Hi, this is Josh Levine, the host of One Year. Our last episode ran almost two years ago,

which is wild to think about. I really loved making that series, and I've been scheming on

how to do something like it again. Now, at last, I've got something I'm really excited to share.

It's the pilot episode of a new series called

Replay Booth about the intersection of history and sports. Deeply reported shows like this one

depend on support from their audience. Don't worry, I'm not asking for money. If you like this

episode, all you need to do is subscribe to the one-year podcast feed,

if you aren't subscribed already.

And please tell the world about replay booth.

I mean everyone in the entire world.

Now, here's the show.

Earlier this year, on a cold Sunday in January, I walked into an antique store in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. When I go to a shop like this one, I'm not looking for chairs or lamps.

My interests are a little more specialized.

I've got a collectible whiskey decanter shaped like the Louisiana Superdome.

Also, a 1976 tabloid spread about Watergate witnesses who died under strange circumstances.

Now, I was on the lookout for other important historical collectibles.

In this place, West Howard Antiques in Kensington, Maryland, had a ton of them.

Sports yearbooks and posters, and all kinds of buttons, mostly political ones, with slogans like Youth for Kennedy and Jimmy Carter 76.

And then, sitting on a plastic stand, I saw a small button, one and a quarter inches in diameter,

with green text on a white background. It said,

Extremism and defense of the Mets is no vice.

Now this was enticing.

...