Bat Flips And Nerds

Russell and Rob talk to legendary umpire Perry Barber (@perrybarber) about her path into baseball umpiring, what umpire school is like, how umpiring took her around the world, and how the landscape has changed for female umpires.

Episode 101 arrives just 70 episodes late as the gang take turns to attempt to consign their least favourite elements of the game we love to history's dustbin, overseen by the arbiter of taste - Darius.

The baseball astrophysicist Meredith Wills joins Russ to chat about her work on MLB's bouncy 2019 balls and a whole loads of other trends in baseball analytics.

Live baseball is back in Taiwan, and being piped into our homes every morning via the wonders of the internet!

Like everyone else in baseball world, we've been bitten by the CPBL bug and thought it right to devote a whole podcast to all of our new favourite league.

In this episode, Rob Liu the master behind CPBL stats, and Bruce Billings who pitched for the Lions and Guardians between 2016 and 2018 (and in the bigs with the Athletics, Rockies and Yankees), join us to get under the skin of baseball in Taiwan and help us understand what makes the league so special.

Minnesota Twins stud reliever Trevor May joins Russell to discuss his dual life as a Big League pitcher, and an elite gamer. And to talk about setting up the MLB The Show 20 tournament, obviously...

In this bonus mini-pod, The Athletic's star baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal talks to John about the MLB London Series, and the impact of 2020 crises on the sport - the Astros 'banging scandal' and the COVID-19 epidemic.

Rachel chats to former Mets and Phillies infielder Ty Kelly about his career in the bigs, his time with Team Israel and missing out on the Olympics, his efforts to improve Minor League pay and sweet potato fries.

GB Baseball coach, and freelance MLB hitting consultant Brad Marcelino joins John to chat about his career with the national squad, his time coaching Kris Bryant at University of San Diego, his friendships with Trevor Hoffman and Manny Ramirez and his new venture to support struggling minor leaguers earn a buck.

Former Athletics pitcher turned baseball broadcaster Dallas Braden joins Russell to chat about his career from high school to the bigs, his show Starting 9 with Jared Carrabis and the changing face of baseball players in the 2020s.

Rachel chats to baseball historian John Thorn who offers tales of Mickey Mantle, Ken Burns, Babe Ruth and everyone in between. They also talk about shortened seasons, why it's called the World Series, and John offers his take on baseball books and films