The Infinite Inning (Steven Goldman)

After a series introduction by Steven Goldman, he and co-host Jesse Spector begin with the business of sportswriting and then graduate to topics ranging from the 2016 World Series as the end of history, Rockies great Neifi Perez, the flaws of Back to the Future Part II, and Eric Thames and his shadowy other, Steve Delabar.

A baseball podcast with an equal focus on the past and present, the Infinite Inning is the misty zone where the quest for understanding never reaches the third out. Featuring Steven Goldman with Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, David Roth, and special guests.

This week, Steve is joined by third regular cohost David Roth of Vice Sports for a wide-ranging discussion that tries to understand just why we watch sports, the responsibility that owners have to their teams’ fans, and how to talk to fantasy players at parties. Guest-starring Satchel Paige, Joe Jackson, Matt Harvey, and Captain America.

This week, Steve is joined by special guest Mike Ferrin, longtime host on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio and pre- and post-game host (as well as occasional play-by-play man) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, to talk about managing fan expectations in both of his jobs, and the secret to succeeding in either of those endeavors: Don’t be a jerk. In addition, Grantland Rice appears for the second consecutive week, outfielder Johnny Cooney is compared to faking your way through a term paper, Zack Greinke’s personality is explored, Marty Brennaman is surprisingly defended, Mike admits to tuning out sometimes, Casey Stengel unsurprisingly appears about three times, and old Disney references seem to be occupying Steve’s mind.
Warning: There is exactly one cussword in this episode.

After Steve opens with Rogers Hornsby envy and a Jeremiad on Chick Gandil, Cliff Corcoran jumps his turn in the rotation to return a week ahead of time. He leads a discussion that ranges widely from Al Leiter’s origins in Toms River, New Jersey to his condemnation of stathead perceptions of pitching to his opinion on “balls.” Along the way, there are segments on Chuck Berry and the Beatles, rising strikeout rates and the death of the squeeze play are deplored, “guts” are measured with wearable devices, and the IQ of hitting is investigated.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

The most topical episode of the Infinite Inning’s brief run features visits from veteran baseball writer Jon Heyman and cohost Jesse Spector. With his finger on the pulse of the trade market, Heyman shares his sense of which teams will be adding at the deadline and talks a bit about his method, while Jesse mourns the momentary loss of Mike Trout and deplores head-hunting pitchers, or in Hunter Strickland’s case, butt-hunting. Steve’s intro features a personal encounter with a lost utility infielder and a visit with Snooks Dowd, the fastest player no one wanted.

David Roth returns! Steve and David struggle manfully to avoid talking about the Mets, but their allure as a metaphor for the culture as a whole proves too strong to resist. There are also visits to Giants Stadium and the bleachers at old Yankee Stadium, where profane songs are sung to the likes of Rob Deer. Finally, David explains everything. Seriously, everything. Steve begins with two old-time ballplayers who met an early demise, one among the best-loved players in history, the other largely forgotten, and both object lessons in fate.

Steve is joined by Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra for a rollicking discussion of baseball, to stick to sports or not to stick to sports, the psychological benefits of pets, and how to survive making the hardest decision of your life. Steve discusses two controversial ballplayers in Al Simmons and Mike Donlin, the former a denizen of the Infinite Inning, the latter someone who should have been.

This week, after Steve takes an esoteric approach to segments concerning Amed Rosario and the Congressional ballgame shooting, Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer MLB Podcast, the Effectively Wild podcast) arrives to talk about his investigation of the new rabbit ball, the way home runs are now dominating the game, the insomniac experience of editing Baseball Prospectus, Game of Thrones, and how he forced himself to overcome his natural reserve to become a frequent public speaker and podcast host.

We go for the Cliff Corcoran threepeat and a topical episode that encompasses the AL Central race, overly complicated uniform pants, and looks forward to both the All-Star rosters and the trading deadline.

How do you go from unpaid contributor to a key man in a huge media company? And what does Cody Bellinger have to say about it? Steve is joined by Eric Stephen, the longtime auteur of True Blue LA to talk about how he got just such an opportunity and took it all the way from couch-surfing to the Dodgers clubhouse. They also talk Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Justin Turner, and how the Dodgers are dominating the NL West. This week’s conversation starters include Joe Hauser, Bobo Newsom, Leo Durocher, and ruminations on outright lies.

Say your team is done and you’re ready to quit on the season. Should you catch up on summer films? Film critic and podcaster Scott Tobias (The Next Picture Show) catches us up on the good and bad of the summer film season, revisits the experience of co-founding the lauded but ultimately short-lived film site The Dissolve, and advocates for The Brady Bunch Movie (necessary) and Albert Brooks (speaks for himself). In the first segment, Steve revisits controversies involving Greg Bird, Rickey Henderson, and Babe Ruth.

Jesse Spector returns as the Infinite Inning begins its own trading deadline negotiations. Episode #13 begins with a personal tale from Steve’s college days and proceeds to one of the most bizarre episodes in baseball history, the O’Connell-Dolan affair during the 1924 National League stretch drive. It’s a scandal that has echoes in a present-day controversy. Jesse enters with sitcoms on his mind, but in short order the subject turns to various trade and pennant race scenarios, Yoenis Cespedes, Daniel Murphy, the Royals, Cubs, and, finally, a near nervous breakdown when Jesse is forced to think of Yankees executive Randy Levine.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Warning: There is a smattering of cusswords this week. Hiding the children should not be necessary unless they are very sheltered children.

In the opener, Steve talks about addiction and then details one of the origins of the non-waiver trade deadline.

Table of Contents

Darryl Strawberry, Steve Howe, and Tommy Lasorda*Whitey Witt, Jumping Joe Dugan, and the Magic Bottle*David Roth: The End of Vice Sports*Ken Rosenthal and the all-video future* “I can’t say that it’s right or wrong, I just know I can’t control it”*The relationships you forge in the workplace, and sometimes lose*David’s Mike Pelfrey T-shirt*Eighteen Plastic molded Baseball Guys*Losing your industry-leading collection of overweight ballplayer JPGs*Whitey Herzog vs. Bob Horner*The Pirates’ Handsome Boys *Donruss sends the All-Stars to Sears*Writing the back of the baseball card*Bob Walk’s rookie year*Would you believe we talked about Marty Bystrom?*Avant-garde decision-making in 1980s Cleveland*Zack Wheeler’s stress reaction and how bad teams create good teams*The Royals at the deadline one mo’ time*David’s elegy for Chris Christie and us all*Finding new ways to be excited (The Tao of Whit Merrifield)*Jayson Stark, eternal enthusiast*The cat in the baby carriage*Looking ahead to the stretch drive*Goodbyes.

Cliff Corcoran of Sports on Earth returns to break down the action at the trading deadline, Steve discusses the sad fate of Porter Moss, the uplifting fate of Harry Heitmann, and the Phillies Phanatic makes a couple of very awkward appearances.

WARNING: There are no cusswords this week. Perhaps an adult-ish matter is discussed, but obliquely, with taste and discretion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Porter Moss Story*The Worst Start Ever*Cliff Corcoran: The Furry Adventures Clippy Cormorant*Our condolences to Ketel Marte*How the trading deadline is like life*Baseball discourages complacency*The Twins’ illusory competitiveness (The Garcia trades)*Sympathy for the Royals*The Zack Littell riddle (Jurickson Profar, Maikel Franco, and more)*Tyler O’Neill for Marco Gonzalez*The Ballad of Lonny Frey*Do the Astros have enough pitching?*The Cubs’ deadline approach vs. the Astros’*Prospects traded at the deadline often disappoint*The Sonny Gray trade*The fate of Michael Pineda*The Yu Darvish trade*The best Dodgers team of all time?*The Justin Wilson-Alex Avila trade*The Nationals’ bullpen rebuild*Is the Brock-Brogilo trade still the best?*Goodbyes.

After discussions of a personal nature involving Carl Edwards, Jr., the 1912 New York Giants, and imposter syndrome, Steve is joined by Grant Brisbee of SB Nation’s McCovey Chronicles to talk about how the San Francisco Giants got to be so bad, what it’s like hosting a TV show in a down season, and the origins of the Marco Scutaro rainglobe.  

Warning: Two cusswords this week. We express deep contrition.

Table of Contents

Carl Edwards Jr. Imposter Syndrome*The 2017 Dodgers and the 1912 Giants*Grant Brisbee: How did the San Francisco Giants end up in last place? *The Giants’ last homegrown outfielder*Launching “Giants Outsiders” in a season in which the Giants are outside*Dramatizing a loss*The postgame show for the 1927 Yankees*Avoiding the turning-40 crisis*The 1997 Giants are responsible for everything*Meeting your idols*Making fun of Guy Fieri, not Rich Aurilia*Regretting saying something critical about Ken Rosenthal*Mid-career TV opportunity, the one that never knocks*Credibility*Staying a fan (Crying for Conor Gillaspie)*The Jaded, Disgruntled Sportswriters Club*Battling social media malaise*Has SB Nation’s mission changed?*The Marco Scutaro rainglobe story*Remaining the informed outsider*Denard Span’s wheels*Locked into Johnny Cueto and other vets*A middle finger for Brandon Belt*Final Jeopardy: Can current Giants management fix this?*Goodbyes. Dave Righetti and Hensley Meulens*

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

This week, Steve is joined by Jim Leeke, author of From the Dugout to the Trenches: Baseball During the Great War, plus the usual preamble involving baseball and current events. Plus: An old song that sounds ominous!

Warning: There is one off-color word about 15 minutes into the show.

No one was replaced by Jackie Robinson*A few terrible, no good, very typical days*Jim Leeke: Baseball and “Preparedness” in 1917*The National League says no*Patriotism in a 1917 context*How World War II swamped the memory of World War I*Was the drilling of ballplayers naïve?*Clark Griffith’s war effort*Even bad people aren’t bad all the time*Why was the American League so eager to quit?*The “Work or Fight” order*Ban Johnson’s gaffe*The “Work or Fight Order” vs. the World War II “Green Light Letter”*The value of entertainment in wartime*The Steel/Steal League and Shoeless Joe Jackson*The mystery of Babe Ruth’s wartime activities*Hank Gowdy, American*An Eddie Grant Memorial*Christy Mathewson and Pete Alexander in the war*The unprecedented brutality of the First World War*The Angl0-American Baseball Project*Baseball in the land of total war*Goodbyes.

Steve mentions a rude body part three times! Jesse explains one thing the NHL gets right that baseball gets wrong, the Mets are once again dissed, how to cope with Aroldis Chapman is debated, as is the morality of Bartolo Colon, and Franklin Roosevelt’s braces, George Washington’s spectacles, John Beckwith’s rage, and Allie Reynolds’ bad back are explained.

WARNING: There is a brief discussion towards the end of the show about an adult film playing at a drive-in in 1974. Hilarity ensues.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

John Beckwith, the money-caressing jockey shorts guy, FDR, George Washington, and me* Please excuse Steven for being late/Allie Reynolds’ bad back*Jesse Spector: Praising Sam Miller/Damning ourselves*Jesse is a New Jersey Devils writer and Steve knows nothing about hockey*An intriguing tidbit about the Red Sox clubhouse*Standings and expanded playoffs*The Best Team of the Year Award (Would the Dodgers’ season be a failure if they don’t win the World Series?)*Regular Season depth vs. playoff capability*Are there too many off days in the playoffs?*Luis Tiant’s 1975 World Series*Postseason strategy isn’t wrong; it’s different*The randomness of the 1960 World Series*A game where bad decisions can be rewarded*The Bush-Gallo injury leads to an uncomfortable discussion*Do you have to bring up a player’s transgressions every time you mention them?*Blue Jays fans don’t like Jesse?*The Mets amass some coupons*Are the Mets bad at injury prevention?*Steven Matz’s injury is so secret it can’t be discussed*Wawa, Gilda Radner, and adult films at the Drive-In*Debating Cheers*Comparing childhood baseball injuries*Aroldis Chapman encore*Bartolo Colon’s double life*Derek Jeter, Baseball Operations Man*Goodbyes.

Meg Rowley of Baseball Prospectus joins Steve to talk the Mariners, her Celebrating Women in Baseball event, and the sandals and possibly-vanished waterfowl of Seattle.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The puzzling Ruben Gomez-Joe Adcock confrontation*Rube Waddell down in the flood*Meg Rowley: Obligatory Game of Thrones discussion*Are there still ducks at the University of Washington?*Birkenstocks!*The Celebrating Women in Baseball Event*The “Not-Bunting” of Ballpark Promotions*The pink aspect and Lenny Dykstra’s pubes*Hourglass Appreciation Night*Not marketing to one aspect of fandom at the expense of another*Social media pushback against women (and little girls?) in baseball*On Pitch, Jackie Robinson, and the possibility of a female ballplayer*Hey, Theo Epstein!*A Salute to Rob Neyer*Is it hard to be objective when it comes to the Mariners?*The Erik Bedard trade*King Felix: The Declining Years and the Pride*Writerly influences*Second Sam Miller mention in two weeks*Bill James is underappreciated as a writer*A couple of grad school dropouts*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Before Cliff Corcoran of Sports on Earth takes his regular spot in the rotation and turns the conversation to an extended fantasia about beluga whales and other zoo-going experiences, Steve is joined by MLB Ambassador for Inclusion Billy Bean. Also: How Walter Johnson was like incorrectly eating a Stroopwafel.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Walter Johnson vs. Stroopwafels*Billy Bean and Shred Hate*ZooTalk of the Infinite Inning *Is the 2017 baseball season anticlimactic?*The Twins revival*Has Byron Buxton turned the corner?*If Buxton was a 1980s Yankee*How long to great outfield defenders last?*One last check on the Royals*Lorenzo Cain, agent of destruction*And Carlos Santana, too*Teams waste the designated hitter*Why being a DH makes some players more valuable*The tragedy of David Wright*Wright and Mets retired numbers*David Wright among the great third basemen*Stan Hack for the Hall of Fame*National League MVP debate: The Hammer and the Banana*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

David Roth returns to discuss the intersection of the NFL, MLB, and the joys of postseason baseball, plus tales of emotionally distressed catchers.

WARNING: There is the odd cussword this week, artistically deployed. It’s a David Roth episode.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“What breaks a contender?” 1911 Edition*Black Mike’s Black Dog*David Roth: A friend of us all*Roth’s remembrance of 9/11*MLB, the NFL, and kabuki patriotism*Roth’s “Getting Used to” the NFL*When leagues tolerate bad franchises*Owners vs. players vs. empathy*Joe DiMaggio slurred in Life*Sports is not your safe space*The 2017 regular season vs. the 2017 playoffs*Jose Reyes, thin mint wafer*For 50 at-bats anyone can be great*Pat Borders, Al Weiss, Nelson Cruz, Cooke Lavagetto, Bill Bevens*Roth’s Ratio*There’s a sucker born every minute (on Twitter)*America is in a rebuilding season*Goodbyes.

Marc Normandin of SBNation.com joins Steve to talk postseason baseball, the Boston Red Sox, and the soap opera that is professional wrestling. We also have a more positive encounter with Mickey Cochrane and Phil Rizzuto in the Pacific.

WARNING: There is the odd cussword this week, but we omitted a potential anecdote about Rizzuto’s testicles so it’s all okay.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

More managerial wisdom from Mickey Cochrane*Phil Rizzuto’s war*Marc Normandin: Cheers vs. Frasier*An awkward beginning? (Podcasts, Marc Maron, GLOW)*In the land of professional wrestling*Marc reviews GLOW and Foxcatcher*Actor’s Studio: Dave Bautista vs. The Rock*The Othering*Has 2017 been a good baseball season?*Different opinions of what constitutes fun in October*Win 100 games, finish second*Rooting for a losing team in the playoffs*The San Francisco Giants: What?*The left-handedest Red Sox team since the 1950s*Rick Porcello and the juiced ball*The Doug Fister Moment*Chris Sale’s secret*Slumpy guys: Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts*Must criticize Eduardo Nunez*Standing desks and fainting*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Steven is joined by historian Mary Craig (Baseball Prospectus, Beyond the Box Score) to discuss the intersection of sports and politics as we see it and/or refuse to see it today. Along the way, Herbert Hoover doesn’t meet Babe Ruth and Tom Seaver crosses into John Lennon territory.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

War is over if Tom Seaver wants it*Herbert Hoover goes to a ballgame*Mary Craig: John Locke was such a racist (and Martin Heidegger was a Nazi)*Days of Taking a Knee and the Myth of Baseball’s Depoliticization*Baseball’s color line in context*Stick to sports?*Baseball and the National Anthem*Retroactive homogenization*Mr. Maddon goes to Washington*The difference between a team and a political figure*What does a Red Sox cap stand for?*Where do you draw the line  on accountability?*The younger generation*The intent of the Framers*How can you stick to sports when you’ve never stuck to sports?*The Joe Maddon mystique*Hannah Arendt and Thucydides show up; can Herodotus be far behind?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

Cliff Corcoran (Sports on Earth) returns to simultaneously preview and review the early postseason.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ducky and the Produce Truck*A Manager Wrecks and Arm, 1920 Edition*Cliff Corcoran: From Bud Selig with Love: The mystery of the Brewers’ logo*The Wild-Card play-in games Part 1*Does the postseason truly validate the best team?*Teams are mutable*Finishing the season against your playoff opponent (Red Sox-Astros)*A pause to talk about the tragedy in Las Vegas*Twins vs. Yankees*Closers: Shut up*Bullpenning*Rockies-Diamondbacks*Joe Girardi stats*J.D. Martinez, greatest deadline acquisition ever?*Something purely redundant*The Wild-Card play-in games Part 2*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Jesse Spector (FanRag and so much more) returns to recap the postseason, argue about home runs, and be barked at by his dog.

WARNING: There’s one mild cussword and Jesse’s dog Youppi makes a sudden, shocking appearance that nearly caused the host to soil his undergarments.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Phlegmatic Lou*Larry McLean Learns Something Too Late*Jesse Spector: Sixteen hours of baseball*Joe Girardi’s Boner*The Redemption Cliché*Girardi vs. his clubhouse*Joe Girardi/Jorge Posada/Austin Romine/Gary Sanchez*Joe Torre’s elocution and Barry Bonds’ ear*Barry Bonds’ head vs. JFK’s head*Girardi’s Boner II*Coffee Joe*Managing the playoffs vs. managing in the regular season*The 1947 World Series, Yogi Berra/Gary Sanchez*Dave Henderson memories*Power in the postseason*O Home Run Be Joyful*Back to the 1980s*VP gestures*Goodbyes.

Craig Calcaterra (Hardball Talk) returns to talk postseason baseball and the way flawed memory can distort our memories. Plus: The Marriage of Casey Stengel and manager inaction in the World Series.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This is How Casey Ran*Owens, Henrich, and Another Casey*Craig Calcaterra: Expansion Dreaming*Derek Jeter’s Marlins Plan of Destruction*MLBPA Accommodationist?*The MLBAM success story*The CC Sabathia Reunion Tour*Mortality? Nah*It was better in our steroidal day*A moment with the Warren Report and The Collusion Period*The past is never dead; it's not even past*Cheap home runs*Batman and the different versions of baseball*1950s baseball was the worse*Bo Jackson: Gen-X Hero*Closers/tie game/road*Goodbyes.

Ben Lindbergh (Effectively Wild podcast, The Ringer) returns to not breakdown the postseason, not talk about starting a family, and not talk about all the managers. Actually, we do cover that last one, and some of the others as well. Plus: Fred Merkle vs. the Stoics.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Me and My Friend Fred*Bucky Harris, Gene Mauch, Joe Girardi, and Stuckness*The Wedding Bell Blues*Starting a Family Blues*Not Necessarily a World Series Conversations*Cubs-Indians still lingers*When writers root, fans say “We,” and Will Leitch yelled at Steve*Dusty Baker moves on*Managers who grew on the job/Joe McCarthy vs. Ted Williams*Ron Gardenhire’s compromised second chance and Mickey Callaway’s comprised first*Ron Gardenhire Origin Stories*Brad Ausmus, Joe Girardi, and fireable offenses*Lindbergh on Bullpenning*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Author Paul Dickson joins Steve to discuss his new book, Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son. Plus, the Dodgers bullpen at Jutland and a note on eternal World Series goat Roger Peckinpaugh.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jutland*Roger Peckinpaugh’s first World Series*Paul Dickson: How do you write 60 books?*The demise of the slicks*Durocher wasn’t a nice guy, but was he a good guy?*Slapping Babe Ruth*The 1947 suspension*Leo and money*Leo and race*Leo vs. Ernie Banks*Leo vs. Ron Santo*Leo lies about his childhood and Nice Guys Finish Last*Durocher as Branch Rickey’s Prodigal Son*The Dodgers 1943 clubhouse rebellion*Bookies in the dugout*What made Durocher a great manager?*Haunted by Casey and Bill Veeck*The Bonus Army*“Wikipedia conspires against the truth”*Goodbyes.

WARNING: One cussword is said this week. It’s a historical quotation and therefore unavoidable. Please warn the children that adults sometimes say things like this and they’re just sounds.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

David Roth (Deadspin) returns to take on the World Series, Yuli Gurriel, and Papa John’s.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lou Whitaker, Walter Briggs, and the Hall of Fame*No one who cares about you would use your kindness against you*David Roth: Falsettos*Farewell to wannabe sportscaster Chris Christie*Roth’s national pizza rankings*Why do we accept bad chains?*Oatmeal for dinner*Cats who eat Dunkin’ Donuts*The Yuli Gurriel World Series incident*Celebrating Yasiel Puig*The Mets hire a new manager*Goodbyes.

WARNING: As is typical for David Roth episodes, there is light intermittent swearing.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

In a short Thanksgiving episode—short by Infinite Inning standards, anyway—we visit the soft places of the Infinite Inning, including hypothetical whiskey-pushing gangsters who had it in for the Cardinals, when the pressures of World War II caused New York Giants fans to threaten to riot during a performance of the National Anthem, and the frightening place that is the family dinner table at holiday-time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Giancarlo Stanton and You Prowl the Unquiet Lands*Steve’s annual Thanksgiving avoidance recital*Here’s Why Flint Rhem Didn’t Go to Work Today*Harry Nilsson: “(Thursday) Here’s Why I Did Not Go to Work Today”*The Giants lose by a national anthem and a blackout*Errol Flynn: “That’s What You Jolly Well Get”*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Steve is joined by Stacey May Fowles, novelist, essayist, and author of Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game that Saved Me for a discussion of finding the calm center that lurks behind the turbulent veneer of Toronto Blue Jays fandom. Plus: Dark mutterings on Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers and a warm memory of Yankees great Bobby Murcer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tinker to Evers to I Don’t Love You Anymore*Saved at the Ballpark by Bobby Murcer*Stacey May Fowles: A Canadian Thanksgiving*All the battles we lost to Canadians*The relevance and irrelevance of the Toronto Blue Jays*Loving the Game that Saved Me*Pitchers and catchers and scaffolding*Coping with the 2017 Blue Jays*The Highest Form of Being a Baseball Fan*Farewell to Jose Bautista*The Bat-Flip Moment*Baseball assimilation stories*Dioner Navarro, gateway drug*A romantic gesture at old Yankee Stadium*Carlos Correa’s proposal*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

Mike Bates and Bill Parker, hosts of the This Week in Baseball History podcast, join Steve for a discussion of Cooperstown discontents, plus terminally ill submariners and a Dee Gordon trade reaction.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Russ Christopher, Throwing Underhand in the Infinite Inning*A fight in the bullpen as Seattle acquires Dee Gordon*Mike Bates and Bill Parker: The This Week in Baseball History podcast*Reciting stats on the air*Roy Moore vs. Heinie Zimmerman*The This Week in Baseball remembered*The Monday Night Football theme and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”*I hate the Hall of Fame (Scott Rolen, Jack Morris, Jim Rice)*Edgar Martinez*The Hall of Fame, Statcast, and glove-first players (Derek Jeter’s prostate)*The Lou Whitaker-free ballot*Jimmy Wynn vs. Steve Garvey*Reggie Smith and Jimmy Wynn in context*The inevitable steroids debate (with a cast of a thousand players)*The first-time players on the ballot: Sentimental picks and long-lived players*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Sports on Earth’s Cliff Corcoran returns to break down the winter meetings in our longest episode yet. Bring supplies, be ready for Marlins-bashing. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ted Williams for Joe DiMaggio*Give Us 18-Player Trades and Bullet Bob Turley*Cliff Corcoran: Let’s Sign All the Relievers, Jiggety-Jig! (Phillies-heavy)*The Marcell Ozuna trade*Burying the Miami Marlins*A Mets digression*The Yankees in the Stanton era*The Chase Headley dump*The Jordan Montgomery precedent*Stephen Piscotty to the A’s*The Shohei Otani signing*The Chuck Berry Digressions*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Meg Rowley returns to talk about the discontents of the Shohei Ohtani decision and its aftermath, as well as sundry other topics, and somehow it all ends up being related to “Star Wars.” Plus: A ballplayer with more than one family and the last play of Richie Ashburn’s career.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Arthur Irwin, Baseball Bigamist*Feeling like a loser, feeling like a Phillie*Meg Rowley: The Shohei Otani decision*Ed Whitson and Cecilio Guante*The platonic ideal of the Jerry Dipoto Plan*The Dee Gordon trade*Buck Showalter is the Dick Clark of baseball*The Marlins and the Mariners*“We put all this faith in business”*A Charlie Brown Christmas vs. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown*Pre-Christmas Gift Ennui*A Star Wars moment*Otani and Star Wars possessiveness*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

A rare (somewhat) shorter solo episode for Steve as baseball leaves the 2017 offseason unfinished and hopes the 2018 segment will bring more action. Tales of Joe McCarthy, Hack Wilson, and the decline of the 1980s Baltimore Orioles as a metaphor for our lives.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Joe McCarthy’s one joke (“Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”—Sammy Davis, Jr.)*Hack Wilson’s worm*Babich!*With apologies to “The Small Assassin”*The New Deal and the 1983 Baltimore Orioles*Fireside Chat” April, 1938*The O’s, Entropy, the Universe, and Everybody Else*The 1988 Orioles 30th Anniversary Tour*The Tippy Martinez Game*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

Jesse Spector, recurring cohost/periodic comet, returns to break down the offseason, such as it is, plus we mourn the death of Rob Picciolo, the most impatient player ever, and consider how Red Ruffing’s global war might be like our own.

WARNING: The F-word is deployed right at the outset of the Jesse segment. It’s clean before and after that.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Rob Picciolo’s intentional walk*Red Ruffing’s war*A false start*Dave Winfield dreaming*Two things will happen 11 months from now*“pitchers and catchers”*Jesse’s new podcast, “Locked on Yankees”*Edit your podcasts*The state of AL races, 2018*Free Jose Abreu?*The Cardinals vs. the Cubs*Disputing Marcel Ozuna*How to Respectfully Address Derek Jeter for Hardcore Yankees Fans*A-Rod is a huge dork*Clarifying Ozuna*The Cubs 2018 rotation*Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas*Matt Kemp, defensive liability*Jesse’s Mets/Yankees loyalties*Homerism in all forms*You have to have room to fail in order to grow*Goodbyes.

 

ESPN baseball analyst and ZiPS projections proprietor Dan Szymborski joins Steve to talk about the art of player projections, plus integration, an awkward moment at the doctor’s office, and World War II deflects Buddy Lewis from both the Hall of Fame and the game itself.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A question of courage: Jackie Robinson, Vic Power, Elston Howard, Panglossian racism*What Buddy Lewis saw*Dan Szymborski: Projections of spring*“Deadly Accurate”*PECOTA PTSD*Advances in projection systems*Projecting Aaron Judge*The useable universe of ballplayers*The Pacific Coast League in the 1920s*Filling in Ted Williams’ war years using retro-projections*Projecting Rafael Palmeiro in 2018*Projecting older players*The Rule of Backup Catchers*Herm Winningham?*Are projection systems making the draft more rational?*“You can always tell an old usenet person”*Sabermetrics won*WAR*A statistician’s education*Inventing ZiPS*Holding projections accountable (and letting them off the hook)*Ryon Healy’s zero WAR projection*Projecting the 2018 Yankees bullpen*Projecting relievers*Projecting Shohei Otani*ZiPS vs. Law*Goodbyes.

Steve is joined by Astros Special Assistant Kevin Goldstein to review the championship season and delve into the psychology of a title defense. Plus: Things fall from the sky on shortstops and the Red Sox shoot themselves in the foot.

WARNING: There is one slight profanity in this episode. It quotes the President of the United States and is now in common usage in even the better publications.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Smiting Woody Woodward* Deposing Dom DiMaggio*Kevin Goldstein: The winning moment*Mistakes were made*The Derek Jeter example*Taking credit and blame*What does a special assistant to the general manager do?*The Gerrit Cole trade*Thinking prophylactically*Veterans vs. youth (“I can’t afford to learn about this one just now.”)*Scouting and Chill*Would you sign a player who has sex with goats?*Keeping Carlos Beltran and other positive influences*The Most Important Question About Dallas Keuchel*Losing the prospect focus*Trading your friends*Roster cut-down day*Is the Dominican Republic a “shithole” too?*Ambition achieved?*

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Did anyone say stick to sports? Baseball’s slowest offseason collides with the national mood when Deadspin’s David Roth returns to break down a case of universal paralysis and, of course, supply his particular brand of Mets ennui.

WARNING: As is typical of a David Roth episode, there is the occasional profanity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Wayne Garland and Mother-Love*Connie Mack and the Wilpons*David Roth: The thin line between Collusion and Cincinnati, OH*The fantasy of doing more with less*The McCourt Dodgers period as forerunner of the apocalypse*The Astros Way might only work for the Astros (not the Pirates)*Going to the Mets game can be cheaper than going to Shake Shack alone*Doubleheaders and congealed fried chicken*No cheering in the press box (seriously)*The Dead Hand of Adrian Gonzalez*Brandon Nimmo’s true nickname*The Hall of Fame vote (Jim Thome full of love and good will)*Gary Sheffield*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Cliff Corcoran returns to discuss the current scene, including Mark Appel’s break from baseball, the state of the Dodgers’ starting rotation, and gives an important pro-tip about how to adjust your microphone pack (not a metaphor).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Farewell to Oscar Gamble*Reggie Jackson, Steve Chilcott, and Casey Stengel*Cliff Corcoran: Behind the scenes at the MLB Network*Surprised by Bill James on set*Insulting Ken Rosenthal over OPS*Mark Appel’s career time-out and TINSTAAPP*Are prospect lists too long?*Bryce Harper: A disappointment?*The prospect aging curve*Shohei Ohtani vs prior Japanese players*Will Yu Darvish return to the Dodgers?*A requiem for Julio Urias*Davey Lopes and the Whimsical World of 1970s Dodgers Defense*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer, Effectively Wild podcast) makes an emergency relief appearance when a guest bails, and he and Steve dissect a bleak winter landscape.

WARNING: One cussword early on. We contritely apologize.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Turtle Who Was Hated By God*The Johnny Bassler interruption*Metacom and Wahoo*Ben Lindbergh: A podcast in baseball’s worst winter*What if Mike Trout is a woman?*Why buy tickets for the Reds (or anybody)?*Does Jarrod Dyson prove collusion?*Did Bud Selig break baseball and Homestead Camp II*The Tim Raines non-spring training moment*All your predictions are wrong, or will be*Spring really hangs you up the most (unless all the signings finally happen)*Jack Morris and collusion*The last Marlins fan*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Rob Neyer, the Sage of Portland, joins Steve to preview his new book on the state of baseball, review some classic old ones, and dig into the art of writing for an audience of baseball fans and his controversial stance on the owners versus the players.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

McGraw, Chase, Porter*July 4, 1950 at the Polo Grounds*Rob Neyer: The Father of Us All*Alternative realities: Rob Neyer, pro roofer*The sabermetricians won*Has the low-hanging fruit been picked?*Writing vs. auditioning for a front-office job*Wishing for transparency in prospect reportage*Accountability: Fernando Tatis and Jay Bruce*Previewing Power Ball*Monographs on tuna and shattered authorial dreams*The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers*Infield shifts of the 1950s*The Sabermetricians vs. the Politicians*The Owners vs. the Players*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Baseball Prospectus writer Rachael McDaniel joins Steve to talk about surviving the offseason when baseball is your defense against time spent alone with yourself, plus Steve’s encounter with Chuck Knoblauch and twin tales of a great songwriter and a not-so-great pitcher from 1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chuck Knoblauch and the Chicken Française theory*Van Lingle Mungo and Larry Hart*Rachael McDaniel: Baseball Prospectus writer at 20*Baseball as a lens on experience and vice-versa*The Box*Finding baseball again after losing touch*The price of being candid* “Time is limited”/”Hurry up, please, it’s time”*The bird’s nest at the University of British Columbia*We can’t all be STEM kids*Knitting away anxiety*Does a poor postseason negate the enjoyment of the regular season?*Coping when your baseball coping device has been taken away*The aging Blue Jays and the departure of Josh Donaldson*Troy Tulowitzki/Don Mattingly*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Cliff Corcoran parachutes in to save Steve from a scheduling mishap, taking on service-time issues, the New York Yankees’ amazing depth, and sundry other issues. Plus: Steve on taking a train trip into eternity and a super-fan who had to be put in his place by the player he loved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Brickyard who Wasn’t a Brickyard, Forever Voyaging*The Ballad of Cookie and Jack*Spring training caps and other confusing haberdashery*Talking to your kids about the Parkland tragedy*Arm all the ballplayers!*Service-time manipulation* The Gleyber Torres outlook*Service-time, big round numbers, and anal HOF voting*Ritual Pete Rose Derogation*Brandon Drury’s home/road splits*Humidorgate?*Drury vs. Tyler Wade*The three-man bench and redesigning the roster*Lucas Duda vs. Eric Hosmer*Joe Mauer’s HOF case*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Howard Megdal (Wilpon’s Folly, The Cardinals Way, Summit Hoops, 50 States of Blue) joins Steve for a discussion of New York Mets finances, the way women’s sports is and isn’t covered, and his new political journal focused on providing political news that is now neglected by the major media organs.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hawkins, Herman, and defeat from the jaws of victory*June 7-8, 1950: Red Sox 49, Browns 8*Howard Megdal: A fundamental curiosity and the art of freelancing*Rejection*The Mets are not a small-market team*A union not advancing is by definition retreating*It’s about what Sandy Alderson can get*Why the Mets won’t trade Yoenis Cespedes*“Show me what’s inaccurate and I’ll be happy to correct it”*The chicken-and-egg coverage of women’s sports*Let’s bring back the AAGPBL*What is 50 States of Blue?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Jesse Spector returns for a wide-ranging episode in which the question of length of game versus pace of play is explored and the MLB FoodFest is dissected with an eye towards finding the missing Rocky Mountain Oysters, and many a personal encounter of strange press box behavior is told. Plus, Steve opens with a tale of the least-supportive teammates ever and a shortstop whose moment passed at an age before most players have gotten started.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Phenomenal Smith: With Friends Like These*Buckshot Brown and the Curse of Potential*Jesse Spector: The risks of unfollowing*How following PA-18 was like watching a ballgame*How Grant Brisbee infects you with imposter syndrome*The baseball beatwriter’s life*An interlude in Tampa*Defunct museums and Halls of Fame or, “How the Baseball Hall of Fame moves from Cooperstown to Times Square”*A moment’s debate of Ty Cobb*Rob Manfred’s plan to end extra-inning games*The Adam Lind example*Debating MLB FoodFest: Rocky Mountain Oysters AWOL*A 10 percent crab menu*Whither SF Giants garlic fries and chocolate sundaes?*Knocking the Chicago Dog and other Chicago dishes*Praising the Marlins (food, that is), Padres fish tacos in absentia, no Boog’s*Flaming Hot Cheetos?*Dodger Dogs vs. Fenway Frank*Cheap franks in the old Yankee Stadium press box*Bronx Bootleg Street Pretzels*Parenting Test: The Diamondbacks Churro Dog*A tale of marital discord and Ben & Jerry’s*Goodbyes.

Steve is joined by Marty Appel, author of Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character and other books, plus a cautionary tale about time and Bob “Fats” Fothergill and another about all the times Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons failed to duck.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Fats Fothergill, Ronald Acuña and the tyranny of time*Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons, Human Target*Marty Appel: “Give me a good team”*Stengel vs. Joe Torre*Stengel vs. Phil Rizzuto*Stengel vs. Joe DiMaggio*Stengel vs. Mickey Mantle*Mrs. Stengel’s memoir*Stengel vs. The Color Line*Elston Howard’s post-career disappointment*A hypothetical: Stengel vs. George Steinbrenner*Stengel vs. Billy Martin*

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Russell Carleton (Baseball Prospectus, author of The Shift: The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking) joins Steven to discuss things we don’t have words for, and surprising findings on third-base coaches, the effect of managers, and, of course, the shift.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Day the Sun Shone on Ty Tyson*Reframing the problem of Alex Johnson*Russell Carlton: Man with a Doctorate*You can’t control for Salvador Perez’s knee*Baseball and Arkham Asylum*Fire all the third base coaches*A book about people (with numbers)*The Zach Britton Game that Zach Britton wasn’t in (We Need a Word for That)*Opportunities for communication (a letter from a general manager)*The Bruce Bochy Effect?*“The shift is kind of freakin’ the pitchers out”*“The model of the starting pitcher is a little bit broken”/”Most teams have a 22-man roster”*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

David Roth returns to talk about competitive balance, over-monitoring mound visits, and the pernicious nature of social media (not back on it, still on it). Meanwhile, Steve tries to turn a nonsensical Jerry Coleman call into something dark and disturbing and rants about outfielders from 1934 to the present day who were damaged, sometimes severely, by unpadded outfield walls.

The Haunting of Bruce Benedict*Hazards in the Outfield, with Billy McKinney, Dustin Fowler, Earle Combs, and Pete Reiser*David Roth: Bartolo Colon rides again*Waiting for R.A. Dickey*The cosmopolitanism of Opening-Day rosters*The Way We Never Were: When baseball was a million white guys named “Pete”*The Taylorizing of baseball*The Applebee’s of Baseball*The consequences of underpaying minor leaguers*Biometrics?*Facebook and other things that should have been obvious*How to follow two sports at once*The downtime in sports*Mound visits*The Jon Rothstein/”This is March” piece*Once more unto The Ratio*The pernicious effect of Twitter*Who we pretend to be*The Zen “Okay” Method of Pitching to Mike Trout*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Jacob Pomrenke, editor of Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox and SABR’s Director of Editorial Content joins Steve to explore the relevance of the Black Sox to our time, appreciate and criticize both the book Eight Men Out and its filmed counterpart, and attempt to fix the roles of both Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver in throwing the World Series. In addition, this week Steve offers tales of an unappreciated player from the 1940s and of the world of the Black Sox as seen from a small room with just one exit located in the Washington DC of 1923.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Roy Cullenbine and What Might Seem Like an Inappropriate Comparison to Vincent Van Gogh*“My God, How the Money Rolls In!”*Jacob Pomrenke: Are the Black Sox still relevant?*When all sports were corrupt*Shoeless Joe: Victim or Villain?*The Triples-to-Left Theory of Guilt*Entombed in the Hall of Fame*Illiterate doesn’t mean unintelligent*The most heroic act is failure*The duality of Charles Comiskey*The “Hey, Barney!” Affair*When gamblers were in the stands*Judge Landis’s mandate*Buck Weaver is a man for today*The Lefty Williams Blackmail Myth*John Sayles’ “Eight Men Out”*How the government changed the way baseball players look*SABR in the era of Bowling Alone*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Craig Calcaterra (NBC’s Hardball Talk) returns to assess the start of the 2018 season, envision the damage that tanking is doing to the game, and reminisce about some really bad Atlanta Braves teams. Plus, SteveStories about drowned ballparks in Cincinnati and Tampa and a baseball “witch-hunt.”

The Infinite Inning now has a Facebook group! Come one, come all, come as you are, come as Reggie Jackson ’77.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ballpark in Atlantis*Witch-Hunts and Redlegs*The Infinite Inning has a Facebook group; be good to each other*Craig Calcaterra: The Fifth Column works through baseball*Efficiency thinking*The human side of No-Neck Williams*How d’ya like the 2018 season so far?*The March of the Relief Pitchers*Pitching in a Pinch*Can baseball support expansion? And tanking, too! (The Portland Possibility)*The fan as consumer/In the run we’re all dead*Watching the mid-‘80s Braves on TBS*Omar Freakin’ Moreno*Tommy Pham and Jose Martinez, old men of hope*Maybined and Shucked*In-show surprise: The Braves sign Jose Bautista*The Weirdness of Nick Markakis*Goodbyes.

Cliff Corcoran (The Athletic) takes his turn in the rotation to pursue topics within topics, from the widening space between balls in play to a sinister plan to headhunt an 11-year-old girl. Cliff also quotes Dr. Dre, which is a first for this program. SteveStories include Dan Ford’s infamous baserunning mishap and how outfielder Johnny Mostil’s darkest day collides with a Harlan Ellison adage on resiliency.

WARNING: There is an extended discussion of a ballplayer’s long-ago suicide attempt in the second segment. If you are having similar thoughts, the National Suicide Hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Disco Dan Learns a Lesson*Johnny Mostil was a Paingod*Cliff Corcoran: Rise of the Silver and Black Caps*The uniforms you never see on throwback days*Uniforms intended to intimidate Johnny Cueto and other people*Discrimination in Durham, NH*The lack of pronoun diversity in baseball*Setting the stage for the female ballplayers*A momentary pause for whale facts and insecurity*The state of 2018 so far*The rising time between balls in play*Advanced analysis has pushed us into making baseball boring?*Batter vs. pitcher strikeouts*More time with Brandon Belt and Luke Appling on a Per-At-Bat Basis than Anyone Desires*Getting 1,000 hits in a single day*Jumping on the Phillies bandwagon?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning now has a Facebook group! Come one, come all, come as you are, come as Willie Kamm ‘28.

 

Steve is joined by major league veteran Greg Pryor to discuss his forthcoming book, The Day the Yankees Made Me Shave: A Baseball Autobiography, and share tales of the game in the 1970s and 80s. Plus, SteveStories on the meaning of 3,000 hits and the way Ty Cobb’s racism is misused.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paul Waner’s two 3000th hits*Abnormalizing Ty Cobb*Short pants and South Side Hitmen*The Syracuse Mustache Rebellion*“No one ever seemed satisfied with me”*A dark scouting report*The Harry Chappas: Sports Illustrated Cover-Guy Saga*The moral hazard of George Brett injuries*Bottom of the 16th courage*The untimely death of Dick Howser*On strikeouts and “launch-angle stuff”*Disco Demolition Night*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Steve is joined by Meg Rowley (Fangraphs, The Hardball Times) to discuss some unlikely Mariners success, including James Paxton’s no-hitter, defense-first first base prospects, and the batting-out-of-order rule. Plus SteveStories of the Singing Umpire and a continuation of last week’s discussion about Ty Cobb.

WARNING: Late in the show, there is a cussword uttered in regards to Chuck Knoblauch. It is a quote. More seriously, a racial epithet from a newspaper article printed in 1892 is spoken at approximately 30:07. TRIGGER WARNING: During this discussion of historic racism, there is some mention of sexual assault.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP can be found here.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lord Byron’s Umpire Follies*Cucumbers*Ty Cobb II*The James Paxton no-hitter/no-hitter ennui*Excitement is a positive*People who boo and people who don’t*The batting-out-of-order rule*Can the Mariners continue to contend?*Evan White, Keith Hernandez, and Ichiro’s decline*Rachael McDaniel’s “In the Sun”*Failing to extend the baseball bridge*Osuna-Schneiderman*Favorite spy movies*Goodbyes.

Steve is joined by former major league manager Davey Johnson to discuss his life and adventures as described in his new autobiography, Davey Johnson: My Wild Ride in Baseball and Beyond. This week’s tales include taking the permanent exit from a Babe Ruth-era Yankees game and a Johnson-inspired story of an Orioles no-hitter gone wrong.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP can be found here.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ruthian Fatality*Barber’d and Bauer’d*Davey Johnson: HoJo at short*Hank Bauer*Earl Weaver, batting Mark Belanger second, and small samples*How much pressure are managers under?*Support Our Scholars*Marge Schott for Marriage!*Self-Confidence*Dwight Gooden and Bryce Harper*Managing the clubhouse*The Juan Samuel-Lenny Dykstra trade and who let the dogs out?*Maintaining success*The impossibility of saving Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry (and Kevin Mitchell deserves an apology)*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Deadspin’s David Roth returns like a periodic comet to discuss the joy of Shohei Ohtani, ripping old packs of baseball cards on camera, and debate the state of the baseball and the national anthem. Plus Steve Stories on Joe Cronin managing his way to a walk-off loss and early game-throwing pitcher Jim Devlin.

WARNING: As in all David Roth episodes, there is the occasional cussword. We contritely apologize.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Joe Cronin’s Bad Day: An Inquiry Into Values*The Devlinification of Everything*David Roth:  Provocative ad content*The “Let’s Remember Some Guys” show (1981 Fleer Cards and prog rock)*The days before instant gratification*MLB nonchalants the balls*The greying of the Mets*Illegitimate oldies tours*Suspiciously active blobs of mozzarella*Sports and the National Anthem (A Fantasia on a Theme)*The Wonderful, Wonderful World of Shohei Ohtani (You Don’t Comp Pedro)*Goodbyes.

Rotation regular Jesse Spector rejoins Steve for a discussion that starts dark and soon gets silly, with Jesse fighting to the death to abolish the June amateur draft. Also features Steve stories on Hank Greenberg, Tyler O’Neill, and Long Tom Winsett.

TRIGGER WARNING: In the Hank Greenberg segment, Greenberg himself is quoted describing anti-Semitic slurs to which he was subjected. There is also a cussword embedded in a quote early on. Hide the children.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

With Great Winsett Power Comes Great Responsibility*Hank Greenberg Demands Respect*Jesse Spector: Hot spots and high school reunions*The Morbidity and Mortality section*How did we get breaking news before the internet?*How many Frans are on the Padres?*Should baseball draft picks be tradeable?*The Albert Pujols Contract*The Stouffer’s example*Yankees drafts of the 2000s*Do the Reds have a plan?*Brackman and Culver*More on tradeable picks*An admittedly strange Delmon Young reference*Marveling over Miguel Andujar*The George Burns argument*The Dodgers will rise, Cleveland’s bullpen, and other 2018 quick hits*Elevator music?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Cliff Corcoran (The Athletic) returns to talk baseball, and then is joined by film critic Scott Tobias (The Next Picture Show podcast) to talk about “Solo,” the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, and the curse of the summer movie season. Prior, Steve has two stories of Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst, plus a protest of sorts.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Stan Musial’s kid and mine*Popeye thoughts*Red Shoendienst, Stan Musial, and Trader Frank Lane*Cliff Corcoran: The Montgomery Biscuits cap et al*The integration of the Philadelphia Phillies*Clayton Kershaw in Decline/The Dodgers at .500*The Matt Kemp revival*Scott Tobias: “Solo” and early Star Wars relationships*“Godfather II” references*This is a cynical character?*Disney as franchise-keeper*Anti-auterism*Edgar Wright fantasies*Irrelevant cameo*The “You’ve Got Mail” digression*The hardest time of year for a film critic*Coming attractions*Plugs for “Ricki and the Flash” and the “Mission Impossible” film series*Star Wars vs. Lovecraft*The Cinematography of “Solo”*Will J.J. Abrams undo it all?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Eric Stephen (True Blue LA) returns to explain the strange odyssey of the 2018 Dodgers, plus this year’s Orioles versus your great-grandfather’s Browns, bad fan behavior in 1970s Pittsburgh, and a Yankees tugboat not delivered.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Pirates keep the nickel*The Schleuter-ization of the Orioles*Billy Martin’s tugboat*Eric Stephen: The Dodgers’ child does not resemble the parents*An entire rotation on the DL*Prophetic words from 1973*Dave Roberts’ approach*Cody Bellinger’s slump and recovery*Great postseason slumps*Missing on Dave Winfield and Adrian Beltre*Can you count on a Clayton Kershaw comeback?*The Ross Stripling miracle*The Charles Hudson baseball card reverie*Fear Factor: Baseball*A note on Daniel Descalso*The amazing Max Muncy*The Dodgers and second base at the trading deadline*Whither Alex Verdugo?*The Joc Pederson dilemma*The Matt Kemp renaissance*The power of planning ahead in journalism*Dodgers postseason odds*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Steve flies solo in an attenuated episode this week which focuses on current events that take place outside of baseball but find their echoes within in it.

WARNING: A disgusting racial epithet concerning African Americans is quoted in the course of this episode in the telling of a historical incident

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The most evil man in baseball history*The black dog and “I Am So Proud”*When they slandered Rickey Henderson*Hunter Strickland and Doyle Alexander*“Give us a little ‘Lambeth Walk’”*The real Jake Powell story and the fake Jake Powell story*Goodbyes.

Sam Miller (ESPN, Baseball Prospectus, The Only Rule is It Has to Work) joins Steve to talk about joy in baseball, which fun facts matter and which don’t, and how to alienate your colleagues your first day on the baseball beat. Plus, overlapping tales of puppy love and Billy Herman and a remembrance of the late Harlan Ellison.

WARNING: There is one cussword, baseball’s “magic word,” at about the 24-minute mark. Hide the children.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Billy Herman’s first day*Goodbye, Harlan Ellison*Sam Miller: The Only Rule is It Has to Work*A Very Bad Handshake Situation*The Only Rule is You Go to Moscow*The Braves’ all-time first baseman, and does it matter?*Mark Langston’s best season*The Secret Origin of Sam Miller (The Mommy Blogger! Frankie Rodriguez for MVP!)*Inspirational quote: “A lot of people don’t like a lot of people.”*The Shohei Ohtani of Despond*Are we allowed to have distractions in 2018?*How little we know (Jose Bautista version)*Tales of PECOTA and how to say “FRAA”*Goodbyes.

Business of baseball writer Maury Brown (Forbes) joins Steve to talk about the future of labor relations in the game, the shift from television to on-line viewing, the stadium-financing boondoggle, and more, plus tales of Pepper Martin and Joe DiMaggio in distress.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pepper Martin’s breaking point*Joltin’ Joe’s lack of leverage*Maury Brown: The usual hat talk*Do the players get a cut?*The players and online revenue*The legal landscape of a baseball labor war*Maury Year One (a Bay Area baseball upbringing with the Finley robot rabbit)*Remembering Doug Pappas*Grasping for balance in MLB business coverage*Gimmie Some Truth*The persistence of the ballpark boondoggle*The 2018 attendance slide*Does revenue-sharing create negative incentives?*Is Portland, Oregon a viable major league market*Maury shook you all night long*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Steve is joined by Christopher Bonanos, author of Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous to discuss the photographic great who documented what went on in the naked city, the nighttime New York of the 1930s and 40s, after the ballplayers had put their gloves away for the day. Plus, Tom Seaver is traded as the ‘70s Mets force a big-market team into a small-market suit, and a Dodgers fan gets ribbed with fatal results.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mets Get Small*Toxic Dodgers Fandom and twin .45s*Christopher Bonanos: Who was Weegee?*“Balcony Seats at a Murder”*The wild New York of the 1930s*The brief, wondrous life of PM*Why doesn’t center-left media thrive?*Photographs that comment on themselves*Social justice Weegee/Misogynistic Weegee*His slow rise and rapid fall*“What success does for a man”*Descent into distortions*“The Critic” (Truthful without being factual)*Darkroom in the trunk?*George Selkirk Signs!*“Their First Murder”*Carrier pigeons at Ebbets Field*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Mary Craig (Baseball Prospectus, The Hardball Times podcast) returns to talk Manny Machado, Papa John-style privilege, and the Home Run Derby. Plus, Steve tells stories of a Hall of Famer with a bigger heart than Josh Hader and the Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the America First Committee.

WARNING: Luke Heimlich, an amateur pitcher with a record of child abuse, is discussed extensively during the second half of the show. Also, there is one brief profanity in the first half of the show.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Josh Hader, Arky Vaughan, Jackie Robinson*The Brooklyn Dodgers vs. The America First Committee*Mary Craig: Reading naughty books in the original Greek*Shocking enthusiasm for the Home Run Derby*Bryce Harper doesn’t help the Cubs*The Manny Machado trade and the talent imbalance*Against Commissioner Manfred*Marketing and minor league wages*Look for the union label*Luke Heimlich*Jose Reyes and Bud Norris*The Mary Craig Credo*Brian Cashman on the Supreme Court*The Papa Slam is no more*Goodbyes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ken Hunt’s Half-Season of Glory*Jack Morris/Yoenis Cespedes*More on Luke Heimlich*Cliff Corcoran: Diseases of cattle and ballplayers*The pointlessness of trade coverage*Trades that ripple through history*Revising opinions of the Francisco Mejia trade*The Jesus Montero analogy*Everything wrong with the Indians*Red Sox needs*Moving Salvador Perez*The Billy Hunter digression*Mike Moustakas, lame duck*Why Cole Hamels? And other pitchers*How do you make a package for Jacob DeGrom?*Zack Britton and The Cup We All Race 4*Should the Nationals sell?*The Hall of Fame inductions (Lost in Jack Morrisland)*The missing HOF pitchers of the 1980s*Lou Whitaker, Willie Randolph, and Bobby Grich*Goodbyes.

WARNING: For the second and, it is to be hoped, last time, there is a discussion of Luke Heimlich.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hartnett, Landis, and Capone*Willie Montanez: Tap-Tap*Jesse Spector: Rockies players like tacos and chess*Pregame non-conversations with Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neill at the old Yankee Stadium*Reconciling with Paul O’Neill’s affiliations*The Trevor Story story*The Dome Over Fenway Park*Why take owner finances on faith?*David Wright and Brandon Webb*The parsimony of the Lerners*Roberto Osuna*A glance askance at Josh Hader et al*The Astros throw Justin Verlander under the bus*The Asdrubal Cabrera trade as a teachable moment*An Asdrubal moment with Roger Angell*A note on Ian Desmond*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE CONTENTS

Tall Tales of Josh Gibson*Call-In Radio and WAR*Will Leitch: Productivity*Writing while disappointed*Don’t check the numbers*Cutting High School Memories*Why social media?*Cookies from Twitter*Jaded in the press box*“My fandom is mine”*Mike Matheny and Mike Schildt and The Matheny Manifesto*Ranking 900 Woody Harrelson movies*”Star Wars” vs. “Annie Hall.”*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WARNING: The odd cussword is spoken aloud and sometimes thought in this episode. In addition, there is a discussion of an ancient case of rape and manslaughter in the second segment.

Pea Ridge Day chooses free will*Fatty Arbuckle and Benny Kauff*David Roth: Bodega cats*The one bad review (Your mother-in-law and the Portland Sea Dogs)*Offending Will Pennyfeather*Easy-access basketball and a visit to Revolutionary War Princeton*David dreams “The Terminal” and other digressions*Smoking on camera*Re-signing Jose Bautista, Re-signing Joe Niekro*The Mets have an analytics department?* “Veteran leadership” and Amed Rosario*Should Jacob DeGrom and/or Noah Syndergaard be traded?*The Rick Ankiel Story*Anxiety and muscle memory*Daniel Bard*Hashtag Crazy Relief Pitcher*Punching Mookie Betts*Fun times in baseball (“The Natural” sucks)*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Casey Stengel removes a pitcher*The Babe Ruth Visitors Center*Potential, with Andy Cohen and Rogers Hornsby*Hairstons and Harstons*The Great Gee Walker*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: One excretory cussword.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tony Horton and Dolphin Shows of the Apocalypse*Extinctions and an Apology*Jeff Heath’s Bat*The West Coast is on Fire*The Kendrys Morales Sublimations*Don’t Gamble on Baseball Because the Orioles*Goodbye for Now, Troy Tulowitzki*Fare Thee Well, Josh Donaldson*Do the Blue Jays Need to Bottom Out?*The Thrill of Discovery at Baseball-Reference*Expertise/Finding Jeff Heath*The Intersection of Sharing Knowledge and Sharing Emotion*Misogyny: The Socially-Acceptable Prejudice*Daniel Murphy (“Piazza, New York Catcher”)*What Went Wrong in the 1880s/The Imperialism of Stupid*Goodbyes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Wes Ferrell Walks Off*Mediocre White Players/Jimmy Collins’ Unplanned Vacation*Mike Bates and Bill Parker: The historic 2018 season: The Baltimore Orioles and Shohei Ohtani*Rudy Pemberton and Phil Clark*Babe Ruth’s Warning to Ohtani*Who are the Angels?*The Past is More Populous Than the Present*Ski Melillo?*Charlie Hollocher*Elmer Flick and Bill Bergen Too*Gary Gaetti ‘s Awakening*The 2018 Minnesota Twins in Review*The Byron Buxton Conundrum*Joe Mauer in Retrospect*Buy-Low Moves That Didn’t Work*Old Friends*Avenging J.R. Richard and Forgiving Chris Von Der Ahe*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Baseballs Try to Murder Fritz Ostermueller* Permanent Rainout, September 21, 1938*Stephon Johnson: The New York Amsterdam News/Advocacy Journalism*When Did African Americans Lose Interest in Baseball?*The Buttoned-Down Culture of Baseball*Fisk and Sanders, Showalter and Griffey*Racists on the Rise*“Baseball Needs Another Rickey Henderson”*Dexter Fowler Calumnied*John Kruk: J’Accuse!*Keith Hernandez vs. Dave Parker*The Effect of the Missing African American Teachers*The Financial Barriers to Being a Prospect*Solutions*The Damage of Disavowing Barry Bonds and the Gang (“We Still Enjoyed What We Saw”)*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

An Addison Russell Problem of Morality*The Pennant Race Decided By a Squeeze Play* Cliff Corcoran: A False Start*Who should be NL MVP?*Ban the Bullpen!*Possibly ignorant analogies from basketball and hockey*Openers and Followers*Shrink the Strikezone!*Mid-Inning Pitching Changes Are the Spawn of Satan*Bring Back Long Relievers*The Poignancy of Taking One For the Team*The 2018 Pennant Races, Such As They Are*It’s All Asdrubal’s Fault*Properly Valuing Defense*Miguel Andujar: Clank! (But Still a Net Positive)*One Last Pass at Shohei Ohtani’s Short-Term Future (Eat the Marshmallow!)*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Baltimore Orioles Were Over So Long Ago*McGraw/Chase Redux*Tommy and Roy*Jeff Pearlman: Why is the USFL remembered more fondly than other failed sports leagues?*It’s not the players, it’s the owners*The Strange Owner of the Los Angeles Express and Other Fallacies About the Rich*Did the USFL Need Ban Johnson?*The Dumbest Trade in the History of Mankind*The Villain Arrives (It’s Not a Political Book)*Mexico Will Pay for Doug Flutie?*“Please Bring Your Final Purchases to the Register”*The Move to the Fall*Collusion! (With the NFL)*Young Steve Young*Cigarettes and Cocaine*Dreams Denied*Greg Fields, Football Professional*PEDs (Barry Bonds vs. Sal Fasano)*Bisons/Bills and the Alliance*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Trial of Dizzy Dean*Dizzy Dean Balks*David Roth: Let’s Remember Guys Named Herm*Misplacing Bob Melvin and Maligning Tony Armas*A Quick Look at Dominic Smith*Questions of Confidence and Security in Baseball and Other Areas*And $200,000 in Nationals Tickets*Drunk People Are Boring*The 2018 Postseason*The A’s and the Brewers (1982 Milwaukee Brewers Appearances Appraised and Rick Mahler too)*Steve’s 1988 Story*The Career and Post-Career of Pete Vuckovich*The David Wright Farewell Tour of Iceland*The Entire Mets Rotation is Arb- Eligible (Jason Vargas and Jay Bruce Forever)*Indefinitely Delayed Cespedes Gratification*DeGrom and Arrieta*Postseason Picks and… Gregg Jefferies?*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Cubs Buy Sushi*Chop the Chop (in Colorado)*Ryan Davis: Credentialed and Fatigued*A Dynasty Simultaneously Achieved and Denied*Were the Brewers Just Better?*Chili Davis is an Innocent Man!*Do Joe Maddon’s Lineup Changes Hurt Young Players?*In Praise of Tommy La Stella*The Terrance Gore Memorial Roster Spot*If You Swing Enough Times…*Kyle Hendricks, Pitching Detective (Guest-Starring Steve Adkins)*The Jason Heyward Problem*Heyward, Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuna*So Long, Addison Russell*The Force Awakens Russia*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Addie Joss is Defunct*The Phillies Are On the Wire*Grant Brisbee: Tongue Tied*“To Glorgle”*Joe West’s Greatest Ejections*The Greatest Hits Theory of Joe West Fans*Hate Mail (Never Criticize Matt Wieters)*Back On Bullpenning? (No; Still On It)*Life After Team Blogging*Gonna Be in L.A. For Game 6*The San Francisco Giants’ Beard Deficit and Other Problems*Leaving Latin America Alone*For the Love of Homegrown Players*Will Madison Bumgarner Be Traded? (And Bryce Harper?)*Rebuilding for Real Estate*It’s the End of Evan Longoria As We Know Him*World Series Wonderland*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Casey Stengel vs. the Nazi Warlord*The Secret New York Conspiracy to Destroy the Red Sox*Rob Neyer: Elevator Pitch for a Baseball Book*The Zobrist*What is “Postmodern” baseball?*Who Takes Responsibility?*The Best of All Possible Baseballs is For the Best?*Pay (Or at Least Feed) the Minor Leaguers!*Here Comes the Flood*Well-Known Facts, Whether You Like It or Not*Love on the Sands of Iwo Jima*The End of Carlos Beltran (and Everyone Else)*Relaxed Rob ‘Riting*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hack Wilson Gets Hacked Off*When Babe Ruth Homered for the Giants*Jesse Spector: Jesse Has a Cold/Sharing Hats*Racist Dodgers Fans Against the Special Prosecutor*The President as World Series/Rich Hill Commentator*Were the Red Sox a Historic Team?*When 1988 Failed to Validate the Regular Season*What Boston’s Record Does and Does Not Prove*All Postseason Teams Should Get a Home Game*Cleveland Was Secretly Bad*I Don’t Believe in Relievers (I Just Believe In Me)*Nathan Eovaldi’s Game 3*The Mets Have a New General Manager*Revisiting the Punch in the Crotch*The Vince Coleman Moment*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Willie McCovey and Sparky Schulz, The Brave & The Bold*A Program Note or Two*Jackie Robinson Goes to Cincinnati*Cliff Corcoran: Election Reflection*J.D. Martinez and the AL MVP Vote*Bookie Metts and Mucky Betts*Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez*Jacob DeGrom NL MVP Disrespect*Blake Snell vs. Justin Verlander*The Aaron Nola Conundrum and The Chris Sale Deprivation*The Phillies’ Defense*Brett Gardner vs. Bryce Harper*Harper, Yankees First Baseman/Will the Yankees Spend?*Much Ado About Andujar*Getting Meta with Daniel Descalso and “The Sopranos”*The “Today’s Game” Hall of Fame Ballot*There is No Word in English for George Steinbrenner*Goodbyes.

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The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

When the Bass Comes Falling From the Sky*Remembering William Goldman and Stan Lee*Meg Rowley: An Argument About Coffee*Full Time at FanGraphs*Empathy for Recalcitrant Writers Who Are Also Plumbers*Loving Baseball During the Apocalyse*The Blown Save in Non-Baseball Environments*The Mixed Bag That Was MLB 2018*Knowing When to Go Off and When to Hang Fire*Lorena Martin vs. the Seattle Mariners*“Baseball is Believably Racist”*When Fandom Wears Away*Live, Laugh, Love, and Learn with the Mike Zunino Trade*When Roger Clemens Wet the Bed*An 89-73 Team Surrenders*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You Too Can Have a Duck for a General Manager*I Learned the Truth from Rickey Henderson*Lincoln Mitchell: Baseball and Politics/Your Wife and Your Mistress*Reframing the Dodgers-Giants Move as a Good Thing*Who Mourns for the Nightlife in Babylon?*Yankees Fans Kept Going to the Games*What If One NL Team Had Stayed?*“Sitsee”*The Least Significant Victim of Fascist Aggression*Decentralized Early Major League Baseball*Why Didn’t the Pacific Coast League Become a Third Major League?*If the Dodgers and Giants Had Stayed, When Would Baseball Have Caught Up to the Country?*The Stay-the-Course (But Still Racist) MacPhail Argument Against Integration*Felipe Alou for the Hall of Fame*Is There A Realignment Opportunity in 2018?*Theories of Entropy in Major League Baseball and the United States of America*Did Democracy Fail the Dodgers in New York City?*Putin and Bill Buckner*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: The odd cussword is heard herein. Hide the kids.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Ballad of Kewpie Dick*Stroopwafel Update*Patreon Update*Ty Cobb Chooses a Catcher*Alex Belth: O.G. Baseball Bloggers*The Golden Age of Magazine Writing*The Joy of Microfilm*A Writer’s Fame is Fleeting*Heinz and J. Lardner*Terry Southern, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Helen Lawrenson*The Yankees of Your 20s vs. Those of Your 40s*Emily Shapiro: What is Crohn’s Disease?*Fighting Your Limitations and Growth Experiences*Partnership and a Blurring of Roles (“I Can’t Take Care of Her, I Can Care for Her”)/The San Diego Story*Fainting!*We’re Not Our Bodies*Sharing*Having Nothing in Common*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

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SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hans Christian Andersen’s Negro Leagues*Why I Was Not at the Winter Meetings*Bill Lange Goes Home Forever*Liz Roscher: The Winter Meetings Social Ramble Ain’t Restful*Martyrs to Baseball*A Late-Blooming Phillies Fan*Can You Earn Your Angry Fandom?*Pessimistic Mets Fans*“Fair-Weather Fans” and Other Accusations of Inauthenticity*More Fannish Pessimism*The “We Really Suck” Chant*How Do You Explain the Phillies’ Free-fall?*“It Feels Like They Don’t Have a Plan”*Carlos Santana, Andrew McCutchen, Jean Segura and other Phillies*When Freddy Galvis Gets Up Your Butt*Our Owner Wants a New Boat*The Star Wars-Batman Analogy to Killing the Gate*Objectivity and Readers’ Imaginary Boundaries*Steve Comes to a Realization*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Table of Contents

The Embedded Yankee: An Analogy*Babe Ruth’s Rough Year*Jane Leavy: A New View of the Babe*Felicitous Accidents of Research (Johnny Bassler and the Babe’s Childhood)*The Crimes of Babe Ruth’s Parents Against Babe Ruth*Ruth’s Right-Wing Connection*The Indispensable Christy Walsh*There is No Asterisk!*Fifty-Ounce Bats (What Would Ruth Do Today?)*In Search of the Inner Babe*The Unprecedented Revelation of Claire*Ruth’s Inner Hunger and the Babe at St. Mary’s*After the Cheering Stopped*The Tender Ruth?*Babe Ruth vs. Florence Nightingale for All the Nurses*Why Were the Owners So Angry at Ruth?/Ruth as Divisive Racial Figure*The Great Man Votes*The Romance of Ruth*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: There are a couple of cusswords abroad in the land.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Rogers Hornsby’s War With Baseball (Stop it! Cut it out!)*Go See “They Shall Not Grow Old”/The Paths of Glory Lead Only to the Latrine/Hank Gowdy Falls Down*Connie Mack and The Difficulty of Getting Good Takeout in the Suburbs*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: There are a couple of cusswords in this episode, but one of them is about Ted Williams, and he would have appreciated that.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ted Williams’ False Washington Dawn*Tommy Pham and Jack Fournier*Cliff Corcoran: A Philosophy of Underbills*Return of The Descalse!*Mariano Rivera and Craig Kimbrel*Big Hall-Small Hall and Joe Gantenbein Forever*The Nine Worlds of Harold Baines/In Praise of Argument*The Jurickson Profar Deal*Yasiel Puig to the Reds Etc*Cliff’s Stats Feature*Reds Callback: Jesse Winker*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Trevor Bauer Online/Jackie Robinson On a Plane*Tommy Henrich and Earned Good Luck*Craig Calcaterra: The NPR Voice*Steve’s Shameful Vin Scully Secret*The Coming Labor Crisis in Baseball*The Anti-Enthusiasm Cold Stove League*All the Team’s That Aren’t Adding Talent*Bryce Harper-to-the-Rockies Dreaming*Craig’s Car Dealership Metaphor*Bonds and Clemens (and Sosa): The Price*Craig’s Harold Baines Story/Steve’s Jose Guillen Story*Gaylord Perry in Arizona/Bob Costats’s Unsigned Mays Photograph*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: There is one cussword early in the interview segment and one late. We beg your forgiveness.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hello, My Honey, Hello, My Jay*The Goslin Files*Mike Ferrin: Professional Radio Talk*Lean Questions*Mindfulness*Winning the Interview*Jim Duquette and the Stick Michael Approach*When You’re Just Not in the Mood to Broadcast/The Show Must Go On*Brodie Van Wagenen*The Paul Goldschmidt Trade and the Andrew McCutchen Conundrum*The Shelby Miller Trade and Other Prospect Disappointments*“This Guy’s a 40”*The Duck and the Llama*Eddie Stanky Tries to Get Fired Too*Wilmer Flores Comes to Phoenix*The Return of the Long Reliever*Sports Talk Radio is Negative?*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

WARNING: Oh, my, are there cusswords this week. Mr. Normandin is just full of ‘em. Or something. Mind the children.  

Table of Contents

Lenny Merullo’s Bad (But Not THAT Bad) Day*Steve’s nomination for the2019 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards*That Fatal Mets Game*Marc Normandin: You Can’t Edit a Newsletter*A Different Kind of Lefty*Too Young for a Mid-Life Crisis But Too Old to Care*Marc for the Proletariat*Toxic Ballpark Food and Cats Who Pick Pennant Winners*Possibly Dangerous Eating Advice*“I’m not gonna pretend I’m friends with that cow”*Career Origins and Adventures in Editing*The Scoobies Question*The Flooded Baseball Zone*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Quality of Mercy to Rabbits is Not Strained*Shanty Should Have Known Better*Patrick McLellan: I Don’t Need Glasses*The Lima Time Time/Casa Ole Ad/Self-Destructive Personas*Baseball is Unpopular?*Tracking the Last Reliever in the Bullpen*The Astros’ Non-Encore Encore*Is the Astros Lineup Getting Old?*Climbing Carlin’s Ladder*What Level of Engagement Should We Expect From an Entertainer or a Ballplayer?*Craig Biggio: The Declining Years*Jeff Kent: The Disliked Years*Be Careful Who You Root For; You Are Who You Root For*A Dallas Keuchel Prediction*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING:Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Rusie, Brouthers, and Dahlen Dreaming*John McGraw at Bay*Ben Lindbergh: Too Much Audio Friendship/When You Throw Away Your Question-Shot*“Ballroom Dancing” vs. “The Pound is Sinking” vs. “Your Mother Should Know”*The MLB The Show Non-Cover*The Mystery Machine/The MVP Machine*Dexter Fowler Presses the Spacebar*The Votto Advantage*They Don’t Use VCRs Anymore*Virginia, There Is Such a Thing as Player Development*Archaic Wind-Ups*Fresh Eyes*Batting Follow-Through*The Post-Book Refractory Period*Jill Abramson’s Note-Taking*The Machado- and Harper-ness of Everything (Or Lack Thereof)*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Delay of Game, May 27, 1941 at the Polo Grounds*John McGraw II: Don’t Follow Leaders and Their Sandwiches*Mike Bates: What I Learned After the Wedding*The Obligatory Harper-Machado Minutes: They Symbolic Bid*Let Them Entertain Me*The Twins are Restive*Buxton, Sano, and Kepler*Kiriloff is Coming*Free Agent Courting Relationship Status*Brusdar/Sinistar*Goodbye, Robbie Grossman (Who Could Hang a Name on You?)*Spelunking Jake Cave*The LoMo Segue and the Danger of One-Year Veterans*The Joe Genewich Playing-Through-Injury Anecdote*“This Week in Baseball History” Negro Leagues and Players Series*Rube Foster: Literal Giant*Casey Stengel and the Negro National League*Ray Dandridge and a Speech*Rod Carew vs. Calvin Griffith*Emmett Ashford*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: There is a brief reference to abortion and rape, for those who might be triggered. There is also one four-letter word about half an hour in.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Don Newcombe and the Ordeal of Reputation*The Ballad of Shanty Hogan*Sheryl Ring: Baseball and the Legal Mind*Koufax and Drysdale Hold Out*Do Stats Permit Each Team Have a Unique System and Breaches of Fiduciary Duty*Breaking Noah Syndergaard*Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth Go Into the Stands*Offerman and Nathans*Fowler’s Knee*Beanballs*The Death of Houdini*The Gene Tierney Case*Baseball as a Way of Surviving*Transgender Origins*Software and Firmware*The Bathroom Bill Deflection*Baseball Doesn’t Love You Back/Coke is a Drink, Baseball is an Experience*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

Warning: As always when David comes around there is the odd cussword in the air. There is also some dimly frank talk about Robert Kraft’s arrest. Mind the children if you think they’d ask embarrassing questions.

Table of Contents

Hank Aaron and Bowie Kuhn*Bob Gibson and the Man-Mountain*David Roth: Let’s Remember Some Triple-A Journeymen*The Baseball Card Gold Rush*Topps: The Motion Picture*The Frank Bolick Moment*Macho Man Randy Savage and Brad “The Animal” Lesley*Why There Are Unwritten Rules*Why the Patriots are Hated/Why Robert Kraft Was Arrested and Why Should We Care?*Admiring a Dynasty*The Worst Logo in Pro Sports*Birds and Bergs of Florida (Ho! The Common Gallinule!)*The Part About Alligators*Golfing with Alligators*Animals Who Might Want to Eat David Roth*The Moose*Talking Baseball*Team Spending and the Pure Food and Drug Act*The Free Agent Market is Not Okay*Debating Craig Kimbrel*The Braves’ Non-Pursuit of Bryce Harper*Giving the Customer as Little as Possible*A Cheapness That Has Nothing to Do with Money*Look for the Union Label*Goodbyes.


The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Noted Emergency Catching Scenarios of the 20th Century*Tom Seaver at Twilight*Cliff Corcoran: Pirates-Skin Pillbox Hat*Twenty-Six-Man Rosters*What of Position Players Pitching?*Matt Carpenter/Shawn Green/Joe Adcock and Thwarted Desires*The Proposed Three-Batter Minimum*The LOOGY Myth*Choosing Relievers for Pitches, Not Handedness*The Joe Girardi Thing*The Proposed All-Star Voting Run-Off*An All-Star Emeritus Roster Spot*Bryce Harper Signs, the Phillies Make Money*Manipulating Service-Time Manipulation*Looking Forward to the National League*Denigrating Cleveland’s Offseason*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

 

WARNING: There are a few cusswords in this episode. Even Steve utters one! Hide the dog, lest his vocabulary be corrupted!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Advice From Tony Lazzeri*Massacres (and Tony Lazzeri Again)*Tom Breihan: Too Many Super-Hero Films?*Nobody Talks the Way They Talk in Marvel Movies*Captain Marvel vs. The Trolls*Fantasies of Empowerment*The “Watchmen” Perspective as Anti-Entertainment*The Batman Silliness and the Mugger’s Story*Bloodless Violence and the Denazified “Captain America”*Mr. Rodgers Against Super-Heroes*Pause for Baltimore Orioles Cheap Shots That Aren’t So Cheap*I Love Spock Whether He’s Gay or Not*Emotional Storytelling in “Avengers Infinity War”*Characters Without Constituencies*In Defense of The Shadow*Writer Origins, “My Ding-a-Ling,” and “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” Ties It All Together*Coming Attractions*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Last Days of Tony Lazzeri*Tommy John’s First Shoulder Injury*Tyler Kepner: Don’t Fool Yourself; You’d Do This With Your Book Royalties Too*Trout Contract Reax*K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches and the 300 Interviews*Zack Greinke Said No*The Sense of Possibility in Pitching*That Johnny Sain X-Ray Question*Archaic Pitches and Colorful Baseball*Sinkers!*Dan Quisenberry and Tug McGraw*Kent Tekulve’s Cap*Ted Williams Was Wrong About Pitchers*Talking With Mike Mussina*The La Lob*Being the National Baseball Writer for the Times*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dwight Gooden Without Tears*For Want of Steve Lake, Jody Davis Was Lost*Chris Donnelly: Teams Headed in Opposite Directions*The 1986 Mets Disassembled*Dwight Gooden ‘85*The Depths of High Steinbrennerism*We’re So Sorry, Eddie Lee Whitson*Billy Martin in Rapid Decline*“Why Don’t You Like Me, Butch?”*Mr. Carter Goes to New York*How to Doug Sisk and Influence People*Mr. Henderson Also Goes to New York*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

WARNING: When this many guys from New York and New Jersey get together, some swearing is inevitable. It’s just intermittent, so intermittently hide the children.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Eddie’s Opening Day*Opening Day (Featuring Dr. Rick Mohring and Casual Observer)*Big Round Numbers and Leo Durocher on the Radio*Cliff Corcoran, David Roth, Jesse Spector: Tinkers to Evers to I Hate You*Is Florida?*Are the Marlins really worth $1 Billion in the Age of Global Warming?*The Phillies’ Bryce Harper Attendance Bugle*Breaking Free Agency On a Whim*Cleveland Nihilism and Moneyball ambivalence*League Without Pity*Should the Padres Have Signed Manny Machado?*Beards (Keuchel and Kimbrel)*Having Fun with the 2019 Season (Like Hating the Cubs!)*Liberated By/From David Wright*In-Season Happiness vs. Offseason F-ckery*Let’s Remember Some Guys(So Much Rickey)*A Mike Pagliarulo Moment, and Oh, God, Alvaro Espinosa (Where Have All the Bad Players Gone, Long Time Passing?)*Questioning Jeff Mathis/We Love Pat Tabler*Full Circle and Goodbyes to End All Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

SUPPORT THE INFINITE INNING: Visit our Patreon page.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman and guests discuss the game forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?