The Case For: A Baseball Hall of Fame Podcast

Adam Darowski is the Senior Design Director at Sports Reference, LLC, the maker of Baseball Reference, Stathead, Immaculate Grid, and many other sports statistics websites.

An avid baseball fan, Adam has worked on such projects as The Hall of Stats, the "Building the Ballot" Hall of Fame Podcast, and has performed outstanding research on topics such as the "4,000 Hit Club" and the 25th Infantry Wreckers, an all-Black Army baseball team based out of Hawaii that rose to prominence in the years surrounding World War I due to a dominant roster that included Hall of Famer “Bullet” Rogan, Negro League stars Oscar “Heavy” Johnson and Walter “Dobie” Moore, and several other players who had careers in the Negro Leagues.

Adam also writes, records and releases his own original music including the album "Dobie & Heavy" featuring songs about overlooked Negro Leagues legends.

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Catchers Thurman Munson and Buster Posey had nearly identical careers in terms of statistics, hardware, and the "fame factor". Tragically Munson passed away during the 1979 season and Posey retired after the 2021 season.

Buster Posey will be on the BBWAA Ballot this year and will likely be inducted into the Hall of Fame. No discussion of Buster Posey's career and HOF case is complete without a discussion of Thurman Munson, who is long overdue for enshrinement into Cooperstown.

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Attorney, Judge and law professor Louis H. Schiff discusses his book “Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Collection of Biographical Essays”.

Lou co-wrote the book with fellow attorney and law professor Robert M. Jarvis and it includes essays on the 11 attorneys who have been inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. This group comprises three players (Hughie Jennings, Jim O’Rouke, and Monte Ward), two managers (Miller Huggins and Tony LaRussa); three executives (Larry MacPhail, Walter O’Malley and Branch Rickey) and three Commissioners (Happy Chandler, Bowie Kuhn, and Kennesaw Mountain Landis).

Lou wrote the chapter on Tony LaRussa and co-wrote the chapter on Kennesaw Mountain Landis with Robert Jarvis. The remaining chapters were written by a contributing cast of attorneys and authors that includes:

-Geoffrey Rapp, Dean of DePaul University College of Law

-Savanna Nolan, Associate Librarian For Administration and Public Services, Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law

-Stephanie Hunter McMahon, the William W. Oliver Chair in Tax Law at the Maurer School of Law, Indian University Bloomington

-Walter T. Champion, Professor of Law at Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University

-Richard D. Friedman, the Alend and Alan F. Smith Professor of Law at the University of Michigan School of Law

-Ed Edmonds, Professor Emeritus of Law at The University of Notre Dame

- Ronald Rychlak, Distinguished Professor of Law and Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government at the University of Mississippi School of Law; and

- Elizabeth Manriquez, Head of Reference and Scholarly Support at the University of Wisconsin Law School Library

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Rick Klein is the Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for ABC News and has been a journalist for more than 25 years. A lifelong Dale Murphy fan he was recently involved in the "Murphy to the Hall" campaign to spread the word on Dale Murphy's HOF case.

Rick and Russell discuss Dale Murphy, his HOF case, and what the future brings as we hope "Murph" makes the ballot again in 2028!

For more information go to https://murphytothehall.com/

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Longtime friend of the podcast, fellow baseball fan extraordinaire, and "Baseball Twitter" personality Cullen Chapron @CChapro832 discusses baseball, the "NEPTA dashboard", and many other interesting baseball topics with Russell. A must-listen episode!

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Attorney and baseball fan extraordinaire Russell Christian breaks down the 2026 Baseball Writers Association of America Ballot which elected 2 members to the Hall of Fame - Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones!

How did the other players on the ballot fare? What does next year's ballot look like? Listen for details!

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Critically acclaimed singer songwriter, painter, novelist, and fellow baseball fan extraordinaire Dan Bern returns to the podcast to discuss the 2026 BBWAA Ballot with Russell!

Dan’s songs have appeared in numerous films (“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” “Get Him to the Greek” “The Bubble” “Zero Effect”) and TV shows (Amazon Prime’s award-winning kids program “The Stinky & Dirty Show”). An avid baseball fan, Dan has released numerous songs about baseball including his albums "Doubleheader", "Rivalry", and his collection "Songs for Mr. Tony".

For more information go to: https://danbern.bandcamp.com and https://danbern.com

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Russell breaks down the 2026 Baseball Writer's Association of America Ballot, giving his "yes/no" votes on EVERY player and predicting who he thinks will be enshrined into Cooperstown this year.

If you're a voting member of the BBWAA you don't want to miss this episode, and if you're a fan of the Baseball Hall of Fame listen for your enjoyment!

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Russell recaps the 2025 Contemporary Era Ballot vote and discusses what the future brings for the fan movement to induct Dale Murphy into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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The 2025 Contemporary Era Ballot includes 8 players:

-Barry Bonds
-Roger Clemens
-Carlos Delgado
-Jeff Kent
-Don Mattingly
-Dale Murphy
-Gary Sheffield
-Fernando Valenzuela

Russell makes the case for all 8 players and discusses "The Faces of 1980's Baseball". Will this FINALLY be the year Dale Murphy makes the Hall of Fame?

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During his prime years of 1992-1999 Kenny Lofton was one of the top leadoff hitters and defensive centerfielders in baseball. The speedster retired in 2007 after 17 MLB seasons with a 68.4 bWAR, 1528 runs and 622 stolen bases.

Does Kenny Lofton deserve a spot in Cooperstown?

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Ted Knorr has been a member of SABR since 1979, has attended over 60 SABR conferences, and started Negro League Commemorative Nights in Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York, Pennsylvania. In 1997 he founded SABR’s Negro League Conference, now called the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference. A lifelong trivia fan he chased the SABR Conferences team trivia title starting in 1984 and finally won the title in 2022. He also won the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference title in 2009, the only person in SABR to have won both! Ted recently attended this year’s Jerry Malloy Conference, his 25th such conference.

Ted discuss the HOF case for Rap Dixon, who started his career with the Harrisburg Giants in 1924 and played for 12 years, retiring with a career .336 batting average and .969 OPS. His best season was 1928 with the Baltimore Black Sox when he led the league in WAR, Games played, hits, triples, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, walks, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and total bases.

Rap is one of many players from the Negro Leagues who deserve a plaque in Cooperstown!

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George Van Haltren played between 1887 and 1903, retiring with a .316 batting average, 1642 runs, 2544 hits, and 583 stolen bases. He is is 1 of only 5 players with 1600+ runs, 550+ steals and a career .300+ avg. The other 4 are HOFers Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, and Billy Hamilton.

Additionally, "Rip" (as he was known) was perhaps the original dual threat player, and retired with a pitching record of 40-31 with a 4.05 ERA and 281 strikeouts.

He had what can be considered two successful "two-way" seasons long before Shohei Ohtani made it seem so easy. In 1888 Rip went 13-13 with a 3.52 ERA and 139 K’s while batting .283 with 14 triples and 21 stolen bases. In 1890 he went 15-10 with a 4.28 ERA, 48 K's, and batted .335 with 84 runs, 9 triples, 54 RBI and 35 stolen bases.

Rip had 11 seasons with 100+ runs tied for 4th best all-time. At the time of his retirement he was in the top 10 all-time in hits, stolen bases, runs, and walks. But the first Hall of Fame class was not until 1936 and Rip's career has been lost in the sands of time. Will he ever make a HOF ballot and have his long overdue induction day in the July Cooperstown sun?

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Attorney and baseball fan Paul Lesko aka "The Hobby Lawyer" has litigated intellectual property and class action lawsuits for over 25 years. With a background in the biochemical sciences, Paul is no stranger to litigating cases involving complex technologies. Also known as “The Hobby Litigator”, he's taken on IP issues involving athletes, artists, sports teams, memorabilia, and even trading cards. Paul is also frequently quoted in the press not only on his cases, but for legal issues in the sports memorabilia and trading card industry.

Paul and Russell talk the law, baseball, intellectual property and so much more! Fore more information go to: https://leskolawllc.com/

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Pitcher Darren O'Day spent 15 years in Major League Baseball, mostly in a bullpen role. As such Darren doesn't have the necessary Wins and/or Saves totals that most Hall of Fame candidates possess. Nevertheless, Darren put together a very impressive career! In 609 innings Darren struck out 637 batters, allowed 458 hits and only 175 runs for a 2.59 ERA and a 167 ERA+.

Although a small sample size, (Baseball Reference does not "count" pitchers with less than 1000 innings pitched on all-time leaderboards for various stats) Darren's career ERA of 2.59 is still better than many Hall of Famers including Cy Young himself. If Darren's adjusted ERA+ of 167 were to remain through 1000 innings it would the second best all-time behind Mariano Rivera.

Is this enough to warrant induction into Cooperstown?

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Russell reflects on the life and legacy of Dave "The Cobra" Parker (June 9, 1951 – June 28, 2025).

A member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025 Dave is 1 of only 5 players in MLB history with 2700+ hits, 300+ home runs, 150+ stolen bases, 75+ triples, and a career BA of .290 or higher. During his career 7 time All-Star Parker won the 1978 NL MVP, the 1979 All-Star Game MVP, the 1979 and 1989 World Series, 3 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Sluggers, and 2 batting titles.

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Graig Kreindler is "The Painter of the National Pastime" whose baseball paintings have been featured in numerous museums and news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Fox News, and the New York Times.

Rap icon Chuck D (himself an accomplished painter) says that Graig is "a time machine" who "puts you right there with the Cracker Jack and Beer".

Graig's paintings bring to life bygone eras of baseball including the 19th century, the deadball era, the Negro Leagues and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Graig and Russell discuss his paintings, baseball history, and much more!

For more information or to commission a painting go to www.graigkreindler.com.

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Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and "baseball’s troubadour poet laureate” Chuck Brodsky joins Russell to talk about his baseball songs. Larry Groce of NPR called Chuck “one of the finest singer-songwriters in America” and the New York Times said that Chuck’s music “will appeal to everyone who likes their music with a side of thought”. Chuck is himself an inductee into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and 18 of his songs have been enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s sound recording library.

Chuck and Russell discuss many of Chuck's songs including "Letters in the Dirt" about 2025 HOF inductee Dick Allen. For more info on Chuck Brodsky visit http://www.chuckbrodsky.com

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Jesse Orosco pitched 24 years in Major League Baseball and is the all-time career leader in games played for a pitcher with 1252. A hero of the 1986 Jesse earned 3 wins in 4 games during the 1986 NLCS and 2 saves in the 1986 World Series, including the iconic final out for the World Champion New York Mets.

Jesse and Omar Vizquel (SS) are the only two players to hold the career games played mark for their positions who are NOT in the HOF. Jesse also has some (but not other) career stats that compare favorably with the greatest reliever of all-time Mariano Rivera.

Are Jesse's career stats, hardware, and fame fame factor enough to warrant induction in Cooperstown? Listen to Russell as he makes the case!

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John Franco recorded 424 saves in his 21 year MLB career, the most of any left-handed relief pitcher. He is currently 7th all-time in career saves and 3rd in games played for a pitcher, but at the time of his retirement he was 2nd in both categories.

Is this enough to earn John Franco a ticket to Cooperstown?

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