Burger Bites

Josh Engler will enter the 2022 Grip 'N Rip Baseball League season with a 2.91 career earned run average across 68 innings pitched. He's allowed 47 hits, and struck out 97 batters in two seasons. If all goes well, he'll become just the third pitcher in seven years of GRBL baseball to strike out the 100th batter of his career.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

It's the M-V-Podcast. Josh Engler is the 2021 Most Valuable Player of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League. He struck out a single season record 69 batters in nine games with the Republic Locos, and he also got 12 hits.

Josh Engler is from Mount Vernon, Missouri, but now resides in Aurora with his wife, Ashlynn (nee Meredith) and daughter, Ivy. That's where we begin as we get to know the reigning MVP. We also explore the high school career that got him to the next level at Evangel University, and the factors that led to a mid-career move to Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

There's a baseball league in Ozark, Missouri, and sometimes, it gets characterized as a league for old men. Some of the people who play in the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League self-identify as old men. Zach Ralph, Cole Haselhorst, Trevyn Batey, Chandler Maples and Kyle Carpenter are among the youngsters who lower the average age and raise the level of competition in #TheGRBL.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Here come the young lions. In a baseball league where some of the players self-identify as old men, these five guys are lowering the median age and raising the level of competition.

Nixa Suckers pitcher Kyle Carpenter, Springfield Mets outfielder Chandler Maples, Ozark Mountain Ducks catcher Trevyn Batey, Moon City Mavericks utility infielder Zach Ralph and catcher Cole Haselhorst sit down for a roundtable discussion of their 2021 seasons. We break down the friendships that have formed between the five of them, along with some rivalries. 

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

This episode is dedicated to former Sumit's Hot Yoga Yogis outfielder Daven Rozell. It's never too late for a comeback.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

With 40 hits, Jared Braschler ranks third all time in the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League. Now a resident of Ozark, Missouri, he lived out a modest dream of playing ball for the hometown team in 2021, when he started in center field for the Ozark Mountain Ducks. Unfortunately for the full time commercial pilot and part time pro baseball player, it also marked the fourth time in six years of the GRBL that Braschler played for the team that lost in the championship game at the end of a season.

"Burger Bites" is written and produced by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Ozark Mountain Ducks center fielder Jared Braschler ranks third all time in base hits across six seasons of Grip 'N Rip Baseball. When he isn't tracking fly balls and driving doubles, Braschler is flying airplanes.

The commercial pilot takes us through an aviation career that began with humble airport baggage handling (and the unusual animal encounters that go with it) and carries on today in the cockpit of the Boeing 737.

Rance asks several years worth of pent up questions he has always wanted to ask an airline pilot but previously never had the opportunity to ask. Be warned, it gets a little bit weird, but Jared Braschler is a good sport.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Moon City Mavericks third baseman Brandon Freeman takes us back to the buttersoaked glory of yesteryear, his days as a professional roll thrower at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, Missouri.

Their motto is "Come Hungry, Leave Full, and Maybe Have a Laugh or Two," and the sign proudly designates it as the "Home of the Throwed Rolls."

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

"Man, what is Freeman doing?" is a phrase I have heard more than once on the playing field and in the press box at U.S. Baseball Park. In five years of Grip 'N Rip Baseball, professional civil engineer Brandon Freeman has proven himself to be knowledgeable, versatile and valuable to any team he lands on, as evidenced by back-to-back championship wins in 2020 and in 2021.

Freeman reflects on his season with the Moon City Mavericks, his humble beginnings in Spokane, Missouri, his college baseball tryout and his professional career designing and building wastewater treatment systems.

SONGS:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Evan Meagher walked away for surefire employment and salary in the financial sector to pursue some unfinished business... baseball. He put down his economics degree from Stanford and decided that maybe, if he trained hard enough, he could make it in Europe as a baseball ringer.

It's been an uphill run for Caleb Cole, who battled through back, hamstring and ankle problems to put it all together in his 2021 Gold Glove Award-winning season with the Ozark Mountain Ducks. Caleb Cole became the first person inducted into the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League Hall of Fame on Oct. 24, 2021. 

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Special songs for this episode:

"Legends Anthem"

Whitesand

From the album "Monsters," 2018

Composed by Martynas Lau (Whitesand)

Caleb Cole collects awards wherever he goes. In the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League, he's a two-time Gold Glove Award winning shortstop, the 2017 MVP, a 2019 Howard Bell Trophy championship winner, a multi-time all-star and the first player ever voted into the newly-established GRBL Hall of Fame, and that vote was unanimous by his fellow players.

At Drury University, he made first team all-Great Lakes Valley Conference twice, and was the conference's baseball Freshman of the Year in 2010. We delve into Caleb Cole's career as a manager, coach and trainer at Redline Athletics in Springfield, Missouri, and his desire to continue playing baseball.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Dayne Shoff is not actually ageless. He's 60. He's a baseball player. He's also a fire captain in his hometown of Lamar, Missouri, an engineering and safety consultant, a bus driver, a coach, an advisor, a caring father, a loving husband, a public address announcer, a radio broadcaster, and probably a whole lot of other stuff that we don't even know about. Dayne Shoff truly is a renaissance man.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Roundtable discussion with five members of the 2021 Moon City Mavericks continues. Guests Daniel England, Tyler Jones, Clay Murphy, Matt Spangler and Devin Braswell share some highlights from Moon City's 8-1 run to the Howard Bell Trophy championship of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League.

Jerry Kelly, Zach Ralph, Matt Spangler, Devin Braswell, Cole Haselhorst, Nick Bacon, Jacob Smith, Clay Murphy, Tyler Jones, Jacob Karlson, B.J. Gates, Hunter Altic, Justin Lowden, Brandon Freeman, and Mr. 5-time Daniel England. These are the 2021 Grip 'N Rip Baseball League Champion Moon City Mavericks.

Dayne Shoff is 60 years old, and he still plays high-level baseball. To just talk about Dayne Shoff's age and the fact that he still plays baseball grossly undersells who Shoff is as a person. He's a firefighter, an assistant coach, a substitute teacher, a bus driver, an engineering and safety consultant. He's the top employee for his son Conner's small business. He's proud to be from Lamar, Missouri. He's a husband, a father... and yeah, a grandpa. And you know what else? Dayne Shoff is an athlete and an inspiration.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Chris Meza grew up on the south side of Chicago in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood. He grew up with two loving parents with the added bonus of his grandparents and aunts living in the same place. Like many Hispanic kids in Chicago, Chris was just as much raised by the barrio as he was by his family. Nothing, including baseball, came easy.

Meza now serves as a junior varsity baseball coach at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri, and works full-time at a major food production plant. Meza is also the player/manager for the Republic Locos of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League, which operates from U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark, Missouri.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Pitcher Chris Matlock talks us through his progression as an unheralded kid from Springfield, Missouri to becoming the 21st round draft pick for the Texas Rangers in 2009. He went from the junior college ranks to the University of Central Missouri, where Matlock shoved his way to NCAA All-American status and was chosen as the relief pitcher of the year for all of NCAA Division-II baseball.

As a closer, Chris Matlock pitched in one of the longest games UCM had ever played in in the 2008 Division-II College World Series. He went on to be chosen for the UCM Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

It was far from all roses for Chris Matlock when he reached the minor leagues and the Class A short season Spokane Indians of the Northwest League. Lingering shoulder problems and an ill-fated game of long toss led to an abrupt and stunning exit. Without knowing what would come next, Chris Matlock was back in Springfield, Missouri, where it all began.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Chris Matlock came within one out of winning MVP of the 2020 Grip 'N Rip Baseball League championship game, which would have put his name on the Howard Bell Trophy a second time.  The 2009 21st round draft pick of the Texas Rangers jumped into an offseason full of career moves, travel and coronavirus tests. 

Plus, special windows for dogs? It turns out the imposing sidearmer is very tenderhearted when it comes to his two beloved boxers Millie and Bo. As Rance's broadcast partner Steve Lael says, "It's hard not to like a man who likes a dog." Chris Matlock wanted to rescue Millie so badly that he drove out of town in the middle of the night to get her and bring her home.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs:

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Ethan Bryan played catch for 366 consecutive days in 2018, and then he wrote the book on it. In 2021, he's encouraging other people to play catch, and if they don't have baseball gloves, Ethan is going on the road to bring baseball to them. Starting Father's Day 2021, Ethan Bryan takes off across the Midwest on the Catching Hope Tour. He will make stops in Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Rockford, Illinois, and at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. Along the way, he will give away baseball gloves.

Long before he ever made a baseball comeback, won a Grip 'N Rip League championship with the Ozark Mountain Ducks, and won the 2020 league MVP Award, Clay Murphy had to bounce back from having Tommy John surgery on his right throwing elbow. We look back at Murph's most formidable years with Missouri State, plus he gives us the exclusive on Clark Murphy, who is sure to be the next big thing. As an added bonus, we painfully revisit the day Clay and the Bears met Kale Kiser and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

#TheGRBL's Branson Showmen will be under new management in 2021. Who is their skipper? Rance Burger welcomes Grip 'N Rip Baseball League Commissioner and former Showmen manager Tony Lewis--and a mystery guest--for a press conference to give you the lowdown on a big coaching move. 

Clay Murphy entered a new world when he went from tiny Wolf Lake, Illinois, to the starting lineup for the NCAA Division-I Missouri State Bears. The first pitch he threw got sent on a ride out of the yard, but he got better after that. Eight years after Clay Murphy's last college baseball game, he'd turn in one of the single best pitching performances as part of an MVP award-winning season for the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League champion Ozark Mountain Ducks.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Republic Locos manager Chris Meza is back in the host's chair. Rance Burger is a guest on his own show. The guys revisit some key moments from the broadcast booth at U.S. Baseball Park, starting with Rance's audition for the GRBL and concluding in the 2020 playoffs. In between, Chris and Rance discuss elements of a good baseball play-by-play broadcast, highlights from the past three seasons and way too many players to list here.

Brent Hanks made the jump from selling Chevrolets to helping families navigate the landscape of college sports recruiting. As the owner and CEO of Recruit-Me.com, Hanks works with athletes across an array of sports and skill levels to help them make the most of their opportunities. He says it's not a recruiting service, but an "anti-recruiting service" dedicated to arming athletes with the right tools to market themselves to college coaches.

Brent Hanks is also a parent who has been through the recruiting process once with his older son, Northwestern University Wildcats pitcher Parker Hanks, and they're going through it all again with Ozark High School pitcher Sutton Hanks.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Art courtesy of Brent Hanks.

This episode involves discussion of sensitive topics, may contain triggers for some persons and may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

The 2019 baseball season with the Henry's Towing High Rollers was wonderful for Nick Bacon. Finally, he was living out his boyhood dream, but then all the joy and wonder came crashing down in an instant.

Resources:

From the "Burger Bites" cutting room floor, Rance rescues some almost-lost audio of Nick Bacon living out his boyhood dream of owning and wearing authentic costumes from Gotham.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Photo of Nick Bacon is his "bat cave" by Rance Burger, via Zoom.

Theme song

Music

"The Quest" by Whitesand

Arranged and performed by Martyn Laur

Nick Bacon electrified our car speakers and stole all of our girlfriends as the lead singer of The Endless Summer. The band made albums, toured, rocked concerts and rocked the internet. "Satellites" became a moderate hit in Japan.

What are the guys from The Endless Summer doing in 2021? We don't know, but we can at least tell you about Nick. He's a graduate of the kindergarten program at Joel E. Barber Elementary School who went on to graduate from Jefferson City High School and pursue a degree in classical Latin (yes, really).

He found love and started a family in Springfield, but insists his wife, Taylor, was not the Yoko Ono of The Endless Summer. He works for Apple and plays baseball in the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League. And that's just a taste of the conversation we have.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Harrison Waters loves to be in the batter's box or on the business end of a video camera. He made the unforgettable "welcome" video fans and players watched before every game in the fifth season of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League, and then he played left field for the 2020 champion Ozark Mountain Ducks. 

He was the 2005 Central Ozark Conference player of the year at Republic (Missouri) High School, setting school records in batting and in pitching. The left-hander went after a marketing degree at Drury University, a college that didn't have a baseball team until Harry arrived on campus in 2007.

Thirteen years later, he's still playing baseball and still pursuing his passion for film.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Photo courtesy of Mike Hudgens Photography, the official game day photographer of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Brad Case is a rapidly rising prospect in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. He survived the Gulf Coast League to go on and shove for the Greensboro Grasshoppers and the Bradenton Marauders. When COVID-19 derailed what should have been a promotion to Double-A, Case launched "The Minor League Take," a show where pros candidly share their stories of hope and perseverance with younger players.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Photo courtesy of the Brad Case.

Find "The Minor League Take" on:

Pitcher Brad Case has been on a steady climb through minor league baseball since the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 2018 MLB Draft. The right-hander from New York was with the High-A Bradenton Marauders and had a shot to crack into Double-A with the Altoona Curve when COVID-19 derailed his 2020 MiLB season.

We talk about his development as a pitcher, his time at NCAA Division-II Rollins College, his Major League Baseball Draft experience, his time in the Gulf Coast League and a whole lot more.

Brad Case is also the host of "The Minor League Take," a podcast and YouTube show where minor leaguers share their stories of how they came to be professional baseball players.

Find "The Minor League Take" with Brad Case on:

Grip 'N Rip Baseball League Commissioner Tony Lewis runs through a series of league announcements for the 2021 season. We talk stadium facility use agreements with U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark, GRBL merchandise, important dates players and fans need to know for the upcoming season and the founder discusses the energy surrounding southwest Missouri's top amateur wooden bat baseball league headed into Season VI.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Photo courtesy of Mike Hudgens Photography, official game day photographer of the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League.

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

At the baseball-young age of 40, Daniel England showed up to a baseball tryout at a refurbished minor league stadium in Ozark, Missouri. He showed up dressed for a laid back day at the river, and wondered just what exactly he had wandered into. He went on to play for four championship-winning teams in five years of Grip 'N Rip Baseball. He's now the manager of the Moon City Mavericks.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger

Photo courtesy of Mike Hudgens Photography

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti

Tommy John and Merle Haggard. UCLs and guitar strings. Reese Taylor has been from West Plains, Missouri to Nashville, Tennessee and back again. The owner of one of the fastest fastballs in the Grip 'N Rip Baseball League sat down at Rance's kitchen table to talk baseball, country music and how it all weaves together to make one interesting background story.

"Burger Bites" is written, produced and edited by Rance Burger.

Photo courtesy of Reese Taylor

Theme songs

"Mr. Burger" by Burger Man

Produced by Tay Muletti