Get ready for a whirlwind of stories and laughs as we sit down with Joey Zanaboni to discuss his latest venture, "St. Louis Sports for Kids Forever Lore." Joey’s infectious personality shines through as he shares his journey from being a kid with dreams of calling sports to becoming a vibrant voice in the world of sports commentary. We explore how his experiences in independent baseball and soccer have shaped his dynamic announcing style, which is as colorful as it is engaging.

The conversation reveals the significance of sports history, particularly in St. Louis, and how Joey’s book aims to rekindle a love for reading among kids by connecting them with the thrilling moments of local sports. Joey's tales of the sports world are not just entertaining but also serve a greater purpose of fostering community and literacy. Whether you’re tuning in for the sports stories or the laughs, this episode is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever cheered for their favorite team.

[00:00] Show Teaser and Welcome

[00:40] Crayola Day Banter

[01:20] Sponsor and Thought

[01:52] Meet Joey Zanaboni

[02:50] Ambush and Soccer Roots

[03:51] From Indie Baseball to Broadcasting

[05:22] Finding His Voice

[08:44] Wild Phrases and Yogi Influence

[10:40] Why This Kids Book

[11:20] Literacy Crisis and Reading Together

[14:43] First Book Sale Story

[16:54] Biggest Surprises in Research

[19:00] Writing Process and Organizing Sports

[22:21] Photos Interviews and Hidden Sports

[25:01] Book Praise And Purpose

[25:55] Dirt Track Racing Spotlight

[26:24] Hardcover Nostalgia For All Ages

[27:41] Mortgage Sponsor Break

[28:28] Dred Scott Stamp Petition

[29:43] Zana-isms

[30:26] Calling Baseball In Dubai

[32:16] Dog Track Announcer Stories

[34:08] Radio Play By Play Debate

[38:12] Book & Where To Buy

[40:08] Women In NFL Broadcasting

[41:33] Odd Holidays And Prom Photos

[43:15] Six13 Passover Parody "A Michael Jackson Passover"

[48:38] Humor And Final Sign Off

Takeaways:

• Joey Zanaboni shares his journey from aspiring sports announcer to play-by-play voice for St. Louis teams, highlighting his passion for storytelling.
• The podcast discusses the importance of literacy, emphasizing that reading should be cool and accessible for kids and parents alike.
• Throughout the episode, Zanaboni reflects on his unique broadcasting style, filled with humor and creativity, like comparing excitement to 'hotter than fresh tomato soup.'
• Listeners learn about the diverse sports culture in St. Louis through Zanaboni's new book, which covers everything from chess to dirt track racing.
• Zanaboni reveals how he incorporates personal experiences and family stories into his broadcasting, making sports commentary relatable and engaging.
• The importance of community and history in sports is highlighted, showing how local legends shape the identity of St. Louis sports culture through generations.

• Facebook - Joey Zanaboni
• X - Joey Zanaboni
• Instagram - Joey Zanaboni
• St. Louis Sports for Kids – Reedy Press

This is Season 9! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com

#joeyzanaboni #stlouiscitysc #stlouisambush #broadcasting #sportsbroadcaster #dogracing #stlouissports #playbyplayannouncing

If you have lived through some important sports moments in St. Louis and you want to pass those on to your kids, we have the perfect book for you. Right on. St. Louis in tune.

Welcome to St. Louis in tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Mark, what's happening?

What's happening happening? I will probably get to this later, but it's National Crayola Crayon Day. Yeah.

Did you know that box that had the sharpener in it? Yeah. Oh yeah. That was like the one everybody wanted. But that sucker was so expensive. Yeah.

Too expensive.

I just got the 8 color one.

Did you?

Yeah, that one I think was like a 25 or 50 color one or something like that.

Did you ever get in trouble for using Crayolas on your walls or your furniture?

My parents never found out.

They never found out?

Yeah, I played it on my brother.

It's your brother's fault.

What are you doing that's the matter with you.

I know. Yeah, I got in plenty of trouble all the time.

Folks, we're glad that you've joined us today. We want to thank our sponsor Better Rate Mortgage for their support of the show.

You can listen to previous shows stlintune.com where you can follow us and even leave a review. Our thought to ponder today. Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

You are the wise one.

That was Erich Fromm. He was wise with that. And sometimes you have to break out of the box to get to a different place. And our guest is like that.

He's broken out of the box. He's hotter than fresh tomato soup at a drywall bonfire. And the play by play voice that your grandma loves.

Joey zanaboni, welcome to St. Louis in Tune.

Hey, Arnold, Mark. Great to be with you guys.

Joey is the play by play announcer for St. Louis City SC and the St. Louis Ambush. She's previously served as the as a commentator for eight years in independent and minor league baseball. Independent baseball.

A really wildcat out there and not well known but a really good show. He's a lifelong St. Louisian. He's lived, breathed and sweated through many moments. In the book that we're going to talk about.

His work has been featured by USA Today, Washington Post and ESPN. His commentary for St. Louis City of Major League Soccer can be heard on Y98 and Apple TV.

It's great to have you in the book St. Louis Sports for Kids.

Wait, is the St. Louis ambush still doing stuff?

Yeah, in the playoffs. Listen in Wednesday at IWC Family arena in St. Charles. Come on out. I've been with them for five seasons.

I knew they were years ago, but I didn't know they were still around.

Yeah.

Me and my lifelong friend Matt Rockia, we've called the games for five years. And yeah, that was actually my first soccer stuff. Really over the air in St. Louis. My first year.

We were with KTRS and we've been on CBS Sports Galazzo and Major Arena Soccer League TV Amazon ever since.

Is that in the family arena?

It's the family arena, yeah.

Okay. So there you go.

I didn't know. I. I didn't know the Ambush was still around. I knew him from back when I was a kid.

That's why you pick up a book like this. St. Louis Sports for Kids Forever. Lauren. The 314 the Ambush are featured multiple times actually in this book.

Yeah.

And it's 20 different sports. Everything from the super obvious sports like chess and cork ball.

Yeah.

To the less obvious sports like football, basketball, baseball, that kind of thing.

Yeah. And those, those obvious sports.

The obvious sports and stuff that slips under the radar. So you mentioned independent baseball.

We got some good independent baseball stuff in here about the Rascals and the Grizzlies and trust me, I got a million stories I got from my time in independent baseball. I actually started with the rascals back in 14 and then ended up in. In Illinois and Texas with some teams through the years in South Dakota.

And yeah, I got a million stories.

Okay. Now, so you're St. Louis and I'm not going to ask you the question, so don't worry.

Where did you go to school?

But you. Did you go to Rockhurst?

I did go to Rockhurst.

I figured because I. You got your degree, what? Umkc?

Yeah, Rockers.

You're correct. And you were up in Kansas doing some things with the sports up there for. In your early career.

I started. Yeah. My very first place I ever went was Derby Kansas in the Wichita area.

I know where that's at.

I was spinning my wheels and not sure what I wanted to do. And I just. Like a lightning bull.

I just felt like I have to give sports announcing and try to Always wanted to do it when I was a kid, and I think I was just. I was a little bit afraid to fail. But I sat down on my bed with an iPhone3 or something, and I made tape of. I was calling a baseball game.

I was acting like I was sitting at a baseball game. I just put in sound effects from YouTube later, but I called the game.

Were you watching a game on TV or just.

I was just doing it out of.

My head, making it up.

I sent it out to 15 teams. I thought that was a ton of teams. I should have sent it out to 500 teams. But, yeah, derby was like, we're gonna give this guy a chance.

So who did you listen to? Who was like. Like the switch that flipped in your head? Like, man, I want to do that.

Ken Wilson Blues. Yeah, for me, it was definitely Ken. Just a huge fan, and about a.

Style or how he described the game,.

I think it was everything. And it was back when the Blues were doing simulcast radio and television, and they just started doing that again this year.

Ken was basically a solo broadcaster. And just how he was able to use the words to bring the game to life and the fluency and the tone and the exciting calls, and it just made my.

My hair on the back of my neck stand up. And that was when I was like, 6 years old and when I got to be about 21, 22, and I got that same feeling again. I just.

Yeah, I always say it was the voice of Ken Wilson that came back to me. I just wanted to give it a whirl and just take the bumps and bruises of doing it. But I didn't study it. In college, I was at Rock Race.

I was an English major.

And so this book, St. Louis Sports or Kids Forever Lore, and the Three on Four, it was really me getting back to that as well and putting the written word down and thinking about things from that perspective. I think, as people know, I'm actually.

They hear me on the play by play for City and for the Ambush, and they're probably like, man, this guy never stops screaming.

So this is something you've wanted to do forever.

Yeah, I would say I really.

This is like it.

Yeah. I was.

Childhood dream.

Yeah. 90 Minutes a week. I'm that guy that. That screams.

And a lot of the times other than that, I'm Reading and yeah, really those are my two dreams as a kid was being a sports announcer, being an author. And I just feel like that's something so important is to pursue those dreams and keep going at whatever cost it comes to. Comes with.

Now. I drove Joey in today and he was screaming the whole way.

Really?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It wasn't because you were out of this place.

I know.

So have you talked to Ken Wilson about his mentorship? Quasi.

No, I haven't. I would always love to. Sure. And he's still going.

He's still doing baseball down in Australia as of a couple of years ago in the Australian Baseball League. And somebody. I think, I believe he's in his late 70s. So I just have a lot of admiration for that.

And yeah, I just hope he knows how much it meant to people in St. Louis, especially of, I think my generation, I'm a child of the early 90s. And I just think, yeah, me, all my friends, we all grew up with that. We all felt like that was really the best that was done.

And yeah, I just, I don't know that he always gets that credit quote unquote.

Because when you start to list off and there's always the Bucks and Costas and all this stuff and due respect to those guys, but Ken Wilson was somebody who did really across two sports, I think truly with hockey, I do believe he's. Yeah. One of the all time greats.

Joey, I would really encourage you write him a note because. Because it's. I always encourage teachers to do that with somebody who was a teacher that stood out to them.

Because a lot of times like Ken Wilson gets all these accolades and he does his job.

But sometimes it's that note that says, man, you made a difference in my life or you pointed me in a direction that gave me a career, or I remember you were just a stand up kind of guy or gal. Speaking of teachers or even announcers for.

That matter, do you think you'd choke if you met him?

Scream.

I know.

Wow. I've wanted to meet this guy my whole life. Yeah, I don't need.

Yeah, I would be very excited to meet him and talk with him for sure. Just really the calls and just being able to revisit some of those calls. Yeah, it's.

Did we have listeners in Australia.

Hopefully they listen again as well.

And New Zealand. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. All across the world.

So you were talking about language and things like that. So where do you come up with some of the wild calls and the names and the phrases like hotter than Fresh tomato soup at a drywall bonfire.

I was thinking of one.

Was that mine?

That was yours.

I thought you came up with that. That was mine.

You get that one?

Yeah, I've had.

It's gonna be on your tomb.

Yeah.

I've been credited and accused of saying many things that I have and have not said through the years.

Are these Yogi isms? So these are Joeyisms.

I like that. Joey.

I'll tell you, my grandfather grew up on the hill with Yogi Bear. And I do think that's part of it because that's been my style. I guess that's been picked up on by the media and things.

And yeah, I think in a sense it's a way of honoring that tradition. And I just think back on those guys that were growing up in the 20s and the 30s and first generation Italians.

And my grandfather used to tell me that Yogi's mother would stand out on the porch and say, lari Peter, Larry, that was his name was Pietro Lawrence Pietro. And yeah, just those kind of things, they stick with you quite a bit.

And I just think for Yogi Berra, who obviously I admire and I think he's a great, amazing American character and a great player and a great linguist in his own way. It's just, it's that freshness approaching language. And when I think when you're that first generation to learn the language, yeah, you end up with.

You end up with so much wisdom intentional and unintentional. And yeah, I think back on that and I think that's an inspiration for it. And I. I always just say, if it stands out to me, then I'll say it.

Especially at this point in my career, I'm like, if it's good, I'll say it.

So we've got Yogi Isms, we've got Shannonisms, and now we have Joeyisms.

Santa Boniasm is how I think they harder to spell that way.

Why the book? There's a lot of sports books out. There's a lot of St. Louis sports books.

But as I intimated when we were leading the show in that kids, they don't know a lot of the history. Even some of the things I was reading in there. There's a couple things I didn't even know.

Trust me, there was a ton I did not know. And there's probably another warehouse full of things that I could fill with the things I still do not know. And I've got a funny story about that.

But first the book was Reedy Press and Josh Stevens approached me about two years ago. And they just said, trying to do a timeline sports about the history of St. Louis, sports for kids.

And I jumped on with it because I also have some background in teaching and education. And yeah, we're in trouble as a society because we're becoming more functionally literate and it's a major problem.

I think only about a third of eighth graders nationwide read at a proficient level right now. And more than that, I think we've seen adults, older students and adults who have just moved away from reading.

I think only something like 16% of Americans right now identify as reading for fun. There was a poll from Nielsen that found that only about 40% of adults enjoy reading to their children.

So we're not on the cusp of a crisis, we're in a crisis as far as literacy goes. And so I wanted to do this project because it brings together adults and kids. It's an opportunity for adults.

If you have kids who are three, four or five years old and maybe aren't reading yet, you can read it to them and share your own stories. And then for children, it's really aimed at 10 to 14 year olds is what I would say the age range is. Hopefully this gets them back into reading.

Reading is cool. Literacy is cool. We have too many online influencers who are foolishly promoting an agenda of reading is a silly waste of time.

Seriously.

Oh, yeah. Andrew Tate just in the last month or two said, and this is somebody with millions of followers, he's a fool. But he said, I don't read.

It's not worth it to read because you don't get enough information for the time that you spend with a book. And that is the philosophy in some ways of this tech age.

There's some very smart individuals out there, very clever individuals who don't read because they say, oh, I can learn more from being on the phone. And we live in this time of way too much information and not enough understanding of how to be alone without connection on social media.

This type of thing of getting real books back into the hands of people that they can spend time with. I think it's the number one problem we have in society right now is that we have disregarded reading.

And if we don't make this a generational kind of stand, then it could taper out to levels where it's almost. Yeah, it's almost just like a niche thing.

Right. So you could see like parents giving this to their kids and then sitting down with them and going through this book.

Like even youngsters like 6, 7, 8 I remember. And Mark and I know this because we've talked about it.

We listened to the Cardinals broadcast with Harry Carey and Jack Buck and with the transistor radio underneath the sheets when I was a kid knowing all that stuff. But as a kid, being excited about sports and not just watching it like you're talking about, but being engaged in it and then sitting down.

Maybe a book club would want to do this. Like a teenage book club.

Yeah, we've had great responses.

And I say the title is a little bit almost misleading because I think at times the adults have been more interested than the children. I should have called it St. Louis sports for Kids, Parenzis and Adults.

There you go. I think so, because I love going through it.

Yeah, I just love that story is a track story and it magnetizes you to other stories. And this is that funny story I want to tell you was actually the first book I sold. It was Valentine's Day.

It was Afton Ice Rink and they had a youth tournament down there. I thought, okay, hockey parents mean two things. Disposable income and early mornings.

And usually I consider it 3pm a lot of the week to be an early morning. I go down there with a sack of books and set up a table.

I'm bleary eyed, stumbling around a little bit, and this guy comes up to me and he just goes, hey, what's the book about? Sports history for kids. 20 Different sports. And he looks at me as my kids should know about that.

And he pulls out some cash and I just say, hey man, hold on a second, I got to find you some change here. And kind of scramble around. I'm looking over my shoulder and I'm like, why do I know this guy? Did I meet this guy like five years ago?

And just there's something so familiar about this guy. Anyway, I get him his change. Hey, are you from St. Louis? And he goes, but my wife is okay, and hey, thanks a lot. Takes the book, walks away.

And about five seconds later, this guy taps me on the shoulder. He goes, hey, wasn't that Jim Montgomery, head coach of the Blues? So as sports is touring you're always learning more. You're always learning more.

And I was like, oh, that's a great story about how I sold my first book. I think it's a good sign.

Yeah.

Seeing people out of their element, though, is always different.

Yeah. You just. If he's not behind the bench of players, that's how I've always identified. Jim Montgomery is. There's a bunch of players in front of.

He was just. He's another hockey dad out there.

That's cool.

And that was your first book?

That was my very first book that I.

That's a good omen to have.

And I. I would.

That's a great story.

I think so. Yeah. I, I. Hey, I'm a little bit embarrassed about.

It, to be honest, that you didn't recognize.

Listen, I'm a St. Louis sports historian. I'm not in the modern day, but.

You could have said in the story.

Yeah.

And it was Jim Montgomery, and I talked to him.

We appreciate your.

I just thought it was funny. This was. That sho. Like, yeah.

Oh, yeah, that was him. Yeah. I.

Biggest surprise in you writing this book.

Biggest surprise that I wrote this book. Did I surprise myself found out that.

You found out that you got done with it?

Wow. Yeah, it was a lot of surprises, even in sports that I felt like I followed pretty closely. Cardinals, baseball, and things like that.

So, yeah, really, every section, I tell people I learned more about chess and wrestling from this than I ever knew in my life. Opposite ends, honestly.

But I went down there and ended up, after I finished writing the book, going back to the chess museum and watching a match and things like that. So I learned a ton about those two sports.

There's a lot going on with the chess, isn't there, in St. Louis? It's a big deal here. I don't think I've been down there.

A few years ago, it was Mizzou, slu, and Webster were the three of the four teams in the final four. I think Mizzou just won it this year, the national championship. So it's become this area, the hub of collegiate chess, for sure.

Webster's won, like, a dozen national championships, and, yeah, it's become really big. I'll tell you one thing that I was surprised about.

I just did not know this, even though it's a fact, but I didn't really realize that Sonny Liston was affiliated with St. Louis. He moved up here. He's a teenager, and actually learned to box the Missouri State Penitentiary.

And then he was in St. Louis, and he pretty quickly rose through and Became this legendary boxer. I just didn't know that. And what a boxer he was. What a fighter. And yeah, it was something that I. Yeah, just surprised.

Interesting.

It is interesting. And he learned in the Penn State Penitentiary.

State Penitentiary, Yeah. There was a reverend there, I believe, that actually taught in the box.

Wow. Wow.

Mr. Harnold Stricker. With Mark Langston of St. Louis in tune, we're talking to Joey Zanaboni and getting some Xanabonisms from. From him along the way.

Let's see what I have written down on the forearm here.

Yeah, we're talking about his book, St. Louis Sports for Kids and Folks. You can get that@readypress.com readypress.com look that up and you can find that. It's a recent release. What.

What was it, a year And a half, two years to write the book?

About 20 months. Yeah.

Okay. And when you go do research.

That's fast, though. Isn't that kind of quick? Yeah, I've heard some people go, oh, I worked on it for 20, 20 years. But people, I.

It's okay.

Some people, like, doing the research is tough.

30 Years to live and 20 months to write. To paraphrase Bob Dylan.

Love it. Another Joeyism.

There's a. That is a quote. I just give Bob some credit on that. And, yeah, I mean, it was a labor of love at times, but it really was.

It was drawn from personal experience so much where. I do think there was a lot of it. And there's some personal reflections in there and a little bit of poetry and things at the start, but it was.

Those are the things that I was like, all right. My generation was more Kurt Warner.

Right.

Than the St. Louis Cardinals. So I was a little more interested.

In that stuff because they were winning.

Yeah. What a year that was. And I was from. I was born in St. Louis, and my family, actually, when I was a kid, we briefly lived in Nashville.

Okay.

And actually that was the year we lived in Nashville. And Yeah, they were Tennessee Titans.

Oh, bummer.

I was in a class of 30 kids. I was the only one wearing a Rams jersey.

I'm surprised you even wore it there.

Yeah, I know. We made it through. Luckily, we won. I'm glad they won that one.

I've had a chance to tell by inches. Was it.

I told that to Mike Jones. I said, thanks for making that tackle, my friend. It meant a lot because I was.

The only kid with a jersey.

So you go through, you like, say, okay, I've got each of my 20 sports here. And all right. What moments Do I need to do or. Let us know. Let the listeners know what your thought process was on organizing this.

Yeah, it was like I said, I think there's a sequel sitting in my Google Docs somewhere of just the stuff where it's like other things and other sections and other complete sports that didn't make the.

Yeah, we only had so much room and it was always a balance between what to put in and narrative flow and just a testament to St. Louis sports because there's just so much. And I say that in the introduction. It's like the Mississippi river. The risk of flooding is greater than the risk of drought.

And that's what I think it was. St. Louis sports. There's just so much.

Yeah, there is.

Incredible, incredible.

It's got to be hard to navigate through all that.

I think part of it is that like these athletes, they come here and then they just stay in St. Louis. They love St. Louis. Their friend of mine read low, he's from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, I think it is. Yeah, I love St. Louis.

He's going to settle down here, become part of the community down here. And he's worked with youth teams and all this stuff since he's retired.

That's so cool how many people we keep in this community because it's such a great community and just that greatness. You want to, you want to honor it.

So that was always my primary objective of just saying I want to honor the community and the fans that make it this great place to play and work and all that stuff. And yeah, I think there's plenty more to discover and plenty more to share and I hope that's what parents approach it as.

And aunts and uncles and grandparents who buy the book for the kids.

You can read this and say, this is where I was at that exact moment that the Rams won the super bowl And when Mark McGuire hit his hit his 62nd home run and all that kind of stuff. And that's just, that's something that I hope happens with the book.

And I think some of it as well became getting the pictures and organizing the pictures. And we have great local photographers.

St. Louis Chess Club donated World Baseball, or pardon the World Chess hall of Fame people donated their baseball pictures. Great local photographers like Justin Barr, Kerry Ogle, Derek Burgess and I would be like, oh, that's a cool picture of such and such.

I gotta get that in the book. So. Alright, let me put that a little blurb around that. Yeah, a credit to them as well.

And does ReadyPress help with those kinds of approvals? And things or did you have to do all that yourself?

Yeah, we did. I did quite a bit of it. And then they. They had some photos that they were able to get licenses for as well.

I was able to reach out to a lot of folks and talk with them and basically just say, this might be a bit random, but I saw you had a picture with or a picture of. And yeah, it was cool to see people be able to go through their memories like that.

And that was a significant portion of the time of the 20 months was getting photos and working with people and getting it all. But I'm just thrilled with the way that Reedy put it together and how it turned out. They did a fantastic job.

Yeah, it's a cool thing to see the end product.

Did you do interviews with individual people in the book or groups? Obviously at Chess Cub, you talked to them?

Yeah, we had some opportunities just to reach out to folks and find out what was important with them. And find out, hey, this is what they wanted to talk about. And talking to some of the photographers as well.

One thing again that I did not know that much about was dirt track racing. And they have the dirt in December down at. Oh yeah, down at the old football dome of the America center. And it sells out like it's huge.

I ended up talking to Derek Burgess, who's the president of the Dirt Dirt Race Track Racing hall of Fame. And yeah, it was really cool just to learn about that and see.

And as he says in the book, it's not always that well known around here, but we have these great tracks and we have this unbelievable support. And of course the Wallaces and these other folks who have come here and raced here. Wallace's are from here.

Yeah, it's cool to be able to connect with people and I wanted to do that. I wanted to put in sports that are a little bit off the beaten path and some of the moments.

And I tried not to restrict myself to just like the big obvious things. There's some stuff you have to talk about and put in there.

But like, I wanted to get in and kind of learn a little bit more about some of the sports around here that's not like as well known. So that was cool to explore with guys like Derek. And I was able to draw some inspiration more than direct interviews.

But just like with the people have come onto the the City broadcast, we've had Kenny Wallace on there, Jackie Joyner Kersey, Chris Pronger, who's on the back cover of the book. It's really cool. And then you just. Yeah, you learn about it a little bit.

Say, oh, this is why this person stuck around or why this person has done so much for the community. And that became something that informed what do I want to put in? And yeah, it ended up being a lot of work.

But it's worth it in the end to be able to pass that along.

Yeah. But for an English major, that's your goals.

Used to stay up. I'm used to staying up late at night.

Yeah. Grading papers.

Those two goals that you have of pushing reading and then the goal of highlighting St. Louis sports colliding together here in this book is just amazing and.

Great pictures to go along with.

I appreciate it. St. Louis sports for kids forever. Lauren the 3 and 4. It's something that we need to make sure is still forever. Laura three, four. Keep it going.

I really like some of the sports that you touched on, like the dirt track racing. There's kids that I've done that. I've been a fan of that for years and it's a big deal.

You go down to the i55 raceway or there was one in St. Charles for a while over in Grand City. Anyway, it's big and they pack them in. And as a little kid reading the book, I think my mom and dad dragging me to one of those races.

It's great to see it in print because I don't know where else you're gonna find things like that in print.

I appreciate that for sure because it's important to put it down on paper. And I don't believe there's an E edition to this. We only have the hardcover book and that's one of the. That's one of the most important things to me.

It's giving people that chance to carry something around and be alone with it, read it, learn something from it. It's books that I liked when I was a kid.

I remember reading a book called baseball more than 150 years when I was a kid and it was like this where it was like different decades and they break it down by year and have reflections on the year and who was the best player that year and things like that. And I just spent hours and hours with it. And I think that's cool with this book is you can flip through it or you can read it cover to cover.

It's aimed at 10 to 14 year olds, but really it's, I think for all ages.

Yeah, I enjoyed it at my age.

And he's beyond the 10 to 14 years.

Yeah, it's good for a 37 year old.

Thank you very much.

Oh, let's take a break, Mark and we're going to come back and talk about a couple more things with Joey. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis and Tomb. Don't go away.

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The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.

The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.

To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott Petition drive on the right side of the page.

On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune. Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. Mark, here are some Xanabonisms.

Oh, there we go.

Cleaner than a Lysol brand OnlyFans account. Let's see, here's another. Yanked out of there like a shirtless passenger on a Spirit Airlines flight.

Dancing like a Spice Girls cover band inside an earthquake simulation. And I didn't know this was a catchphrase of yours. Lock it, cock it, rock it, restock it.

Lcrr. That's how it's spelled.

There. There are a couple Xanabonisms, folks, and you can even listen to those online, which is cool.

Where do you want what's out on the horizon for Joey Zanaboni?

Wherever my feet take me. That's, I guess where we're. Yeah. St. Louis City and St. Louis ambush. It's a year round thing and gosh, happy to do that.

You still doing baseball?

Yeah, I've been involved with an emergent baseball league in Dubai and actually had a chance to call a couple games with Albert Pools out there and prayers up and best wishes to all my friends in Dubai. It's a hard time over there right now. I got back about eight weeks before the war started. Yeah.

Hoping that continues on and continues to bring the good sport of baseball to the people of the Middle East.

What's baseball like in the Middle East?

Very sandy.

Is it?

No, I'll say this, we have a turf field. So it's less sandy than the surrounding area. But yeah, it's hot. It's hot. It's a lot of sand and it's. It's fun. It is.

It's different because nobody really knows what baseball is. Cricket is very big over there. Rugby, football, soccer. But yeah, introducing the sport of baseball over there. And I'm proud to have done.

I actually have done every game for the organization Baseball United. And we drew 93 million viewers across Pakistan, India and UAE, that area.

So we were on television and yeah, just an honor to be the guy saying lock it, cock it, rock it, restock it.

He's got a face for TV too, Mark.

Yeah, I know.

Flashing the leather like he's losing his bathrobe in a kangaroo cemetery, that kind of thing. Actually, I bought a camel skin wallet while I was over there. So, you know, it's. What's that like really very sturdy.

Yeah, I bought it at Global Village, which is a massive. It's Epcot meets Six Flags over in. In Dubai. It's a famous place and they have all these little sections of the world.

I actually bought it in the Afghanistan section, the park. And it's. Yeah, it's been nice.

So what sport have you not called?

I. Yeah, I've done a Lot. I used to be a dog track announcer, actually. Florida and Pennsylvania. So licensed casino employee there and in the dog tracks of Pensacola.

And I was so jacked, I'll tell you this much, to do the job. I had been angling for it for a while and I did my first race and it probably sounded like I had 10 cups of coffee. I'd only have five cups of coffee.

And it's hard because you have to get better at it. You know, when you start, you just do the numbers on the blanket. You don't say, you don't say, hey, here comes Pharaoh's dream.

You just here say, hey, here comes number one, number two, number three. And we're. They're coming around the last man, like number eight, number six, number four. And I'm going nuts.

And we're on the PA in the stadium and then we're on. They're carrying this as the play by play and the closed circuit televisions of the Florida casino system. And we finish a race and I'm buzzing.

I just kind of sit back in my chair, it's the first time. And the track director behind me cracks open the door.

The track director, Ray, who had once claimed to have gone 146 miles per hour on a motorcycle, he looks at me and I look at him and he just goes, you just blew out half the speakers around the track. And I says, oh, you can only go up from here. Yeah, it was great. I mean, it was. I call that period of my life searching for Bax mcfasity.

He was the all time course record holder on the 540 yard Navy course, 29.34 seconds.

So as I look to the future, I would one day I would actually like to write a memoir about some of those stories from independent baseball on the dog track. And I think I'm going to call it searching for backs McFadden.

But you have to be excited. You can't. Have you listened to a sports game where. Well, some of the basketball, the college basketball games now on television.

This is why I like radio announcers, because they have to actually call the.

Game, Paint a picture.

Yeah. And the others, they're just talking about their stories or other kinds of stuff like that. And it's not enjoyable for me as a listener.

I'll turn them off and watch the game. I can do that.

John Rooney is one of the greatest sports announcers. I think if you listen to. He paints a picture, he does of their uniforms, what they're doing, it's just amazing.

If you just take a Moment and listen to what he's saying.

I think Harry Carey and Jack Buck used to do that, too. Yeah, John Rooney's kind of followed with that. Ken Wilson did that also. And that's. You're there. You're there.

Yeah, they bring you right there. And you don't need the tv. Yeah, I know. When you do the dogs, do you do it by number? You don't do the dog's name. Rover's coming around laying right.

Here comes rem. Twisted Sister. Yeah, a lot of them were named after, like, combinations of rock bands.

So you do the number.

By the time I finished, I did about 125 races down there. By the time I finished, I felt much more comfortable getting the names in. And then it. It was actually made illegal in Florida.

And a guy came to me with tears in his eyes was at the end of our spring season, he said, they're going to shut us down. And it actually was quite moving. He had done. He had worked there for 25 years and did this great job with all the production.

And, yeah, I felt saddened by it in many ways because it just was. It was like a social club for people down there. And I thought the dogs were pretty well taken care of. They had a vet and things that.

That would monitor them. And, yeah, it just was a changing of the tides, but, yeah, it was one of those things. There were many times on the dog track many lessons to.

To learn. And I think probably my favorite story was there was one where it was just raining. It was raining like a torrential.

Cats and dogs.

It was raining cats and dogs. The dogs rather run out. And we had this little thing, it was a stuffed bone that they would chase called Swifty.

And I could see Swifty was starting to spark up in the fifth race. And I was like, are you thinking even gonna drag around 50 in the sixth race now? It went really fast, this monorail thing.

And that was how you started every race as you go. Here comes Swifty. And Swifty would shoot out around the track. And so I was like, here comes Swifty. And out of the gate, it's Pharaoh's Dream.

And I'm looking at it. Swifty starting to spark up again. It died three quarters of the way around, no doubt. All the dogs stopped. It just started. Race results are void.

Please claim all refunds at the window.

Oh, that's terrible.

I was just glad I was up in the box. I was sipping coffee in the box, looking down. They had all these. I guess they were college kids that worked at the track.

And they're out there in yellow rain slickers. They're shoveling so they can canal the water up the track. It's the grounds. Career at the dog track.

The Perdido Key Pensacola Greyhound Racing track and poker room. I was never the most famous person associated with the track, though. I was a virtual unknown.

Boston Rob from Survivor used to come there and play cards. He was always, always the. The celeb of the track. But I did make. I was honored by this. I did.

At the end of my tenure, I was on the list of the 80 best dog track announcers under the age of 80. It's a shorter list than you think. I graciously accepted that on behalf of my mentor, Larry, who was 83.

Wow.

Taught me everything I knew. You did one race. I thought it.

I thought it was a dachshunds, that race. No, Sparky.

Here comes Swifty.

Swifty became Sparky.

Yeah, I love that.

Oh, folks, that's good. Yeah, you gotta check this book out. St. Louis Sports for Kids, available at reedypress.com Joey Zanabone's first book. Joey, great book.

Thank you.

We want to thank you for coming in and talking to us about it.

Yeah, it means a lot. It means a lot to get the word out about this. And you can follow along oezanna.

You can visit Reedi Press at their website and across social media, readypress.com and reedypress across socials. And yeah, honestly, just hit me up on social media if you want a book, because I come and hand deliver it to you and sign it for you.

It's available in bookstores. It's available at schnooks. And that makes a great late St. Patrick's Day gift or great late President's Day gift.

I know there's not a lot of people that are running people down.

Or early Memorial Day gift.

Yeah. Or an early Flag Day gift.

Or Christmas is coming.

Early Easter gift.

Christmas in July. It's an early Christmas in July.

Yeah, There you go.

Oh.

Christmas can be used across a number of occasions, as you can see.

That's right.

It's completely flexible like that. It's not flexible in other ways. It's hardcover. You can do a lot more than just read with it.

You could use it as potentially, if you need something that holds something up, it's that sturdy. So either way, just hit me up. But most of all, read it and enjoy it. And let's make that the emphasis now in society is to get back to books.

Salem Sports for Kids Forever Lore. The Three on four.

It's a new generation too, of books. I think we're not going way back in the. I like Stan Musial a lot, but this goes more like the. Some of the newer kind of baseball.

Even does a lot of his history things way back.

But just.

Which is nice.

Yeah. But there's things about.

It's a smattering to kind of get you interested.

Yeah. Modern time. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for that. Like my wife finishing my sentences.

And we'll post all of those on the podcast page. So folks, you can check those out and follow Joey on social media and get that.

Speaking of which, Mark the first woman to call a play by play in the NFL.

Oh, really?

But the same year she got married, got pregnant, and then had to make a decision between her Florida Channel 8 job or broadcasting with the NFL. And she chose to stay with Channel 8 in Florida and the rest is history. So she was the first woman to call a play by play in the NFL. How about that?

That's cool.

It's too bad nobody has come after her.

Yeah, but that's. Yeah, I like to play by play stuff.

It's always Chick on the field or it's be in the booth, get the guy down on the field.

Something.

What's the deal here? Nobody have to do that.

Yep.

Doesn't make sense.

No, not much makes sense.

So go back to our days that you have marked.

You want to go? Okay.

Yeah. What do you got there?

Let's see.

We do a day of the day. Mark does that Dance Day of the day.

Dance marathon day today.

Dance marathon day.

Remember that hanging that they used to. My parents would talk about this where it was a marathon. You would hang on to your partner and it was for.

He'd win a prize at the end if you were still standing after 24 hours of dancing.

National Clams on the half shell day.

Okay.

All right.

And tomorrow is whole shell day.

National Farm Workers Day. Yes. Remember a farm worker National She's Funny that way day.

These are Real days that governmental officials decide to.

National Tater Tot Day.

Tater Tot Day.

You like Tater Tots?

Not really.

Let's see. Prom Day. National Prom Day. Let's see here. This is going over big today.

I've got a prom story. I've got.

All right, let's hear it.

I took my prom photos outside Cigarettes for Less satirical take on all the scenic prom photos. I took a few scenic prom photos at a separate prom.

And then I.

Hey, let's all just gather outside the Cigarettes for less outside of the old blockbuster on a Jameson over there by Tinterous.

That's actually a great idea.

It was a take on that. You don't have to spend a lot of money on your prom photos.

While he was pumping gas.

Eiffel Tower day is today.

Okay.

You ever. I've never been to the.

That's. It's a great thing.

Have you been there?

Yes.

Okay. And that's about all I really have. There's not a whole lot going on.

Okay.

I'm not sure we're going into the summer. Of course. We've got Holy Week, Easter, Passover.

We have a special thing for Passover.

Okay.

For we actually 6:13, Lior Melnick, who we had a conversation with several years back. Every time there is Passover or Hanukkah, he sends the latest songs that the group that he's involved with. Six thirteen, they do that. They've done.

They're parodies that they use popular music. And they put in either Passover lyrics or Hanukkah lyrics. And they do acapella. And sometimes they will.

They'll be with music, but most of the time they are the music behind the vocals. So he sent me this the other day and it's about what, 4 minutes, 43 seconds? Mark. Okay, so we're going to check this out. Michael Jackson. Passover.

For 40 days and for 40 years got a cooking clean. Been working hard on this since free time now has gonna host everyone Saturday night. Seder for everyone. Just remember the four cups of wine.

Cups of wine. People always told me be careful with the food. Red horseradish and romaine heart.

And Sadie always told me tradition starts anew when it's time to be a Jew. The whole family comes to. Passover. She loves to hear f Questions and the kiddish and four sons. I'm still here for questions and the kiddish and for.

You want to be starting cedar, you got to be star and cedar. So you want to be sin. You got to be started cedar. You want to be sin and you want to be sh. Got to be sh. Come around here.

You Hebrews are our slaves of God. We do not fear. But we were tired of this life.

Filled with blood, sweat and tears.

In Egypt, In Egypt. So Pharaoh, watch out. Cause our God has a plan. Our nation won't be ruled by such an evil man. You're done being tough?

Better give the command to beat it. Leaders, you can harm Egypt, Egypt.

All the troops are leaving Egypt.

Can't wait for daytime? Leaving that night before the sun or Moza can rise. In Egypt, In Egypt. Leave Egypt. He was dropped by Adainu?

We left the door a little open and a cup for him to drink from. Told him how the season parted. He got wine stains on the carpet. Eliyahu's okay. Elia, who's okay? Eliyahu Hanabi. Elia, who's okay? Eliyahu's okay.

Eliyahu Hanavi. Eliyahu's okay. Eliyahu's okay. Eliyahu Hanavi Egypt Hippai. They were struck by some true miracles. We Jews were stuck in chains for all of our lives.

It didn't feel real good, Needed something different? Had to make it chart a Roman lettuce heart, bitter herbs in a bowl? Oh, we got to eat up, tear up, Recall the LS that we felt so long ago.

It's why we all had to go. I'm thinking about the meaning of our. I needed more than just a grain, a deep message? But it tastes so bitter.

If you want to take my roar.

And egg romaine chef my rose in.

The parsley on the sa plate Got.

The symbols right they recall the heart.

And control dark life.

I'm thinking about the meaning tomorrow. Oh, yeah. I'm eating more than just this cr and this message could have been clearer.

If you know what freedom's worth, Rejoice and praise.

Take a look at the stuff on the seder. I'm gonna eat this crane the rest of my life.

They're great.

No instruments.

No instruments.

That's crazy.

6:13:6.Coms I x:13.com Check them out, folks.

That's crazy.

They do some great stuff, Mark. I've got a few funnies.

All right, I'll go ahead.

We've got a beep. Joey, do you know that nurses will be spending 20 minutes looking for blood, veins, something Mosquito locates in the dark while singing?

Oh, we got an alarm going on here, folks. Oh, now it's off. Mark, Whenever I have to fill out a form that asks who to call in case of an emergency.

I always put ambulance because no one in my family is going to answer a call from an unknown number. And if you eat yeast and shoe polish, you are sure to rise and shine. NASA is actually launching. I don't know if it's NASA.

They're getting ready to do the moon rocket to go around. Go around the moon again. They're also launching a satellite to say sorry to the aliens. They're calling it the Apollo G.

Wow, man.

Anytime you want to grab his microphone from him, go right ahead. Joey.

Oh, my arm isn't long enough.

Hey, get Joey's book, St. Louis Sports for Kids. St. Louis Sports for Kids will post all of that on the podcast page. ReadyPress.com is where you can get it in addition to other places.

That's all for this hour. Thanks for listening, folks.

If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlntune.com where you can follow us and leave a review. Thank you to Bob Berthisel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guest, Joey Zanivone and co host, Mark Langston.

We thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.

Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.

Sam.