On episode 20 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Slade Heathcott. The Yankees drafted Slade in the first round of the 2009 draft and he made his MLB debut in 2015. He currently works as director of operations for More Than Baseball, a nonprofit, which he co-founded. Matt and Slade talked about a bunch of things, including More Than Baseball, Slade's career, what inspires Slade to do the work he does, Slade's favorite MLB teammate, and more. Follow Slade on Twitter: https://twitter.com/heathcott_slade To learn more about More Than Baseball: https://www.morethanbaseball.org/the-team

On episode 19 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Larry Lester. Larry is an author, historian, and speaker. He was co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and served as its Research Director and Treasurer for five years. Matt asked Larry about his work looking for and discovering box scores from Negro Leagues games, what is stopping MLB from recognizing stats from the Negro Leagues among the official major leagues, his greatest accomplishments, the legendary Sam Lacy, whom from the Negro Leagues should be in the Hall of Fame, and much more! To learn more about Larry Lester, visit his website: https://www.larrylester42.com/ To buy his books, go here: https://www.larrylester42.com/shopping-cart.html Or visit his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Larry-Lester/e/B001KHM44C%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

On episode 18 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Kelsey Caine. Kelsey is a NYC-based comedian and writer, who is working on a book of essays. Matt asked Kelsey about a ton of topics, including: entering a Beauty Pageant (and writing about it for the New York Times), the comedy scene in Austin and New York, how dyslexia affects her comedy and writing, going viral for her Louie parody video, her Penis CK character, her favorite comedians, and much more! Content warning: There is discussion of sexual assault in this episode. See time codes below for specifics. 2:30 - Kelsey on the Pretty Big News intro song 5:00- Kelsey on entering a Beauty Pageant and being a Miss New York State finalist 14:00 - Kelsey on life in Austin and the comedy scene there 24:00 - Kelsey on moving to New York City 27:00 - Kelsey on how dyslexia affects her comedy and writing 32:00 - Kelsey on her book of essays and sexual assault in comedy 46:23 - Kelsey on her viral Louie CK video and creating her Penis CK character 1:05:00 - Kelsey on people reaching out to her about sexual assault 1:09:21 - Kelsey on her favorite comics 1:16:22 - Kelsey is on Rizzle (see below!) Follow Kelsey on Rizzle: https://rizzle.tv/u/kelseycaine And Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelsey_caine And IG: https://www.instagram.com/kelseylcaine/

On episode 17 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Mike Rosenbaum. Mike is a writer for MLB.com and MLB Pipeline and Matt and Mike previously worked together at MLB Pipeline. Matt asked Mike about him and his wife, Julia, having their first child during a pandemic and the challenges there, his journey from playing baseball at Grinnell College to writing about professionally, some of baseball's top prospects and his thoughts on them, what this year has been like for a prospects writer without Minor League Baseball, his baseball card collection, and much more! Follow Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoldenSombrero And check out Mike's work here: https://www.mlb.com/pipeline

On episode 16 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Efdot. Efdot is an artist, muralist, and illustrator, and also hosts a podcast called Extra Paint. Matt and Efdot spoke on Monday night (Nov. 2nd) and talked about how they were feeling with election results looming, Efdot's optimism and where it comes from, his Griffey Jr. card, how his Patreon has changed over the past few months, his Project 2020 "Blob" companion cards, his favorite Project 2020 Easter Egg, and much more! Follow Efdot on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EfdotStudio Check out his website: https://www.efdotstudio.com/ Check out his Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/efdot/posts And check out Extra Paint: https://extrapaint.simplecast.com/

On episode 15 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Sydney Battle. Sydney is an actor, writer, and comedian. Matt asked Sydney about writing for the 2020 Emmy Awards (while moving across the country), going viral on Twitter and what comes with it, if she prefers standup or improv, some of her favorite comedians today, her favorite movies of all-time, what advice she would give to her younger self, and more! Follow Sydney on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydneyBattle And on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sydbattle/

On the second Bonus episode of Pretty Big News, Matt and Blake talk about a bunch of different things, including the Topps event at the MLB store in NY, meeting Gregory Siff in person, and much more. To listen to the full episode, join PBN's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PrettyBigNews

On episode 14 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Sean Gibson. Sean is the executive director of The Josh Gibson Foundation. Matt asked Sean spoke about a host of subjects, including if he was surprised that Kenesaw Landis' name was removed from the MVP trophy and why Sean feels that baseball's MVP award should be named after his great-grandfather, the work that The Josh Gibson Foundation does, his grandfather and great-grandfather, what baseball can do to make the sport a more equitable one, and much more! Follow Sean on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshGibson_1911 And check out the Josh Gibson Foundation website: https://www.joshgibson.org/ Here's Sean's piece about why the MVP should be named after Josh Gibson: https://theundefeated.com/features/why-the-mvp-award-should-be-renamed-after-negro-leagues-great-josh-gibson/

On episode 13 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello interviews Jason Belmonte, the world's top-ranked bowler. Matt and Jason spoke about a bunch of topics, including how professional bowling differs from throwing at your neighborhood bowling alley, the mental side of the game, Jason getting fired by his dad, the most memorable shot of his career, his goals in the sport, the greatest risk he's taken, and more! Follow Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBelmo To learn more about Jason, check out his website: https://www.jasonbelmonte.com/

On episode 12 of Pretty Big News, Matt Castello talks to Bleacher Report's Mirin Fader. Mirin, an exceptionally talented journalist, has written some incredible (and award-winning) sports feature stories and is currently working on her first book. Matt asks Mirin about her favorite lede, what is was like to travel to Lithuania alone to profile LaMelo Ball, the best advice she's received from Jeff Pearlman, finding joy in her work, the most difficult story she has reported, what it's like to profile someone at the same time as another writer, and much more! Follow Mirin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MirinFader And check out Mirin's website: https://mirinfader.com/