FanGraphs Audio: Fred Harris Chats Baseball Cards, Cole Sulser Shares His Journey

October 1, 2021

Episode 942

This week on FanGraphs Audio, we talk to the author of one of our favorite baseball books before welcoming a big-league arm.

At the top of the program, Jay Jaffe sits down with Fred C. Harris, co-author of The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading And Bubblegum Book, first published in 1973. Like many, Jay loved this book in his formative years, and he shares some of his favorite passages and cards. Meanwhile, Fred reflects on how the book came to be and the numerous versions that have been published over the years, many of which Jay has on his shelf. Finally, Jay shares his ode to Rocky Bridges, and we hear an anecdote about Jim Bouton’s reaction to being in the book. [2:35]
After that, David Laurila is joined by Cole Sulser, right-hander for the Baltimore Orioles. Sulser talks about going from playing at Dartmouth with Kyle Hendricks to a pair of Tommy John surgeries to his unforgettable major league debut at age 29. David asks Sulser about playing in the Ivy League with players like Matt Bowman and Mike Ford and the Dominican Winter League with players like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Néstor Cortes Jr. Finally, we hear about Sulser’s favorite ballparks and his brother in the Pirates system. [34:10]

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Audio after the jump. (Approximate 54 minutes play time.)

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