Michael Wacha was a guest on TexAgs Radio in late January, with fellow former Aggies Barret Loux and Brooks Raley, both members of the Chicago Cubs organization.

There’s obviously a lot of chatter about the latter two throughout the video, but Wacha gets his time to talk about going to Cardinals camp in Jupiter and what his experience was like as a first-year professional last season right out of the draft.

Check out the video after the jump.

If you’re most interested in Wacha talking about the Cardinals, skip to about 4:45 when he talks about going into big-league camp with the Cards and learning from the veteran pitchers. He goes on to talk about spring plans for being a starter at about 11:25, and continues to talk about learning the “Cardinal Way” (love that he knows it already, by the way), and how he figures he managed to achieve a 10 K/BB ratio in his short stint as a reliever in the Cards’ minor leagues last season.

Looking forward to seeing more of this guy in the coming season.

The triumphant return of the Pitchers Hit Eighth podcast resulted in Episode 12.0 and we were extremely lucky to have Mike Ferrin, co-host of Power Alley on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, as our guest.

We talked to Mike at length about the lasting legacy of Stan Musial, Jason Motte‘s new contract, a pending (hopefully) extension for Adam Wainwright, and how the NL Central might shape up in 2013.

Please give a listen, and please support Mike by listening to his show daily on SiriusXM from 9am – 1pm CT.  Thanks Mike!

After you’re done listening, tell your friends about the PH8 Podcast, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest or guests.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

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Courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals

CARDINALS MOURN LOSS OF ERNIE HAYS

RETIRED BALLPARK ORGANIST SPENT 40 SEASONS PLAYING MUSIC FOR THE FANS AT BUSCH

ST. LOUIS, November 1, 2012 – The entire St. Louis Cardinals family is saddened by the passing of Ernie Hays, retired Busch Stadium organist, last night at the age of 77.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Ernie Hays,” Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “Ernie’s music shaped the soundtrack of Cardinals baseball for nearly four decades. He was one of the premier sports organists in the country, and a valued member of the Cardinals family. The entire Cardinals organization extends its sincere condolences to his wife Loreta and his entire family.”

A St. Louis native, Hays began playing piano at the age of seven. He finished high school in Houston, Missouri, and majored in music at Drury College and Southwestern Missouri State University in Springfield. Hays served four years of active military service with the United States Navy before returning to St. Louis and earning an engineering degree from Washington University.

Hays’ sports music career began in 1971 when the Cardinals installed an organ in Busch Stadium II, and he quickly became a fixture at major St. Louis sporting events. Hays soon started playing for the St. Louis football Cardinals, the St. Louis Blues, and the St. Louis Stars and Steamers soccer teams in addition to area college teams. It was at a Steamers game where Hays first played “Here Comes The King,” the popular Budweiser beer advertising jingle, and a now staple at every Cardinals game. Hays is credited in St. Louis with popularizing batter “walk-up” songs, as well as the intro music for relief pitchers. Hays retired from the Cardinals in 2010 after 40 seasons.

Ernie Gets Beaked (courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals)

EDITOR’S NOTE BY SOME GUY NOT THE EDITOR:  I was at the last game in 2010 when Ernie played Here Comes the King for the faithful at Busch.  Standing ovations are not uncommon in St. Louis.  Standing ovations involving nearly every single fan, player, vendor, coach, manager, and stadium personnel?   Way more awesome.  God bless you, Ernie Hays.  Your music should play whenever I think of those innocent days years ago when I would listen to Jack Buck on the radio on my grandparent’s sun porch.

SomethingSomething-ErnieHays

Mike Shannon makes the best train noises in the world.

On the air.

During a playoff game.

You’re welcome….

mikeshannon-choochoo

Follow gr33nazn on Twitter, because I write baseball things in tweets.

Joined by MLB Fan Cave finalists Kyle Thompson, Sam Springli, Kelsey Shea Weinrich, and Nick Straatmann, we talk about the Fan Cave application process and ongoing voting (obviously) but also how these four finalists are Cardinal fans and how that affects their baseball fandom.

Please vote for Kyle (video here), Sam (video here), Kelsey (video here), and Nick (video here) before Wednesday’s (02/22) deadline to help them make it to the next round of 30!

Once you’ve voted, give them a shout on Twitter and let them know!

Kyle – @kyle_d_thompson
Sam – @samspringli
Kelsey – @kelseyshea11
Nick – @nickstraatmann

We hope to have all four representing Cardinal Nation in New York and we’ll catch up with them all on a later podcast.

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA. This episode’s song was “Superstar”.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest or guests.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

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During his media session today at the Winter Warm-Up, Chris Carpenter told his version of the Carpenter, Roy Halladay, Skeet Reese fishing trip/anaconda wrestling story.

Here’s the audio:

Dennis and Andrew join the show this week to almost make a Pitchers Hit Eighth clean sweep. We discussed EVERY PLAYER on the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, and whether or not we thought they should get in.

Using the consensus opinion from the show as a site-wide vote for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance balloting, we collectively agreed to vote for six players for induction – but you’ll have to listen to find out which ones!  (Or just read the next post on PH8 that outlines who voted for what and which players had enough to go into the PH8 Wing of the Hall of Fame.)

Two notes: there was a microphone/recording malfunction around 1:23 of the show that resulted in losing some of Josh’s valued opinion on Edgar Martinez (sorry Josh!), and second, you’ll find some additional banter about the first-time ballot players if you stick around to the very end after the closing song.

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA. This episode’s song was “Superstar”.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest or guests.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Will Leitch, life-long Cardinal fan (and also of New York Magazine, his book Are We Winning?, and Editor Emeritus of Deadspin) was our guest for the first post-Pujols recording. We discussed that subject at length, as well as what the future holds for the Cardinals sans Albert Pujols, and just a little Fighting Illini chatter thrown in for you Illinois fans.

Will the Cards sign Carlos Beltran?  What does Jeff Luhnow leaving for Houston mean for the critical upcoming Cardinals draft?

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.  They’re currently working on a new album, please support them!

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
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Moved to record a new episode after far too much time taken off since the last one, Josh and I blazed our own path without a guest for Episode 8.0.

We did however, solicit questions from Twitter just before the show, and wound up discussing topics ranging from Jose Oquendo‘s future with the club, to the middle infield,  to the new manager Mike Matheny, and ultimately devolving into a fascinating and excellent wager.

If you listen to one episode of the Pitchers Hit Eighth podcast, this one is it. Josh has put forth a challenge to us Cardinal fans and the new manager to make something happen…

This show was like a tale of two recording apparatus – me on my new Blue Yeti (aka THE GOODS) and Josh on his phone again (cutting out a bit from time to time, thanks for your understanding) as he traverses the country. We’re working on getting Josh a Yeti (the microphone kind).

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.  They’re currently working on a new album, please support them!

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Eric Seidman from the Phillies blog Brotherly Glove joins us to discuss the already completed games, and those yet to come, in the National League Division Series with the Phils.

Our chat with Eric included many topics about both the Phillies and the Cardinals, including a review of games one and two, a preview of game three and the remainder of the series.  We then went on to talk a bit about some specifics from both teams: the difference between Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, the Cards’ bullpen, should Kyle Lohse have pitched to Ryan Howard, and the health of Matt Holliday.

Josh and I also had our own discussion touching on defining roles in the Cardinal bullpen, Jaime Garcia in a potentially must win (?) game three, Dave Duncan, and Ryan Theriot being successful (yeah, that’s right).

(Portions were recorded with Josh on an open-air mic and me on a wireless connection, so apologies for some static and skips.  It sounds like auto-tune in the opening!  One of these times we will both get in a sound booth and put together a finished product for you folks.)

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.  They’re currently working on a new album, please support them!

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Dan Shulman from ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball joins us to discuss his second visit to St. Louis in 2011 to see the Cards play the Cubs.

We also talked with Dan at length about being in the booth with Bobby Valentine and Orel Hershiser, and breaking the story that Osama Bin Laden had been killed during a live broadcast.

After Josh and I put our two cents in on some things, we also had Pat Lackey from the Pirates blog WHYGAVS join us (recorded prior to last weekend’s STL-PIT series) to break down the Pirates a bit, including any potential trading deadline moves Pat saw happening for the Bucs.

(Portions were recorded with yours truly on the phone again, so apologies for some audio tics and skips.)

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Dayn Perry (NotGraphs, Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball’s Mr. October) joins us to discuss the NL Central at the All-Star Break along with many other things, amongst them abusing poor, computerized Scott Erickson in a Diamond Mind game.

Josh took over the hosting honors (honors?) on this one, as I was enjoying some R&R away from the computer, but they managed to track me down via cell phone and we made the magic happen (read: recorded a show that took me forever to edit, because I was well into Belgian adult beverages, Dayn was eating a calzone, and Josh couldn’t get the opening or closing right).

Nevertheless, I think the final product is something well worth listening to, which is what we strive for.

We discussed the ENTIRE NL Central as well as some Cards that participated in the Futures Game and what we might expect from the hometown club moving forward in 2011.

Please give a listen, tell your friends, e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com and keep reading.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.

—–

P.S.  If you listen beyond the closing music, there’s a great little bit from Dayn that really should’ve been the title of the show.  Alas, if only it fit.  Well, I guess it did in some format, right?  PH8 Outtakes?

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
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Kevin Goldstein of BaseballProspectus.com joins Josh and I to talk about Kolten Wong and the Cardinals’ draft, as well as Shelby Miller, Matthew Adams, Zack Cox, Trevor Rosenthal, and many other Cards prospects.

Josh and I run down the Cardinal callups this season, quick evaluations of how each one has done with the big club.

Thanks again to Star Off Machine for providing our music for this episode, follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker (U before the E, fools), Fangraphs, and Roto Hardball joins us to talk Brewers baseball.  Luckily his segment was recorded before the weekend series, so he couldn’t embarrass us.  (I’m sure that’s bound to come in the comments.)

Additionally, despite the title of this episode, I’m still a relatively moderate (is that wishy-washy enough?) supporter of Ryan Theriot.  *ducks*  Who threw that?!

Also dragged into this show against their will: Nyjer Morgan, Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, Yadier Molina, Lance Lynn, and many more!

Special thanks to our musical guest Star Off Machine for providing us with some of their singles to use on the show.  The one you hear in this episode is “Superstar”.  Check out more of their music here, and you can follow them on Twitter @STOFMA.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can email podcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Daniel Shoptaw of C70 At The Bat joins us to discuss United Cardinal Bloggers, Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Cardinal baseball and Baby Birds.

On the agenda for Ep 2.0 – Kyle McClellan, Matt Holliday, Lance Lynn, Maikel Cleto, Shelby Miller, Zack Cox, Carlos Martinez, Chris Carpenter, Ryan Franklin, Chris Duncan – AND OH SO MUCH MORE.

We continue to have a blast recording these and are always looking for topics to discuss and new guests to berate interview, so if you have some great ideas or feedback, please e-mail us at podcast@pitchershiteighth.com.

—–

The Pitchers Hit Eighth Podcast is an irregularly recorded show featuring discussion about all aspects of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, hosted by Nick and Josh from Pitchers Hit Eighth.  Occasionally, they will be joined by an interesting guest.

You can follow @PitchersHit8th (Nick) and @aprfool79 (Josh) on Twitter.

If you have questions you’d like to be answered on the podcast, you can emailpodcast@pitchershiteighth.com, contact either via Twitter, or use the contact form.

PH8P iTunes
PH8P RSS feed