One of the first true baseball dynasties in St. Louis history was the St. Louis Stars, who had the talent to back up the name.

And, at their centrally located ballpark, the Stars and greats like Cool Papa Bell played such an entertaining, exciting brand of baseball that it not only enriched the game's popularity in St. Louis but also informed the style of play fans have expected and celebrated for generations since.

Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, joins the Best Podcast in Baseball for a wide-ranging conversation with baseball writer and host Derrick Goold.

They start with the Stars and the discussion grows from there to detail the NLBM's "Pitch for the Future" iniative to raise $50 million an expand the current footprint of the museum to a campus that will include more items to display, a hotel, and a larger research and academic space. The goal comes back to telling the story of the Negro Leagues and bringing those players and those games to the modern fan with such a strong connection that information becomes inspiration.

And that's where this new episode ultimately leads -- to a spot where legends of the past influence the present and bring the game of baseball to the next generation of players and fans.

More about the NLBM's "Pitch for the Future" can be found here.

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In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

It's become book week at the Best Podcast in Baseball.

Long time baseball writer and columnist and former president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America Ken Davidoff joins the podcast to discuss with host Derrick Goold his new book, "101 Lessons from the Dugout." The book, written for young adults, is a merger of baseball, parenting, and life lessons that use the dugout, batter's box, basepaths, and mound to map how baseball is a window into larger affirmations and experiences.

One chapter discusses baserunning on a sacrfice fly and amplifies tagging up to a larger idea of pausing, gathering one self, survey the situation, and then charge headlong toward your goal with knowledge and without hesitation.

"Your mound (is your) high ground," the book describes as an image for standing tall with an opinion at the center of everything.

Davidoff spent decades covering baseball for the New York Post and Newsday, and on his final day on the beat a small group of writers, including Goold, stayed late into the night to cover CBA negotiations between the players' union and owners at the Cardinals' complex in Jupiter, Florida. The negotiations blew right past one of the deadlines, leading to Davidoff staying on the beat a few hours longer.

There are lessons from those events too, and the two baseball writers dive into what could be lost with a missing season, what the owners aim to gain with the salary cap, and if any of the 101 lessons from the dugout apply to the situation.

The book, "101 Lessons from the Dugout," is available wherever you prefer to shop for books, including here.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.

Please consider subscribing.

In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.

What is it with St. Louis and fielding, what are the seams to tie the city, its fondness for baseball, and defense together?

That's the question that comes at the conclusion of a brand new episode of the Best Podcast in Baseball. Author and historian Ed Wheatley joins baseball writer and host Derrick Goold to discuss his new book, "The Finest in the Field: A History of Baseball Through 50 Iconic Gloves." The book uses art-worthy photos of famous gloves, from Bill Doak's that launched the modern glove to Bob Gibson's beloved glove without a logo, to tell the story about individual players, their gloves, and ultimately baseball history.

The game itself has changed because of the advances in gloves, from tossing pitches like horseshoes to firing 104-mph fastballs because the catcher's mitt can now handle that.

Well, mostly.

Most everyone remembers their first glove and their favorite glove, and some big leaguers go whole careers with only one glove, while others get a new glove every season.

When Masyn Winn finally got a grip on his first career Rawlings Gold Glove Award, he won the 100th in Cardinals history. The Cardinals are the first big-league club to reach 100 Gold Gloves, and the team just behind them is the Baltimore Orioles, who of course used to be the St. Louis Browns. Four of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history have called St. Louis' hot corner home -- most recently Nolan Arenado and Scott Rolen -- but the all-time leader in Gold Glove Awards at the position played in Baltimore. The all-time leader at shorstop is a Cardinal, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina won three Platinum Glove Awards before anyone else won a second one. Stan Musial was the first to use a style of glove that he popularized and then, decades later, became even more popular for outfielders. Oh, and Rawlings is based in St. Louis.

And, heck, the play that launched the Cardinals' World Series history was a tag at second, not a hit.

And it was applied with a Bill Doak model glove made by Rawlings.

Wheatley, one of the biggest champions of Browns history and a keeper of the St. Louis Browns' flame, considers that question about St. Louis and the deep roots of defense and comes to a compelling conclusion why.

More Post-Dispatch podcasts.

Please consider subscribing.

In its 14th season as one of the first and most widely heard podcasts on baseball and the Cardinals, the Best Podcast in Baseball has reached a new season-high with 30 episodes. Each episode is sponsored weekly by Closets by Design of St. Louis, is a production of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, StlToday.com, and lead baseball writer Derrick Goold.