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S01 Episode 02: Bigger Than Baseball

S01 Episode 02: Bigger Than Baseball

FromTom Rinaldi Presents: Wesley


S01 Episode 02: Bigger Than Baseball

FromTom Rinaldi Presents: Wesley

ratings:
Length:
27 minutes
Released:
Jul 18, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Bostock spent part of his childhood in Gary, Indiana: the murder capital of the United States.  
The city helped shape Bostock, and with his family ties there, its grip lasted throughout his life… with tragic result.
Bostock’s other home was California. His first week in college in the San Fernando Valley, he meets his future wife, Youvene. And in his first semester there, his role in a student protest (sparked by a white coach assaulting a Black athlete), would have dire consequences--from arrest, to felony charges, to time in jail. 
At a time when peers and classmates were urging him to give up the game and walk away from baseball, Bostock makes a choice, setting a course toward the rest of his life.  
Released:
Jul 18, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (9)

In the more than 150 year history of Major League Baseball, only one player has ever been murdered during a season.   That player is Lyman “Wesley” Bostock Jr, a budding star for the Angels in the 70's, who was murdered by a man who whose court case would result in a stunning verdict.  In an 8-part series, Tom Rinaldi explores Lyman's improbable life, his tragic death, and the miscarriage of justice that let his killer go free. Lyman Bostock is described by Hall Of Fame players like Rod Carew and George Brett as a future batting champ and potential Hall Of Famer himself. But he was so much more than a ballplayer, as Rinaldi learns from talking to his widow, Youvene, his teammates, friends, media members who covered him and lawyers involved in his murder trial. Wesley explores the mindset of man who donated a month's salary to charity rather than accept it while in a hitting slump, the motivations of a man who nearly skipped a career in baseball to pursue the fight for social justice in the late 60's, and the motives of the killer who took his life.