‘It’s Just Magical’: The Surprising Power Of Baseball Memories

Summary

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Podcast Summary: “It’s Just Magical”: The Surprising Power Of Baseball Memories

Podcast: The Lead (Wondery)
Hosts: Tiffany Oshinsky & Anders Kelto
Date: December 13, 2023

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Overview

This episode of The Lead explores the unexpected and powerful impact of baseball memories on older adults—particularly those struggling with dementia and memory loss. Through firsthand stories, psychological context, and the history of reminiscence therapy, hosts Tiffany Oshinsky and Anders Kelto shine a light on an innovative program that uses America’s pastime as a bridge to the past, fostering joy, sociability, and well-being among participants.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Baseball Reminiscence Therapy

• Origins and First Encounter

  • Tiffany recounts her initial exposure to a baseball reminiscence program at River House Adult Day Center in Connecticut, where older adults connected and shared memories through baseball-themed activities.
  • [02:11] Tiffany Oshinsky: “…participating in something called baseball reminiscence therapy. How many people have been to Citi Field? How many people have been to Yankee Stadium?”

• What Is Reminiscence Therapy?

  • Using sensory cues (music, photos, stories) to evoke powerful early memories, which can improve mood and engagement in dementia patients.
  • Baseball reminiscence is especially appealing to men, who are often less drawn to typical eldercare activities.
  • [04:48] Tiffany Oshinsky: “The basic idea is that early memories are burned more deeply into our brains, and having people tap into those memories might be beneficial for them.”

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2. From Scotland to the U.S.: The Program’s Roots

• Scottish Beginnings

  • The concept started in Scotland in 2009, initially using soccer (football) to spark memory engagement; later spread to other sports.
  • Local historian Michael White recounts inspiring stories of men opening up through football memories.
  • [06:44] Anders Kelto quoting Michael White: “He opened up, he blossomed, and he had the most fantastic career in football…”

• Adoption in America with Baseball

  • St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum launched the first U.S. baseball version in 2013, inspired by Scotland’s model.
  • Dr. Michael Ego, a dementia researcher and baseball fan, became a key force in expanding these programs across the U.S., including at River House in Connecticut.
  • [08:42] Dr. Michael Ego (audio clip): “Here was another way that perhaps baseball could add to the quality of life of individuals that were suffering from this disease.”

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3. A Personal Story: Bob and Barton Kennedy

• Bob’s Deep Connection to Baseball

  • Bob Kennedy, raised in a sports family (his father J. Walter Kennedy was NBA commissioner), was a lifelong player, fan, and youth coach.
  • [09:25] Tiffany Oshinsky: "He played multiple sports growing up... coached his own kids..."

• Contrasts in Marriage

  • Barton's humorous struggle to adapt to Bob’s sports obsession, including spending part of her honeymoon at a baseball game.
  • [11:23] Barton Kennedy: “Every wife’s worst dreaded nightmare is that she has to come home from her honeymoon and go to a basement at a local park...”

• Bob’s Illness & Decline

  • Early signs of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s led to challenges in day-to-day life and eventual diagnosis in 2017.
  • The turning point: Barton realized Bob could no longer live alone after a near-flood incident at home.
  • [13:24] Barton Kennedy: “He didn’t have the dexterity to turn the water off in the bathtub. And that’s when I knew we had to do something.”

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4. The Program’s Impact

• Bob’s Enthusiasm and Engagement

  • Bob was thrilled to join a baseball-focused program at River House, especially since he was “not going to go … and make flower arrangements and do puzzles.”
  • He relished telling stories from his youth, including moments with his father and famous sports figures like Howard Cosell.
  • [15:36] Barton Kennedy: “Indelible in his mind, indelible, was his Babe Ruth League and Little League stories... Those stories...he remembered those.”

• Positive Changes Noted

  • Barton's observations of how Bob became more sociable and talkative after joining the program.
  • [16:08] Barton Kennedy: “Once he got to Riverhouse, he really became much more conversant... the baseball reminiscence definitely contributed to his contentment.”

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5. Wider Program Status & Research

• Current State at River House

  • Post-pandemic, the program continues and remains popular, now also supporting more advanced-stage patients with both memory and motor skill activities.
  • [17:29] Tiffany Oshinsky: “…it’s still going strong today...it’s one of their most popular programs.”

• Bob’s Later Years

  • Due to Parkinson’s, Bob transitioned to a nursing home, where he passed away in November 2020 at age 77.

• Evidence & Research

  • Studies show reminiscence therapy can improve mood and quality of life, though more large-scale research is needed.
  • [20:03] Donna Spellman (former exec director of River House): “There’s not a person that doesn’t go to the program who doesn’t come to life because something sparks a memory or a story. It’s just magical to see how people just kind of wake up.”

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6. Growth and Future of Reminiscence Programs

• Expansion and Challenges

  • Programs have proliferated in Scotland (250 by 2020), but growth in the U.S. has slowed, especially after Dr. Ego’s passing in 2019.
  • Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) continues to support and expand baseball reminiscence programs, currently with about a dozen in the U.S.
  • Sabre collaborates with volunteers and hopes for more MLB involvement.

• Call for Volunteers

  • Sustained by volunteers who love baseball and can help run regular sessions for seniors.
  • [22:11] Tiffany Oshinsky: "…volunteers are often what determines how well a program works…”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There’s not a person that doesn’t go to the program who doesn’t come to life because something sparks a memory or a story. It’s just magical.”
  — Donna Spellman, [20:03]
• “He didn't dance with me his entire life. He's not going to dance with a bunch of old people.”
  — Barton Kennedy, [15:08]
• “Indelible in his mind, indelible, was his Babe Ruth League and Little League stories... I don’t care what stage Alzheimer’s he had, he remembered those.”
  — Barton Kennedy, [15:36]
• “They talked about different memories they had and players they remembered. And at one point they even recreated the seventh inning stretch.”
  — Tiffany Oshinsky, [03:02]
• “Baseball has…been an influence on American society in different ways. And so here was another way that perhaps baseball could add to the quality of life of individuals…”
  — Dr. Michael Ego, [08:42]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:11] – Discovery of Baseball Reminiscence Therapy at River House
• [04:04] – Background on reminiscence therapy as a dementia intervention
• [06:09] – Origin story: Scottish football memories project
• [08:42] – Dr. Ego explains the promise of baseball for reminiscence therapy
• [09:25] – Introduction to Bob and Barton Kennedy
• [12:51] – Bob’s diagnosis and its impact on the family
• [13:24] – Pivotal moment leading to River House enrollment
• [15:36] – Bob’s stories and lasting memories through the program
• [16:08] – Noticeable improvements in Bob
• [17:29] – Status update on baseball reminiscence programming post-pandemic
• [20:03] – Donna Spellman on the ‘magical’ effects of the program
• [20:42] – National and international status of reminiscence programs; SABR’s ongoing efforts
• [22:27] – Closing moments—baseball brings joy, connection, and emotional engagement

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Conclusion

The story of baseball reminiscence therapy is both heartwarming and hopeful. Programs that leverage sports memories can revive joy, facilitate social connection, and honor the identities of older adults, especially those navigating memory loss. Despite research gaps and logistical challenges, grassroots and volunteer-driven efforts—like those at River House and through SABR—show that even a simple memory of the "seventh-inning stretch" or a touch of a baseball can light up the lives of many.

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Transcript

[Anders Kelto]

I'm Jason Concepcion and welcome to Six

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Trophies, a podcast hosted by myself and four time New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano. Each week Shay and I are finding the best of the NBA storylines and then handing out six pop culture themed trophies for six basketball related activities. Listen to six Trophies with Jason Concepcion

[Anders Kelto]

and Chase Serrano on the Wondery app

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Barton Kennedy]

Nice little pitches. William swings. There's a high drive. Going deep. Deep. It is a home run.

[Anders Kelto]

Every sport has a special place in the hearts of its fans. But in America, you could argue that no sport has captured the collective imagination or created as many long lasting memories as baseball as the fly ball head

[Barton Kennedy]

out to left field. Woodring getting under it and the Yankees are champions. And look at Barrow piggyback riding Bob

[Anders Kelto]

Kazala the Yankees for the fourth consecutive time. Well, it turns out all those moments and all those memories might have a power that extends far beyond the baseball diamond today. How a program has been helping aging people through the power of baseball nostalgia.

[Barton Kennedy]

There's not a person that doesn't go to the program and who doesn't come to light because something sparks a memory or a story. It's just magical.

[Anders Kelto]

From Wondery, I'm Anders kelto. It's Wednesday, December 13th, and this is the lead, Tiff Oshinski. Welcome to the other side of the interview table.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Oh, thanks. Honors. It's different but very exciting.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, well, Tiff, you are on the other side of the interview table today because we are diving into a story about the power of baseball and specifically the power of baseball memories. You know, you had mentioned to me a while back that this is a story that you've been wanting to do for some time. So how exactly did this topic come onto your radar?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So a few years ago, while I was working at Sports Illustrated, I visited a place called River House Adult Day center in Costco, Connecticut. It's this place where older people can spend time during the day and they offer various programs and activities. So when I was there, they had a group of about 16 older people participating in something called baseball reminiscence therapy. How many people have been to Citi Field? How many people have been to Yankee Stadium?

[Barton Kennedy]

Nah, a lot of Yankee Stadium.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And they were doing all sorts of baseball related activities, asking who had been to different stadiums playing baseball. Trivia.

[Barton Kennedy]

Who played at Fenway Park, Benway Park?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Somebody said it.

[Barton Kennedy]

Yep, you got it. You got it. Red sauce.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

They talked about different memories they had and players they remembered. And at one point they even recreated the seventh inning stretch.

[Barton Kennedy]

You ready? Take me out to the ball game Take me out to the crown.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Everyone stood up singing Take me out to the ball game. It was very touching, very cute. I loved it. But then, you know, my job changed and I never had the chance to finish the story. So, you know, I wanted to know more about this program, the idea behind it, and how it had impacted some of the folks that I saw that day.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, so in other words, we are picking up where you left off. We're picking up the slack for Sports Illustrated and finishing the story.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

We are finishing the story, finally.

[Anders Kelto]

All right, well, I know you have been digging into this story over the last few weeks. Tiff, I. Why don't we start with the program itself? You described some of what is involved in the program, but what exactly is baseball reminiscence therapy?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So it's sort of the sports version of this idea that has been around since at least the 1970s. The idea that remembering the past might be a healthy form of therapy for older people, especially those with dementia and memory loss. There have been all kinds of non sports related programs like this over the years. Care facilities are increasingly using sight, sound, and other sensory cues to stimulate memories in people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Some of those programs involve having people share memories from their childhood. Sometimes they involve music from the past

[Anders Kelto]

in a room straight out of the 1940s. Desi assis and Harry Lomping get lost in the sounds of another era.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

But the basic idea is that early memories are burned more deeply into our brains, and having people tap into to those memories might be beneficial for them. You know, it could cause them to brighten up, to talk more and feel happier, and it might even combat depression. Yeah, and the other thing I should mention here is that roughly 2/3 of all people with dementia and memory loss in the world are women. No one really knows exactly why that is, but as a result, a lot of the programs and activities at elder care facilities are more geared towards women, like arts and crafts, cooking, things like that. And so part of the appeal of baseball reminiscence therapy is that it tends to attract more men compared to other common activities for older folks.

[Anders Kelto]

Huh, that's super interesting. So how exactly then did baseball enter into this reminiscence therapy space?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Yeah, so it actually began in Scotland back in 2009. Yes, Scotland. Baseball. That's what you think of, right? No, actually it began not with baseball, but with soccer.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay,

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

so there's this Scottish guy named Michael White who just to be Clear is not a healthcare worker or a memory researcher or anything like that. He was the historian at a soccer club in Scotland called Falkirk FC.

[Anders Kelto]

Nice.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And back in 2009, he developed this program where older men with memory issues would come into a soccer museum, and they'd sift through old photos and share soccer memories. And Michael White has talked about how there was this one guy who just did not want to participate in this program he had developed, and he was

[Anders Kelto]

very reluctant to take part. And he did everything he could to avoid taking part, such as hiding behind his newspaper and pretending he was asleep.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

But according to White, once he and his colleagues finally convinced this guy to join the group, it was like a light switched on.

[Anders Kelto]

He opened up, he blossomed, and he had the most fantastic career in football, including playing for Scotland against England, Wembley. So, from these very hesitant beginnings, we opened up this whole man's life story in the most incredible detail.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And so after that, Michael White ended up turning this idea into a more formal program called Football Memories. And he was eventually hired by an organization called Alzheimer's Scotland, and he oversaw the growth of these programs, and they became really popular. Eventually, they actually expanded to other sports. So there are now Golf Memories and Rugby Memories programs in Scotland. But other. They're all based on the same basic idea, that reminiscing about sports can be a healthy activity for people with dementia and other forms of memory loss.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, so did people here in the US See what was happening in Scotland and get inspired to sort of do the American version of that program, swapping in baseball for soccer and rugby?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Yeah, you know, more or less. So the first baseball reminiscence program was actually set up in 2013 by the St. Louis Cardinals, who had learned about what was happening in Scotland and wanted to do something similar. So the Cardinals hall of Fame Museum worked with two local organizations, the Alzheimer's association of St. Louis and the VA Hospital, and they would invite people with dementia to come do tours of the museum and stadium. They would sometimes let visitors hold memorabilia, and then they would reminisce about baseball moments in Cardinals history. And then not long after that, a guy who would become a major champion of baseball reminiscence therapy heard about what the Cardinals were doing, and he got really excited about it. His name is Dr. Michael Ego. He was a longtime dementia researcher at the University of Connecticut who happened to love baseball, and he was very intrigued by the idea that baseball could have a positive effect on the aging population in America. He talked about that idea in a public radio interview. A Few years ago.

[Anders Kelto]

Baseball has, over the years since it started, been an influence on American society in different ways. And so here was another way that perhaps baseball could add to the quality of life of individuals that were suffering from this disease.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Ego actually went to Scotland to meet with Michael White, the creator of Football Memories, and he eventually set up more baseball versions of the program here in the US including one at River House in Connecticut, which was the place that I visited a few years ago.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, well, let's talk a little more about River House, this place you visited, and some of the people there. I believe you focused on one guy in particular there and the impact that this baseball reminiscence therapy had on him. First, just tell us a little about him and his background.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Yeah, so his name is Bob Kennedy, and he caught my attention when he mentioned that his parents had once met Jackie Robinson and that he had met Jackie Robinson's daughter.

[Barton Kennedy]

She came over and said, thank you.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

I said, wait a minute, you're thanking me?

[Anders Kelto]

I said, I'm supposed to thank you and your husband.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So Bob grew up in a big sports family. His father was actually J. Walter Kennedy, former NBA commissioner from 1963 to 1990, 1975. And also, like a fun fact about his dad, his dad was also very good friends with Howard Cosell, the legendary sports broadcaster. And he even had table number one at Toots Shore in the city, that legendary hangout for New York's elite. But back to Bob. He played multiple sports growing up. He went on to become a sports reporter. He was a writer and editor at the Stanford Advocate for 43 years. He was also a longtime Little league coach, and he coached his own kids for many years. So basically, he lived and breathed sports, especially baseball, for most of his life.

[Anders Kelto]

Well, other than the baseball part of that, he's very much a man after my own heart. So if I'm not mistaken, Tiff, you also spoke with Bob's wife. Was she just as much of a sports junkie as Bob was?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Oh, my gosh, not at all. Her name is Barton Kennedy, and she told me that she actually knew Bob growing up. They had a lot of friends in common, but she basically didn't not care about sports one bit.

[Barton Kennedy]

Growing up, I had no interest, didn't play a sport, didn't even know, maybe might have heard Jackie Robinson's name, but never heard of any athlete. And so we did not have parallel lives.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And she told me this funny story about how she learned very early on in their marriage that she was probably going to have to spend a Lot of time at the ballpark if she wanted to see much of her husband.

[Barton Kennedy]

We went to Miami for our honeymoon, and on the way back from our honeymoon, he said we're just going to stop at Scalzi park because he just wanted to sit there and watch the game for a while. And every wife's worst dreaded nightmare is that she has to come home from her honeymoon and go to a basement at a local park. But that's what we did.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And she told me that over the years, they ended up spending many of their summer nights at baseball games.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay. I think that's mostly a sweet story.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

It is.

[Anders Kelto]

So tell us a little bit about Bob as he got older, Tiff, and how he ended up at river house.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So around 2012, 2013, Barton started to notice little things. When they went to visit their daughter, who had moved to Atlanta. In the airport, Bob was having difficulty handling his boarding pass and wallet. She got a phone call from their condo management saying they hadn't paid their HOA dues in a month or two. I mean, Bob handled all the finances and always paid on time. So this was very odd to her, you know, Bob also spoke publicly at a lot of events, particularly sports dinners, and at one where his best friend was being honored. He was the main speaker. And despite spending a lot of time writing and practicing his speech, he fumbled the papers and forgot what he was saying in front of about a thousand people. So to Barton, it was pretty clear that they needed to seek some medical help.

[Barton Kennedy]

Everything added up in that he needed to go to a neurologist. And December 9, 2017, the doctor from the CAT scan said, yes, he does have Alzheimer's, but he also had Parkinson's.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And after that double diagnosis, Bob continued to decline. In the years that followed, he more or less lost the ability to read. And then something happened that convinced Barton, who works as a kindergarten teacher's aide, that Bob could no longer be alone by himself.

[Barton Kennedy]

During the day, I was in school, and he called me, and I said, what's the matter? And he said, I was going to take a shower. And I turned the shower on, but I couldn't turn it off. And now the water's getting really high on our second floor of our condo. And I'm like, oh, my God, I live five minutes from school. So I said to the teacher that I work with, I have to leave. I have to go home. Thank heavens there were no traffic lights. I came within this close of the bathtub overflowing all over our house because he didn't have the dexterity to turn the water off in the bathtub. And that's when I knew that, you know, we had to do something.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

After that incident, Barton called their friend who was head of an Alzheimer's support group in Stanford. Her name is actually angel, which Barton said, quote, she was. And angel led her to River House. So pretty soon, Bob began attending river house from 7am to 4pm, six days a week.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay. And what was Bob's experience with this baseball reminiscence program like there at River House?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Well, first of all, Bob was actually very excited when he heard this program was coming to River House because he had heard about Dr. Eggo and baseball reminiscence therapy before he started going to River House. So learning that Dr. Eggo himself would be coming to their facility to conduct this program was very exciting to him. And obviously baseball was something near and dear to his heart. And as we talked about earlier, it was also much more attractive than a lot of the programs that Alzheimer's patients typically do.

[Barton Kennedy]

He was not going to go to River House and make flower arrangements and do puzzles and do stuff like that and dance. He didn't dance with me his entire life. He's not going to dance with a bunch of old people.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So in terms of the program itself, he really got into it. Barton told me that Bob really enjoyed telling stories about baseball from his earlier days.

[Barton Kennedy]

Indelible in his mind, indelible was his Babe Ruth League and Little League stories. And he'd say, oh, my gosh, do you remember the time Howard Cosell came to my parents party and he jumped in the pool and his toupee fell off? Those stories. I don't care what stage Alzheimer's he had, he remembered those.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

And Barton said that Riverhouse overall and the baseball program in particular, really had a noticeable impact on him.

[Barton Kennedy]

Once he got to Riverhouse, he really became much more conversant. And he loved the socialness of it. He was a very social person and it was an amazing place. And the baseball reminiscence definitely contributed to his contentment.

[Anders Kelto]

What does it take to go racing in the fastest cars in the world? Oscar Piastri. Your head's trying to get ripped one way, your body's trying to go another. Let's stroll. It's very extreme in the sense of how close you're racing. Wheel to wheel. We've been given unprecedented access to two of the most famous names in Formula One, McLaren and Aston Martin. I'm London artists.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

They build a beautiful bit of machinery that I get to then go and have fun in.

[Anders Kelto]

They open the doors to their factories as the 2024 season reached its peak. I'm Josh Hartnett. This is F1 back at base. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so, Tiff, you just finished telling us about the very positive impact that this baseball reminiscence therapy program had on Bob Kennedy. Is the program still happening at River House?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Yeah, it is. You know, they had to shut it down for a little bit during the pandemic, but it came back a year or so later, and it's still going strong today. I mean, nowadays it's more focus on motor skills and physical activities because the patients are in more advanced stages of dementia and Alzheimer's. But now they play baseball sometimes in the facility. They try to hit home runs, and to this day, it's one of their most popular programs.

[Anders Kelto]

Hitting dingers in the activities room. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Love it. Okay, and what about Bob himself? I know it's been a few years now since you first met him. Is he still attending River House?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So he stayed with the program for several years, but unfortunately, his Parkinson's caused him to fall down the stairs at home one day, and he had to go to a specialized care facility.

[Barton Kennedy]

Once they realized that he couldn't walk, they admitted him as a nursing home patient. So he went to that nursing home on January 25 after a short stay in the hospital and never came home.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Sadly, he passed away in November 2020 at the age of 77.

[Anders Kelto]

Well, I'm sorry to hear that. What is Barton up to these days?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Well, Barton is still teaching kindergarten and volunteers at her local library. She has children and grandchildren, so, you know, she still has lots of family to love, but when it comes to sports, she's not involved. You know, she'll occasionally get parents of her students telling her that Bob was their coach when they were younger and how he helped make them who they are today. But Barton is not involved in sports anymore.

[Anders Kelto]

You know, kind of hard to blame her given that whole honeymoon experience. Okay, going back to the baseball reminiscent therapy program here, you know, we talked about the positive impact that the program had on Bob Kennedy. Was his experience pretty typical? Have there been studies done on the effectiveness of this kind of program?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So there hasn't been a ton of research done on reminiscence therapy, and many studies have had small sample sizes. But studies have shown that reminiscence programs can help fight depression and improve quality of life, at least, you know, in the short term for older adults. And in terms of baseball reminiscence Therapy, specifically, there have been similar results. So studies have shown that people in these programs report feeling more energetic and hopeful. And the former executive director of River House, Donna Spellman, talked about some of those benefits in an interview a few years ago.

[Barton Kennedy]

There's not a person that doesn't go to the program who doesn't come to life because something sparks a memory or a story. It's just magical to see how people just kind of wake up.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

So, yeah, you know, the data is a bit hard to come by, but there are lots of stories like this from people who have participated in the program or their loved ones. Stories about this program really improving people's lives, huh?

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, and lastly here, Tiff, where do things stand right now with baseball reminiscence therapy? Have these kinds of programs been growing? Have they been disappearing? You know, what kind of trends are we seeing?

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Well, in Scotland, they're thriving. So in 2018, there were around 150 sports reminiscence programs.

[Anders Kelto]

Wow.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

By 2020, that number had grown to 250. And many of those are still around and going strong. Unfortun, here in the US there's a bit less momentum. Dr. Michael Ego, the professor and researcher who we talked about earlier, he was this driving force in this field and he was using River House and his own research to try and get funding to create more programs like this and expand to other sports. But unfortunately, he passed away in 2019, so that has slowed down some of the growth and put an end to his research at UConn. Actually, fortunately, the Society for American Baseball Research, otherwise known as Sabre, they have been working in this space as well, and they currently have about a dozen programs going. There's four in Texas, three in Westchester, New York, and one each in Cleveland, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los angeles. And actually, Dr. Eggo's sister Kimi has picked up where her brother left off. She's currently working with Sabre's LA based program and she's been advocating for Major League Baseball, including the Dodgers, to participate in the program. They're also trying to just find volunteers who love baseball and who are willing to dedicate some time to help run these programs. Because as you can imagine, you know, volunteers are often what determines how well a program works.

[Anders Kelto]

Sure.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

But yeah, as of now, there are about a dozen programs around the country where older people are getting together and giving themselves an emotional and mental boost through the magic of baseball memories.

[Barton Kennedy]

Hey, you win. It's a shame. Roller is 1, 2, 3. Jack, you're out of the O game.

[Anders Kelto]

Well, Tiff, thanks for bringing us such a lovely story just in time for the holiday season.

[Tiffany Oshinsky]

Thanks for letting me finally finish it and share it.

[Anders Kelto]

Okay, before we jump to the credits, I should mention that if you are listening to today's episode in the New York area, you're going to hear a New York sports news segment right after we sign off here on the Lead. This is an AI experiment that some folks here at Wondery have been working on. Give it a listen and send in your feedback. Okay, that's it for us today here at the Lead. Thanks for listening. This episode was reported by Tiffany Oshinsky and produced by me, Anders Kelto. Audio assembly and editing by Daniel Gonzalez, Sound design and mixing by Joe Richardson fact checking by Ian Hurley. The Lead is executive produced by Dave Easton, Marshall Louie and Aaron o' Flaherty for Wondery. Thanks again for listening everyone and we'll talk to you on Friday.