The Infinite Inning - podcast cover

The Infinite Inning

Steven Goldmanwww.spreaker.com
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'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?
Last refreshed:
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Download Metacast podcast app
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

The Infinite Inning 106: He Didn’t Fall Off a Horse

WARNING: Baseball’s magic word is said at about 3:30. Notify your congressman. TABLE OF CONTENTS “My Kingdom for Jones”*Requiem for Bugs*Jesse Spector: All the Times We Broke Bones Not Falling Off of Horses (Yoenis Cespedes)*The Mighty Vipers Song*Jacob de Grom Isn’t Real (“Who is Yoenis Cespedes?”)*So What if it WAS a Horse? *The Smell of Flushing Bay and Elizabeth, NJ*The Texas Rangers Are Rarely Good but are Often Interesting*Joey Gallo Appreciation Day*The Days of Wine and 40 Home Runs Being...

May 28, 20191 hr 53 min

Inifinte Inning 105: This Idea of Protecting Women

TABLE OF CONTENTS The Weak Spot on the Ballclub*Ian Desmond and Other Tales of the Replacement Level*Diana Moskovitz: Caster Semenya: Struggling to Sum Up a Complex Matter*Testosterone and Michael Phelps’ Arms*Fear of Men (in Women’s Events)*“Penis Panic”*The Complexity of the Human Body*The East German Example*A Strange Apathy Towards Forced Medicating*“You Are Not a Woman”*Should There Be a Women’s Sports Category?*“Tradition!”*Covering Four Hurricanes in One Season*Goodbyes. THE INFINITE INNI...

May 21, 20191 hr 45 min

Infinite Inning 104:Craig Calcaterra is Mexico-Bound

TABLE OF CONTENTS All-Stars in the Naked City*Chicago, 1886: Cap Anson and the Haymarket Eight*Craig Calcaterra: The Social Cubs*Famous For Nothing*“Move to Mexico”*Bat Flip and Unwritten Rules*Dated Ringtones*The Complacent Team of the Year Award (The Cleveland Indians)*Expansion and the Non-Shortage of Pitchers*Nick Markakis 3000, Jack Morris, Bert Blyleven*Hall of Fame Debates, Prospects, and the End of a Long-Running Series*Arguments Make Friends*Goodbyes. THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All ep...

May 13, 20191 hr 50 min

Infinite Inning 103: They Saved Bill James’ Head!

TABLE OF CONTENTS The God of Dan Brouthers*We All Get Old, Miguel Cabrera*Sean Forman: Baseball-Reference Changed My Life*What if Roberto Clemente’s Hit Total Needed to Be Revised? (The “Mr. 3000” Scenario)*bWAR and fWAR and Some Other WARs*Old Fielders and Old Fielding Stats*Gratuitous Derek Jeter Time*Protein Folding as Career Prep*Stalking Baseball-Reference*Giant Bill James Head*Win Shares vs. WAR*Adding More Detail to Baseball-Reference*FBref (Soccer)!*Stats That Tell Stories*The Pele Page ...

May 06, 20191 hr 37 min

Infinite Inning 102: A Blue Jays Journey of Personal Discovery

TABLE OF CONTENTS Bill Dahlen Brings You Flowers*The Infinite Inning Revenge Plot*Scott Sanderson II: A Rejoinder*Andrew Stoeten: It’s Been a Long Time Since 1993*Loyal to the Players, Not to the Team*Calling Up Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.*First- and Second-Guessing Josh Donaldson Decisions*Kevin Pillar Returns*Projecting Guerrero*The Curse of Cito Gaston*The Randal Grichuk Extension*In Praise of Smoak*Up From Drunken Blogging*Growing Up in Public II*Beatwriter Acceptance and Denial (Called Out in th...

Apr 29, 20191 hr 30 min

Infinite Inning 101: Growing Up in Public

WARNING: One cussword. Just one. It’s gonna be okay. TABLE OF CONTENTS On Butterflies and Baseball Injuries*Scott Sanderson’s Hot Dog*Bill Baer: Curating Hardball Talk*The Hate-Readers*Shy On the Internet*We’re So Sorry, Ryan Howard*The Real Meaning of “Stick to Sports”*The Formerly Anti-Analytic Phillies*Hall of Fame Baseball Writer Contretemps*Beginner’s Mind in Baseball Writing*You Don’t Have to Explain WAR Anymore*Trying is the New Market Inefficiency*Are the 2019 Phillies for Real?*The 1980...

Apr 22, 20191 hr 42 min

Infinite Inning 100: The Million Dollar Quartet

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 Attendan...

Apr 16, 20192 hr 11 min

Infinite Inning 099: Why Don’t You Like Me, Butchie?

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. TH...

Apr 08, 20191 hr 43 min

Infinite Inning 098: Intelligence, Will, and Creativity

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 L...

Mar 22, 20191 hr 43 min

Infinite Inning 097: New Westerns and Old Characters

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. Rod...

Mar 17, 20191 hr 52 min

Infinite Inning 096: Tom Seaver at Twilight and Other Stories

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 S...

Mar 09, 20191 hr 41 min

Infinite Inning 095: I Was Somewhat Here, Johnny Damon

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*...

Mar 02, 20191 hr 59 min

The Infinite Inning 094: A Reasonably Foreseeable Episode

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...

Feb 25, 20192 hr 3 min

Infinite Inning 093: Trying, Failing, Learning

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*...

Feb 17, 20191 hr 51 min

The Infinite Inning 092: The MVP Machine Dreams of Second Chances

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 Refr...

Feb 08, 20191 hr 49 min

Infinite Inning 091: You Are Who You Root For

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 Carefu...

Feb 02, 20191 hr 16 min

The Infinite Inning 090: Skippy Roberge and the Soup-Eaters

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 Ad...

Jan 25, 20191 hr 30 min

The Infinite Inning 089: The Cardinals Never Get Enough Credit and the Mets Neve

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 Disappointmen...

Jan 19, 20191 hr 52 min

Infinite Inning 088: Baseball Willing vs. Baseball Able

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 P...

Jan 11, 20191 hr 33 min

Infinite Inning 087: Towards a Philosophy of Underbills

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 C...

Jan 05, 20192 hr

Infinite Inning #86: You Light Up My Splurg

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 Patreo...

Dec 29, 20181 hr 21 min

Infinite Inning 085: A Man Can’t Worry and Hit Home Runs

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 Stop...

Dec 22, 20181 hr 40 min

Infinite Inning 084: The Phillies Can't Hurt Me Anymore

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, And...

Dec 14, 20181 hr 45 min

Infinite Inning 083: We Have Suzyn Waldman and Our Values

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*Partner...

Dec 08, 20181 hr 50 min

The Infinite Inning 082: Who Mourns for the Nightlife in Babylon?

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?...

Dec 02, 20181 hr 32 min

Infinite Inning 081: When the Bass Comes Falling From the Sky

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...

Nov 17, 20181 hr 47 min

Infinite Inning 080: The Germans Might Have a World For It

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...

Nov 10, 20181 hr 45 min

Infinite Inning 079: The Punch in the Crotch Revisited

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 G...

Nov 03, 20181 hr 48 min

Infinite Inning 078: Take a Stat Song and Make It Better

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 INFINIT...

Oct 28, 20181 hr 49 min

Infinite Inning 077: Meet the New Giants, Same as the Old Giants

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 ...

Oct 20, 20181 hr 43 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android