About this episode

The episode discusses Orel Hershiser's record-breaking scoreless innings streak and various baseball oddities from the week.

The mailbag delivers. Listener emails this week include a baseball honeymoon, a Jeopardy-funded wedding (not a typo), and a fan who shipped over APBA game materials and a stack of 1972 Topps cards. That last one matters by the end of the episode. In BP, Jeff and Mark work through the week's oddities: batters watching their own strikeout replays in real time, the phrase "circuit clout" making a comeback, Elmo showing up in the Phillies booth alongside John Kruk, Jazz Chisholm wearing Giancarlo Stanton's pants to break a slump, and a genuinely strange roster trivia note involving the Marlins, Cardinals, and Twins. The main segment is 1988. Specifically, what happens when a pitcher gets so locked in that the league starts to feel likeit's 1968 all over again. Orel Hershiser threw 59 consecutive scoreless innings that year — breaking Don Drysdale's record — and won the Cy Young while doing it. Jeff puts it in context against Bob Gibson's 1968, the last time people seriously asked whether pitchers had broken the sport. The episode closes with Wax Pack Heroes, using the 1972 Topps cards the listener sent in. 00:00 Cold Open and Welcome00:18 On Location and Mariners Talk01:31 Mailbag…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeff, Mark

Topics covered

• scoreless innings streak
• baseball history
• Orel Hershiser
• listener mailbag
• MLB oddities
• Wax Pack Heroes

Keywords

• Orel Hershiser
• scoreless innings
• baseball
• 1972 Topps cards
• APBA
• MLB trivia
• Jazz Chisholm
• John Kruk
• Year of the Pitcher

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: APBA, Phillies, Marlins, Cardinals, Twins

Books & works: Jeopardy

Places: New Orleans

More episodes of Two Strike Noise - A Baseball History Podcast

• Episode 319 - Boomer Goes Boom for the Most Alcohol Fueled Perfect Game In MLB History · June 6, 2026 · 1h 9m
• Episode 317 - Tales from the Dugout - Dentures Edition · May 17, 2026 · 54 min
• Episode 315 - Tales from the Dugout, New Rules, Missing Coaches and Speedruns · March 21, 2026 · 58 min
• Episode 314 - Ken Williams - The Deaball Slugger Nobody Noticed · March 14, 2026 · 53 min
• Episode 313 - Clowning Around · March 7, 2026 · 57 min
• Episode 312 - Jackie Jensen, The 'Golden Boy' to the 'Grounded Boy' · March 1, 2026 · 1h 1m

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