One of my favorite sports shows prior to the ESPN “all sports all the time” era was a Saturday morning show featuring a manager who coached against my hometown Cardinals, a retired catcher who called games against my Red Birds in his playing days and baseball’s most popular mascot from San Diego. If you were a little leaguer when the Bad News Bears movies were popular then you probably loved watching Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, former Reds catcher Johnny Bench and the San Diego Padres Chicken make you laugh while teaching baseball fundamentals on The Baseball Bunch with their weekly all star guests.

The post title is the refrain of the show’s jingle…”I got a hunch you’ll love the baseball bunch”. In this clip a Cardinal finally made the show. The kids sang the Wizard of Oz song which was the genesis of Ozzie Smith’s nickname, an example of the magic he performed on the infield. The Chicken is really helpful with his antics isn’t he?

I was in high school when this episode aired, honing my own skills as a middle infielder. Didn’t reach Ozzie level but he was definitely a great defensive example to shoot for. The closing credits show some of the other stars of the late 70’s and early 80’s who made the show a blast to watch before the game of the week came on later in the day.

This brings back great youthful memories. I bet it does for many of you as well. If you’re a coach or you have a kid who plays now, share these clips with them for a little history(look at those old uniforms), some really good major league instruction and of course the laughs.