All About Baseball with Byron Copley

All About Baseball with Byron Copley

By Byron CopleySportsBaseball
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All About Baseball with Byron Copley episodes

  • When Baseball Became Work
    The transition from Little League baseball to playing for my Junior High was abrupt, blunt, and unapologetic. Here's just a sample of the experience, that occurred in the spring of 1970. My no-nonsense, demanding, but fair-minded coach set expectations for our conduct on and off the field that forever changed my perception of the purpose of playing baseball: it was no longer simply to win; it was to do well.
    byroncopley.com
    Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin
    13 min
  • Baseball-Oriented Christmas Gifts
    For the baseball fans in your family, I offer several Christmas-gift suggestions that should delight them. None of them are all that expensive, but I hope that they would become priceless over time. The best gift is that which is unexpected and appreciated. And I expect that few listeners have considered what I am going to propose in this podcast.
    byroncopley.com
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    15 min
  • Baseball Games You Can Play
    As we enter the Holiday Season, it's often a time for fun-filled games as a way to laugh and bond with friends and family. In this podcast, I offer a few games that only require a simple love and knowledge of baseball and a desire to experience it with others.
    Oh, and a little sidetracking on the 1981 MLB baseball strike. It's relevant to the topic.
    Comments: byroncopley.com (or on the platform of your choice)
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    16 min
  • It’s Time to End Interleague Play in MLB
    One way or another, it's time to end interleague play in MLB. Either merge the leagues into one and create even more balance in the scheduled games to blur the lines between the leagues completely, or revert to the days when the two leagues were separate and distinct.
    Comments: byroncopley.com
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    15 min
  • Why is Bunting so Controversial? (Updated Dec 4)
    OOPS. Somehow the unedited version of this podcast was initially posted rather than the edited one. Apologies. So I encourage you to listen to what was intended to be heard.
    For decades, bunting was a staple of a Major League Baseball team's offensive strategy. Now, it's considered a penalizing measure in the effort to score runs. And the abandonment of the bunt in MLB has filtered down into the lower ranks of baseball, even down to Little League. In answering this question, and in providing a counter argument to the controversial nature of bunting, I went down several rabbit holes before finding my way to the surface.
    My bottom line: Bunting should not be controversial.
    Comments: byroncopley.com
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    22 min
  • Ode to My Younger Brother
    On November 22, 2015, my younger brother, Christopher, passed away in his sleep. This podcast commemorates his death and expresses sadness for my not spending more time sharing my passion for baseball with him.
    Music: "Field Grass" Sergei Pavkin
    11 min
  • Lou Whitaker is a First-Ballot Hall of Famer
    This rather rash statement, to some, is axiomatic to me, and I think that the numbers back up my claim. Yet, Whitaker, who played 19 seasons for the Detroit Tigers and saved some of his best seasons for last, was only on the Hall of Fame ballot once, where he received only 2.9% of all ballots cast. I make the case that the Baseball Writers Association of America snubbed Whitaker, for reasons that only the Writers know, because, in my opinion, it is the most-egregious Hall of Fame snub to date.
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    11 min
  • Pining for the Wood Bat
    There are inherent and lasting advantages for youth baseball players to use wood bats, which have been supplanted by the proliferation of metal and composite bats. This podcast enumerates those advantages, and advocates the value of the experience of stepping to the plate with a bat made of wood -- an experience that every youth player should have.
    Credit to King Sports for helping to define those advantages.
    https://playksports.com/blog/why-youth-baseball-players-should-embrace-wood-bats/
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    17 min
  • How Did They Last This Long in the Major Leagues?
    As a counterpoint to an earlier podcast, "The 5,000-5,999 Plate Appearance MLB All-Time Team: 1960-2023," I flipped that idea on its head and researched MLB players, using Fangraphs and Baseball Reference, with more than 3,500 plate appearances and who consistently "underachieved" at the plate and in the field yet still managed to remain in the Major Leagues for 10+ years. I then selected an "all-time" team -- by position -- for players whose careers took place from 1960 to 2024.
    More details as to my methods and metrics are in the podcast. Thank you for listening.
    Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin
    16 min
  • “Miscues” and Misfortune: New York Yankees
    The top of the 5th inning of World Series Game 5 reinforced the capricious and chaotic nature of baseball, compounded by chance and circumstance, amplified by critics who, according to Theodore Roosevelt, are "cold and timid." This podcast takes a dispassionate look at this inning and offers a hopefully empathic view of it.
    Music: "Field Grass" Sergei Pavkin
    11 min

About All About Baseball with Byron Copley

From the publisher's feed

A podcast where baseball is the main character, a supporting player, or a silent partner. The possibilities are vast and varied.