Baseball and BBQ Episode #159: Go The Distance Authors, Tom Tunison and Gary Kaschak and the Father-Son Team Behind Mantis BBQ, Andy and Spencer Mantis

Baseball and BBQ Episode #159:   Go The Distance Authors, Tom Tunison and Gary Kaschak and the Father-Son Team Behind Mantis BBQ, Andy and Spencer Mantis   Tom Tunison and Gary Kaschak have joined forces to create the extremely moving and motivational book, Go The Distance.  The inspirational story is that of Tom Tunison, Thurman Munson, and a lifelong quest for baseball immortality.  Who is Tom Tunison, and why does his life story warrant a book?  We answer that and a lot more in this wonderful discussion.  Tom's story is not to be missed, and he writes it with assistance from his friend Gary Kaschak who you might recall co-authored the book with Cleon Jones, Coming Home:  My Amazing' Life With The New York Mets.  "Go the distance" is a term that can be used as a great source of motivation and was one of the things which Ray Kinsella secretly heard in the movie, Field of Dreams.  With an homage to that movie, the book even has a foreword written by Dwier Brown, the veteran actor who played John Kinsella in the movie.  Oh and let us not forget we also talk about the great New York Yankees catcher, Thurman Munson. Andy Mantis and Spencer Mantis are the father and son team behind the company Mantis BBQ.  They have combined their love of barbecue and the delicious sauces they have created into a company with a mission.  In 2016 Spencer became ill with a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the kidneys and after 2 and 1/2 years of failed treatments and then debilitating dialysis, it ended with him receiving a kidney from his uncle in 2019.  Receiving the kidney has been great, but there are still hurdles they will need to jump, and they are fully aware that there are far fewer kidneys available than there are people in desperate need of one.  They have decided to sell their sauce and apparel and donate a portion of the proceeds to The Kidney Project which is dedicated to developing the first-ever surgically implantable artificial kidney.  For more information on the Mantis family, their wonderful products, and The Kidney Project go to https://mantisbbq.com/ We recommend you go to Baseball BBQ, https://baseballbbq.com for special grilling tools and accessories, the Pandemic Baseball Book Club, https://www.pbbclub.com  to find many of the wonderful books we have featured as well as some additional swag, Magnechef, https://magnechef.com/ for excellent and unique barbecue gloves, and Cutting Edge Firewood High Quality Kiln Dried Firewood - Cutting Edge Firewood in Atlanta for high quality firewood and cooking wood. We conclude the show with the song, "Baseball Always Brings You Home" by the musician, Dave Dresser, and the poet, Shel Krakofsky. We truly appreciate our listeners and hope that all of you are staying safe. If you would like to contact the show, we would love to hear from you.<br /><br /> <br /><br />  <br /> Call the show:  (516) 855-8214<br /> Email:  baseballandbbq@gmail.com<br />Twitter:  @baseballandbbq<br />Instagram:  baseballandbarbecue<br />YouTube:  baseball and bbq<br />Website:  https//baseballandbbq.weebly.com<br /> Facebook:  baseball and bbq