The Bridge Ep. 80: Mike Oz, baseball writer for Yahoo Sports and Big League Stew, joins the show to discuss his writing career, trading baseball cards, taco trucks and more

Mike Oz

Football is so close we can almost taste it. However, it’s not quite time to go all-in with the pigskin. Why not talk baseball with someone who talks baseball for a living? Oh, and tacos.

Before we get into Episode 80, as a reminder, The Bridge is broadcast as a one-hour radio show every Wednesday night at 7 ET and again at 8 ET on Sports Radio America. Once the dust settles from that live broadcast, the show is released as a podcast on iTunes and on this website on Friday. You can listen to the show every Wednesday on Sports Radio America here or through the TuneIn app, and find some bonus content when the show comes out in podcast form.

  • “Sports News Read Like Real News” told the tale of ESPN’s fear that Robert Lee would draw comparisons to a Confederate general that died almost 150 years ago (3:04).
  • The Bridge Question of the Week is: What is the favorite baseball card you own, and why? Leave a voicemail or text in your answer to 929-BRIDGE7, that’s 929-274-3437, and you’ll make it on the next show.
  • This week’s guest was Mike Oz, a baseball writer for Yahoo Sports and editor for the Big League Stew blog. Mike always knew he wanted to write about baseball, but actually made the decision to write about pop culture and entertainment before eventually getting his shot to cover America’s pastime. We’ll talk about his writing career and how he ended up writing baseball for Yahoo Sports, some of what he does and his most popular segment involving baseball cards, then wrap up the interview with a brand new segment of some quick hitters to end it. Our chat runs a little long, but it’s a fun one, I promise.
  • You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikeoz and find his columns here. The interview starts at the 12:23 mark.

– In the interview, we discuss:

 When he knew he wanted cover baseball (12:44), getting turned down to write for the school newspaper and coming back from that (14:23), putting baseball aside to take a writing gig about pop culture (17:13), a favorite story or interview from his time there (20:21), making the leap back into covering baseball at Yahoo Sports (22:45), what a typical day is like (26:24), how the traveling for work goes (28:28), the back story of his hit series Opening 25-year-old Baseball Cards (30:55), how excited some of the guests have been (37:43), if his baseball card supply is running low (40:41), if Man on the Street or being in front of the camera has gotten easier (43:16), his most memorable games (45:38) and what storyline he’s most looking forward to watching the rest of the season (49:04.)

NEW SEGMENT: Eazy (or) Pass, featuring some quick-hitting questions (51:23)

* If he ever got Reggie Jackson’s autograph after getting turned down as a kid (51:57)

* Favorite baseball card and “White Whale” card (53:26)

* Favorite taco and favorite taco in Fresno (55:42)

* Go-to karaoke song (57:16) and some respect to OutKast (59:05)

* Favorite poster in childhood bedroom (1:01:07)

* Will hosting a weekly radio show give him an advantage as a ‘cool dad’ (1:02:06)

  • “Five Minutes in the Film Room” with Joe Baress, former star of the John and Joe Sports Show, breaks down “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which Rotten Tomatoes describes as a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man beginning to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero after his time with the Avengers (1:05:05). You can follow Joe on Twitter @dukemich and also read his movie reviews, previews and ratings at cupof-joe.com. This week, Joe wrote about The Best and Worst Movies of the Summer.

Call in or text the show 24/7 at 929-BRIDGE7, that’s (929) 274-3437. Contact the show with your questions, comments, stories or hot takes and you might be featured in the next installment of The Bridge.

Subscribe to The Bridge Sports Podcast on iTunes (please leave a positive rating and review if you enjoy the show) so you’ll immediately be notified when new episodes are posted each Friday morning. You can also find The Bridge Sports Podcast on Google PlaySoundcloudStitcher and TuneIn.

You can listen to the show live on Wednesday nights at 7 ET via Sports Radio America or the TuneIn app.

Visit www.lundinbridge.com/email to subscribe to The Bridge Sports Podcast newsletter, which will provide weekly updates and behind-the-scenes information about the next show and who the featured guest(s) might be.

Email the show at media [at] lundinbridge [dot] com and follow the host on Twitter @lundinbridge.

Show music: ‘Actionable’ and ‘Epic,’ courtesy of www.bensound.com.

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