Hooks & Runs
Hooks & Runs is a podcast about baseball, music and culture. Our podcast includes interviews with news makers in the sports and music world plus commentary from the co-hosts on interesting current and historical events. Hooks & Runs releases a new episodes every Thursday (more or less).
Hooks & Runs
298 - Texans in the Hall: Louis Santop and Biz Mackey w/ Thomas Kern
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This week we resume our series Texans in the Hall by looking at the lives and careers of two great Texan ballplayers - Louis Santop and Biz Mackey. Santop and Mackey were both born in the Texas in the late 19th Century and represent two of the four former Negro League catchers inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Our guest is Thomas Kern, a contributor to ¡Arriba!: The Heroic Life of Roberto Clemente (SABR 2022), and co-editor to The Negro Leagues’ 1931 Homestead Grays: The Color of Greatness (SABR 2026). He is also a frequent contributor to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography project. Kern's expertise in Negro League history brings a unique perspective and depth to the discussion.
Episodes Discussed: 280 - Texans in the Hall: Joe Williams, Andy Cooper and Hilton Smith w/ Thomas Kern; 107 - Bert Shepard, Lou Brissie & Baseball During World War II; 106 - Baseball Rebels w/ Professor Peter Dreier.
Texans in the Hall Series:
285 - Texans in the Hall: Tris Speaker
280 - Texans in the Hall: Joe Williams, Andy Cooper and Hilton Smith w/ Thomas Kern
264 - Texans in the Hall: Joe Morgan
262 - Rube and Bill Foster: Texans in the Hall
259 - Texans in the Hall: Eddie Mathews
254 - Frank Robinson is Underrated (Texans in the Hall)
248 - Ernie Banks: Absurdly Simple & Impossibly Complex (Texans in the Hall) w/ Doug Wilson
247 - "A Stranger Among His Own Kind:" Rogers Hornsby (Texans in the Hall)
240 - Texans in the Hall: Greg Maddux, plus, Arenado, Rose, Golden State Entertainment and Tales of the Tape
235 - Texans in the Hall: Ross Youngs w/ David King
229 - Texans in the Hall: Willie Wells, "El Diablo," Was Ahead of His Time w/ Dr. Bob Luke
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Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
www.premiumbeat.com/artist/ikoliks
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2026.