- Let's play ball.

- It's opening day.

We got plenty of great baseball stories for you.

- I think it's gonna be a slam dunk.

- Pretty close, more like a grand slam.

- Mm.

Well, you gotta see this.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Well, this is a special baseball edition of "You Gotta See This".

But even if you're not a big sports fan, I think you're gonna like these stories, all of which stem from central Illinois.

- And I think the best one is starting off with Bud Fowler, who was a Black baseball pioneer, and he started off his career in central Illinois, let's watch.

It's well known that Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947.

But few people know that organized baseball's first professional Black ball player laced up their spikes seven decades earlier.

His name was Bud Fowler.

He's in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and he played for pro teams in central Illinois.

- He wasn't just the first, but he was a great player.

I mean, he was often the best player on his team.

He was a leader.

- [Julie] The Society for American Baseball Research takes deep dives into the sports' history.

Williams is part of a committee that has researched the 19th century baseball pioneers largely forgotten by time.

Newspapers provided glimpses of Fowler's impressive career.

- They would always say he was Major League caliber player.

If he was white, he'd be in the majors.

He'd be the best second baseman in baseball, that kind of thing.

- [Julie] Born in 1858, he grew up in Cooperstown, New York, later the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

His given name was John Jackson, the origin of his alias is unclear.

- Back in those days, a career as a ballplayer wasn't very respectable, so players would often change their names so it wouldn't, their family wouldn't find out or it wouldn't disrespect the family or so on and so forth.

- [Julie] On May 18th, 1878, the 20-year-old made his pro debut as starting pitcher for the Live Oaks, a team in Lynn, Massachusetts.

He pitched a few more games and moved on to another team.

Moving town to town would become typical for Fowler in the face of repeated racism.

- Bud was like a nomad.

He would play with multiple teams each year because he would face discrimination or racist comments, from not only the fans or the opponents, but also his own teammates who didn't wanna play with a Black person.

- [Julie] Opposing pitchers would throw bean balls at his head while base runners would come at him, spikes flying high.

When things got too hot, he'd move on.

- I think he didn't take anything.

I think he was, didn't feel like he was below anyone else, and he didn't need to deal with that and he would move on.

So he never really stuck with a team more than one year.

But wherever he went, he was the best player, usually, on the team and a leader.

- [Julie] He would never get a chance to play in the Major Leagues.

Team owners barred Blacks from the Majors until 1947 and Jackie Robinson.

So mid-career, Fowler caught on with the Galesburg Pavers.

By all accounts, the problems there weren't racial but financial.

- In 1890, Evansville team from Indiana signed Bud to a contract, but they sold his contract to Galesburg for $500 and supposedly Bud got a piece of that.

So he went to Galesburg and he played with them for about a month.

He did great, but the team did not.

- [Julie] Because of poor ticket sales, the team folded.

Fowler kept bouncing around, returning to Galesburg to play for a new team in 1893.

The next year he went to Michigan to help form the Page Fence Giants, one of the first all-Black barnstorming teams and a precursor to the Negro Leagues.

After two years, he began to move again as a player or a manager for several more teams before retiring in 1904.

- He was a businessman, an entrepreneur, just a trailblazer, a pioneer and he was really, he was a great example for all the great players that came after him.

- [Julie] Over his career, Fowler batted .308 as a pitcher, catcher and second baseman.

After retiring, Fowler worked as a barber.

With no family of his own, he died penniless in 1913, buried in an unmarked grave.

But in 1987, Williams' group put a memorial on the grave.

And two years ago, with the push of Williams and his committee, Bud Fowler was inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame - That pioneers many times did not get to enjoy the changes they bring about, or the doors they open, but Fowler's impact on the game and spreading the baseball to Black communities around the country was indeed profound.

- [Julie] In time, perhaps, Bud Fowler will become more widely recognized for his contributions to baseball and America.

- To me, he's just one of those guys that everyone should learn about.

(bright music) ♪ Me out with the crowd ♪ Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack ♪ - [Julie] Thanks to the iconic song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", Cracker Jacks will forever be linked with baseball.

And those caramel coated delicious snacks were born right here in Illinois.

Back in 1893 during the Chicago World's Fair, Frederick William Rueckheim unveiled this innovative popcorn creation, collaborating with his brother Louis, who had recently immigrated from Germany.

They founded the FW Rueckheim and Brother Company to market their popcorn.

By 1896, the name Cracker Jack was officially registered, replacing its previous title of Candied Popcorn and Peanuts.

This marked the inception of the beloved sticky sweet treat we all enjoy today.

Originally, Cracker Jack was a slang that was used to describe something that was exceptional quality, making it a fitting name that stuck with customers.

Introducing small prizes in each box in 1912 proved to be a brilliant marketing strategy, further cementing its popularity.

In 1918, the packaging underwent another historical transformation with the introduction of Sailor Jack and his dog, Bingo, who became iconic symbols of the brand.

In 1922, the company changed its name to the Cracker Jack Company, a name that endured until it was acquired in 1964.

Today, Cracker Jack is produced by Frito-Lay and remains a favorite snack at baseball games, captivating audiences of all ages.

While the prizes inside may have evolved over the years, the delicious candy coated popcorn and peanuts remain unchanged, a timeless treat that has delighted generations.

♪ That make your lip smack ♪ It's caramel coated Cracker Jack ♪ - [Phil] Mike Donlin is likely the greatest baseball player you've never heard of.

He's certainly the best ball player born in Peoria, not named Jim Thome.

In fact, like Thome, Donlin could have ended up in the Hall of Fame, if not for multiple distractions.

Brash, irreverent, and outspoken, he now seems like a man out of time.

But chasing too many dreams, including a burning desire to act on Broadway, led to the early burnout of the all-time baseball star that could have been.

Donlin was born in Peoria in 1878.

His family, including several siblings, lived at 808 South Adams Street, near the current site of Dozer Field.

In his sixth year, his family moved to Pennsylvania to follow the career of his railroad conductor father.

There, four years later, his father operated a train with the family aboard, it slammed it to another locomotive, killing both parents and leaving the Donlin kids as orphans.

Donlin grew up as a sickly child, but turned scrappy as a teen, scrounging for work to get by.

He returned to Peoria at age 17 to sell candy on a rail line that made round trips to California.

One day out west, he didn't come back.

Fleet of foot, he made a living running races for money.

Then he turned to baseball, easily slashing hits around the field, a great skill during the dead ball era when home runs were rare and speed was prized.

The loud lefty routinely sought audiences with reporters bragging that he'd be in the big league soon.

He was right.

In 1899, the St. Louis Perfectos, later the Cardinals, called him up.

He got that news while in the Santa Cruz jail, his crime, public drunkenness, not uncommon for Donlin.

In fact, then and later, he'd routinely booze it up and get in fights, often landing in the pokey.

But he was a sensation at the plate, hitting with the best of them over the next several years.

But Donlin was a constant headache to managers.

His late night partying and fighting was not only a public relations nightmare, but he'd often get his teammates involved and in trouble.

He bounced from team to team, eventually ending up with the New York Giants, led by the brusque John McGraw.

The manager liked the feistiness of Donlin, even his penchant to argue and fight with umpires.

In time, New York fans grew to adore his swagger.

He ran with a peculiar strut that earned him the nickname Turkey Mike.

Mike Donlin might have been the first high profile bad boy athlete.

And at the height of his fame, he helped the Giants win the 1904 National League pennant and the next year's World Series.

But though the toast of the town, he wanted a new drink.

Suddenly, he yearned to trade baseball for Broadway.

Maybe blame his acting bug on his heritage of Peoria, the heart of Vaudeville.

In fact, he married the Vaudevillian and Broadway actress Mabel Hite.

Soon he gave up baseball to follow her around the country and study stage productions.

He made a triumphant return to the ball diamond in 1908, then left again to throw himself totally into the theater.

At first, the career change worked out tremendously.

He wrote and acted in plays with his wife, pulling in more money than as a star ball player.

But then alcohol took over his life again.

Sometimes he'd show up to the theater not ready for anything except to argue with his wife, who complained to newspapers about his foolish and heartbreaking behavior.

He kept flipping between baseball and acting, but with age, his athletic talent waned.

And by 1912, he was through with baseball.

That same year, his wife died.

For years after that, Donlin would lean on the sympathies of well-connected baseball fans like Hollywood heavyweights, John Barrymore and Buster Keaton, who helped him get bit parts in movies.

But in time, the booze kept dragging him down.

He died at age 55 in 1933 of a heart attack as he slept at his Hollywood home.

In time, his name faded.

But in 2016, he was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.

Yet outside of that group, he remains mostly unknown in his hometown.

Mike Donlin, the greatest, no-name baseball star ever born in Peoria.

Boo.

- Boo to you.

- That's what you gotta do at ball games, the things you sit and do when you're at the stadium.

- Okay, what else do you do at the stadium?

The wave?

- We could do a wave.

- You're not doing it.

- It's a very short wave.

It's only two of us right here, right now.

- All right, fine.

- Baseball traditions though are great.

You know what tradition I used to love as a kid?

- What?

- Baseball cards.

Did you used to collect those at all?

- I'm very much a girl.

- There's only one thing I like more than baseball cards, the baseball card gum.

- Delish.

- It tasted funky.

You know what, it's really funkier now.

They haven't made it since 1991.

- That's 30 years ago.

- 30 plus.

But you know what?

We decided to find some of that gum and give it a try.

(bright music) So baseball season is upon us, you're a baseball fan, right?

- Oh yeah, I'm ready for it.

Especially now that football season's over, let's get into it.

- Right, right, right.

And there's so much nostalgia about baseball and especially this time of year when I think about baseball, I think about baseball cards.

Did you buy and collect them when you were a little one?

- I did.

I bought 'em mostly for the bubble gum.

But I kept, if I'd find a favorite player, I'd definitely keep them.

- Stick it in your spokes in your bike and rip 'em up and then find out later they're worth a fortune?

- Right.

- Whoops.

And so Topps was the big baseball card company way back when.

They started making gum in '30s.

They started cranking out cards in the '50s and they included the gum with the cards, right.

And that's when you'd open 'em up and especially early in the season, it was like, "Oh, I'll eat that gum".

And it was kind, it's a little hard, it's not the greatest gum, but it's with the cards.

Then by maybe June, you'd just be chucking it.

But by '91, Topps stopped putting gum in the cards because collectors started complaining.

"Oh, it's making my cards all dusty and icky" and whatnot, blah, blah, blah.

So no more gum after '91.

- Okay.

- But through the magic of eBay and other sellers, we have found some unopened wax packs of baseball cards.

And you know what I'm curious about?

What that gum tastes like.

- Right?

That's what I was curious about, too.

- Did you know that we were gonna do that today?

Or do you think we're just gonna open these cards and look for a fortune?

- Interesting.

I was hoping for the fortune.

But we've got one pack here from 1989, one from 1988.

- Right.

And so we're talking about gum that's 35 and 36 years old.

And I'm just wondering if that's gonna rekindle some of that nostalgia, that flavor of that, "Man, that's what it was great when I was a kid", that kind of thing.

So, are you ready?

- As ready as I'm gonna be.

- Okay, let's take to it.

Here we go.

- All right.

- [Phil] Oh, mine's already broken.

- Oh, vintage 1989.

- [Phil] But here it is.

- Here's mine.

- Mine's a little cracked.

Okay, so here we go.

- All right.

- It's crunchy.

It's, okay, you're not supposed to eat gum, you're supposed to chew it, but you know what's happening?

Oh!

- You swallowing it?

- I can't help it.

It's dissolving.

It's, okay, so normally our only cardboard, I know what cardboard tastes like.

Well, if I rip up open a box from Amazon, that's what the tastes like.

It tastes like, I imagine this is what a shoe might taste like.

- We ain't blowing no bubbles with this gum.

- Ain't no bubbles, but like.

- Ew.

- Does it look as gross as it looked.

Let me see yours.

- Pop Rocks.

- Ugh.

Ugh.

I got one more though.

Oh, that's disgusting.

Now I did research this.

If anyone out there's like, "Hey, I wanna be like those two."

First of all, get your head examined.

Second of all, if they say that, well, no gum has an expiration date, apparently.

Man, this is disgusting.

This is gonna have a little aftertaste, I think, like till possibly June.

There's no expiration date on gum 'cause it doesn't hurt you.

I guess in time though, whatever the binding agents, break down.

And so if you have cards that are in a sealed pack, it's not gonna hurt you.

- Okay?

- If it's unsealed, it might be some bacteria, but not enough to probably, probably kill you.

Make you make you do that face for a long time.

- This is the crunchiest rubber I've ever chewed on.

- Ah, okay, so those were Topps 1989, 1988.

A very good year, possibly, if you'd eat 'em that year, I don't know now.

- Maybe.

- But I have a surprise.

- Okay.

- KISS bubble gum cards.

1978, unopened.

- Yes.

Oh, '78.

- '78.

You would've been, what?

Four?

- Yeah.

- So this is 30, no, sorry, 46-year-old gum, almost a century.

- Oh.

Are we sure that's not worth something?

- I well, you know, Mickey Mantle rookie card goes for millions, I think a KISS, maybe a Gene Simmons rookie card, would go for, I don't know, 20 cents.

But we don't know.

- He only had so many notches on his belt by that point.

- Yeah.

So here we go, 1978 KISS gum.

We're gonna have, oh, here, which color do you like?

- Oh Lord.

- Take one.

- The smallest.

- You're not a brave soul, are you?

- It doesn't smell.

- Oh, it's worse.

Oh, it's worse.

- There's no taste.

- It's coming outta my mouth just like Gene Simmons' fire, I'm like breathing fire, breathing gum.

- It has no taste.

- It doesn't taste as bad.

- It's like a.

- It's sharper.

Oh yeah, it does.

Here it comes.

Here comes the bad flavor.

So what have we learned?

Oh my god, I can't even speak.

That's horrible.

- That we're both off tomorrow?

- I think we're gonna be off a long time.

- It tastes like a tongue depressor.

- Oh, this is the worst.

So, have a good baseball season.

Don't eat gum, especially old gum.

Blech.

More than 20,000 players have been in Major League Baseball games.

Of all of those, Danny Goodwin of Peoria holds a unique, one-of-a-kind distinction.

It all started at Peoria High School, where Goodwin was a standout catcher.

In 1971, he was the first overall draft pick chosen by the Chicago White Sox.

But Goodwin didn't like the contract offer, which had a bonus of just $60,000.

So he decided to go to college.

He enrolled at Southern University in Louisiana.

There he continued to play baseball and in 1975, "The Sporting News" named him the College Baseball Player of the Year.

After that, he went to the next draft, where he again, was picked number one, this time by the California Angels.

The bonus offered was $150,000, which then was a record.

And yeah, he signed that contract.

Now, Goodwin played for several years, his career was a bit spotty, especially because of injuries.

But it turned out to be a good thing because he spent two decades in the front office with the Atlanta Braves.

He also was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.

And he was the first ballplayer from an Historically Black College to be inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.

And to this day, Peoria native Danny Goodwin remains the only Major League ball player to be drafted overall first, twice.

- [Commentator] Pete Mackanin and Dave Engle against the right-handed Danny Darwin, Goodwin, a long drive to right field, going back is Lacy and that ball is gone.

A home run for Danny Goodwin.

Home run number one on the season for Danny G. (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright upbeat music continues) - Play ball!

It's time for a Grand Slam edition of Eight Track Time Machine where we get into the sounds and the stories of the eight track era and in honor of opening day, we've got a special baseball edition of Eight Track Time Machine.

Now, you might be thinking, "Phil, how many baseball songs are there in pop music history?"

Not a lot, but we've gathered the best and we've got a great lineup.

So without further ado, batter up.

(driving music) So in 1972, 24-year-old Joe Walsh, who had just quit the James Gang and moved out to Boulder, Colorado, and he's in his yard and he's mowing the lawn and he must have been using one of those self-propelled type jobbies.

And he's out there and he just takes a look at the sky and he's like in Joe Walsh style, I'm sure.

"Wow, man, look at all those mountains."

And he's taken, seriously, taken by the beauty.

And all of a sudden he starts thinking, he's like, "I've got a song, I got a song."

And so he darts inside to write the song, right, to take some notes down.

But the thing is, he leaves the lawnmower, it keeps going, and it goes right into the neighbor's rose bushes, this big rose garden and it chomps everything up.

It causes $1500 worth of damage, but it's the best $1500 Joe Walsh ever spent 'cause that song that he wrote, "Rocky Mountain Way", shot up the charts and ever since it's been a classic rock staple.

♪ Time to change the batter - The key part was that last line, "Time to change the batter", that was Walsh's inside jab at his old management company.

He hated those guys, so he got a new management company.

Now, as far as baseball imagery, it's not exactly "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", but it sure rocks a lot harder.

(bright rock music) This unconventional love song came out in 1977 on the album, "Bat Out of Hell".

It waxes on the agonies of teenage lust and it features, of course, Meatloaf, and his frequent collaborator on these kind of songs, Helen Foley.

The main lyrics have nothing to do with baseball.

But about halfway through, the song gets turned over to Yankees great Phil Rizzuto, who at the time was the team's announcer.

- [Phil] Line, shot up the middle.

Look at him go, this boy can really fly.

He's rounding first, and really turning it on now.

He's not letting up at all, he's gonna drive into second.

- Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Nowadays, those kind of lyrics seem almost quaint.

But as they said in the song, "It was long ago and it was far away".

(bright music) There's nothing coy about this 1985 smash by John Fogerty.

And like we were talking about at the beginning of this segment, he was thinking, "How come there are no songs in pop music, no hits, at least, about baseball."

So he decided to give it a try with this title cut from the album "Centerfield".

♪ The way I feel ♪ Oh, put me in coach ♪ I'm ready to play ♪ Today - The whole song is filled with a lot of remembrances from baseball of yore and in fact, there's a line that talks about "A'roundin' third, headed for home, it's a brown-eyed, handsome man."

And that's a reference to a 1957 song by Chuck Berry.

So with that extra tie-in, I guess we give Fogerty bonus points, or it's baseball, so that's bonus runs or extra innings or something, whatever.

It's a great song.

(bright pop music) Baseball is all about nostalgia.

And there's only maybe one more thing that's more nostalgic in America, and that's high school.

Bruce Springsteen took a rueful look at the glory of teenage years in his 1984 smash album, "Born in the USA".

In "Glory Days", the first verse takes a look back at a real life encounter between Springsteen and a former baseball teammate.

♪ I had a friend was a big baseball player ♪ ♪ Back in high school - And that former teammate?

Though he comes off as maybe a little pathetic in the song, later on in real life, he actually said, "Hey, I'm glad I was remembered at all".

Further, the video has a lot of scenes that show Springsteen having fun on a sandlot field and that's a nice nod to baseball as well.

But my favorite part of the song?

♪ Down to the well tonight ♪ And I'm gonna drink till I get my fill ♪ - Get my fill.

You always wanna "Get my Phil".

Well, I think that one was a home run and we'll see you next time on Eight Track Time Machine.

(bright music) - I'm not big on all the sports ball, or you know, baseball, but I really thought it was a good episode.

It was a touchdown!

- Oh, definitely.

Six points.

And maybe we'll get a field goal.

- Maybe.

- And a power play and all sorts of good baseball things.

- Can we get hot dogs, too?

- That would be our best decision right now.

- Absolutely.

And thanks for joining us here on "You Gotta See This".

♪ The old ball game - [Phil] And the crowd goes crazy.

Julie, with all of her fans.

Will Clark, Nolan Ryan.

- [Mark] There we go.

- [Phil] Not a rookie card, but.

- [Mark] Al Nipper.

- Two hours later.

(laughing) - Tastes fine.

- [Phil] Her stomach hurts.

- Oh wait.

- [Phil] See?

- Oh no.

Oh no.

- [Phil] Foolish human.

- [Mark] Peter Chris, a Sagittarius.

- [Phil] It's like a.

- PBS.

PBS.

- [Phil] Get money.

- You should watch PBS.

♪ Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack ♪ ♪ I don't care if I never get back ♪ ♪ Let me root, root, root for the home team ♪ ♪ If they don't win it's a shame ♪ ♪ For it's one, two, three strikes you're out ♪ ♪ At the old ball game