Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about one of Ben’s most laborious baseball-writing experiences, answer listener emails about playing MLB games at minor league affiliates’ parks, how scouting reports affect the times-through-the-order penalty, and what they would do if they discovered that Roberto Clemente had been credited with one hit too many, share a Stat Blast (36:20) about times when the best hitters in each league (and best pitchers in each league) played in the same city, and then (46...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about FanGraphs adding fancy “photograph” technology and whether Dick Monfort is any better at collective bargaining than he is at running the Rockies, then discuss the pioneering lives and careers of 2022 Hall of Fame inductees/honorees Bud Fowler and Jack Graney and Graney’s dog mascot Larry, with detours into Yankees mascot Dandy, whether dogs are eligible for the Mascot Hall of Fame and, yes, whether bat boys and bat girls violate child labor laws. Audio i...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the election of David Ortiz , the ballot banishments of Barry Bonds , Roger Clemens , and Curt Schilling , and the rest of the Hall of Fame voting results (including Scott Rolen ’s auspicious surge), react to reports about the latest labor talks (with an emphasis on the problems with using public WAR metrics to determine pre-arbitration bonuses), wonder why the Giants avoided the Kevin Gausman market, marvel at the virtues of throwing fastballs right dow...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 27 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the demise of the Rays’ two-city, split-season scheme, Carlos Correa hiring Scott Boras as his agent, and Brandon Gomes of the Dodgers becoming the latest ex-player to ascend to GM, then (31:18) talk about numerous listener nominations of baseball events that predated the podcast that would have made great fodder for Effectively Wild, before closing with a Stat Blast (1:05:20) about the biggest intra-season gaps between Triple-A and MLB performance (plus...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley lean into the lockout by exploring two antecedents to today’s MLB labor stalemate. First, they banter with Emma Baccellieri of Sports Illustrated about whether the Hall of Fame Vote Tracker has helped or hurt Hall of Fame conversations, then talk to Emma about the Players’ League, a short-lived but groundbreaking 19th-century rival to the National League that was founded by and for players, touching on the origins of the reserve clause, the Players’ League’s rapid ri...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr 32 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley reconnect with former cohost Sam Miller to discuss what he’s been up to since he stopped working for ESPN in December 2020, how the 2021 Giants rekindled his fandom, the pros and cons of paying attention to projections, what (if anything) he’s missed about covering baseball professionally, his plans for the future, the virtues of trying new things, doing dishes, and more. Audio intro : Donovan, “ Skip-A-Long Sam ” Audio outro : Ohio Players, “ Here Today and Gone Tom...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs writer Ben Clemens banter about a few details of MLB’s latest labor proposal to the players, the conclusion of and possible confounding factors behind a Bill James study about how switching teams affects a player’s chances of Hall of Fame induction, another historic hire of a woman in baseball, and a prospective “Lab League” logo, then (22:52) extend a cherished podcast tradition by conducting the ninth annual Effectively Wild Minor League Free Agent Draf...
Jan 15, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a bargaining meeting between MLB and the MLBPA that reportedly produced little progress toward a deal, the odds of a punctual start to the season, the retirement of Jon Lester and their lasting fascination with his pickoff-throw yips, a familiarity penalty for relievers who face the same team multiple times within a postseason series, what the mysteriously rapid decline of Jimmie Foxx says about the value of injury information that we generally lack, and...
Jan 14, 2022•1 hr 30 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rachel Balkovec becoming the first female manager in affiliated ball, Genevieve Beacom making her pro debut in Australia, and other women breaking baseball boundaries, then (13:20) conclude their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus and Rockies catcher AJ Lewis to discuss Rob’s research into racial bias in scouting and player promotions, the lack of ...
Jan 11, 2022•1 hr 24 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley continue their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Mains of Baseball Prospectus to banter about ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball broadcasting plans and discuss Rob’s studies about competitive balance, team mobility and inequality, starter vs. reliever performance, the magnitude and history of the times-through-the-order penalty, the universal DH, injuries, and more. Then (50:25) they bring o...
Jan 08, 2022•1 hr 34 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley continue their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by talking to Patrick Brennan about his studies on assessing player development at the major and minor league levels, the challenges of evaluating player development, the data he wishes he had, the most and least successful player development organizations, his work as the director of analytics for the Kansas State baseball team, analyzing pitch sequencing, an...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Fanatics purchasing Topps and MLB Network reportedly parting ways with Ken Rosenthal because of his criticism of Rob Manfred. Then (27:36) they kick off a series of episodes about measuring difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by talking to Cameron Grove about translating his study of astrophysics into baseball research, assessing pitchers’ stuff, the cause of the time through the order penalty, pitcher deception, catcher game-calling, tracking and...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr 52 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Ben’s decision regarding his Hall of Fame ballot, and how to handle Hall of Fame voting in the future. Then (38:05) they complete their series of discussions of Korean baseball drama Stove League by breaking down the last four episodes (13-16) and reflecting on the series as a whole. Audio intro : Blood Red Shoes, “ Count Me Out ” Audio outro : Sloan, “ Your Dreams Have Come True ” Link to latest HoF election projection Link to 2016 Ortiz comments Link to 202...
Jan 01, 2022•1 hr 44 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the retirement of Kyle Seager and the lockout implications of a recent report about player payrolls, then discuss an assortment of listener-nominated, team-centric topics that they had previously overlooked on the podcast in 2021. Audio intro : Spooky Tooth, “ Kyle ” Audio outro : Hockey Dad, “ I Missed Out ” Link to list of most HR in final season Link to Seager ovation video Link to payroll report Link to story about Ryu and Manoah Link to Korean story...
Dec 31, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their holidays, how the omicron variant is affecting sports and personal decisions, and how analyzing COVID case counts is (kind of) akin to analyzing baseball stats, discuss the pace and prominence of signings of former major leaguers by KBO and NPB teams, the results of 2021 interleague play, and Shohei Ohtani ’s showing in a New York Times quiz about notable people from this year, and answer listener emails about minor league signings during the locko...
Dec 29, 2021•1 hr 39 min
Ben Lindbergh concludes a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to singer-songwriter Dan Bern about his origins as a baseball fan and musician, rooting for different teams at different times, his songwriting process, sneaking into Wrigley Field, composing his first baseball song, the tools of his trade, what makes a song a baseball song, the most fitting subjects for baseball songs, the best baseball s...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Ben Lindbergh continues a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to painter Graig Kreindler about Noah Syndergaard , Nick Adenhart , and the best way to pay tribute to past players via uniform number, how Graig got started as a baseball fan and artist, how he began to unify the two hobbies into a calling and career, the combination of inherent ability and practice, the tools of his trade, parting with c...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Ben Lindbergh kicks off a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in mediums other than writing or podcasting by talking to YouTuber Bailey Freeman of Foolish Baseball about the Mets hiring Buck Showalter and the challenge of evaluating managers, how many bases Rickey Henderson would steal today, Bailey’s origins as a baseball fan and video maker, his process for picking topics and producing videos, watching videos vs. reading articles or listening to podcast...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the United States of Shohei Ohtani and Baseball-Reference player page popularity, a perplexing fact about fielding percentage, time-shifted baseball (and watching only wins), learning to love a sport later in life, whether pruney fingers would be a performance-enhancer for pitchers, the great rosin bag battle of the 1920s and ’30s, sketching Mike Trout , and more. Audio intro : Sparks, “ Popularity ” Audio outro : The Electric Prunes, “ It’s Not Fair ” L...
Dec 17, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how baseball writers are coping with the lockout, revisit the burst of spending that preceded its start, and marvel at the wide variety of Hall of Fame ballots that have surfaced so far. Then (19:01) they talk to Sean Gibson and Ted Knorr , two of the founders of the 42 for 21 Committee, about getting greater recognition for Negro Leaguers and other stars of Black baseball, their efforts to improve the Hall of Fame induction process, and the most deservi...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 26 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the reasons for and consequences of MLB’s lack of compelling record chases (à la Alex Ovechkin’s in the NHL, Stephen Curry’s in the NBA, and Tom Brady’s in the NFL). Then (21:16) they talk to Sam Dingman and Mac Montandon , the hosts of The Rumor , a just-completed six-part narrative podcast about a rumor that a fight between Cal Ripken Jr. and Kevin Costner caused the Orioles to cancel a game to preserve Ripken’s consecutive-games streak, touching on th...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the slow drip of baseball news during the lockout, why MLB’s competitive balance gets a bad rap, the Rays’ historic collective minor league winning percentage, and the difficulty of evaluating individual defense in the age of Statcast-based and non-Statcast-based metrics. Then (33:09) they continue their series of discussions of Korean baseball drama Stove League by breaking down Episodes 9–12. (Note: No spoilers beyond Episode 12.) Audio intro : Superch...
Dec 11, 2021•1 hr 42 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to Adam Darowski , the baseball historian, Hall of Fame scholar, and Head of User Experience at Sports Reference , about working on the Baseball-Reference website, creating the Hall of Stats , the Hall of Stats vs. the Hall of Fame, the appeal of 19th-century baseball, the Hall of Fame elections of Buck O’Neil , Minnie Miñoso , Gil Hodges , Tony Oliva , Jim Kaat , and Bud Fowler , another near miss for Dick Allen , deserving candidates who weren’t on a ballot, t...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about listener responses to their earlier conversation about the proper pluralization of “hit by pitch,” then (11:41) bring on Bradford William Davis and Dr. Meredith Wills to discuss the reporting and research that revealed that two types of baseballs were used during the 2021 MLB regular season, as well as the differences between balls, players’ and teams’ reactions to the news, whether MLB’s ball problems stem from incompetence or conspiracy, how the league...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about which teams have the most unfinished roster construction to complete post-lockout and the league’s and union’s dueling playoff format proposals, then answer listener emails about what Wander Franco would make as a free agent today, a plan to combat tanking, and the proper pluralization of “hit by pitch,” Stat Blast about Rich Hill and Scott Service , and meet two major leaguers, the Nationals’ Joan Adon and the Cubs’ Tyler Payne . Audio intro : Leftover ...
Dec 04, 2021•1 hr 31 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the beginning of the lockout, which marks MLB’s ninth work stoppage and the first in 26 years. They also discuss a flurry of buzzer-beating transactions, including the Dodgers re-signing Chris Taylor , the Cubs signing Marcus Stroman , the Brewers and Red Sox swapping Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hunter Renfroe , and the Red Sox remaking their rotation with Rich Hill and James Paxton . Then (32:13) they bring on Indiana University professor and FanGraphs contr...
Dec 03, 2021•1 hr 23 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the onslaught of transaction activity leading up to the expiration of the CBA, touching on why they and others misread how fast the market would move, why players and teams have done deals so quickly and how the burst of spending could affect labor talks, the group of non-playoff teams that are trying to win, the Rangers and Mets pushing in their chips, the futures of Corey Seager , Marcus Semien , and Javier Báez , Max Scherzer ’s record-breaking contract, K...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the Rays signing 20-year-old Wander Franco to a long-term extension, rapid movement in the starting-pitcher market (capped off by the Cardinals signing Steven Matz and Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeting out his reaction), and the White Sox inking Kendall Graveman . Then (36:41) they continue their series of discussions of Korean baseball drama Stove League by breaking down Episodes 5–8. (Note: No spoilers beyond Episode 8.) Audio intro : Willie Nelson, " I ...
Nov 25, 2021•1 hr 40 min
Ben Lindbergh talks to baseball writer and romance novelist KD Casey about Unwritten Rules , her new romance novel about catchers and catcher framing, focusing on her history as a fan and writer, the intersection of sports and romance fiction, fictionalizing MLB teams, delivering details about baseball without alienating readers who aren’t fans, the ethics of dating a teammate, why MLB still hasn’t had a publicly out active player, the legacy of Glenn Burke , whether it’s harder to write basebal...
Nov 24, 2021•1 hr 28 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on an earlier conversation about ERA vs. FIP and banter about Seiya Suzuki being posted, Noah Syndergaard ’s explanation of why he left the Mets, the rumored Sandy Alcantara extension and the future of the Marlins, how Canada’s new policy about unvaccinated athletes could affect the Blue Jays, and a dirty punch thrown by Willians Astudillo . Then (26:49) they discuss whether and how Ben, who’s eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame for the first time, should...
Nov 23, 2021•1 hr 32 min
