Babe’s Babes Podcast

Babe’s Babes Podcast: Women in Baseball Week Panel w/ Kelley Franco Throop, Jason Klein & Perry Barber

In celebration of our first Women in Baseball Week as the Babe's Babes, we decided to do a little something different with this episode. We invited three individuals—whom we consider to be Women in Baseball Week icons—to spend the hour with us. In this episode, you'll hear from Kelley Franco Throop, Jason Klein, and Perry Barber. 
Kelley is a baseball media entrepreneur. Her company is called Three Inning Fan LLC. She is the host of her own podcast, “A Date in October with KFT”. Kelley has been a guest lecturer at the Baseball Hall of Fame and former baseball contributor on CNN’s Financial Network. By day, Kelley is a practicing attorney. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @threeinningfan to catch her “Three Inning Minute” videos, which feature one minute snippets about the legal, transactional, and nostalgic side of baseball.
Jason, as you know from Episode No. 8, is a writer and sports blogger with over twenty years of experience. He is the author of YES PEPPER, an empowering new book for girls who play baseball. Jason has always enjoyed sharing his passion for baseball with his two daughters.  He coaches youth baseball and is an advocate for girls getting a fair opportunity in the game. When his call for Twitter followers to share their support for his daughter, Ava, who wanted to know if girls could play baseball went viral on Twitter, Jason’s push for equality garnered support from Major League Baseball, Little League International and USA Women’s Baseball.  He was also featured on MLB Network, the YES Network and in the Washington Post. Follow Jason on Twitter @ByJasonKlein and @YesPepperBook.
Perry has been establishing a lot of "firsts" and "onlys" in baseball for over four decades. She’s the only woman so far to umpire major league exhibitions in both the U.S. and Japan, and one of very few women to umpire major league spring training games in the U.S. She’s the winner of the first SABR Women in Baseball Lifetime Achievement Award, nicknamed “The Dorothy” after revered researcher and writer Dorothy Seymour Mills, and is also a Jeopardy! champion, a Mensa member, an identical twin, a published author in her own right as well as the subject of numerous magazine articles, newspaper profiles, and books. And as if we didn't find her impressive already, in her former life as a singer/songwriter/guitarist, she was the opening act for Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Hall and Oates, and other music luminaries. In 2008 Perry assembled the first and (so far) only four-woman crew to umpire a major league spring training game. She was selected as an alternate umpire for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has taught umpiring to public school students in New York City while securing paying assignments for them with local associations, and is the first woman to have umpired in the Cape Cod League; this year (2023,) she is thrilled to note, two more women are umpiring in the CCL, ten years after she did. She’s a New York State Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, and her photograph is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown with her name on a plaque on the wall next to it, but she’s not resting on her laurels; she still works tirelessly to recruit and train other women umpires in order to render the phrase "woman umpire" as redundant as "female podcaster" or "woman astrophysicist.” After more than forty years, Perry is still fighting not to be in a league of her own. She is on Twitter @perrybarber. 
 

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 11: All-Star Break & Revisiting Our Preseason Predictions

The 2023 All-Star break is officially here! We've made it past the halfway mark (tear). In this episode, we revisited our preseason predictions as we took a trip around each of the six divisions and discussed what we were right about, what we were wrong about, what has surprised us most, and where things are at as we head into the second half of the season.

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 10: Oakland A’s Broadcaster Jessica Kleinschmidt

This episode was so special for the Babes! We welcomed on special guest, Jessica Kleinschmidt. Jess is a baseball fan with Reno, Nev. roots residing in the Bay Area. She is the host of the new podcast "Short and to the Point" and is also a broadcaster with the Oakland A's Radio Network. She previously worked for MLB.com and NBC Sports Bay Area.
In this episode, the lovely Jess shared a little bit about the path she followed to get her where she is now in her career, the foresight she shared with her father when she was just a little girl about how she would one day be an A's broadcaster, what it was like to be front and center for the A's recent reverse boycott, a little bit of advice for the Babes, and what we can look forward to on her new podcast!

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 9: The Father’s Day Special w/ Dave, Rang & Rob

Meet the Babes' fathers—the ones who inspired our love for the game of baseball and for our Yanks and Cards! In this episode, we each sat down individually with our father's to discuss the origins of their baseball fandom, their favorite baseball memories, and the current state of our teams. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there and a special thanks to our dad’s, Dave, Rang, and Rob.

Babe’s Babes Podcast Episode No. 8: Special Guest & Yes Pepper Author Jason Klein

When Jason Klein's daughter approached him in 2018 about whether she (or any girl) could play baseball in the boys league, he decided to take it to Twitter in hopes that his followers would show up with a few extra words of encouragement. Little did he know, the tweet would spark over 100,000 responses, including responses from the MLB, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Play Ball, Little League International, Baseball For All, Jessica Mendoza, Mo’ne Davis, and parents across the nation. Shortly thereafter, the Washington Post published a feature story on Jason and his daughter Ava, and the encouragement they received.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/03/03/a-young-girl-worried-baseball-was-only-for-boys-her-father-asked-twitter-for-help/
The overwhelming amount of responses Jason received from parents in similar situations left him wondering how many other little girls out there have had similar concerns, but didn’t have the support to overcome society’s stigmas. Jason decided to write a book to inspire young female ballplayers and in 2023, he released the book Yes Pepper, Girls Play Baseball, Too!

Babe’s Babes Podcast Episode No. 7: The Sandlot’s ”Tommy Repeat Timmons”, Shane Obedzinski

The Babe's had the ABSOLUTE pleasure of hanging with The Sandlot's "Tommy Repeat Timmons" Shane Obedzinski - talk about living out our childhood dreams! We had a laundry list of questions for Shane about the filming of the Sandlot, what he's been up to since, and what's to come in his (and his castmates') near future. At the end, Shane quizzed us on our Sandlot knowledge and threw us a few Sandlot spoiler alerts.

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 6: Special Guest & Cincinnati Reds Fan Jon Ousky

Jon Ousky is a tried and true fan of the oldest team in baseball, the Cincinnati Reds. He has seen 24...TWENTY FOUR.. Major League Baseball parks with his dad.
In this episode, Jon gives us a few tips on sticking with your team through the good, the bad, and the ugly, he discusses how he and his dad will be crossing three more parks off the list this summer, and he gives us a few recommended baseball reads!

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 5: Badass Babes in MLB Coaching Roles + First Few Weeks of the Season

In this episode, we talk about some of the badass women in MLB coaching roles and the many obstacles they've overcome to get there. In Ruth's Rundown, we give you the scoop on the first few weeks of the season!

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 4: Division Previews, Spring Training, WBC Updates

Opening Day 2023 is just DAYS away! In this episode, we give you our predictions, our hot takes, and what we're most looking forward to seeing in each of the MLB divisions. To round it out, we give you a few updates on the World Baseball Classic and Madds' trip to Spring Training!

Babe’s Babes Episode No. 3: Women in Baseball with John Kovach

In this episode, we introduce you to our special guest, John Kovach! John is a baseball archivist, historian, and museum director who curated over 200 artifacts for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame Museum Women in Baseball Exhibit. Fun fact about John...two of his middle school teachers played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League that inspired the movie many of us know and love: A League of Their Own.