EP45 – Benjamin Hochman (Sportswriter) - Conversations with Calcaterra

Conversations with Calcaterra

“For me the idea that I was wanted in life is to be a sports voice of the city. In my profession of sports writing, few things are more enamored than the guy or girl who writes something that everybody reads. Who says something everybody hears, that’s pretty cool.” – Benjamin Hochman “In the Willie McGee chapter in The Big 50 Cardinals I interviewed an old player that not a lot of people remember the name of, David Howard, he was kind of there. Played for a couple of years with the Cardinals in the late 90s and was teammates with Willie. Their lockers were near each other and he went up to Willie after the final game in 1999 and asked if “there was something I can have of yours. I revere you, you’re one of the best teammates I have ever had.” He's thinking he can get an autographed ball. Willie gives him the game worn jersey from Willy's final game and just gives it to this guy. Howard is like, “Willie, no man this is way to much.” Willie says, “no man I respect you as a teammate,” and that's Willie McGee. Will give you the shirt off his back.” – Benjamin Hochman “It's funny right, with sports even with hundred miles per hour…the idea of hitting triple digits. If I if I could throw 99 you would be impressed but if I could throw a hundred just 1 mph faster. You know suddenly, you're the hottest prospect in baseball with just 1 mph difference” – Benjamin Hochman Benjamin Hochman’s dream job would be Cheeseburger Eating Will Ferrell Movie Watcherer if that was a thing. The other two of his four favorite things in life are sports and writing and he assumes the title of sportswriter as lead columnist at the St. Louis Post Dispatch a role he took over from his idol Bernie Miklasz. Ben's columns can be found at http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/benjamin-hochman/ Pre-order his book The Big 50: St. Louis Cardinals: The Men and Moments that Made the St. Louis Cardinals - https://www.amazon.com/Big-50-Louis-Cardinals-Moments/dp/1629375365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520864767&sr=8-1&keywords=benjamin+hochman See Benjamin’s movie debut in Must Fool Everyone - https://youtu.be/2rNSfW9rzW8 Visit Ken @ www.kencalcaterra.com and on various social media outlets and please share and comment on this episode. Sign up to our mailing list to receive a discount code for Blue Planet Eyewear products. Special Thanks to show sponsors: Christy and Tom Holman – For their support of my voice over the years whether it be the podcast or video work. I can’t thank them enough. Songbird Cafe – Where can you listen to a group of uber talented singer/songwriters in St. Louis? Look no further than the Songbird Café a monthly showcase produced by Steve St. Cyr who was inspired by Nashville’s iconic Bluebird Café. For tickets and show listings visit http://www.songbird-stl.com/ Hobo Cane – The artist formally known as Javier Mendoza continues to craft mindful emotional tunes. This episode features the song Crazy Ride from his album Step Into My Place. Check out his work at http://www.hobocane.com/ Dr. Mark Holland – http://chiroandrehab.com/ and http://www.mystlouischiropractor.com/