Left of Baseball

ESPN's Howard Bryant joins the panel to discuss MLB's relocation of the All-Star Game, baseball's future, and the great Rickey Henderson.

Opening Day has arrived and with it the 2021 baseball season, Francisco Lindor has signed an extension, and all seems right with the world... But the George Floyd murder trial and Georgia voter suppression reminds us that it's no time to feel satisfied.

The full panel crosses the streams concerning voter suppression, the Senate filibuster, and Major League Baseball's attempt to change the pace of play and stimulate action in a conversation that ranges from Laurence Olivier to beyond-Bernie baseball fans to doctored balls.

In a not very mini mini-episode, Frank, Tova, Adrian, and Lincoln discuss Frank's new book THE SPORTS REVOLUTION: HOW TEXAS CHANGED THE CULTURE OF AMERICAN ATHLETICS. It's a wide-ranging discussion taking in everything from the demise of the Washington Senators expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, the racism of the early 1970s Houston Astros, and more.

In a wide-ranging discussion Adrian, Craig, Frank, Lincoln, Tova, and Steve note the planned full-attendance Opening Day in Arlington, the hidden power of stadium naming rights, the discarded and future name of the Cleveland American League team, and remember some retrograde men's rooms at defunct ballparks around the country.

Lincoln Mitchell discusses his new book THE GIANTS AND THEIR CITY with Tova Wang and Frank Guridy. Featuring inaccurate directions to San Jose, I left my gestalt in San Francisco, and Giants characters galore from Bob Lurie to Bobby Murcer, Kevin Mitchell to Willie Mays, and one abomination of a crustacean.

The full panel is back, taking on the Mariners' ex-president's defenestration at the rotary club, what it means to disdain your own international players, the Fernando Tatis, Jr signing, Trevor Bauer's (ahem) sensitivity, glance at the 1970s Yankees, and mark Major League Baseball's progress in responding to domestic violence perpetrators.

In our second mini-episode, Craig Calcaterra, Frank Guridy, Lincoln Mitchell, and Adrian Burgos debate what it means to be a fan. Can you be a fan without being attached to a team? Is there such a thing as toxic fandom? Does anyone like baseball on an aesthetic basis, or is it just about the winning?

The impeachment effort fails but there's still hope for labor progress in baseball. But why doesn't the Players Association try to counteract pro-management propaganda? Join Adrian Burgos, Craig Calcaterra, Steven Goldman, Frank Guridy, Lincoln Mitchell, and Tova Wang as they attempt to find out.

1.In Memory of Pedro Gomez.
2.Spring Training is Here!
3.Kim Ng Faces a Second Ceiling.
4.Invasive Wearables.
5.Why Doesn’t the Players Association Do PR?
6.Hokey Goodbyes.

In the first mini-episode of the series, Steven Goldman and Lincoln Mitchell are joined by Defector's David Roth for a game of "Let's Remember Some Guys and Presidents."