We snuck in the baseball math right up top -- 60 games shortened season x 2.7 = 162 game regular season. But with the Marlins COVID-19 outbreak, will we get past the first week? MLB’s health protocols start to fall apart as active players, initially Juan Soto of the Nationals and Matt Davidson of the Reds, and now a huge swath of the Miami Marlins, test positive smack in the middle of playing games against other teams, on the road and at home. And still the games continue. This, after a second w...
Jul 28, 2020•59 min•Season 4Ep. 148
We celebrate the 4th annual Women in Baseball Week by talking to Dr. Kat Williams about her new book, Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez: The Improbable Life of a Cuban-American Baseball Star . Kat is a professor of American history at Marshall University, board president of the International Women’s Baseball Center , and author of The All-American Girls after the AAGPBL: How Playing Pro Ball Shaped Their Lives. We examine what it means to view a life through the lens of sports identity. Through Kat’s telli...
Jul 22, 2020•49 min•Season 4Ep. 147
We celebrate the 4th annual Women in Baseball Week by talking to Dr. Kat Williams about her new book, Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez: The Improbable Life of a Cuban-American Baseball Star . We examine what it means to view a life through the lens of sports identity, and celebrate the work of the International Women’s Baseball Center , where Kat is Board president. (The full interview with Kat will be released as a separate episode) MLB’s testing results are markedly better this week, both in number and ...
Jul 21, 2020•59 min•Season 4Ep. 146
The only spitting currently allowed in the MLB is into vials for mandatory testing. Pottymouth’s musings about the total volume of saliva this collects on a daily basis aside, the testing protocols are failing in a number of ways. Intake testing wasn’t actually completed until a week after the league announced the results, and an additional 17 positive tests came from the first round of monitor tests *after* players and staff completed intake and were approved to enter training facilities. MLB c...
Jul 14, 2020•53 min•Season 4Ep. 145
Instead, we have the sh*#show that is an MLB testing protocol that could not factor in the 4th of July holiday. The As, Cards, Nats, and others cancelled workouts because test results had not arrived. In the case of the As , the tests themselves were still sitting at the outgoing airport. Angels and Yankees players had to administer their own swab tests as the testing staff were no-shows. Sean Doolittle, patron saint of the show, provides the quote of the season as well as the news that PPE prom...
Jul 07, 2020•57 min•Season 4Ep. 144
Here comes MLB, unless it doesn’t. We catch you up on what the shortened season schedule may look like, how the rosters will work (until they don’t), the new game rules, and the protocols that work until players leave the facility and are left to their own best judgements. Or in the case of Texas, the shaky judgement of the Rangers front office and the Governor. Pottymouth gets international attention for baseball boyfriends during breakfast baseball with the CPBL. The Lions score 21 runs for ou...
Jun 30, 2020•55 min•Season 4Ep. 143
After all that back and forth, looks like the MLB plan agreed upon in March is moving forward. The MLBPA held their ground , and now it’s a matter of health protocols. The COVID-19 outbreak affecting at least 40 players and staff has shut down facilities in Arizona and Florida, and raised many more questions. Some independent leagues plan to start up with much less fuss, so you may get some local baseball after all. Addison Frickin’ Russell gets picked up by the KBO Heroes and we are given anoth...
Jun 23, 2020•43 min•Season 4Ep. 142
The sh*t hits the fan as MLBPA calls MLB’s “we are 100% going to have a season this year” bluff and says they are ready to play just tell us where and when . The League instead counters with a requirement that players waive their rights to legal claims against them. With all the instances of bad faith on the part of the owners, the remaining question is will Rob Manfred resign or be asked to leave? Meanwhile, Florida is bursting with sports bubbles, hosting the NBA, the MLS, and the WNBA as they...
Jun 16, 2020•45 min•Season 4Ep. 141
The world is still on fire and we acknowledge that by discussing how the world of sports is responding. Joey Votto shares a journey, Drew Brees gets a very public education and stands by it, Roger Goodell says some of the right things, albeit a few years too late, and there’s a campaign to remove Marge Schott’s name from the facilities at the University of Cincinnati. Adam Jones demonstrates in Japan. Lorenzo Cain , Josh Bell, and others talk police accountability with the president of the Negro...
Jun 09, 2020•44 min•Season 4Ep. 140
The world is burning and we intend to “stick to sports” the way we always do, in the context of social justice. Andrew McCutcheon (“I don’t want pity. I want justice.”), Dexter Fowler, Marcus Stroman, Lucas Giolito , NCiB Patron Saint Sean Doolittle and other players make their voices heard. We talk with Bobby Coon of the “ Pulling Tarp ” podcast about the present and the future of the Minor Leagues: players being cut loose , players being paid or not depending on the team and access to David Pr...
Jun 03, 2020•44 min•Season 4Ep. 139
Don’t get us wrong, we here at NCiB love us some Brian Dozier , and the community building he is doing in his neighborhood would be drink-worthy adorable if it wasn’t in the middle of a frickin’ pandemic. But it is, and it’s a great example of why a shortened MLB season outside of a BioBubble is way too risky. Plans are moving forward, with the players’ union responding to the health and safety protocol proposal, Governors weighing in on letting baseball happen under strict guidelines (and sneak...
May 26, 2020•50 min•Season 4Ep. 138
You should watch the finals of the First Annual Bump Bailey Wax Pack Hero Tournament of Awesome . No reason, other than Patti, Pottymouth, Jose Canseco, and a Golden Pickle. 67 pages of MLB’s proposed health protocols later, we are sure that spitting and showers are discouraged, but still don’t know what will happen if multiple players test positive for COVID-19. We think it is good news that the testing plan is designed to result in a surplus of tests to be provided to health care workers in ML...
May 19, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 137
Patti and the Pottymouth get a little weepy over Mother’s Day. Pottymouth over the CPBL mascot-themed card drawn by her artist daughter, and Patti for clean gutters, many mimosas, and Adley Rutschman . We start with laying out the rumored plan for bringing back MLB , and poke it full of holes like a biobubble over a spring training facility. We wave some flags about the presumed demise of the minor leagues, and go just the way you would think about owners wanting to cut player salaries even more...
May 12, 2020•49 min•Season 4Ep. 136
Fueled by Isolation Pale Ale brewed by Mr. Pottymouth, your hosts learn about Korean baseball from Jeeho Yoo , KBO reporter for Yonhap News Agency in Seoul. Jeeho shares his take on the culture of baseball in South Korea, the plan for keeping players, media, and staff safe and healthy, and just a few digs on the Orioles. Much as we like the sound of watching KBO, we are not giving up our new dedication to #breakfastbaseball with the CPBL. It turns out Patti and the Pottymouth are good at this Dr...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 135
Or Lion swag, if you’re Pottymouth. NCiB talks Taiwanese baseball with Daniel Shih, sports director at @tstvsports and host of “Rants With Danny Shih.” The CPBL is the only live baseball happening worldwide, and as such is simultaneously playing to empty ballparks and thousands of international Twitter followers. We talk teams (Patti and Danny back the Rakuten Monkeys , and Pottymouth is a Uni Lion for Life), the culture and history of baseball in Taiwan, and how to get Monkey and Lion merch to ...
Apr 28, 2020•55 min•Season 4Ep. 134
10,000 employees of Major League Baseball, from players and front office staff to ushers and your friends that sell you your ballpark beer, have volunteered to participate in a Coronavirus Antibodies stud y that may help shape public policy. The study is not designed to bring baseball back any faster, but it will paint a picture of the spread of the virus across locations, economic status, race, and medical histories. Anthony Fauci, America’s favorite doctor, came out as pro-BioBubble in an inte...
Apr 21, 2020•47 min•Season 4Ep. 133
In the final installment of our score keeping trilogy, Blake grades Patti and Pottymouth’s homework (totally on a curve), and answers the hard questions -- many of which could be solved by larger squares in which to note plays. If you haven’t done your homework yet, get your scorecard and score the September 3, 2019 Nats vs Mets game . See if you have the same questions! In the post-apocalyptic world, baseball is played in an Arizona-based BioBubble , and basketball in Vegas . What could possibl...
Apr 14, 2020•54 min•Season 4Ep. 132
Pencils and scorecards are ready for Part 2 of “Scorekeeping with Blake.” Our brave teacher leads us through basic scoring notations and setting up our scorecards , and suddenly we are re-living the Nats/Brewers Wildcard game. It takes so much longer to score that Juan Soto run-down in the 8th than it does to watch it happen . Blake assigns us homework of scoring the September 3rd Nats vs. Mets game , to be graded on the next episode. After a brief Sports Movie Review conversation in which Potty...
Apr 07, 2020•59 min•Season 4Ep. 131
Patti and the Pottymouth are excited to start a new segment today: Scorekeeping with Blake. Dedicated scorekeeper Blake has been with us in Section 408 of Nats Park for two years, alerting us to immaculate innings, impending no-nos, and catching us up on what we missed on that last beer run. In this episode, Blake gives us some history on the art of keeping book, some context for why fans do it, and why the official scorekeeper wields a lot of power. Next week we will have a lesson on the mechan...
Mar 31, 2020•45 min•Season 4Ep. 130
On the day the Save America’s Pastime Act passed, allowing teams to pay minor league players below minimum wage, More Than Baseball was born. Former players Jeremy Wolf and Slade Heathcott, along with current player Simon Rosenblum-Larson, created an organization to make sure minor leaguers have what they need to succeed. At the meta level, their job is to make people love baseball by helping communities see the value the players on their minor league team bring to them. At a basic level, More T...
Mar 26, 2020•38 min•Season 4Ep. 129
Even a Beermobile delivery is not enough to make up for Patti and Pottymouth not being in the same room, but nevertheless, we persisted. We celebrated the new addition to the Pottymouth family, Eris Israel Filpo . Through Adopt a Minor Leaguer, the Pottymouths have pledged to help out Eris, a player in the Rangers organization, currently at home in the Dominican Republic. Did you hear that there is baseball medical news that is not pandemic related? Chris Sale to have Tommy John surgery and Aaro...
Mar 24, 2020•31 min•Season 4Ep. 128
Patti and the Pottymouth and their socially-distanced Smart Baseball Brains bring you the baseball state of the pandemic. The eight week delay , minimum, to the start of the season has clear implications for fans, but what does it mean for paychecks for major and minor league players, umpires, and hourly facilities workers ? How does it affect service time and dates for incentives and bonuses? The NBA and NHL are modelling good league-level behavior and it is time for Baseball to step up too. Pl...
Mar 17, 2020•45 min•Season 3Ep. 127
Stop touching your face. It would be irresponsible not to discuss the intersection of the coronavirus and baseball, so we do. Games have not yet been affected, but some teams are requiring players at Spring Training to pre-sign baseballs and cards under controlled conditions in the clubhouse, to be distributed to fans, rather than sharing pens and passing objects back and forth. Clean club houses and chartered planes will protect young, healthy players , but good luck finding 6’ of space between...
Mar 10, 2020•48 min•Season 3Ep. 126
In one month, Michael Rivers matched up dozens of financially-struggling minor league ballplayers with individuals willing and able to commit to a seasons’ worth of care packages and gift cards, and he’s still going strong. In this episode, we talk with Michael about how “ Adopt a MiLB Player ” began and how fans of the game can help out until MLB fixes its labor policies. Our boyfriends this week include a couple of Baby Bombers, Gleybor Torres and Miguel Andújar of the Yankees. After a you-kne...
Mar 03, 2020•52 min•Season 3Ep. 125
Tangents this week include Eric Thames’ arms , O. Henry, and Ironman’s math skills, which it turns out are better than Patti’s. Spring Training games have started yet there is still Astros scandal detritus to clean up, so much so that Rob Manfred doesn’t have time to tell Atlanta, “Stop using the Tomahawk Chop.” Twins boyfriends include Cheech and Chong cosplayers /contact hitters Luis Arraez and Willians “La Tortuga” Astudillo . Closer to home, Pottymouth hangs on to future MVP Juan Soto as her...
Feb 25, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 124
Andrew Whitener is the head strength and conditioning coach at DC Dynasty , and owner of District Performance . Coach Whitey talks with Patti and the Pottymouth about the best hour of his week, the time spent training a group of players from DC Girls Baseball . He works with the girls on specific baseball conditioning and gives them the tools for lifelong health and fitness. The girls give him a different perspective on what it means to be a baseball player. The conversation touches on the impor...
Feb 20, 2020•30 min•Season 3Ep. 123
Sorry not sorry = words of House MLB, followed by “Let’s just move on.” Did the Red Sox really do their due diligence around Alex Verdugo ? Police reports indicate otherwise. But he just wants to move on. Astros owner Jim Crane apologized by stating he shouldn’t be held accountable. Just wants to move on. Former Astros apologize much better than current Astros, who can’t seem to stop talking, but just want to move on. Dusty Baker makes “ premeditated retaliation ” a thing. Thank the baseball god...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 122
New information on the Astros cheating scandal implicates interns, Excel, and Harry Potter. Were the right people punished? Still not over, friends, still not over. At the time of recording, the Mookie Betts trade remained up in the air, leading us to agree with Justin Turner that journalists shoving decorum to the side to get a scoop can make a real mess of things. Speaking of messes, the Player’s Union and Joc Pederson got the shaft from MLB and the Arbitration Panel, who forced Pederson to ne...
Feb 11, 2020•42 min•Season 3Ep. 121
We get way into the weeds around the Astros cheating scandal and cite a few studies trying to get at what players were doing what and when and can we ever know. Dusty Baker riding into town to clean up the Clubhouse Culture gives us hope. Pottymouth channels her inner Whitney to introduce her new Cleveland boyfriend, that “big happy chunk of ball destruction” Franmil Reyes . Patti starts her Oscar Mercado profile with a Christmas morning in Cartagena story, and ends it with a Superman catch. The...
Feb 04, 2020•47 min•Season 3Ep. 120
Pottymouth does math (!) to show how NCiB once and forever baseball boyfriend Omar Vizquel will get voted into the Hall of Fame *next* year. Maybe. New Mets manager Luis Rojas has an excellent pedigree and a deep history with the team. Patti and the Pottymouth pull out their Mom cred to jump on Scott Boras’ assertions that the Astros players don’t need to apologize, and Justin Turner wonders why Dallas Keuchel, who didn’t even hit, was the one who did. Rep. Bobby Rush says Congress as an “ethica...
Jan 28, 2020•41 min•Season 3Ep. 119
