Baseball Cards & Heroin for Kids

Back for consecutive solo episode 6 from New Orleans. I share some of what I learned from a mind-blowing book I just finished—Blitzed by Norman Ohler. It’s a fascinating look at how the rise of modern societies is as intertwined with the drug trade as much as technological advances.

I had no idea until now—but some people believe humanity’s origins were fueled by drugs. It’s wild!

I also talk about baseball, basketball & football cards, sharing a story from my card-collecting days. Turns out, winning a homerun derby at 10 years old scored me some valuable cards—including the Carl Yastrzemskii with sideburns.

Here are other topics covered in this episode:

• Friedrich Sertürner’s breakthrough in extracting morphine from opium poppies
• Challenges in early pain medication development
• Emanuel Merck’s pioneering work with opium extracts
• Rise of morphine as a pain relief medication in early 19th Century
• The Merck pharmaceutical company and its history, founded in 1668
• Use of opioid injections for pain relief during the American Civil War & Franco-Prussian War
• Vin Mariani, a coca wine patent medicine, as a health tonic
• Felix Hoffmann’s synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) for Bayer
• Valerian root as a natural sleep aid supplement
• Historical use of heroin as children’s cough syrup
• Hiring a sleep coach in New Orleans
• Reminiscing on childhood boredom
• Homerun derby gambling for valuable baseball cards
• Differences between people from different Asian countries
• Attending a concert in Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Gifting unopened 1993-94 baseball and basketball card packs
• 1986-1987 Fleer basketball card collections
• My daughter’s commentary during New Orleans Saints football game

Books mentioned:

• Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler