On this special Fourth of July episode of Empty the Bench: Small Market Edition, we’re stepping off the professional stage and onto the dusty, sun-bleached diamonds of our local neighborhoods. As we celebrate 250 years of American history, we’re asking: where does the true soul of baseball live?

Host Callan McClurg takes you on a journey through the "Little Big League"—the volunteer-driven world of American Legion and Little League baseball that has served as the heartbeat of American youth sports for generations.

In this episode, we explore:

• The Origins of the Amateur Model: From the military-inspired discipline of American Legion baseball in 1925 to the revolutionary, community-scaling brilliance of Carl Stotz’s Little League in 1939.

• San Diego’s Baseball Lineage: We trace the history of amateur excellence in San Diego County, featuring the incredible story of the 1954 San Diego Post 6 championship team and a conversation with local legend Billy Capps.

• The Modern Renaissance: A look back at how the "Blue Bombers" of Park View (2009) and the powerhouse Eastlake squads (2013) proved that neighborhood kids could still conquer the global stage.

• The Human Cost: A poignant tribute to the late Micah Pietila-Wiggs, a local icon whose memory reminds us that these fields are more than just tournament brackets—they are the centers of our communities.

• The Travel Ball Crisis: Callan breaks down the harsh economic and physical realities of the multi-billion-dollar "travel ball" complex, examining why a return to local, multi-sport volunteer leagues might be the only way to save the next generation from burnout and injury.

Whether you’re a parent, a former player, or a fan of the game’s roots, this episode is a love letter to the freshly cut grass, the smell of leather, and the irreplaceable joy of a game played for the love of the neighborhood.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How a milkshake salesman and an enlightened philanthropist permanently preserved a city’s sporting soul.

In this episode of Empty the Bench: Small Market Edition, Callan McClurg strips away the modern corporate sports narrative to dissect the exact, chaotic moment the "Almost" Padres were rescued from the moving trucks to become San Diego’s team forever.

We map out the staggering, rapid-fire collapse of the franchise's original five years under founding owner C. Arnholt Smith. Once universally revered as "Mr. San Diego," Smith’s entire regional empire evaporated practically overnight into a house of cards. We break down the historic, systemic failure of his United States National Bank—then the largest bank collapse in American history—colliding violently with a $23 million IRS tax lien. Desperate to cut his astronomical losses, Smith quietly executed a $12 million sale to Washington D.C. grocery store magnate Joseph Danzansky. The moving vans were literally idling at San Diego Stadium, the National League had approved the relocation, and Topps had already printed baseball cards rebranding the roster to the nation's capital.

Then, the ultimate capitalist epiphany intervened. We trace how McDonald’s mastermind Ray Kroc—who spent decades as a relentless corporate grinder selling paper cups, playing jazz piano, and distributing multi-mixer milkshake machines before discovering the McDonald brothers—found out about the unfolding sports crisis in a morning newspaper while relaxing on a yacht in Fort Lauderdale.

Driven by a lifelong passion for baseball and an total lack of ties to Southern California, Kroc orchestrated a lightning-fast pivot. We review his legendary, brief face-to-face meeting with a disgraced C. Arnholt Smith, where Kroc asked for the price tag, heard "$12 million," and finalized a transaction to completely save the franchise for San Diego faster than it would take a fast-food kitchen to fulfill a standard lunch order.

This is a story of economic ruin, a city fighting to protect its civic identity, and the extraordinary billionaire who decided a baseball diamond was worth a lot more than a monastery.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traditional sports business metrics usually focus on stadium tax revenues and jersey sales. But in San Diego, a massive regional economy is fueled by salt air, industrial urethane, and pure adrenaline. In this episode of Empty the Bench: Small Market Edition, Callan McClurg takes a deep dive into the high-stakes business of the "shred," exploring how a sun-drenched coastal playground transformed into the multi-billion-dollar global corporate headquarters for action sports.

We travel back to the summer of 1997 when X Games III hit Mission Beach like a cultural meteor, legitimizing alternative sports on prime-time television and launching iconic careers. We break down the high-flying engineering spectacle of Red Bull’s legendary stunts at the Embarcadero, where high-powered snowmobiles defied gravity over the open saltwater of the San Diego Bay to put the working port on a global marketing stage.

Plus, we uncover the local coastal DNA embedded in 90s nostalgia by exploring how the classic Nickelodeon hit Rocket Power turned the lifestyle of Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach into a massive international brand export. Finally, we celebrate the ultimate display of grit by tracking San Diego youth hockey alum Eric Baldwin on his grueling 61-day inline skating journey across America to fund global youth sports access.

From backyard vert ramps to North County manufacturing giants, discover why the coastal borders of San Diego will always remain the permanent landing place for the boldest innovators in action sports culture.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.