In 1986 A’s Radio Baseball Cards premiered with Ray Fosse as host to much attention and acclaim. My next thought was, “let’s take this nationally!” I approached various play-by-play announcers with network exposure, and after a short, but exciting conversation with my childhood hero, Don Drysdale, he agreed to consider it. Weeks later, his agent called to say Don was interested, and things started to move forward. Months later, our syndicator abruptly pulled out while we had 3 reporters at Spring Training. I told Don that we could forget the whole thing and he’d be off the hook, but he said “Forget them, let’s do it ourselves!” Don never charged me a penny, but was still incredibly generous with his time and gracious in his attitude. The program only lasted the one season, but I will always be indebted to Don for his support. The show ran on 38 stations across the USA, and quietly disappeared. I’m excited to resurrect Radio Baseball Cards® so that it can live on forever. For all his help and support, I dedicate this podcast series to the memory of a friend, mentor and partner, Don Drysdale.
Fred Greene
Creator and Executive Producer

The following bio information about Don Drysdale is edited from his bio at wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Drysdale.

Pitching for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, he teamed with Sandy Koufax during the late 1950s and 1960s to form one of the most dominating pitching duos in history. The ferocious hurler (nicknamed "Big D" by fans) used brushback pitches and a sidearm fastball to intimidate batters, and his 154 hit batsmen remain a modern National League record.

In 1962, Drysdale won 25 games and the Cy Young Award, and set a record with 58 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968; the record was ultimately broken by fellow Dodger Orel Hershiser 20 years later. In 1963, he struck out 251 batters and won a World Series Game (Game 3 at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium). In 1965, the all-around athlete was the Dodgers' only .300 hitter and tied his own National League record for pitchers with seven home runs. That year he won 23 games and led the Dodgers to only their third World Championship in Los Angeles, he ended his career by winning 209 games, striking out 2,486 batters, pitched in 167 complete games and had 49 shutouts. He was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, and had his number 53 officially retired at Dodger Stadium on July 1, 1984. (He was the last player on the Dodgers who had played for Brooklyn.)

Don Drysdale retired after the 1969 season and became a broadcaster for not just the Dodgers (from 1988 up until his death in 1993), but also the Montréal Expos (1970-1971), Texas Rangers (1972), California Angels (1973-1979), Chicago White Sox (1982-1987), and ABC (1978-1986).

In 1984, Drysdale did play-by-play (alongside fellow Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Earl Weaver) for the thrilling National League Championship Series between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs.

On October 6, 1984 at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium, Game 4 of the NLCS ended when Padres first baseman Steve Garvey hit a dramatic two run home run off of Lee Smith.
“ Deep right field, way back. Cotto going back to the wall...it's gone! Home run Garvey! And there will be tomorrow!”

Don Drysdale died of a heart attack in his hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, where he had been broadcasting a Dodgers game in 1993. Drysdale was found dead by radio station employees sent to look for him when he was late for his scheduled broadcast. After Drysdale missed the team bus, hadn't shown up about two hours before game time, and didn't answer his telephone, the hotel staff went in and found him face down, near his bed. The coroner estimated that he had been dead for 18 hours. Soon afterwords, Drysdale's broadcasting colleague Vin Scully, who was instructed not to say anything on the air until Drysdale's family was notified, announced the news of his death by saying
“ Never have I been asked to make an announcement that hurts me as much as this one. And I say it to you as best I can with a broken heart.”
Fellow broadcaster Ross Porter told his radio audience,
“ I just don't believe it, folks. ”