Passed Ball Show

3-6-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this program talking a little bit about the LA Angels and their decision to fire their visiting clubhouse attendant. Allegedly, was he a bitter employee? Why would he want to help his teams’s opposition? Did he really expect loyalty from those he was helping? John then talks about some of the worst reported landing spots for free agent Tom Brady. He then makes some sense of one that seems out of touch and left field. John then laughs at the angry baseball fans and media that think just because they are mad at the Houston Astros it means the team will not play well this season. They are still the team to beat in the American League West and a top TWO team in the American League. They are not missing the playoffs just because YOU are mad that they cheated.

2-29-2020 Passed Ball Show. John starts this abbreviated show by talking about the reasons Tom Brady may play for a new team in 2020. And why over time, many will not remember or think of it. John talks about where Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas finishes their careers and the reasons why few remember that. It may make little sense though, for a team to bring Brady in considering his worst season as a pro being his most recent. John then talks about the NBA’s decision to fine the Minnesota Timberwolves for their decision not to play a healthy D’Angelo Russell. This is the league’s first action taken on a team for something that has become a common occurrence throughout the sport. John does not like the choice of selective discipline and wonders aloud why the league has not fined teams like the Clippers, Celtics, and Mavericks- all of whom have admitted using different levels of “load management.” And what about the San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Poppovich? John finishes this show making the two different cases for Curt Flood and the MLB Hall of Fame. John believes Flood belongs in as a pioneer, not as a player. Nonetheless, Flood is a Hall of Famer.

2-28-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this version of the show talking about the history of the NBA and its player coaches. Is now a better time than ever to revive the once popular happenstance? Does the player coach have to be a star? History shows both stars and non-stars have succeeded in player coaching. Is it time to junk some of NBA’s hideous uniforms? John makes it known his feelings of a couple teams’ choices. John then suggests that Jalen Hurts play in the XFL for a season. In fact, if the XFL wants to succeed (John feels strongly that the league can survive.), it needs to be able to draw superior college athletes. Hurts may not get a fair chance to QB in the NFL next year, but if he plays in the XFL, he will get to showcase himself in a way he cannot do on a NFL practice squad. And John finishes off this version of the program by suggesting players to rank in the neighborhood of 21-30 in johnpielli.com’s top 100 offensive position players of all time. Is there a better number 21 selection than Hank Greenberg? The top 20 is on the site www.johnpielli.com.

2-20-2020 Passed Ball Show. John spends this program previewing the 30 MLB teams (In a cliff notes version) and what could be expected. Results will be on www.johnpielli.com. It is an embarrassment to baseball that the Red Sox will not play Rusney Castillo this season regardless of his 2020 performance. A loophole in the CBA allows a team paying a player to not have that contract count against the luxury tax threshold if a player is outrighted off the team’s 40 man roster. John then talks a little about the Wilder/ Fury rematch and how he hopes for a classic bout to help restore the terrible image the state of boxing is stuck with.

2/3/2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this program by reminding the country that it is not baseball season. The fact that the end of the Super Bowl begins the lame “it is baseball season” statements is just that, lame. John talks about the reason the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl and the fact that their offense was stronger and more durable than the highly respected San Francisco defense. The Chiefs overcame a ten or more point deficit for the third consecutive playoff game. The 49ers did not choke, they were outplayed by a better team. When push came to shove, the Chiefs moved the ball at will. Patrick Mahomes won the Super Bowl MVP- deservedly so. Damien Williams should not have won the award. John explains the Chiefs reliance on Williams during the first three quarters of the game and the fact that the Chiefs looked bad. John then talks about the coaches and player(s?) on the Chiefs to have now won multiple Super Bowls and the total professional sports championships by the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals, and Monarchs. John then throws a little water on Portland Trailblazers’ Star Damian Lillard’s recent performance and finishes off with a little on the goalie fight between the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.

This is an interview I conducted with Luis Rojas in 2014 when he was the manager of the Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League. Among players on this team were Dominic Smith, Jeff McNeil, Gavin Cecchini, Robert Gsellman, Rob Whalen, John Gant, and Akeel Morris.

1-18-2020 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this show piggybacking off his last show talking about how the Astros cheating is just par for the course when it comes to the history of Major League Baseball. Since the inception of the sport, it has been run by deviousness and straight up criminal activity. Few tell the story of the origins of “America’s Past Time” but truth is, during the middle to the latter part of the 19th century, while most American men were working on the railroad, on construction sites, on farms, and other noble professions, baseball players were outcasts that were perceived as lazy. It was assumed that they chose not to work and because of that, most players were at the very least devious, at the worst they were criminals. Yet we look at baseball as always being a pure game. The game was controlled by gamblers for almost 50 years, blacks were forbidden to play on the same field as whites for 60 years- yet we worry about the “sanctity” of the game of baseball. From scuffing baseballs, spitballs, corked bats, baseball players have done anything to gain an advantage on their competition. Players have loaded their bodies up with alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, and steroids- all with little regard to whether or not they had an unfair advantage over their competition. John then talks about how the players on the 2017 Houston Astros need to be held accountable for their actions during this breach of trust. Not that John asks for blood often, but it is not fair that only one player from that team had to suffer and consequences for the actions of the group. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis would not have let one player be scapegoated for an entire group. Carlos Beltran is just like A-Rod- one who did wrong, but one of many who did the same thing. It is just as criminal to allow for one player to take the hit for the rest. Only in Cris Carter’s world is that okay. John then talks about Beltran’s Hall of Fame candidacy and how it compares to three current Hall of Famers. He finishes off the show by giving props to Odell Beckham, Jr.

Listen back to a series of clips from John Pielli's Passed Ball Show.

1-4-2020 Passed Ball Show. John shows his love for his country and baseball by bringing in a new year of the PBS. He talks about the lack of Latin American managers in Major League Baseball. In fact, he chronicles the first LA manager of each team and points out the eleven teams who have yet to do so. He recaps his list of African American managers and calls out the Phillies (1883), Senators/ Twins (1901), Athletics (1901), Highlanders/ Yankees (1903)- all of whom have never hired either! John then talks about the postseason history of the eight teams playing in Wild Card weekend in the NFL playoffs. Then, he compiles a top ten list of the greatest College Football Head Coaches in the history of the sport. The show ends with Wild Card weekend predictions and a little baseball trivia.

12-23-2019 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this program by thanking his listeners for another solid year on the PBS. John then talks about the job MLB player agent Scott Boras has done and where it ranks among all time pioneers for the sport. Has Boras done enough for MLB players that it can be considered “game changing”? Enough to warrant consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame? John then talks about the surprising lack of parity in the National Football League. There is a battle for the worst that has included teams expected to battle for postseason berths. John then talks about the NBA and the discussion (which now includes Commissioner Adam Silver) about the need to keep interest in the league’s 82 game regular season. John does not like the 7-10/ 8-9 playin game format proposal, but there should be something done to regain the interest from the players, teams, and fans. Finally, John questions whether teams with losing records should ever be allowed to play in the postseason.