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Baseball and BBQAuthor: Len & Jeff
Two guys just talking about our two favorite passions, Baseball and Barbecue Language: en-us Genres: Arts, Baseball, Food, Sports Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Michael Letchworth of Sam Jones BBQ & Adam Darowski of Sports Reference and Immaculate Grid: A Passion for BBQ, Baseball History and the Stories Behind the Game
Episode 368
Saturday, 7 November, 2026
Michael Letchworth is from North Carolina, where his barbecue journey began at the age of 15 when he started working at the legendary Skylight Inn BBQ. Michael worked his way through high school and college, learning the art of Eastern North Carolina whole-hog barbecue while becoming part of one of the most respected barbecue traditions in the country. A lifelong friend of Sam Jones, Michael eventually partnered with him to create Sam Jones BBQ, opening their first restaurant in Winterville, North Carolina, in 2015, followed by a second location in Raleigh. Together, they have continued to celebrate the traditions of Eastern North Carolina barbecue, specializing in whole hog cooked over wood-fired pits while bringing their own vision to the business. Today, Michael is not only a restaurateur and barbecue ambassador but also someone who enjoys sharing the history and craft of North Carolina barbecue with people across the country. We are joined by Doug Scheiding of Rogue Cookers as our special guest co-host. Doug is an award-winning BBQ champion known for his expertise in competition barbecue, innovative cooking techniques, and passion for great food. Check out Doug’s website at www.roguecookers.com Adam Darowski is a designer, developer, and baseball historian who serves as Senior Design Director at Sports Reference, the company behind Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead, and the popular Immaculate Grid. Adam joined Sports Reference full-time in 2020 after previously working with the company as a design consultant, contributing to its website redesign and the launch of Stathead. He has also been involved in the development of Immaculate Grid, the daily baseball trivia game that challenges fans to demonstrate their knowledge of players, teams, and baseball history. Away from his work at Sports Reference, Adam is a dedicated baseball historian and researcher whose interests include the Negro Leagues and Latin American baseball. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) since 2013, he created the Hall of Stats, an alternative approach to evaluating baseball's greatest players, and has written several biographies for SABR's Baseball Biography Project. One of his particularly fascinating research projects involves the 25th Infantry Wreckers, an all-Black U.S. Army baseball team that featured several future Negro League stars. Adam researched the team's history and compiled statistics that helped bring the accomplishments of these often-overlooked players to a wider audience. His work combines a love of baseball statistics with a commitment to preserving the stories of the people who helped shape the game. We recommend you go to Rogue Cookers website, https://roguecookers.com/ for award-winning rubs, Chef Ray Sheehan’s website, https://www.raysheehan.com/ for award-winning saucess, rubs, and cookbooks, Baseball BBQ, https://baseballbbq.com for special grilling tools and accessories, Magnechef https://magnechef.com/ for excellent and unique barbecue gloves, Mantis BBQ, https://mantisbbq.com/ to purchase their outstanding sauces with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the Kidney Project, and for exceptional sauces, Elda's Kitchen https://eldaskitchen.com/ To team up against prostate cancer go to https://fansforthecure.org/ for Fans for the Cure, and to subscribe to Bill Chuck's newsletter, Billy-Ball go to https://billchuck.substack.com/ We conclude the show with the song, Baseball Always Brings You Home from the musician, Dave Dresser and the poet, Shel Krakofsky. If you would like to contact the show, we would love to hear from you. Call the show: (516) 855-8214 Email: baseballandbbq@gmail.com Twitter: @baseballandbbq Instagram: baseballandbarbecue YouTube: baseball and bbq Website: https//baseballandbbq.weebly.com Facebook: baseball and bbq Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
