MICHAEL GRANDA: So I started writing these articles, these columns about baseball and they started publishing them.

And then they started getting published around the country.

I think even the "News-Leader" here in Springfield published a couple of them.

And then it got to a regular basis.

And then I got into a flow where I went, wow, this is going to take me about three days.

One day to spew onto the page, one day to rearrange, one day to polish the article and turn it in.

And I got just as much satisfaction out of that as I got writing a song.

[bluegrass music] [running water] [birds chirping] [tractor engine] [crickets] [hawk screech] [sawing noises] [tractor engine] [train horn] [train chugging] Growing up in St.

Louis, a young Michael "Supe" Granda discovered two passions that would shape his life, baseball and music.

While cheering on his beloved Cardinals, he also honed a gift for songwriting that would eventually take him around the world.

As a founding member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Supe helped bring the sounds of the Ozarks to an international stage.

And Supe continues to record, perform, and write not only music, but books as well.

His latest, "Fowl Ball," is a heartfelt reflection on his lifelong love of Cardinals baseball and the access that being a Daredevil allowed him to have to the team during the 1980s and '90s.

On this episode of "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," we visit with Supe Granda, musician, writer, storyteller and forever baseball fan, to learn more about his creative journey and his enduring connection to the St.

Louis Cardinals.

[bluegrass music] NARRATOR: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally-produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

And welcome to "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

I'm Dale Moore, and as always, delighted that you are so kind to invite us in and have a conversation with us.

You know, my guest today is a singer, he's a songwriter, he's a singer-songwriter.

He occasionally plays Santa Claus.

He, oh, by the way, happens to be a founding member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

And oh, did I mention he's an author?

Michael "Supe" Granda, welcome to "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

Great to be here, Dale.

Man, it's always good to sit down and have a-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, I've been looking forward to this for some time.

We've been talking about this for some time.

We've been talking about this very thing.

Yeah, you got it.

And the book we're talking about today, it's your fourth book.

MICHAEL GRANDA: It's my fourth book.

Observations of a loyal St.

Louis Cardinals fan called, "Fowl-- F-O-W-L-- Ball."

MICHAEL GRANDA: "Fowl ball."

DALE MOORE: "Fowl ball."

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yes, sir.

DALE MOORE: I have read your work before, and I gotta tell you, this is my all-time favorite so far.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Well, thank you.

DALE MOORE: And it's my all-time favorite because you touch on something that I think is very unique to our area, to the state, maybe, and that is Cardinal baseball.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Well, to the entire Midwest.

DALE MOORE: Midwest.

Yeah.

As I read-- I didn't get much past the great introduction you did, where you honored your dad.

And when I was reading that, I thought, I remember I had-- my mother had three sisters, so there was my mom and three aunts.

And their mother, my grandmother on my mother's side.

And those women were rabid Cardinal fans.

MICHAEL GRANDA: As was my mother.

Oh, man.

And my grandmother.

Yeah.

And in our house, there were names that you would bow your head reverently to.

And one was Billy Graham and the other was the almighty.

And the other was Harry Caray.

[laughter] Right.

DALE MOORE: And-- and I-- and it brought back so many memories of Cardinal nation-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Right.

--and Cardinal baseball.

And you know, a lot of our viewers may not know how big of a fan, Cardinal fan you are-- were-- or am.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Still am.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was born in the middle of St.

Louis in the middle of the 20th century.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

So there was no way I could be anything but a St.

Louis Cardinals fan.

DALE MOORE: Right.

My father was an umpire around St.

Louis, so baseball was in my house 24/7, like you said.

My mother and my grandmother and my aunt were all rabid baseball fans.

And it was kind of inbred into my DNA-- wasn't inbred into my DNA, it was bred into my DNA that I would be a Cardinal fan.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

As I started to grow into school, one of my favorite subjects was math.

I loved the numbers.

I love numbers, and how they just-- I just-- they agreed with me.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And as you know, baseball is nothing but numbers and math and statistics.

So I learned my math by trying to figure out batting averages.

I learned my math figuring out earned run averages.

And yeah, and then when I was a kid, I was a baseball fanatic.

I'm still a baseball fanatic.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah.

And at one point in time, St.

Louis Cardinals were the furthest-- the westernmost team-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--before they started moving out to California.

And people all over the Midwest are Cardinal fans, and they still are.

And I'm a die-hard Cardinal fan.

And when I started to write this-- yeah?

DALE MOORE: I wonder what it is about the Cardinals in particular, because there are baseball, obviously, all over America.

I mean, Cubs fans, Cubbies are-- you know, and there's that great rivalry, the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry.

But it seems to me like-- and I've had the privilege of attending some baseball games in some other big cities, the Dodgers and the Padres and-- but the fan base that follows the Cardinals is different.

It's just a different-- I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it's like you get it.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

Yeah, it's different because, I mean, from when I was 1 year old, I had a baseball glove on my hand and I was throwing around a baseball.

And when the Cardinals came on the radio-- see, there's not a lot of TV coverage back then.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

When the Cardinals came on the radio-- DALE MOORE: KMOX.

KMOX, it was Harry Caray and Jack Buck.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And that was like, every night.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Every night it was on.

And-- [laughter] --yeah, and that's how I learned how-- that's how I learned the game, was through the microphones of Harry Caray and Jack Buck.

Now, the-- right off the start of this book, it gets interesting because I discover-- the readers will discover that you had a press credential.

DALE MOORE: Yes.

So how in the world do you manage to pull off getting a press credential and to get unfettered access to the entire organization?

Yes, it was a really cold January evening, and I was driving down-- I'm in here in Springfield, driving down Trafficway or somewhere, and I saw a big bus, like the rock and roll buses that we've been traveling on.

And on the side, it said St.

Louis Cardinals.

They were on the Cardinal caravan.

During the winter, they come around.

DALE MOORE: Oh, yeah.

And so I walked into the-- that's, what, the Twilight Inn, I believe?

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

I walked in and this caravan was in full blast.

They were Budweiser, had a Anheuser-Busch tab, and it was great.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And I started to meet the players.

George Frazier was the first guy I met.

DALE MOORE: What year are we talking about here?

Early '80, right around '80.

DALE MOORE: OK.

1980.

DALE MOORE: OK.

Bruce Sutter was there.

Who else?

Had a pinch hitter named Steve Braun was there.

And there were three or four others.

And I met them.

And when I started meeting these players, we discovered right off the bat-- ha ha, pun intended-- that we're in the same business.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: We're in the same business, the entertainment business.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: They throw and hit a baseball.

I tune and play a guitar.

The same business model is got our stadium, we got our concert venues.

People buy the ticket.

Take the concert time is right on the ticket.

You buy the ticket, you come in, you watch the performance, the players get paid, the musicians get paid.

DALE MOORE: Right.

The bigger stars command more money.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

The bigger stars command bigger audiences.

DALE MOORE: Right.

So we connected on that, on that wavelength.

And then when we sat down to talk, kind of like we're doing right now, we would talk.

I would want to talk baseball, but they would want to talk music.

DALE MOORE: Of course.

MICHAEL GRANDA: They would-- I would say, you know, baseball, baseball, baseball.

And they'd go, music, music, music.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And it just kind of-- DALE MOORE: Interesting.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

So this is January.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And two gentlemen I met, one was named Marty Hendon was the director of all the promotions.

DALE MOORE: Right.

And the second gentleman was John Kendall, who was the Fredbird.

He was the one-- Yeah.

--came around in the Fredbird.

Yeah, yeah.

And we just hit it off immediately.

They hung around for a couple days.

I showed them where to go around town.

Yeah.

Kind of directed them around town to various places.

And they said, if you ever want to come to a game, here's my card.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Call me.

So next spring, I went-- next summer, I went-- DALE MOORE: Hello?

Hello?

Hey, John.

Hey, Marty.

Hey.

They said, come on up to the game.

And they said, come on down and meet the players.

So I went into the clubhouse and there were the guys who I met a year before.

DALE MOORE: Right.

And we just picked up and they said, well, we've got a concert coming up, you in a couple of weeks, would anybody like to go?

And they would get tickets.

I'd get them tickets to our concerts.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: They got me tickets to their concerts.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Their games.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And then we just-- and then afterwards, we'd go out and they wanted to go out and drink beer and, you know, cut up, and-- DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: --you know?

DALE MOORE: You famously said once upon a time, the music is free.

They pay me to travel.

MICHAEL GRANDA: They pay me to travel.

And that's kind of-- I mean, baseball players are probably-- they love to play the game, obviously.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Correct.

It's a game, after all.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Right.

When you're grown up and you can play a game and then get paid for it, that's pretty cool.

Pretty cool.

Yeah, right?

Right.

DALE MOORE: This is a collection of essays-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Right.

DALE MOORE: --that you've put together.

How did you come to write these essays as part of a job, part of-- MICHAEL GRANDA: OK.

DALE MOORE: --kind of.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Now we get to the next part of the story.

So I go up there and John Kendall and Marty Hendon and Dan Farrell is another gentleman up there who was a very good friend of mine, and they said, hey, the players would like you to come.

Can you come down tomorrow?

I said, sure, come to the game tomorrow?

Sure.

He said, why don't you come down at 4:30 in the afternoon, you know, and then you'll kind of get into the pre-game, the batting practice.

So I said, sure.

So I got a press credential and I would go and I would come to batting practice and that kind of thing.

And I had access to the dugout, the clubhouse, and the press box.

DALE MOORE: True all-access.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, all access.

And because I was kind of the celebrity, the rock and roll celebrity-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: --they were going, hey, come here.

Hey, you want to meet one of the guys in the Daredevils?

This is a goofball who does the chicken.

Hey, do the-- you know?

And a lot of people at the game were fans of the band.

And Marty would bring them over to introduce them to me.

So it was kind of like a mutual admiration society.

And so I'm sitting there, I'm going, hmm.

So then I got an idea.

And I said, wait a minute, maybe-- I could write a-- I had a friend up there with a little newspaper.

And I said, would you be interested in if I-- DALE MOORE: "Film At 11."

Huh?

DALE MOORE: "Film at 11"?

Yeah.

"Film at 11."

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And so I said, well, can I write an article?

And I found that sitting down to write a column-- he says, can you give me 1,500 words?

No problem.

I went in and and I sat down, and the process is the same as writing a song.

You have to-- you have to put in-- you got to do your homework.

So I'd sit there and I'd go, hm.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Here's what I saw.

Here's what I saw, and this is what I did, and this is where I went.

Yeah.

I had a little notebook in my pocket and I'd go.

I'd write down some notes.

And I started submitting these articles.

And I was very nervous.

I was like, oh, my god, is this going to suck?

Oh, my god.

Oh, oh.

DALE MOORE: OK.

And so I submitted the article and the guy got it, and they're filled with jokes.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And he said, this is really good, Supe.

We probably won't have to edit any of this.

I went, oh, great.

Fantastic.

And so "Film at 11" came out, and then I started writing about rock and roll and my interactions with Sid Vicious-- DALE MOORE: Right.

--and Clarence and Roscoe Jones.

And then I started writing about baseball.

Then I started writing for Jim Menzie up in St.

Louis and the magazine-- the beginning of the magazine had the first article was about, well, Mark McGwire hit 61 homers and had a .238 average and a four-game hitting streak and blah, blah statistics.

Right.

Statistics, statistics, statistics.

Right.

Then you get to the end and here's my goofy article about hot dogs.

And he said, I'm-- so he published the first issue of "Fowl Ball" with my article.

And then I had people calling me going, man, that was really funny.

I went, oh, great.

So he asked me-- he says, well, can you give me another article?

I said, sure.

He says, can you have it on my desk by the 15 of next month?

I said, well, I'll try.

DALE MOORE: I'll try.

MICHAEL GRANDA: I'll try.

He says, I'll give you $100.

Oh, boy.

DALE MOORE: I'll try harder.

I'll try harder.

So I started writing these articles, these columns about baseball, and they started publishing them.

And then they started getting published around the country.

I think even the News-Leader, here in Springfield, published a couple of them.

And then it got to a regular basis.

And then I got into a flow, where I went, wow, this is going to take me about three days.

One day to spew onto the page, one day to rearrange, one day to polish the article and turn it in.

And I got just as much satisfaction out of that-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--as I got writing-- writing a song.

DALE MOORE: Right, right.

And that's interesting.

I was going to ask you about that.

Is there-- is writing, writing or is writing a song different than writing an article?

Do you approach it differently?

MICHAEL GRANDA: I find it the same.

Writing and writing.

Writing is writing, whether you're writing a 300-page novel, whether you're writing a 3-minute pop song, or whether you're writing a article about baseball.

You have to sit.

You have to put your butt in the chair.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

You got to sit in the chair.

You got to do that, and you got to do your homework.

That's-- DALE MOORE: I used to tell my-- You have to do your time.

Yeah, I used to tell my students, when I would teach a creative writing class, which is an interesting class-- very interesting to try and teach creative writing today with ChatGPT.

Right?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Right.

But I would tell my students back in the day, you know, look, writing is the loneliest profession-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Yes.

--on the planet.

MICHAEL GRANDA: On the planet.

But it is the most rewarding profession on the planet-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Exactly.

--at the same time.

MICHAEL GRANDA: You're exactly right.

Both things going on.

As I read these essays, the first thing that I thought, and I said it out loud to my wife.

I said-- and because she knows my love of Bob Uecker.

I said, this would be Bob Uecker-approved reading.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Bob Uecker is one of my favorite-- my favorite baseball-- Oh, yeah.

--personalities.

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, the most, you know, unassuming guy.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, yeah.

And funny just by accident.

He's funny-- was funny all the time, quite by accident.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

And I thought this is Uecker material, here.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, yeah.

He wakes up funny.

I try-- I like to think I wake up funny.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that's good.

So the 38-- roughly 38, 39 essays, something like that.

Why did you stop?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Well, I stopped because-- oh, boy, that's a good question.

I didn't really stop because I started writing essays for other things.

DALE MOORE: Other things?

About other-- you know.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And then the guy's paper went under and then I just didn't have an outlet.

At one point, I was writing two a month.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And I'm turning them out and turning them out and turning them out.

And then I just kind of just veered off into other areas.

[laughter] DALE MOORE: Which is what you do.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

So most of this, I guess, you did a lot of this with the old Busch Stadium days?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Busch 2.

Busch 2, yeah.

Yeah.

I went to a lot of games at Sportsman's Park, which became Busch Stadium 1.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah.

And then Busch Stadium 2, I had all access throughout that stadium.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And then Busch Stadium 3, I don't-- I'm not quite as-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--integrated into that one, but Busch Stadium 2.

And then not only the players, but you know, Jack Buck would walk by, Mike Shannon would walk by, you know?

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And they'd go, hey, you know?

Hey, how are you doing, man?

DALE MOORE: Yeah great-- great story in here, but the elevator stories and-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

DALE MOORE: --yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: You see them him in the elevator and you go out and go to Happy Hour.

That's when you really get to know-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--the players.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

You know, restaurants, hotel lobbies.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And everybody knew that I wasn't writing for "Sports Illustrated."

DALE MOORE: Right.

Right.

Everybody knew that I wasn't there for "Time Magazine," writing or writing about that.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

I was just a peanuts, small-time writer.

But they knew that I was there-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--for a purpose.

And they knew I was writing.

They knew I was-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--you know, I was there for a reason.

DALE MOORE: One of my-- one of my favorite pieces in here, you talk about autographs.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

And the-- you know.

And you don't-- you don't think much about that.

And I'm like you.

I've got a smattering of autographs that-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Mm-hmm.

--for whatever reason.

Talk a little bit about your take autographs and what that all means to you and-- MICHAEL GRANDA: Well, on autographs, you know-- and that's another reason why I had such access to the players and the personalities.

I didn't really-- you don't hound them for autographs.

When you go out to have a meal-- Yeah.

You don't say, give me your autograph.

Yeah.

And they don't want my autograph.

DALE MOORE: Right, right, right.

But when you get an autograph, if somebody walks up to me, if they take the time to go, man, I really like what you do.

I really like your work.

I admire how you do things, it takes, what, let me see.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

What's that, 4 seconds?

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And I don't mind that.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And it's the sentiment on their part.

MICHAEL GRANDA: The sentiment.

True fan-- fans are wonderful people.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Fans, yeah.

They're wonderful folks.

They're wonderful.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And they're the reason why I'm where I am.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

They're the reason why the ballplayers are where they are.

If they take that time to-- if they take that time to approach you and sincerely ask you, I have no problem signing an autograph.

Now, if they just want to, here, will you sign these 11 albums?

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

I know that they're going to be on eBay next week.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, sure.

Sure.

But if somebody, you know, is genuine and sincere, I mean, I don't ever mind.

DALE MOORE: You know, I think autographs are now being replaced by selfies.

Can I get a selfie with you?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Right, exactly.

That's the new autograph.

Right?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Exactly.

Yeah, but I don't mind it.

And some of the players-- the players have varying attitudes toward it, towards that.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Just like musicians.

Some guys go, eh, I can't be bothered.

Come on.

Don't bother me.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, some of the players are like that.

Some of the players are cool cats.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

Some of the musicians I know, ah, I don't want to be bothered with that.

So-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

You know?

DALE MOORE: Totally unfair question, do you have a favorite person that you interviewed above all player, coaches, anybody?

No, not really.

DALE MOORE: Yeah?

You know, the '85 team-- the 1985 Cardinal team was my favorite.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

You know, and they lost to, you know, Don Denkinger, you know, and the Royals.

We won't get into that.

But that was the greatest team.

You know, we went to Chicago with them for a few days.

Went up for a Wrigley-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--series, which is, if a Cardinal fan, if you've never been to Wrigley Field for Cardinal-Cubs game, it's well worth it.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And that whole team know.

And you know, Ozzie was great.

Willie McGee.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

You know, Jeff Lahti.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Danny Cox.

You know, and before Keith Hernandez left-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Keith was a great guy.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

But you just kind of hang around, and that was my favorite team.

DALE MOORE: I loved your interactions with La Russa.

Those were-- MICHAEL GRANDA: La Russa.

Oh, man, great stories.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, he was great, you know, he was a rock and roller.

And if you ever wanted to engage him with conversation outside baseball-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

He love to talk about music.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, yeah.

And so yeah, we would just talk about music and-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--yeah, it was great.

DALE MOORE: And you made lifelong friends that-- I mean, that's just how cool is that, to have two lives, really?

The rock and roll life and then this life.

I mean, that's pretty special.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

And you get to be Santa every now and then.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah, yeah.

DALE MOORE: On top of it.

Well, there's that.

DALE MOORE: Talk about a Renaissance man.

Now, I don't want to get away without asking this question.

So in this book, it's all baseball.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yep.

But I get to the very back.

And there's my friend Sid.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yep.

And then, of course, the "Men from Earth" story.

And I've heard that story several times.

But kinda recount-- why did you include those two essays in this book?

MICHAEL GRANDA: Well, because they were the first two essays I ever wrote.

DALE MOORE: OK.

It was "Film at 11," and it was a party.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

It was really, really late and we were really, really altered.

And I told the story of the week I spent in studio with Sid Vicious.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And the publisher of-- an editor of "Film at 11" says, can you write this down?

Can you put this into a-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

--publication form.

I said, yeah.

Can you put this on paper?

I said, I'll try.

So I went and did that and that was my first essay ever published.

He said, man, this is really good.

Can you write me another one?

I said, yeah, what am I going to write about this time?

Oh, Roscoe and Clarence Jones.

So I wrote about that.

And those were the first two pieces I ever had published.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And that's what got me-- that parlayed into baseball.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

So those were the first two I ever wrote.

And then I said, you know what?

People have loved these two essays for 30, 40 years.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Maybe I'll just put them like a hidden track on a CD.

DALE MOORE: Yeah yeah.

You know, you put that at the very end.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

If somebody wants to dig through.

DALE MOORE: Paul is a walrus.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

If you want to dig through and get to the end, there's a couple little treats I left you at the-- at the tail end.

DALE MOORE: Yeah well, it's an awesome story.

And I did not realize that "Men from Earth," the whole premise was they'd been stolen from.

They had lost a chainsaw.

Yeah, that was-- Yeah, some kids broke in and stole the shotgun and a chainsaw.

DALE MOORE: Yeah yeah.

So when we were getting ready to do the album cover, the guy from Hollywood called me and said, hey, so this is Bernie out here in Hollywood.

Says, yeah, the two old guys on the cover?

Said, you got to get them to sign a contract.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And I went, you're kidding?

They can't even talk.

They can barely-- unbelievable.

He says, well, you got to get us something on it.

So that's when I was the liaison between Hollywood and the Stone Age.

DALE MOORE: That's hilarious.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And so when I pulled that one off and I pulled that together, and that was a pretty cool little thing.

DALE MOORE: That's about as local King story as you're ever going to get.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Exactly.

That's a good one.

MICHAEL GRANDA: That's exactly right.

That's a good one.

MICHAEL GRANDA: You know, all these-- You know, back then, I was doing that and then baseball and then all of that.

And now I'm getting closer to-- I'm in my mid 70's and things-- different things are important.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, I understand that.

I get it.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Of course you do.

I totally get it.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Yeah.

DALE MOORE: Well, folks, it's called "Observations of a Local St.

Louis Cardinals fan, Fowl Ball."

Michael "Supe" Granda is the author of it.

It's always a pleasure.

You got it, Dale.

DALE MOORE: Thank you, my friend.

Thank you for your time, brother.

You stay tuned.

I'll be right back.

NARRATOR: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally-produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

I want to thank my guest Michael "Supe" Granda for sharing his passion for the real great American pastime of baseball, and to invite you to join us again real soon for another "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

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