The Packaged Tourist Show Matthew DiBiase

Tonight’s guest is author Paul Houle. Paul hales from Chesnee, South Carolina. He presently works as a safety assistant for Service Transport, Inc and for a time he was a traffic accident investigator for the U.S. Army but for the past 12 years he has published two books.

 

In 2016 his first book “The Crash of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22: Completing the Record of the 1967 Midair Collision near Hendersonville, NC”

 

In 2021 Paul released his second book “The Crash of Delta Flight 723: The Worst Air Disaster in New England History”.

 

Tonight, we will be discussing and paying tribute to his literary career.

Tonight’s guest is author Bob Wirz. Bob has been a media specialist in the world of sports for over 60 years. A lifelong baseball fan Bob worked as a publicity director for the Kansas City Royals and, later, in newspaper, radio, and
television work. For 11 years he ran the media office for Major League Baseball when Bowie Kuhn was commissioner of baseball. During the 2000s and early 2010s he was a weekly columnist for Independent Baseball Insider and for the past 38 years he has been the owner of Wirz Associates where he does sports consulting work.

 

In 2016 he published the book “The Passion of Baseball”, a memoir of his life’s journey from Nebraska to his close encounters with baseball history.

 

Tonight, we will pay tribute to Bob Wirz’s literary works and his contributions to Major League Baseball.

Tonight’s guest is author and podcaster Gabriel Garcia. Gabriel is a San Francisco State University graduate with a Master’s Degree in history. He is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and was recognized for conspicuous attainment and scholarship in the field of history by Phi Alpha Theta.

Last year Gabriel unleashed upon the world four books: “Beyond the Trail: a collection of short stories”, “The Gathering” a novel; “Harlem Hellfighters” a chronicle of
the all-black 369th regiment that won honor in World War I; and last October a sequel to “The Gathering”, “Amyntas: Son of Persia”.

He is also the host and creator of the podcast “The Wandering Scribe”.

Tonight’s guest is sports author David Finoli. David has written over 34 books dealing with his lifelong love affair for Pittsburgh sports. His books discuss the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Steelers, the Penguins, college powerhouses such as Pitt and Duquesne University.

Tonight, we will be discussing his last release which came out last October titled “Perfection: The 1910 Pittsburgh Panthers”, a history of one of the great football teams in Pitt Panther history.

Tonight’s guest is Randi Druzin is an author and journalist
in Toronto, Canada. She has worked at several major media outlets including the National Post and the CBC, and has written for dozens of publications including
The New York Times, Time magazine, ESPN The Magazine and The Globe and Mail. Based first in Europe then in North America, Randi has covered events as diverse as
former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to Prague and the Van Halen reunion tour. Randi has varied interests but specializes in sports. She has covered four Olympics and interviewed dozens of world-class athletes,
including NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews. Randi is the author of Behind the Mask, a new book that profiles a dozen legendary NHL netminders, honing in
on the personality trait that makes each one unique.

Today marks the centennial of the birth Brooklyn Dodgers legend and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Gil Hodges who was born on this day in 1924.

And to help us celebrate the life and times of Gil Hodges is tonight’s guest Ms. Irene Hodges, the daughter of Gil Hodges. When her father was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last year it was Irene who gave the speech.