All About Baseball with Byron Copley

The title says it all: I express my gratitude to all who have made this podcast possible, including Almighty God, my creator. I also offer a preview of three future episodes. May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy, good food, and fine company.

byroncopley.com https://byroncopley.com/

Link to Tinker to Evers to Chance Book Review: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo24905418.html

Music: "Field Grass," Sergei Pavkin

A bike accident, a dislocated index finger, and a suggestion from my wife prompted me to dig into the life and career of Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, who suffered a sudden and gruesome amputation of his right index finger at the tender age of five (or seven, depending on the source). As a result of this, Mordeaci Brown, a Hall of Famer and considered in everyone's top-30 list of all-time pitchers, delivered the baseball to home plate over 14 professional seasons as no pitcher did before or since -- or ever will again.

byroncopley.com https://byroncopley.com/

Mordeaci Brown warming up https://youtu.be/dYHFUVpSxhA?si=Gow6vAliCzx7DQG7

Mordeaci Brown Foundation https://www.mordecaibrown.com/

Music: Field Grass, By Sergei Pavkin

With the recent indictments of Cleveland Guardians' pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luiz Ortiz, for throwing baseballs in the dirt to win bets for their partners, it appears that MLB is doing all it can to sweep this situation under the rug by taking the tepid measure of limiting the amount of money someone can make on prop bets like this to $200. But, with FanDuel as an important sponsor, MLB would rather make half-measures like this instead of eliminating the very possibility of making these bets at all.

www.byroncopley.com

Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

This Latin phrase, translated to In English, means "after, therefore because of it." This fallacy in logic is all too often applied to the outcome of sporting events . It's been never more prevalent than in the circumstances of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series where Isiah Kiner-Falefa was forced out at home by a literal inch, denying the Blue Jays what would have been the winning run and a World Series championship.

This podcast reminds us that asking "what if" (Kiner-Falefa had taken a bigger lead) introduces an entirely new chain of events that no one can predict. Yet these same people blame his decision to stay close to third base -- as directed by his coaches -- as the cause of the Blue Jays losing Game 7.

Naturally, this episode also mentions how I met my wife of 42 years and why the Titanic sank.

www.byroncopley.com

Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Titanic: Ship of Dreams Podcast

Not always. In this podcast, I identify two different 2025 "all-star" lineups by position -- one is stocked with underpaid players and the other with overpaid players. The point: demonstrate that owners are compensating many players based on past achievements and future promise instead of present performance, which is all that really matters. That owners, as explained by the Peter Brand character in the movie "Moneyball" are still "misjudging their players." Using the advance metric of Weighted Run Created Plus, (wRC+), I compare players making multi-millions with players making less than a million. One of the lineups features no players with a wRC+ higher than league average of 100.

Can you guess which one?

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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Moneyball clip: Peter Brand explains how owners still get it wrong to Billy Beane

After 20-plus years of umpiring youth baseball, I'm calling it quits as suddenly as I entered the "profession" when I volunteered to umpire my son's ball game because the assigned umpire didn't show. This brief podcast explains my reasons why I made an on-the-field decision to walk away.

www.byroncopley.com

Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Parkin

On October 10, 2025, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series (ALDS), in part because the Tigers committed two critical "little-league" mistakes that should never happen at the Major-League level. Both occurred on the base paths, with due credit given to Mariners' first-baseman Josh Naylor's fearlessness and with substantial scorn directed at Tigers' third-baseman Zach McKinstry's foolishness.

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Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Parkin

In Game 7 of the 1940 World Series, in the seventh inning with the Detroit Tigers clinging onto a tenuous 1-0 lead, Tiger shortstop Dick Bartell inexplicably held the baseball in his right hand as Reds' first baseman Frank McCormick sauntered home with the tying run. The Reds went on to win the game, 2-1. This podcast recounts that moment and chalks it up to human fallibility, which is what makes us human in the first place.

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Link to Bartell's Critical Mental Error

Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) front

Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) back

Winning 97 games in an MLB season "only" requires any team to win three of every five games. This podcast, influenced by a similar observation that I saw online, asked the question "is it really that easy?" The answer: No. It's actually rather difficult, as it should be at the MLB level. In fact, the fewer teams that win 90-plus games in a given season indicates a more competitively balanced league.

www.byroncopley.com

Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Occasionally, I will replay posts that I think bear a second listen (or a first if it was missed).

“Jack T. Jamison” (not his real name) is one of 4,486 Major League Baseball players who never got to make a 10th plate appearance. The story as to why is the the subject of this podcast, the details of which were related to me by two of my cousins.

“Jack T. Jamison” is their great uncle, who played for a National League team somewhere between the years of 1910-1930.

www.byroncopley.com

Music: “Field Grass,” by Sergei Pavkin