B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 49 – for September 14, 2026
Games of Monday September 14:
10:00 a.m.: Orange (1-3) at Red (2-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 0 2 3 0 0 2 7 Red 5 5 0 5 X X 15 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Orange – George Brindley, Larry Fiorentino, Patrick Schmidt, and Dave Schneider; Red – Steve Browne. Umpires: home – Dave Brown; bases – George Romo and Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Tommy Deleon (45 for 4); Red – Steve Browne (1 for 1 with a walk), Tim Coles, Tommy Gillis, and Johnny Lee (all 3 for 3), Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with a double), and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double and a triple).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 87 degrees, feels like 98; 70% humidity; wind from the South at 10 MPH; partly cloudy – nice in the shade.
Dave Brown’s recap:
Senior league games shifted to Krieg Field #6, where we expect to play for the remainder of the season. Bases at #6 are 70 ft and the extra five feet feels like a half of a mile. Orange, Gray, and Purple players appear to have gotten lost trying to find the new field which left their managers having to draw 4, 4, and 5 substitute players to field full squads. Dave Schneider from the ASSL Sunday league has joined the B-league for the remainder of the season. He played in the outfield for Orange and proved to be both a good fielder and hitter. Dave will be assigned to a team in the near future.
Orange was without Pat Scott, Mark Hernandez, Jack Spellman, and Tom Langa today, as well as Peter Atkins, who is out for the season, but they picked up four very good mercenaries so the Orange/Red matchup looked like a good one. Orange opened the game with three hits from its first four hitters, but Red P Trent Peacock got out of the top of the 1st unscathed by inducing a 4-6-3 double play (2B Mark Dolan to SS Ralph Villela to 1B Johnny Lee) and a 6U fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the 1st, Red copied Orange with three hits from its first four hitters but their ground ball to the middle infield only produced a single out (mercenary SS Larry Fiorentino to mercenary 2B George Brindley) and the middle of the Red line-up (Johnny Lee, Tommy Gillis, and Marvin Krabbenhoft) each singled to plate four runs and put runners on 1B and 2B. Trent Peacock hit a groundball to 2B George Brindley who stepped on 2B and then…
Quick aside. I think that the Maroon team must have passed around a Derek Jeter highlight reel recently because first Scott Wright and now George have tried a jump throw from 2B in the past week. As you can see below, Maroon infielders should probably stop before someone gets hurt.
Back to the game… After an errant throw to the fence behind 1B by George Brindley, Red had runners on 1B and 3B. Richard Battle stepped to the plate and singled to left to score the fifth run of the inning and provide Red with a 5-0 lead.
After starting the top of the 2nd with a 5-3 groundout, Orange mercenaries Larry Fiorentino (single), Patrick Schmidt (double), and George Brindley (single) had consecutive hits to bring home two runs. Red avoided further damage by getting force outs at 2B by Mark Dolan on throws from SS Ralph Villela and 3B Tim Coles.
The Red offense shifted into Beast Mode in the bottom of the 2nd as mercenary Steve Browne walked, Ralph Villela tripled, Mark Dolan singled, Anthony Galindo doubled, and Tim Coles, Johnny Lee, and Tommy Gillis singled. Seven up/none down and five runs scored.
Adam Reddell led off the top of the 3rd with a double on a long drive to CF. Don Solberg, Tommy Deleon, and Jack Crosley followed with singles to push across three runs. The first out of the inning came on a fielder’s choice groundout to 3B Tim Coles, who threw to Mark Dolan at 2B. Larry Fiorentino singled on another line drive to RF to put runners on 1B and 2B. P Trent Peacock fielded a ground ball and threw to 3B for the second out and then caught a pop up on a dead run to finish the Orange rally.
After making just two outs in the first two innings, the Red offense went 3-up, 3-down in the third inning with a fouled third strike, a fly out to Patrick Schmidt in RCF, and a groundout to P Tommy Deleon, who threw to Jack Crosley at 1B.
Dave Schneider led off the top of the 4th with his first B-league hit on a line drive to RF. Dave failed to advance as the next three Orange hitters popped out to SS, flew out to Anthony Galindo in RCF, and struck out on a fouled third strike.
Do you remember that Steve Browne led off the Beast Mode inning for Red in the 2nd inning? He got to lead off the 4th inning and got on with a single. Ralph Villela followed with a double and then the next five batters singled to record a third five-run inning for the Red team. As they had done in the second inning, Red scored their five without recording an out.
Trailing 15-5, Orange opened the top of the 5th with back-to-back singles by Tommy Deleon and Jack Crosley. A fouled third strike, a line-out to 3B, and a pop out to SS prevented the Orange runners from advancing.
With time expiring during the Orange at bat, the teams double flip-flopped to give Orange another opportunity to erase Red’s 10-run lead. George Brindley led off the buffet with a single but was erased on a 6-4 fielder’s choice. Another 6-4 fielder’s choice left the game at 2 outs and a runner at 1B. Adam Reddell had his second double of the game on a drive to CF that scored Matt Levitt from 1B. Orange hitters recorded three consecutive singles, including one by Tommy Deleon who completed a perfect 4-4 game. With the bases loaded and two runs in, Trent Peacock ended the Orange rally by inducing a ground ball to SS which Ralph Villela fielded and carried to 2B for the eighth force out at the keystone corner in the game.
Final score – Red 15, Orange 7
Tommy Deleon went 4 for 4 at the plate, earning a No-Tahni Award for his efforts.
11:00 a.m.: Blue (2-1) at Gray (2-1):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 0 0 2 5 4 1 12 Gray 1 3 4 4 3 X 15 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Gray – Luis Sanchez. Mercenaries: Gray – Gary Coyle, Jack McDermott, Trent Peacock, and Adam Reddell; Scott Wright entered for Gary Coyle in the fifth inning. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Matt Levitt. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Gary Coyle (2 for 2 with a walk).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 90 degrees, feels like 100; humidity 58%; wind from the South at 11 MPH; partly sunny – quite breezy.
Dave Brown’s recap:
The Blue team had ten players at a game for the first time since June. Gray was without Scott Rokita, Daniel Carvajal, Bobby Miller, Mike Nagy, and Jack Kelly, but like Orange, they brought on four quality mercenaries to field a team. Tom Bellavia started the game with a lined single to CF to start Blue’s offense. Gray P Luis Sanchez induced a fouled third strike for the first out of the game. George Romo hit a line drive to LF to put runners on 1B and 2B, but Blue failed to score as they had a fly out to mercenary Jack McDermott in LF and an unassisted fielder’s choice to 2B Mike Velaney, who fielded a groundball and beat George Romo to the bag. A fun fact on George Romo: I learned recently that George has a grandson who is a 6’5” offensive lineman for the Air Force Academy, and I can’t stop thinking about how far George would hit a softball if he was 6’5” and weighed 250 lbs.
Jim Foelker led off the bottom of the 1st with a single and then took 2B on a walk by Paul Rubin. Back-to-back ground balls to JC Schmeil at 2B produced two outs on force plays at 2B, but Jim scored on the second fielder’s choice after having advanced to 3B on the first one. A third consecutive ground ball to 2B produced the third out on a throw to SS David Brown at 2B.
Daniel Baladez led off the top of the 2nd with a single on a fly ball to short centerfield. Fly outs to Jim Foelker in RF and Paul Rubin in RCF and a 4-6 fielder’s choice (Mike Velaney to mercenary SS Gary Coyle) left Blue scoreless through 2 innings.
Mike Velaney, Jack McDermott, and mercenary Adam Reddell led off the third with singles. Another groundball to JC Schmeil netted the fourth 4-6 put out of the game for Blue. Gary Coyle and Jim Foelker singled to push three runs across for Gray. Blue escaped further damage by recording outs on great plays by 1B Larry Young (who made a nice sweep tag of an errant throw by David Brown to complete a 6-3 put out) and LF Daniel Baladez (who made a running catch as he crossed the left field foul line to prevent an extra base hit).
Blue finally got their offense untracked in the third. After a lead-off ground out to P Luis Sanchez, who threw to Jim McAnelly at 1B, Tom Bellavia had his second single of the game. Gray got their second out of the inning on a 4-6 fielder’s choice, but George Romo, Joe Bernal, and Lawrence Page singled to score two runs and put runners at 1B and 2B. Another ground ball to P Luis Sanchez led to a force out at 2B as Luis threw to SS Gary Coyle.
Leading 4-2, Gray started the bottom of the 3rd inning with a fly ball single to RF by Luis Sanchez. A line out to SS and a fouled third strike resulted in two outs and a runner at 1B. A combination of a strong Gray offense and a shaky Blue defense dominated the narrative for the rest of the game. Jack McDermott grounded a ball to the 5-6 hole where David Brown made a backhand and threw back to 2B where JC and Joe were converging. Both players yielded to the other which allowed the slightly offline throw to pass into short right field. Adam Reddell singled and Trent Peacock doubled to score two and put runners on 2B and 3B. Gary Coyle singled to plate two more before a 6U fielder’s choice halted the two-out rally.
Consecutive singles by David Brown, Donnie Janac, JC Schmeil, Larry Shupe, Tom Bellavia, Larry Young, and George Romo allowed Blue to score five runs without making an out in the 4th.
Gray started their half with a walk and a single. Luis Sanchez then hit a ground ball to the 3-4 hole that JC Schmeil fielded and threw back to SS David Brown, who kept a foot on 2B but failed to catch the ball as it tipped off the end of his glove. Jim McAnelly then hit a line drive to SS where David Brown leapt a couple of inches off the ground and had the ball tip off the end of his glove for a single to CF. (Adam Reddell from the Gray bench: “Hey, Dave – I’ve got a longer glove over here that you can use.”) A Mike Velaney single, Jack McDermott sacrifice fly to Donnie Janac in RF, and an Adam Reddell single brought in four runs. A fouled third strike and a fly out to Daniel Baladez in LF prevented Gray from scoring a fifth.
So close.
Blue narrowed Gray’s lead to 12-11 in the top of the 5th by scoring four runs on four singles, a double, and a sacrifice fly.
Gray scored three runs on five singles in their half of the fifth. With one out and runners on 1B and 3B, Adam Reddell hit a ground ball up the middle that took a bad hop and bounced off P Joe Bernal’s shoulder. David Brown caught the ricochet on the 1B side of 2B, retreated to 2B and then threw to 1B for the 1-6-3 double play.
Blue trailed 15-11 entering the buffet and started the inning with a pop out to 2B. A single by Larry Young preceded a groundball to mercenary SS Scott Wright, who had entered the game in the fourth inning when heat and a new blood pressure medicine forced Gary Coyle to take a break. Scott fielded the ball and threw to Mike Velaney at 2B to get the second out of the inning. Singles by Joe Bernal and Lawrence Page plated a run and brought the tying run to the plate, but the game ended on a 4-3 ground out.
Final Score: Gray 15, Blue 12
Noon: Maroon (4-0) at Purple (0-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 4 0 4 3 4 X 15 Purple 1 1 0 0 1 7 10 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Purple – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Purple - Clint Fletcher, Anthony Galindo, Matt Levitt, Trent Peacock, and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home – Paul Rubin; bases – Jim McAnelly. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Fritz Hensel (3 for 3), Alan Phillips (3 for 3 with a triple), and Scott Wright (4 for 4 with a triple); Purple – Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with a double).
Dave Berra’s weather update: 94 degrees, feels like 103; humidity 47%; wind from the South at 11 MPH, gusting to 20; partly cloud – very humid, but breezy.
Dave Brown’s recap:
The final game of the day matched the 4-0 Maroon team against the 0-3 Purple team. Tony Garcia led off for Maroon with a line drive single to RCF. Ground outs to Rick Jensen at 2B (4-3) and Ralph Villela at SS (6-3) put Tony at 2B with two outs. A walk by Ken Brown and singles by Scott Wright, Jeff Stone, Fritz Henzel, and David Pittard scored four runs before a fly out to Jack McDermott in LF ended the Maroon two-out rally.
Patrick Schmidt led off for Purple with a single to LF. Jack McDermott hit a chopper to the 3-4 hole that Maroon 2B Scott Wright hustled over to, fielded, and tossed to Dale Fugate at 1B. Dale caught the ball just before Jack sped across the orange bag at 1B. Scott tossed the ball with his glove because a transfer to his right hand would have allowed Jack to beat the throw. A very heady play by the Maroon manager. Mike Malay singled to put runners at 1B and 3B, and then a ground ball to P Jeff Stone allowed Patrick to score from 3B as Jeff threw to SS Tony Garcia for the force out at 2B in an attempt to get out of the inning with a double play. Tony Garcia’s throw to 1B was not in time, but a ground ball to Scott Wright resulted in a 4U fielder’s choice to get the third out of the inning.
Alan Phillips led off the second inning with a well-struck single to LCF. Mercenary P Trent Peacock stranded Alan by inducing a lineout and pop out to 2B Rick Jensen and a 6U fielder’s choice to mercenary SS Ralph Villela.
Mercenaries Ralph Villela and Anthony Galindo led off the Purple 2nd inning with back-to-back doubles to move the score to 4-2. A pop out to Dale Fugate at 1B, a fly out to Alan Phillips in RF, and a 6-3 groundout (Tony Garcia to Dale Fugate) prevented Anthony from scoring.
As they had done in the 1st inning, Ken Brown, Scott Wright, Jeff Stone, Fritz Hensel, and David Pittard combined for four hits and a walk to start the 3rd inning. On David Pittard’s short fly ball to RF, Purple mercenary OF Anthony Galindo short-hopped the ball and threw quickly to SS Ralph Villela who tagged 2B to force out Fritz’s pinch runner, Steve Browne. A sacrifice fly to RCF Rick Kahn barely scored Jeff Stone’s pinch runner (Tony Garcia, I think) as Rick made a great throw to mercenary C Matt Levitt. David Pittard scored when Alan Phillips hit a long fly ball to LCF that reached the fence. Alan ran through 3B as Ralph Villela’s relay throw from the outfield eluded mercenary Clint Fletcher at 3B. Alan started to run home and then reversed course when he remembered that he had not touched the bag. In the meantime, Clint had retrieved the ball and was waiting at 3B to tag Alan for the third out of the inning.
Trailing 8-2, Purple had the top of their lineup due up. P Jeff Stone got a fouled 3rd strike and back-to-back fly balls to Steve Browne in LF to produce a 3-up/3-down inning.
Tony Garcia, Steve Browne, and George Brindley started the 4th with a single-single-BB sequence that loaded the bases. Ken Brown brought in Tony with a groundball to Ralph Villela, who forced out George Brindley on a toss to Rick Jensen at 2B. Scott Wright hit an RBI single to RF and Fritz Hensel had an RBI single to CF. Pop outs to Rick Jensen and Ralph Villela limited Maroon to 3 runs and an 11-2 lead.
Purple started off the fourth inning with a fly out to Ken Brown in RCF and a ground out to SS Tony Garcia, who made an errant, lollypop throw to 1B that Dale Fugate made a great catch and swipe tag to get the second out of the inning. Ralph Villela and Anthony Galindo both singled, but were stranded when Jeff Stone made an excellent catch on a line drive back to the box.
Maroon opened the 5th inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on 1B and 2B. SS Ralph Villela fielded a ground ball and threw to Clint Fletcher at 3B to force out the lead runner. A short pop up between the pitching rubber and 1B set Trent Peacock and Mike Malay on a collision course. The two somehow avoided one another and Mike caught the ball with a knee-high basket catch. George Brindley walked to load the bases with two outs. Ken Brown singled to score two runs and put runners on 2B and 3B as Ken and George moved up on a throw to the plate. Scott Wright hit a drive over Anthony Galindo’s head in RF. Anthony retrieved the ball at the fence as Scotty chugged around the bases. Anthony threw to Rick Jensen who threw online toward the plate. P Trent Peacock cut the throw off 20 feet from the plate as he heard the Maroon bench yell for Scott to stop at 3B. Trent took a couple of steps toward home plate and then noticed that Scott had run through the stop sign and was trying for the home run. At the last possible second, Trent flipped the ball to C Matt Levitt who caught it while standing on the mat. Home plate umpire Paul Rubin initially called Scott safe but he then asked the NY replay crew in his head to review the tape and quickly changed his call to out. Scott was distraught but the peanut gallery agreed with the replay crew.
Purple trailed 15-2 with a closed and open inning still available to score a bunch of runs. Trent Peacock was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the 5th inning and get only his second at bat of the game. Trent lined a single to RF. A fly out to Steve Browne in LF produced the first out of the inning. Patrick Schmidt then hit a sinking liner that Ken Brown came in on from his position in RCF. Trent couldn’t decide if Ken was going to catch the ball so he froze near 1B. Ken short-hopped the ball and threw quickly to Scott Wright at 2B to get the force out. Consecutive singles by Jack McDermott, Mike Malay, and Rick Khan scored Patrick and loaded the bases. Purple’s attempt to further cut their deficit failed when a ground ball to SS result in a 6-4 fielder’s choice, Scott Wright to David Pittard.
The team’s flip-flopped for the buffet and Ralph Villela started Purple off with a single. After a called strike on pitch to the back of the mat by Jeff Stone, Anthony Galindo swung at an inside pitch that he hit a long way but foul down the left field line for a fouled third strike. Clint Fletcher, Trent Peacock, Matt Levitt, Patrick Schmidt, Jack McDermott, and Mike Malay all singled to score five runs and put runners on 1B and 2B. Rick Kahn doubled to score another and put runners on 2B and 3B. Jeff Stone fielded a ground ball up the middle and threw to Dale Fugate at 1B to get the second out of the inning. Mike Malay scored from 3B, but Rick stayed at 2B. Ralph Villela had an infield single which forced Rick Kahn to stay at 2B again and put runners on 1B and 2B. One of the best hitters in the league, Anthony Galindo, stepped up to the plate and improbably ended the game with his second out of the inning as his groundball to 3B was fielded by Tony Garcia, who got to 3B before Rick could get to the bag.
Final score: Maroon 15, Purple 10
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 67 | 33 | 34 | W6 |
| Gray | 3 | 1 | .750 | 1.5 | 62 | 44 | 18 | W1 |
| Red | 3 | 1 | .750 | 1.5 | 58 | 56 | 2 | W2 |
| Blue | 2 | 2 | .500 | 2.5 | 44 | 31 | 13 | L1 |
| Green | 1 | 3 | .250 | 3.5 | 47 | 54 | -7 | W1 |
| Orange | 1 | 4 | .200 | 4 | 30 | 70 | -40 | L3 |
| Purple | 0 | 4 | .000 | 4.5 | 48 | 68 | -20 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Maroon | 3-0 | 2-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | WWWWW | |
| Gray | 3-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | LWWLW | |
| Red | 2-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1-0 | LWLWW | |
| Blue | 2-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | WWLWL | |
| Green | 1-0 | 0-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | LLLLW | |
| Orange | 0-1 | 1-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0-0 | LWLLL | |
| Purple | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | WLLLL | |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 27 | |
| Gray | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 17 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 22 | |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 29 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19 | |
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Red | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 19 | |
| TOTAL: | 15 | 24 | 21 | 13 | 23 | 29 | 22 | 147 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 9
Steve Browne – 5
Trent Peacock – 5
Tony Garcia – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Tommy Gillis – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Jack McDermott – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
Spike Davidson: 5 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Jeff Stone: 3 (March 2, July 9, September 8)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Luis Sanchez: 1 (September 8)
Schedule for Thursday September 17:
10:00 a.m.: Purple (0-4) at Blue (2-2), Gray umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Gray (3-1) at Orange (1-4), Purple umpiring
Noon: Red (3-1) at Green (1-3), Orange umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Had a great time in Prague, which is a world-class city full of some of the nicest, most hilarious people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. We walked the old city (which is so old), crossed the medieval bridge, climbed up to the castle, wandered around Wenceslaus Square, took in the National Museum (excellent), went to beer gardens for our meals, generally had a great time. What’s that? Thursday’s games? Uh, let’s see… Purple and Orange are struggling mightily so far this session, a combined 1-7 so far. Purple takes on Blue at 10:00, one of these teams will end its losing streak, at four games for Purple, one for Blue, which leads the season series 4-2. Gray looks to extend its modest winning streak at 11:00 versus Orange, which has lost three in a row but leads the season series 4-3. One of Red (two-game winning streak) or Green (one-game winning streak) will have its short winning streak ended at noon. Green leads the season series 4-3, but Red (as is Gray) starts the day a game and a half behind idle first-place Maroon and is looking to get within striking distance of first place for the session. In conclusion, the Czech Republic is a land of contrasts.
Keggy’s Korner:
Team USA plays its first game of the world kayak polo tournament (here it’s called the canoe polo, I don’t know why) tomorrow morning, versus Spain. They had a friendly this afternoon versus Malaysia – here’s Keggy Jr. (number 8, top-most of the three USA players) at halftime. More pictures and reporting to come.
Podcast review: You Must Remember This
Hosted by film historian Karina Longworth, this is a deeply researched narrative podcast that looks at “the secret and/or forgotten histories” of Hollywood’s first century, with a particular emphasis on the early sound era through World War II. Each season looks at a topic, through the lens of scandals, stars, directors, producers, and others, famous and not-so, examining the studio system as a lens into American politics, race, gender, sexuality, you name it. It’s pretty great. She’s done seasons focusing on Howard Hughes, Hollywood in World War II, the Blacklist, the Manson murders, Hollywood still photography, Joan Crawford, The Song of the South, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin, and many others. The first episode of the latest season, The Bisexuals, just dropped, and is intended to explore bisexuality, sexuality, and Hollywood culture from the 1920s through the 1960s. New England content: Minimal; it’s all Hollywood, all the time. Canadian content: Ditto. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧