Larry Dierker, our latest guest on Stitch x Stitch, broke into the big leagues as a “bonus baby’’ with the Houston Colt .45s in 1964 and celebrated his 18th birthday with a first inning strikeout of Willie Mays. Over the next four decades, he became synonymous with Houston baseball as a two-time All-Star pitcher, Astros manager and team broadcaster. In this episode, Dierker reflects on the formative years of the union and the partnership between Marvin Miller and players that forever changed the game. His memories run the gamut -- from Leo Durocher scattering players with fungoes as they assembled for a union meeting in the outfield to an awkward encounter with a general manager who responded to his request for a raise with silence and a puff of cigar smoke. Dierker shares his story with an eye for detail, a wry sense of humor, and an enduring commitment to the player fraternity and the game he loves.

Woody Woodward on Hank Aaron, the Big Red Machine & Baseball’s Economic Revolution

• (00:00:05) - Woody Woodward on the Players' Association
• (00:04:13) - Henry Aaron's Relationship With His Teammates
• (00:10:49) - Tom Ley on the Players Association
• (00:19:45) - Marvin Miller on the Players Association
• (00:26:39) - Woody Cloninger on the CBA
• (00:33:55) - Phil Jackson on Marvin Miller and the Players Association
• (00:39:50) - Woody Woodward on the MLBPA and the Game

Six-time All-Star Sam “Sudden Sam” McDowell joins Stitch x Stitch for an unfiltered look at the early years of the MLBPA and the uphill battles Players faced long before free agency reshaped the game. Raised in a Pittsburgh union household, McDowell first encountered Marvin Miller as a child attending a steelworkers’ meeting with his father. He immersed himself in union leadership as a young strikeout machine with the Cleveland Indians in the 1960s, and never hesitated to make his voice heard or his presence felt during the formative years of the MLBPA.

• (00:00:05) - Sam McDowell on The Players Association Podcast
• (00:08:35) - Sam Clemens on Gabe Paul Ratted Me Out
• (00:10:52) - Marvin Miller on His Contract
• (00:17:24) - Marvin Gay Paul on His Early Years as Baseball Representative
• (00:27:19) - Kirk Flood on the 1972 Strike
• (00:36:13) - Sandy Koufax on His First Year
• (00:36:53) - Marvin Hall on Baseball's History