playboy Pitcher," (McFarland & Co., 2025) the first full-length biography of Bo Belinsky.

David Krell's official website (https://www.davidkrell.com)
David Krell's Twitter (https://x.com/davidkrell)
McFarland Books (https://McFarlandBooks.com)

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.

Eddie Mathews played 17 seasons in the big leagues and is the only player to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. He hit 512 home runs in his career and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1978. This week Hooks & Runs continues its series, Texans in the Hall, by looking back at Mathews' career.

Also this episode Shohei Ohtani's latest off-the-field skirmish; Mike Trout's decline, Guy Hecker's big day and Hooks & Runs' favorite release for the second quarter 2025.

Eddie Mathews at baseball-reference.com
Shohei Ohtani story (https://tinyurl.com/ohtanihooks)
Guy Hecker's big day (https://tinyurl.com/guyhecker)

Representative Sources:
Guy Curtright, "A Brave in Three Cities," February 19, 2001, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, page 6.
Don Fleitz, "Eddie Mathews," https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/eddie-mathews/, last accessed August 14, 2025.
Joe Heiling, "Mathews Happy Over Chances With Astros," January 1, 1967, Houston Post, page 18.
Frank Hyland, "Aaron to Play? Check the Weather," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 6, 1974, page 13.
Wayne Minshew, "Kuhn Edict Still Angers Mathews," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 1, 1974, page 26.
Joe Reichler, "Spahn Pitches Distance in 7-5 Thiller," October 7, 1957, Janesville Weekly Gazette, page 12.
John Wilson, "Astros Acquire Eddie Mathews," January 1, 1967, Houston Chronicle, page 21.
John Wilson, "Astros Trade Ed Mathews to Detroit," August 18, 1967, Houston Chronicle.
Dick Young "Braves Cop, 7-5, in 10; Tie Series," New York Daily News, page 48.
Statistics, box scores and more at https://www.baseball-reference.com/.

This is Turnstile's song "Seein' Stars," from their 2025 album "Never Enough."

Errata: In 1999, there were 9 future Hall of Famers on the Hall of Fame ballot, not 4.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those 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 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Eric on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ichaboderic/
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2025.