Jim O’Toole was a Cincinnati Reds” Bonus Baby” and sent to Nashville for 1958 for his first pro season.

The Vols did not have a particularly good year, but the left-hander did. At season's end, he led the AA Southern Association in wins with 20, complete games with 21, 280 innings pitched, and 189 strikeouts.

He became a dependable starter in the majors for Cincinnati, and his story is a commendable one. Listen to the Jim O’Toole story!

Mike Havey’s SABR biography on Jim O’Toole was used in prepartion of this podcast, accessed here: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-otoole/.

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

I met Bill Greason in October of 2017, when the Friends of Rickwood hosted the inaugural Southern Negro League conference in BIrmingham. He spoke to us in the Rickwood conference room and told his story, then took questions from everyone until it was time for him to return to his home in Birmingham.

Before he got up to leave, I asked him if I could have our picture taken together, and he obliged. It’s a photo I won’t forget.

He was a man among all men, and in this episode I tell about meeting Rev. Bill Greason.

Frederick C. Bush's excellent SABR biography on Bill Greason was used in prepartion of this podcast, accessed here: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-greason/.

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

In this episode, I discuss quirky plays, oddities, and noteworthy happenings at Sulphur Dell. Some are historic, while others are just plain funny.

Listen to more great history from Nashville’s quirky yet famous ballpark!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

A few days ago I got a chance to catch up with an old friend in North Carolina. His name is Rooster Narron. I Have known him a long time, but in the not too distant past we took in a few Nashville Sounds games together at Herschel Greer Stadium.

Those visits turned into a writing opportunity for me as I learned Rooster’s dad and an important part he played in the history of baseball.

I hope you will listen as I recount my biography on his dad!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

Baseball, as we know it, had its foundations in the 1800s, probably around 1835, a few years before the Mills Commission declared that Abner Doubleday drew out the playing field and wrote a few rules in 1939.

How did softball start and how did it become so popular?

In Nashville, softball leagues once rivaled the number of area baseball leagues, and once there a game was played that drew attention to the difference in the two sports. I tell about that game in this episode!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

Fred Russell, Nashville Banner sportswriter, began a project in 1943 to select a Nashville Vols Hall of Fame. He did not complete the list, but he named a lineup of players through that season and later in 1950.

Listen to this episode as I tell about Russell’s choices, then consider helping me complete the Hall of Fame for players through 1962 - I hope you will!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

Sam Smith, president of the South Atlantic League, was at the 1962 Old Timers banquet. Why, might you ask? Because the Southern Association had folded only five days before, and he was wooing Nashville to come to the SALLY League for 1962.

Birmingham decided to pull its club over the use of Negroes, and the Detroit Tigers, the Barons major league affiliate, had little choice but to associate with Nashville should the team and league stay in business in 1962.

That did not happen, but the Tigers had already assigned a manager for the Nashville ball club and he attended the Old Timers banquet, too. You may not know him, but if you are a baseball fan and have read stories about the old days, viewed photographs (especially black and white ones), or heard about crazy, legendary events over the years, then you have seen this new manager plenty of times.

In this episode, I tell you all about this mystery manager!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!

Today I umpired a game in Tennessee Vintage Baseball at Oaklands Mansion in Murfreesboro between the Stones River Scouts and Phoenix of East Nashville. These teams play the “gentleman’s game” (gentle ladies play these days, too) and it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

The rules are different from what we may know, and in this episode I tell about the rules of 19th Century base ball (remember, in those days, it as two words, “base” and “ball.”) and how they changed over the years!

Want to stay in touch? Find me here:

Twitter: Skip's Corner
Instagram: @skipscorner
Facebook: Skip Nipper
Email me: 262downright@gmail.com

All Skip’s Corner episodes © 2022-2024 by Skip Nipper. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to my podcast producer David Nipper, who also wrote and performs the background music, "Sulphur Dell Sunset" © 2017 Black Train Records. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for listening!