No Crying In Baseball

In a purely mercenary move, Patti declares that Ryan Mountcastle will be AL Rookie of the year this season so claims him for her Orioles boyfriend, even though she finds him Mike Troutish. Pottymouth is more true to form with her second hair-based boyfriend selection of the season, the Os Rio Ruiz. She exercises her keeper option for the season and extends the boyfriend tenure of National’s star Juan Soto.  Patti happily selects Andrew “CW” Stevenson for reasons beyond, but not excluding, hair.

We wish Howie Kendrick well in his retirement. We shake our heads at Tony LaRussa’s misdemeanor plea for his second DUI. Somebody owes Pottymouth $10 worth of Manny Ramirez and they better pay up. The Boys have arrived at LIDOM. Get your Vladdy and Tatis Jr fixes in while you can, if Robinson Cano leaves any balls in the ballpark. Please go read the Washington Post article which interviews DC Girls Baseball players about the Kim Ng hiring. 

Putting together this show each week got us through 2020.  Thanks for hanging in there with us. Happy New Year!

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

This past week Major League Baseball acknowledged the Negro Leagues with the unfortunate word choice “elevate.” Timing and vocabulary, and a history of discrimination aside, voices we trust see this as righting a wrong and therefore ultimately good. Let the fun of combining stats and declaring some new record-holders begin! The Cleveland Baseball Team announced it will have a new team nickname in place for 2022 even though Patti is sure they’ve already got it selected and the logo designed and it should be The Rocks but it is probably the Spiders.

Pottymouth’s Red Sox boyfriend is adorable and hard-working Jeter Downs -- guess who he wants to emulate in all the right ways? Patti goes for brand new Red Sox Hunter Renfroe, fresh off his World Series appearance with the Rays, not Las Vegas Raiders Hunter Renfrow. And not because he once caught a possum with his bare hands. For the Rockies, Pottymouth chooses Raimel Tapia, he of the great hair and greater generosity, while Patti picks Sam “Charlie Blackmon 2.0” Hilliard and his family’s dedication to raising funds for ALS through their #TeamHilliard actions.

Stop what you are doing and give all your money to Reinas Baseball to support 20 year old Latinx founder Gabby Veléz bring baseball to girls in New York City. More good in the world, this time from Ian Desmond, who is starting to roll out his Newtown Connection project to enhance and connect the work of existing community organizations.  

Godammit Omar. Hey, Manny?  Pottymouth paid $10 to watch you play baseball down under, not get lost with Rachel Balkovic. What’s really going on here?

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

Pottymouth is looking for a good lawyer willing to defend the Minors from the MLB power grab. Owners of the 120 teams “invited” to remain or become affiliated with an MLB team are ticked about the process, the timing, and the sketchy details of what will be a ten-year contract. The teams that were cut are ticked about being jettisoned, and by learning the news via social media.  It’s bad all around.

Patti goes for a good parenting and big-name trade theme for this week’s baseball boyfriend, Daz Cameron of the Tigers and Carson Kelly of the Diamondbacks.  Pottymouth focuses on players doing good in the world, selecting Jeimer Candelario as her Tiger BF and Eduardo Escobar for the Dbacks.

MLB continues its “Take the Field” program at this year’s virtual Winter Meetings to promote education and networking for women interested in careers in coaching, scouting, and player development. Vladdy arrives on the LIDOM scene, Roberto Alomar’s plan for a rookie’s only team is working as well as you might have expected, and how early would you get up to watch Manny Ramirez play Australian baseball?

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

The return of our baseball boyfriend segment leads to the discovery of an unfortunate vacuum in Pottymouth’s pop culture experience.  She’s never seen High School Musical, and it shows. “Hair guy” Cole Tucker, her choice for Pirates BF, is also Vanessa Hudgens choice for BF, and we are all in this together. Patti goes for Anthony Alford based heavily on his work with the Player’s Alliance and other social justice issues. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Leody Taveras are our Ranger pics for the coming year.

Randy Arozarena is arrested for and subsequently released after allegedly trying to remove his daughter from her mother’s home, and assaulting his ex-father-in-law in the process. This leads to a what do we do with the T shirt conversation that we have way too often when players we absolutely fall in love with are accused of abuse but never investigated to a conclusion. For now, the Randy shirt is hanging with the Omar shirt in the bottom drawer until further notice. On a related note, LIDOM is conveniently concentrating such players all on one team, the Toros del Este, for your convenience.

The Player’s Alliance takes their work to the streets, partnering with Pull Up Neighbor to bring baseball equipment, fresh produce and shelf-stable food, and PPE to underserved neighborhoods across the country.

MLB continues to muck up the minor leagues by turning the NY-Penn league into a “Draft League” to showcase players who can afford to play for free, and converting the Pioneer League into an independent “Partner League” with a promise of some pathway to the majors, and maybe some start up money. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Knights continue to innovate to create some income, converting their suites into office space overlooking the field, for WFH people to rent by day or week to become Work From Homeplate people. Look elsewhere for your baseball -- the LBPRC is kicking off this week with four teams, including Roberto Alomar’s RA12 which has some unusual ideas.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

Patti and the Pottymouth welcome back illustrator, designer, writer, and baseball fan Anika Orrock, to talk about her book, “The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.” Anika shares stories of conversations with these Incredible Women, and fitting together her illustrations, comic strips, narrative, and players’ quotes into a cohesive whole, à la Criminal Minds. We dig a little deeper into stories that were new to us such as this was a well-paying job that helped players support their families and go on to college, and that the AAGPBL started out as a softball league, changing a little every season until it was full-on baseball. Stories about recruitment and training in Cuba lead us to exploring the League’s complicated relationship with race. NCiB suggests you consider The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as the perfect gift for the baseball lovers, the artists, and the historians in your life.  Limited personalized, autographed copies are available through Anika’s website, and she recommends purchasing through any of these Black-owned independent bookstores. Learn more about Anika’s artwork in Episode 155, where she talks about her participation in the NLBMArt fundraiser. There’s also a little cross-training with College Football -- congrats Sarah Fuller!

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

Theo Epstein departs the Cubs, leading to lots of speculation about his next steps. Team ownership? The Commissioner's office? Shake things up? Or focus on his Foundation to be Named Later and the Player’s Alliance? NCiB votes for revolution.  Also in CubsWorld, Wrigley Field is designated a National Historical Landmark, which seems overdue as well as a windfall in tax credits.

The Washington Nationals find a new Triple A home with the Rochester Red Wings, which Patti and the Pottymouth endorse 100%. Nothing personal, Fresno. More feel good news --the Nats partner with a local restaurant group to offer a turkey fry in the outfield, raising needed funds for the local “Fill the Fridge” initiative. The Dodgers host a drive-through holiday festival to celebrate the season and their World Series win, and to benefit their team charities. Brian Cashman, GM of the Yankees, camps out in Yankee Stadium to raise awareness of teen homelessness.  Will 2021 be the year we finally get a new women’s baseball league? Sue Parsons Zipay, of that “old” women’s baseball league, the AAGBL, is trying to make that happen.

The “small asshole detour” from happy talk takes us to Robinson Cano busted a second time for PEDs and missing the entire 2021 season, Aroldis Frickin’ Chapman's suspension for throwing 101 mph at Mike Brosseau’s head reduced two 2 games, and Cody Bellinger's shoulder surgery to repair damage from his homerun celebration.

Pottymouth’s CPBL BF Lin An-Ko wins Rookie of the Year. There’s drama in the finals of the KBO. And even with familiar faces on every team, a COVID outbreak makes the Dominican League a lot less fun. Domestic abusers Odubel Herrera and Domingo Germán may be working stints there as a redemption tour.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

Kim Ng, the new GM of the Miami Marlins, has blazed a trail of firsts in her 30-year career in baseball: youngest person and first woman to win an arbitration case, youngest assistant GM, first Asian-American GM, and more. Her overqualification for the job is par for the course of women working in sports, as Pottymouth says, backwards and in heels. Ng, along with the first woman play by play announcer and a burst of new women coaches, gave us a welcome bright spot in an otherwise crappy 2020. Patti wonders if she may be a Marlin’s fan now. In contrast, the White Sox continue to stand by their questionable hire of Tony LaRussa with full knowledge of his second DUI (insert rant here). There is much eye-rolling at Jeff Luhnow’s suit against the Astros, even though his accusations of Manfred and Crane cutting a deal are completely believable.

It is award season and we couldn’t be happier about MVPs Jose Abreu and Freddie Freeman. Don Mattingly and Kevin Cash take home Manager of the Year awards, providing a non-zero number of good things coming from Florida. We use the Rookie of the Year award to Kyle Lewis and Devin Williams as an opportunity for previewing future boyfriends. Ohio girl Patti couldn’t be more thrilled with the Shane Beiber / Trevor Bauer Ohio sweep of the Cy Young.  Pottymouth feels a little meh about Bauer and like all of us, wishes Beiber’s dominance hadn’t given out against the Yankees in the playoffs.  Patti’s Reds BF Eugenio Suarez is honored in Venezuela, and we sure wish our stupid boyfriend rules didn’t rule out pitchers because Doo and Cole Tucker won us over with the simple use of pronouns.

It’s opening day for Dominican Baseball, and the Cespedes Family BBQ has it all spelled out in a guide that you can buy for a $5 donation to support youth sports and women’s shelters in the DR.  They did the work so we can gloss over the details and just tell you who we like (pssst… it’s the Liones).  See Pottymouth’s guide to winter baseball.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

Danny Shih spent months building community with English-speaking fans of the CPBL, running the league’s Twitter feed, creating hype videos and excellent game wraps. He joins Patti and the Pottymouth to relive the excitement of the Taiwan Series, and highlight what makes this league so special.

Danny rightly notes that Taiwan was the only place on Earth with sold-out ballparks for a championship, which made the Series a statement and a symbol in this time of COVID-19: This can be cured. This can be done. He equated the vibe in the stadiums as four hours of the intensity of World Series Baby Shark in Nats Park. The Lions and the Brothers had their own levels of intensity which Pottymouth and Danny referred to as the “Flappy Flappy” and the “Shoot the Bird Down.” MLB could take a page from the CPBL with the teams dancing for their fans as a thank you for support.  We get deep in the weeds for some game highlights and second-guessing of managerial decisions, because that’s what fans do. There’s a little cross-training with college football, including a tiny tiny rant about Notre Dame fans storming the field because what the hell. 

If his excellent work this season is any indication, Danny Shih has a bright future. Somebody hire him right now.  He’ll settle for an internship.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

What a week! A couple of important wins, including NCiB going 2-0 in bets on the UniLions in the Taiwan Series. Pottymouth gives our pal, CPBL Social Media Guy Daniel Shih, dating advice and recaps the championship series. That other important win gives Patti a chance to steal a joke deftly combining the Electoral College and baseball.

No fewer than 39 professional sports venues became polling places this year to provide safe places for large numbers of people to vote. President-Elect Biden is invited to throw out the first pitch for the Nats, although what Opening Day looks like is an open question. Pottymouth processes her feelings about Alex Cora going back to the Red Sox. Tim Anderson won’t go changin’ to try to please LaRussa. The Mets clean house. Big Sexy Bartolo Colon still wants to play baseball which is one more reason you should watch the Dominican League. 

Hey, guess what? The Dodgers organization reports 5 or 9 post-World Series celebration positive COVID-19 test results, depending on who you ask.  And MLB lets Justin Turner off the hook because how can we expect a grown man not to cave to peer pressure.  (yeah, there’s a rant.) The Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award winners are NCiB boyfriend heavy, the way it should be. Also, CPBL pitcher Tim Melville’s mom thinks we are sassy and zany. 

Wash your hands, wear your masks, watch your distance, and fight the man. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.

They must, right? Or else why would a team full of talented, enthusiastic, exciting, and outspoken players hire Tony “unwritten rules” LaRussa? The 76 year old white guy called out Tatis Jrs’ grand slam, allowed that protests against racial injustice are okay as long as they are “sincere,” and claims not to have a racist bone in his body.  Yeah, we rant again.  And really, are there only three candidates qualified in the whole world of baseball for the three open managerial positions?  Way to grow the game, MLB. We have some words for the Tigers hiring of A.J. Hinch, and some Alex Cora musings.

We throw some belated appreciation Corey Seager’s way, and give Jon Lester the NCiB seal of approval for buying the first beer for each fan at a whole slew of Chicago bars if they say to put it on Jon’s tab.  It has to be Miller Lite though so we are not all in on this. Yasiel Puig, man. Just about when you win us over, an assault allegation comes to light, dating back to Dodger days. The Mets have a new owner with a big fat wallet, and we like how he’s spending it on staff and small businesses.  Let’s see what happens with free agents. 

Now that MLB’s season is over, they’ve washed their hands of any COVID testing and follow up responsibility so we may never know the result of Justing Turner’s mask-free World Series on-field celebration.  There are a wide range of predictions on what the official consequences will be -- the collateral damage is a lot of disappointment from long-time fans. In other COVID news, the powers that be are looking to next season and perhaps staggering the minor-league training and season schedule to accommodate distancing and safety protocols.  Which minor leaguers will have no say in because they DON’T HAVE A UNION. The hot stove is upon us so we catch you up on contract options, non-tendering of players, and what to watch for in free agency offers.

Our good friend, Clive Hsu, English-language CPBL commentator for Eleven Sports, joins us to talk about the Taiwan Series. Two games into the best of seven championship, Pottymouth’s Lions and Clive’s pick, the Brothers, are tied at one game each. There’s some thoughtful analysis, some predictions, and some wagering (Pottymouth offers to sing, Clive and Patti want her to get a tattoo). Don’t forget to check Pottymouth’s guide to Winter Baseball once the CPBL wraps up.

Wash your hands, wear your masks, and vote like your life depends on it. Find us on Twitter @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. Say goodnight, Pottymouth.