Tom Rinaldi Presents: Wesley

In the more than 150 year history of Major League Baseball, only one player has ever been murdered during a season.  

That player is Lyman “Wesley” Bostock Jr, a budding star for the Angels in the 70's, who was murdered by a man who whose court case would result in a stunning verdict. 

In an 8-part series, Tom Rinaldi explores Lyman's improbable life, his tragic death, and the miscarriage of justice that let his killer go free.

Lyman Bostock is described by Hall Of Fame players like Rod Carew and George Brett as a future batting champ and potential Hall Of Famer himself. But he was so much more than a ballplayer, as Rinaldi learns from talking to his widow, Youvene, his teammates, friends, media members who covered him and lawyers involved in his murder trial.

Wesley explores the mindset of man who donated a month's salary to charity rather than accept it while in a hitting slump, the motivations of a man who nearly skipped a career in baseball to pursue the fight for social justice in the late 60's, and the motives of the killer who took his life.

Sports
True Crime
Baseball
1
S01 Episode 08: The Marker
We make the drive with Youvene to Inglewood Park Cemetery, to return to Lyman’s grave.
34 min
2
S01 Episode 07: Hello...Leonard?
Leonard Smith, the man who admitted to killing Lyman Bostock in a jealous rage, a man arrested more than half a dozen times, receives the jury’s verdict.
31 min
3
S01 Episode 06: An Open and Shut Case
Family, friends and all in baseball are in shock over Lyman’s murder.
34 min
4
S01 Episode 05: Wrong Place, Wrong Time
By September 1977, Lyman is in the top 10 in the AL in hitting after starting his first season with the Angels in a huge slump.
30 min
5
S01 Episode 04: Right Place, Right Time
Bostock breaks out in Minnesota, becoming one of the best hitters in the league.
27 min
6
S01 Episode 03: Determining My Destiny
Motivated by what he believes are scouts who misjudge him based on his “trouble” in college, Bostock is motivated more than ever to make it.
28 min
7
S01 Episode 02: Bigger Than Baseball
Bostock spent part of his childhood in Gary, Indiana: the murder capital of the United States.
24 min
8
S01 Episode 01: We Call Him Wesley
To his family, he was simply “Wesley.” But to all in Major League Baseball, Lyman Wesley Bostock Jr. was a master with a bat.
29 min
9
Season 1 Preview
In the more than 150 year history of Major League Baseball, only one player has ever been murdered during a season.
3 min