Friday, March 30, 2007

Baseball Beat: Friday, March 30th

Here is the rundown from Friday, March 30th edition of Baseball Beat. Chuck Wilson hosted the show today.

1:05 p.m.
Guest: Scott Miller, CBSSportsline.com
1:25 p.m.
Guest: Claire Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer
1:45 p.m.
Guest: Amalie Benjamin, Boston Globe (Boston Red Sox Beat)
2:05 p.m.
Guest: Paul Hagen, Philadelphia Daily News
2:25 p.m.
Guest: Kevin Kernan, New York Post
2:45 p.m.
Listener Calls

Guest Summaries:
Miller discussed national headlines including his picks for the upcoming season; Smith discussed this weekend’s Civil Rights Game as well as her involvement with this afternoon’s Baseball and the Civil Rights Movement Roundtable Discussion and the Civil Rights Museum; Benjamin discussed the Boston Red Sox heading into the start of the season including her pieces covering Daisuke Matsuzaka; Hagen discussed the Philadelphia Phillies including the club’s bullpen situation and his piece on minor leaguer Will Savage; Kernan discussed the New York Mets and Yankees coming into the start of the season including Johnny Damon's impact on the Yankees clubhouse. He also had a brief discussion on deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after the breaking news that Kenny Rogers had surgery to remove a blood clot today.


On a personal note, I'd like to send out condolences to Charley Steiner whose mother, Gertrude Steiner, passed away on Thursday.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Baseball Beat: Thursday, March 29th

Here is the rundown from today's Baseball Beat. Chuck Wilson hosted the show today.

1:05 p.m.
Guest: Paul White, USA Today Sports Weekly
1:25 p.m.
Guest: Roch Kubatko, Baltimore Sun (Baltimore Orioles Beat)
1:45 p.m.
Guest: Jack Corrigan, Broadcaster, Colorado Rockies
2:05 p.m.
Guest: Bob Klapisch, The Record
2:25 p.m.
Guest: Chris Welsh, Broadcaster, Cincinnati Reds
2:45 p.m.
Guest: Uri Berenguer, Host, Solamente Pelota XM 174

Guest Summaries:
White discussed Japanese baseball as well as previewing the upcoming season; Kubatko discussed the Baltimore Orioles heading into the start of the season including Jay Payton’s injury; Corrigan discussed the Colorado Rockies club and chances in the National League West; Klapisch discussed Hank Steinbrenner as the new heir to take over the New York Yankees, the health of Bobby Murcer, and the Yankees rotation; Welsh discussed the Cincinnati Reds including Ken Griffey’s move to right field as well as Alex Gonzalez; Berenguer discussed hosting Solamente Pelota and the channel’s move to XM 174.

Baseball Beat: The Blog - An Introduction

Welcome to the latest addition to the XM Satellite Radio family of products. The blog. MLB Home Plate meets the blog community this week with a host of daily blogs from our MLB on XM staff such as Buck Martinez and Holden Kushner as well as producers and update anchors. Each blog will have its own style, but for the moment let’s consider this blog aptly named Baseball Beat.

I am the producer for Baseball Beat with Charley Steiner. If you are a regular listener of the show, please forgive the redundancy. On Beat, we have six writers, broadcasters, or celebrities as guests each day totaling more than 1,500 guests per year. Our goal is to give listeners a tour around baseball touching on the top stories of the day while discussing as many teams as possible each week. We discuss key articles and breaking news as well as stories that transcend the game.

With this blog, I hope to give you a daily update on Baseball Beat and provide transcripts from key chats. I’ll give my thoughts on important articles and touch on historical baseball topics. I will also highlight writers (beat writers and columnists) and broadcasters that appear frequently on Baseball Beat.

Baseball Beat: The Blog will also provide insight into Home Plate including my time on the road. For example, this weekend I’ll be in Memphis covering the inaugural Civil Rights Game. XM will be originating a broadcast for the game with Ronnie Lane and Uri Berenguer in the booth and Orestes Destrade providing reports from each club’s dugout. I’ll be on the field and in the dugout with Orestes coordinating our coverage for the broadcast. Be sure to check out the broadcast beginning with the pre-game show at 4:30 p.m. (eastern)/1:30 p.m. (pacific) followed by the game at 5:30 p.m. (eastern)/2:30 p.m. (pacific).

Please, consider this as the introduction blog. Charley Steiner has a saying about Baseball Beat each day. “Off to Pluto.” As in once a show is over, it’s off to Pluto. This blog will be out of date as soon as it posts, because like radio shows this blog will evolve over the days and weeks to come. I hope you’ll become a part of our new MLB on XM online community. Feel free to drop me a line anytime at BaseballBeat@xmradio.com.

MEDIA of the WEEK

Clip to Click: Runs, Hits, and Calories by Karla Cook, New York Times

Book of the Week: Once Upon a Game: Baseball's Greatest Memories by Alan Schwarz