Drive@ 5 8-12-2026

Hey there, it's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a new show. It's called Money Moves, and your money is going to move. We're going to help you make better financial decisions. We're going to call out the BS. You're finding all over social media. We're going to give you actionable guidance to make your financial life clearer, less stressful. We're going to answer your financial questions and take the mystery out of your financial life. Follow and listen to Money Moves with Jill Schlesinger, wherever you get your podcast. Come service master. The Drive at 5. The stories driving today's headlines. Brought to you by Service Master of Greater Pittsburgh. When disaster strikes, demand the yellow van. On 100.1 FM and AM 1020, KDKA. All right, so I'm sitting at home early this morning, and I got a text, and it's say you got to read this story in the Post Gazette. And I thought, oh, okay, let's see if it delivers. I read the story in my did it deliver. It's a story of... A letter from 1947, Ralph Kiner, uncovering and unearthing that letter now, and revisiting it, and so, so much more. Let me welcome in Eileen Colliani right now. She is the person who is in possession of this letter, and it has intertwined her life in various ways. Hi, Eileen, how are you? Hi, thanks for inviting me. Certainly. Why don't you give me, as you wrote in first person in the Post Gazette, as brief a thumbnail, I guess, as possible about this story and this letter from 1947? You literally want me to kind of summarize it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In shorthand, not the letter itself, but the story, if you could. Okay, well, let's see. Let's go back to when I was five years old, my father and I listened to pirate baseball all the time. And that memory, I was very aware of the name Ralph Kiner. And so at a recent family gathering, my dear sister Kathy brings out a box and tells us, hey, these are things Daddy kept. We've just discovered them. And she mentioned a couple things in a letter from Ralph Kiner. And I exclaimed, Ralph Kiner, I know that name. Let me see that letter, Kathy. I don't think I can repeat the whole letter, Colin, but the letter was atypical in that it was a very encouraging and praising of Ralph's power with the back. And this is a letter that your father had written to Ralph Kiner in 1947, right? Right. It was typed, and apparently he left the first draft in this box.

And, of course, as a little girl, I had no idea what he was doing. But we were all amazed that Daddy wrote this letter. And in addition to praising and encouraging Ralph to be the next Bay Bruce, he expressed real caring because Ralph was booed unfairly by pirate fans. And my dad actually wrote, Ralph, I was embarrassed to be a Pittsburgher that day. Oh, man. So two weeks later, Daddy gets a postcard handwritten from Ralph, basically saying, in effect, hey, Ed, I remember those booze too. So he felt my dad's caring and empathy for him. So what else can I tell you? This is fantastic. No, no, no. So you have this letter. It's in a shoebox or hit away for quite some time. And you guys kind of unearthed it and brought it out at a family gathering recently. And it's survived all the way since 1947. Right. It's very tattered. It's not, it's once white, but it's grayish. And it's intact. And it was exciting to see because we had no idea that daddy wrote fan letters. And the fact that it was typed is interesting because we didn't have a typewriter. So we figured he was a clerk at U.S. Steel then and he was known for typing skills. So he must have typed that on the job. Well, as you're sitting there with your siblings or the people you went over this letter with just a month or so ago, take me through the inner workings of your mind. Do you envision your father then in 1947 and get immediately taken back to that moment in your mind? Wow, that's a tough question because in truth, remember, I was five years old. So I do not, I cannot envision that. It's Sophia with an F, Franklin with the Y, and if you're looking for some bubble gum dumb dumb podcast, then you are in the wrong place, baby. Whether I'm reminiscing on the trials and tribulations of working in the corporate world to recapping today's latest reality TV show, you're going to want to pull up a chair and stick around. It's a good time and always 100% unfiltered. Follow and listen to Sophia with an F wherever you get your podcast. But the letter becomes poignant. Do you want me to get into the part about my dad giving up his dream of being a baseball player? 100% so, because I think this is the part that's the hammer to a lot of people and the part where I read this morning and went, he really bared his soul. Yes, yes. Well, I'm glad you're open to that because...

That is so meaningful. So for your listeners, just let me summarize that my dad had polio when he was 10. He was diagnosed with polio. At the same time, he had an ardent desire to be a professional baseball player. He loved the sport already at 10. And then he could not walk for two years. And what I wish I could do right now is to talk to him about, gee, dad, what was that like? But when we were growing up, as the letter tells you, I mean, my article tells you, we were not supposed to mention polio. And so my dad gave up his dream, but did not give up his love of baseball. which we appreciate that he didn't get bitter about baseball, and he supported Ralph and really identified with him. But back to my dad, his dream of being a baseball player was replaced by the urgent dream to walk again. And thank the Lord, his parents found an unorthodox chiropractor who figured out that if he gave Eddie, electric shocks to the legs that he would be able to walk again. And indeed, that happened. Wow. And I think you're right, Colin, that the feedback I'm getting... from people like you. And another man who wrote said, well, I cried. I cried during that article. Well, Eileen, you know why it touched me? Because he could have hated Ralph Kiner and people would have understood it because those men out there on the baseball field were given from whatever higher power, an ability to keep doing something he wanted to do. And I think it says a lot about your father's, your late father's character. that he kept this love of baseball, even though it was taken away from him? I thank you for putting words to that. I agree with you 100%. And to me, that was the gift of finding the letter to realize, oh, my God, instead of daddy getting bitter and hating the sport. He transferred his passion to encouraging Ralph and pirates after him as well. So you are right. You hit it. You hit a call. And to me, I think that's why people are reacting. I've never had feedback before 6 a.m. and my 40 years of writing, as I did today. And I've never had a writer tell me he cried. So it's been incredibly meaningful. And I am so grateful to the Post-Cadette and Kevin Kirkland for embracing the story.

And I'm grateful to you for wanting to hear more. Certainly. It's a fantastic story. I appreciate the time today. I've tried to compel people to go read it in anticipation of this interview. I'm sure people heard you now, and they'll run off to read it if they haven't already. Eileen, you're a wonderful woman with a fantastic tale here in what makes it even better, is it's true, and it's one of being able to push people maybe through some strife. And I really... Honestly, I really, I thank you for the time today. This is a fantastic piece, and I hope people go check it out. Thank you so very much for being, caring open and honest about this. Thank you, and your comments were really incisive, and I affirm every one of them. Absolutely. Thanks for inviting me. Bye-bye. We'll talk again soon. What a... What a pleasant woman with an incredible tale to tell about her late father. Go read it if you haven't already on the Post Gazette's website. Her dad writes a letter to Ralph Kiner. Ralph Kiner sends a note back and here we are. That was 1947 and they just found this letter and it really touched their whole family. That's the kind of, we got to have more stuff like that in the world. Man, good stuff. Thanks Dileen for jumping on too. Wow. PJ Fitzpatrick Home Improvement Traffic Center. KDK AAA Traffic. The recap show is an inside look into the world of global soccer and women's sports. Follow and listen to the recap show wherever you get your podcasts.