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The Bird Tapes is built around a rare and original trove of baseball treasure — hours and hours of interviews with iconic figures in the history of the Baltimore Orioles. I recorded the interviews in 1999 and 2000 as I wrote a book about the team’s first half-century in Baltimore, and now, after letting the tapes gather dust in my closet for more than two decades, I’m bringing them to the public. The voices of Hall of Fame players, signature stalwarts, colorful characters, iconic general managers and others will land in your inbox in clear and easily consumable audio files, almost as if the interviews took place a day ago, not a quarter-century ago. Think of it as the baseball version of an archaeological dig, the uncovering of long-lost history. I spent hours with Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray and many others whose careers span nearly a half-century of ups and down on the diamond. I’ll augment the interviews with written posts that add context and background, helping present a unique and indelible history lesson that puts the Orioles’ current on-field surge in perspective. A paid subscription gives you full access to the interviews, all posts and the archives.

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John Eisenberg presents historic Baltimore baseball interviews. And some other stuff.

People

I've written about sports for more than four decades, first in Dallas and then as a columnist at The Baltimore Sun for 27 years. I've written 5,000 columns, won 20-plus writing awards and authored 11 books, including two on the Orioles.