Pride of the Yankees

Baseball is back soon! Most teams are wrapping up spring training this week, but two are already overseas.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are playing a special two-game series in South Korea, the MLB Seoul Series, which counts towards the regular season. This creates a unique situation: Two Opening Days!

The first official game of the 2024 season happens super early on Wednesday morning (3:05 am PST) when these West Coast rivals face off in Seoul.

But the traditional Opening Day for all 30 teams is still to come, on Thursday, March 28th. The first pitch of that day will be thrown at Citi Field in New York, with the Mets hosting the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:10 pm PST.

To get all of you die-hard baseball fans into the spirit, I've added a show from the Screen Directors' Playhouse called Pride of the Yankees to RUSC this week.  

It's all about the life of baseball's beloved Lou Gehrig and is a radio version of the 1942 motion picture directed by Sam Wood. Gary Cooper reprises his original screen role as Lou Gehrig - known affectionately as the Iron Horse. 

Lou Gehrig was recognized as another Babe Ruth and signed up by the New York Yankees and whom he played for, for fourteen years. 

The story is told by Sam Blake who introduced rookie Lou to the manager of the Yankees and got him signed up. Sam Blake even became his best friend and best man at his wedding. 

The story recounts Gehrig's life, success and absolutely tragic demise to ALS a neurological disease, which ended his baseball career after two thousand and thirty consecutive games - a legend in the history of baseball. The fans who loved him paid tribute with a Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at the Yankee Stadium. Gehrig gave his famous Luckiest Man speech.

Lou Gehrig died on 2nd June 1941, just three weeks before his 38th birthday. In the USA the disease ALS is named after Lou Gehrig.

At the end of the show Cecil B DeMille pays tribute to the Screen Director Sam Wood.

There are also over 300 baseball themed shows on RUSC. They're spread across all categories from thrilling dramas through comedy, so there's something for everyone. And let's not forget the RUSC Baseball Radio Station for an action-packed collection of classic old-time-radio newsreels, broadcasts, and everything baseball related in-between from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Happy listening my friends,