Jean Fruth has photographed amateur baseball players from Cuba to Oakland, from Japan to the Bronx and other baseball hotbeds throughout the world. Fruth and former Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson join us to discuss her book of more than 250 photos, as well as their efforts to grow amateur baseball around the globe.

In 2018, the Red Sox won the World Series with perhaps the best team ever in the franchise's storied history. Author Alex Speier joins us to explain how Boston spent years methodically developing a generation of elite prospects who led the team to the promised land.

Over the past two decades, Major League Baseball has put a lot of effort into honoring Jackie Robinson as a heroic man who broke the color barrier. But Robinson's legacy has been sanitized and oversimplified, says author David Naze. Robinson was a complex man who engaged in controversial political activity, had public clashes with other prominent African-Americans and didn't hesitate to criticize MLB.

Featured song: "This is My Country," the Impressions.

"The Celebrant" has been lauded as one of the greatest baseball novels ever written. Eric Rolfe Greenberg joins us to discuss his classic tale of a Jewish immigrant whose life intersects with the career of legendary New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson over two decades.

Featured song: "Sensation," Scott Joplin.

One hundred years ago today, the infamous 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds began. Author David Fleitz joins us to discuss his biography of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the man who has become the focal point of the Black Sox scandal in the public imagination.

Featured song: "I'm a Man," Joe Jackson.