Almost Cooperstown

The 2020 World Series ended up being a very exciting and interesting one. Seven game series have a way of being just that much more memorable.  An anti-climatic game 7 can take away from the overall greatness of a World Series.  We start with the 1960 World Series which was one of the greats and highlight the best 7 game World Series of the past 60 years.  

Thanks to Bruce McClure who points out that reason Mazeroski did not win the '60 series MVP with his walk-off HR, was that the reporters had already voted having to get down to the locker room to interview players and they did not re-vote after the HR.  

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Every second people use expressions borne out of baseball lingo and lore. We know there are Yogi Berra-isms and Dizzy Dean's oddball expressions, but what about normal everyday conversational responses?  There are many of them that are used everyday and a surprising amount of food/dining references.  America's Pastime does intersect baseball with eating!  We can't wait to have peanuts and hotdogs at a real MLB game! 

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

No we don't actually HAVE a vote but if we did...

On January 26 the votes for the 2021 Hall of Fame will be announced.  Hopefully the ceremony in Cooperstown, NY will take place this summer. Actual voters can vote for up to 10 players that have played 10 years in MLB and appear for the first time or remain on the ballot for a total of 10 years.  If a player does not receive 5% of all votes cast he drops off the ballot for the following year. At that point it's up to various committees (Veteran, Old-timer etc.) to vote a player in after his playing eligibility.  

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

As fans know, there was no Minor League (or college) baseball this past season.  To make things more challenging MLB has made the biggest changes in MiLB in nearly 60 years.  The farm systems developed by Branch Rickey in the 1930's are nearly unrecognizable today. 

There are many notable Minor League Baseball players like Michael Jordan and Tim Tebow (who will try again this season to be a NY Met). What kind of future does Minor League baseball have in the U.S.?  Should MLB consider supplying college teams with wood bats?  We're fans of Minor League baseball in general yet aware that there are many more entertainment options that put the future of MiLB in jeopardy.   

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

The last teams to come into MLB are now 23 seasons old (1998 the Rays and D'Backs).  For 60 years there were only 16 teams in MLB.  After the Dodgers and Giants moved in 1958, expansion really began to take off in 1961 with the Los Angeles Angels and another incarnation of the Washington Senators when the previous Senators team moved to Minnesota to become the Twins. 

With franchise valuations continuing to increase it's highly likely that baseball will further expand both domestically and internationally?  Where it goes next is still anyone's guess.  We track the history of MLB expansion in under 30 minutes.   

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

In the pre-1900's days of professional baseball teams did not travel all that far to play games which often were played on Sunday afternoon.  By 1901 with the birth of the American League, teams traveled by train and even by boat. No other sport to this day has scheduled road trips like baseball.  With a 162 game schedule, players still leave home and go on the road for as long as 2 weeks.  Sportswriters no longer get to travel on the team plane as they once did on the trains that would carry teams from city to city until air travel for MLB teams became the standard in the last 1950's.  

The writers and players had a very different relationship during the days of train travel and some of the most quotable characters were baseball players providing juicy nuggets for famous and aspiring sportswriters.  

Yogi Berra, Dizzy Dean, and Ralph Kiner are just a few of the most quotable players from the first half of the 20th century.  Today of course it's all about social media posts.  

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

A baseball game can be started with a few players,  ball and a bat.  Organized baseball started in the 1850s and there were no baseball gloves.  We don't talk much about gloves and catcher's equipment but we do talk about how far technology in baseball has come and how it impacts the game. 

Technology is not always about gadgets.  Think of 'Tommy John' surgery and how that procedure has impacted and will continue to impact the game.  How about robot umpires? 

The article Gordon mentioned can be found at: 
Baseball.physics.illinois.edu/trackingbaseballs.pdf

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Just like the MLB season, we made it through this our last episode of Season 1.  We talk a bit about the excellent Dodgers-Rays World Series and reminisce over the short 60 game season.   

If you have an idea for an episode you can email us at [email protected] or our Twitter feed @AlmostCoop 

Corrections: Bill Madlock won 4 batting titles in the NL only.  Brad Hand had 29Ks and 4BB is 2020 along with 16 saves.  84Ks in 2019.  

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Note: We will release episodes every other week until the season resumes in late March 2021.   

There was even a movie about it - Mr. 3000 with Bernie Mac.  Yes he actually swung a bat.  3,000  career base hits has been am almost guaranteed ticket to Cooperstown.  The only players that have 3,000 hits and are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame are either active, too recently retired or they have been associated with gambling or performance enhancing substances.  We talk about 3,000 career hits being more difficult to achieve as the game has changed and that 2,800 hits might be enough for induction - barring extenuating circumstances of course.  

Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected].  You can also follow us on Twitter @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page.  

Future Hall of Famers as you'd expect are not normally traded at the height of their careers.  But it does happen for a variety of reasons.  Being a future HOF'er, being traded and then winning a World Series with the new team has to be a very special feeling for both the player and the team.  It's actually surprising to consider how many HOF players have been traded during their careers.  Some trades work out better than others.  

Thanks for listening!