Clearing The Bases - Issue 040
June 13, 2025
Hello and welcome to Issue 040 of Clearing The Bases, an email newsletter in conjunction with the My Baseball History podcast hosted by Dan Wallach.
On Wednesday, June 11th, our latest episode with JOSH RAWITCH went live. It was the final episode of Season 4.
After growing up in Los Angeles, Josh Rawitch attended Indiana University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Sports Marketing and Management with a minor in Business. He has taught Strategic Sports Communications at both Arizona State University and the University of Southern California. He joined the Dodgers in 1995 and spent parts of five seasons in Marketing before moving to Public Relations. He left the organization for two seasons and became one of MLB Advanced Media’s earliest employees, serving as a beat reporter covering the Dodgers in 2001, and the Giants in 2002.
Thanks to his being fluent in both English and Spanish, Josh has overseen media relations during trips to Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Australia, in addition to goodwill tours of Japan, New Zealand and the Dominican Republic. In 2009, 2013 and 2017, he served as venue press chief for the World Baseball Classic. Josh came to Cooperstown following 15 seasons with the Dodgers and 10 seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In Arizona, he served as the Senior Vice President of Content and Communications, overseeing numerous departments within the club’s Business Operations.
Josh is in his fifth year as President of the Hall of Fame, and his 31st season working in baseball. He oversees the daily operation of the nonprofit, educational institution, which employs nearly 100 full-time staff members with the mission to preserve history, honor excellence, and connect generations.
During his first four years at the Hall of Fame, Josh has focused on strategic growth opportunities that help the 85-year-old institution continue to stay relevant with the next generation of fans and visitors. This includes the incorporation of technological advancements, unique events such as the Savannah Bananas game in 2023, and the creation of the “Yakyu | Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game” exhibit, which will explore the longstanding exchange of teams and players in the more than 150 years since baseball was introduced to Japan, when it opens next month.
In this episode, we cover LOTS of ground.
Josh tells us about the inner workings of the Hall of Fame, from how they acquire new artifacts from historic achievements, to deciding what gets put on display and how things are presented.
We find out what Josh learned in a class taught by legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight while he was a student at Indiana University.
We learn about the Hall of Fame voting process; who decides who gets to be on the ballots, and how the inductees are chosen.
And we hear what it’s like to work at a job where you get to talk to Hall of Famers every single day.
I don’t want to give too much away, but the episode is out now, so you can listen to it as soon as you get done reading this email and re-listen whenever you want after that. Don’t forget to CLICK HERE to follow along with the liner notes as you listen.
The liner notes have nearly 250 carefully curated photos and videos which directly and chronologically follow the conversation Josh and I had. In the caption for each, I also include extra links so you can do a deeper dive into any particular person or story which piques your interest as you listen. I’ve already done all the work for you, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the episode.
Josh is the second consecutive guest we’ve had on the show who has won the Robert O. Fishel Award, which goes to the “active, non-uniformed representative of Major League Baseball whose ethics, character, dedication, service, professionalism and humanitarianism best represent the standards” of the longtime baseball PR executive for which it is named. Josh was honored with the award in 2018, while Bob DiBiasio, our guest for Episode 8 of Season 4, won the award in 1999. Bob is the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for the Cleveland Guardians, and has been a public relations executive with Cleveland for all but one season since 1979, making 2025 his 47th season in Major League Baseball. We did a deep dive into the 1995 Cleveland Indians team during our conversation since 2025 is the 30th anniversary of that magical team. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to that episode yet, don’t worry. You can do that now by clicking HERE.
I recorded my interview with Josh Rawitch during a trip to Cooperstown with my mom this past December. We stayed at the legendary Otesaga Hotel during that trip, spent parts of three different days at the Hall of Fame, spent a bunch of time (and money) at Willis Monie Books, and also recorded our interview with Tom Catal. Tom was Mickey Mantle’s autograph agent, and founded the Mickey Mantle Museum in Cooperstown. After starting a career in finance, Tom put on the very first Mickey Mantle autograph show on September 9, 1978, paying The Mick $3,000 for three hours of his time to sign. Tom and I spoke about that show, his personal and professional relationship with Mickey, and a bunch of other things during our conversation. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to that episode yet, you can do that now by clicking HERE.
While I have been to the Hall of Fame half a dozen times over the past few years, that trip in December was only my mom’s second visit ever. Her first trip to Cooperstown was in 1999, when I was 12 years old and my travel baseball team played at Dreams Park. We went to the Hall of Fame for a bit, but we only had so much time to look around since we had baseball to play. One of the displays we made sure to seek out, though, was the Black Sox Scandal section. Here is a photo of me, taken by my mom, in July of 1999.
The photo on the left was taken by me, using the self-timer, in December of 2021. I’m holding the same uniform I’m wearing in the 1999 picture, which was one of my Dreams Park tournament uniforms. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit in the uniform anymore, so wearing the hat and holding the jersey had to suffice. The photo on the right was taken by my mom on our most recent trip in December of 2024.
Toward the end of this episode with Josh, I talk a lot about Doubleday Field, and its rich history. My first time seeing a game actually being played at Doubleday Field in person was on May 25, 2024 when 14 Hall of Famers and two dozen legendary players – many of whom had played on the historic field throughout the years – came together for the Hall of Fame East-West Classic, which paid tribute to the legends of Black baseball. The game was played the same weekend that the The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball exhibit opened at the Hall of Fame.
I had been to Doubleday Field a number of times before that, and had been inside the stadium to take pictures and walk around, but until last May, I had never actually seen a game there. Sitting in the stands with friend of the show WILLIAM PEEBLES of Huntington Base Ball Co., I couldn’t help but think how cool it would be to play on that field. After asking a few questions to some people in the know, I believe that may be a possibility.
If you’re reading this right now and you feel like you can make it to Cooperstown next year to play in a vintage baseball game, send me an email at ShoelessPodcast@gmail.com with the subject line “Doubleday Field 2026” and I’ll add you to the list of potential players for next year. If enough people are interested, we’ll figure out a time that works best for all of us, and a time where we can reserve the field, and we’ll make it happen. Looking at Doubleday Field’s availability this year, it seems like October is going to be our best bet for 2026, but nothing is set in stone yet. Just keep it in mind, if that’s something you might want to participate in.
As you know, we do giveaways related to each episode, so I also want to tell you about an opportunity to win something for being an active listener to My Baseball History. You can enter for your chance to win a Souvenir Booklet from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, printed in 1949 by following @ShoelessPodcast on twitter or Bluesky. The pinned post at the top of both our TWITTER profile and our BLUESKY profile asks a trivia question which is answered during the episode with Josh. Answer that trivia question correctly with your quote-post, and you’re automatically entered into the contest.
These booklets were updated every year from the late 1940s, into the 1960s, showing photos from inside the museum, different artifacts on display, the members of the Hall of Fame committee, and lists of the batting and pitching records of the Hall of Famers who had been inducted at that point. The 1949 version shows each of the 58 Hall of Fame plaques that had been created to be on display at that point, from Grover Cleveland Alexander, to Denton T. Cy Young.
We’ll pick a winner before the next episode of the podcast goes live. All you have to do to be considered is follow us on whichever platform you use, and re-post that pinned post before then. You can also feel free to tag a friend in the comments or write why you think you should win. It may help your chances of winning…
Don’t forget, it’s a huge help when you Rate and Review the podcast on whatever platform you choose to listen. 5-Star ratings help our podcast get shown on more people’s suggested podcast pages, which means more people will hear our show. It just takes a couple seconds of your time, but it really helps us a lot. And of course, liking us on social media, interacting with our posts, and sharing things with your friends is great, too. Feel free to forward this email to anyone in your life who loves baseball, and hopefully they’ll enjoy the podcast and learn a thing or two. But no matter how you choose to support us, even if it’s just by listening, we appreciate you being here.
Until next time, I’m Dan Wallach, and this is My Baseball History.
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