Please, we beg you to join us on this journey of discovery. What is a spitball? Should a spitball be allowed? Can human beings defeat a computer? Is the movie Eight Men Out an accurate movie? How many triples is a lot? Please let us know because we do not arrive at any conclusions in this episode of Tater Tots.

This week, we discuss the years 1919 and 2008. We cover "Chick" Gandil, ringleader of the Black Sox scandal, and Juan Pierre, a strong candidate for übertot. 

Links:

Ernest Ansermet's review of Sydney Bechet and the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, 

Mud Maker: The Man Behind MLB’s Essential Secret Sauce, 

30 for 30 - The Schedule Makers, 

Eight Myths Out: what Eight Men Out gets wrong about the Black Sox scandal, 

Juan Pierre's dinger,

Juan Pierre robs Barry Bonds of what would be home run #714

Music:

Two Boot Jacks - Mostly Other People Do the Killing, 

Allentown - Mostly Other People Do the Killing, 

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Artwork by Shelby Criswell

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: facebook.com/tatertotspod

Twitter: twitter.com/tatertotspod

Friends, welcome back to the dog days of Tater Tots. The MLB trade deadline has come and gone and we discuss the moves that did and did not happen. Later, we try to probe at the connection between ragtime and jazz and the connection between jazz and the post-truth world. Finally, we appreciate the finer points of inside-the-park home runs, the storied life of Jim Thorpe, and baseball mud. 

The Tiger Rag

"Transit" from Infernal Machines by Darcy James Argue's Secret Society

Emilio Bonifacio's inside-the-park home run

Lena Blackburne's Baseball Rubbing Mud

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Our theme song is "The Littlest League Possible" by Guided by Voices; Cover art by Shelby Criswell

Sorry I recorded into a potato this week. I discovered just as we were about to start our session that the cable for my microphone was broken, and it uses a mini USB port, which was once omnipresent as a means to charge cell phones, handheld game consoles, etc., but has been almost entirely subsumed by micro USB and USB-C. Luckily I've procured a replacement and by next week, I should sound regular once more.

Having decided that Jazz was invented in 1917, we take the opportunity to discuss backup catcher and Cuban baseball legend Mike Gonzalez. 2010's Tater Tot is the temperamental Carlos Zambrano or "Big Z." We also hypothesize about the now-erstwhile trade deadline.

Links:

An interview with Maurice Brown, 

Mike Gonzalez's SABR bio, 

Carlos Zambrano losing his cool (video compilation), 

Zambrano's recent ejection, 

Interview with Zambrano on CSN Chicago

Music:

Littlest League Possible - Guided By Voices, 

The Livery Stable Blues-Original Dixieland Jass Band, 

Fly By Night- Maurice Brown

Artwork by Shelby Criswell

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: facebook.com/tatertotspod

Twitter: twitter.com/tatertotspod

Hey, it's Tim! "Savages" is a really nasty racial slur, and I shouldn't have expressed my support for Aaron Boone's umpire rant without at least acknowledging that. Listening back to our conversation, maybe I shouldn't have expressed my support for Aaron Boone's umpire rant at all. I dunno. Anyways, I'm not gonna link to the rant for that reason but it should be pretty easy to find if you want to seek it out.

On top of that, we talk about the origins of the trombone smear, the jazz harpist Brandee Younger, and two (or three) baseball players bearing the nickname "Death to Flying Things."

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Our theme music is "The Littlest League Possible" by Guided By Voices. Our artwork is by Shelby Criswell.

Usually when one of our episodes is themed around something that's already ancient history when the episode arrives, it's because it took us a long time to edit and prepare it. But to be honest, the All Star Break had already concluded when we recorded this episode. I don't think that's so important though because this episode is timeless. Rather than fussing about with the very premise of our podcast, we discuss two articles by ESPN writer Sam Miller.

How the Home Run Derby became America's national pastime*, 

Radical Ideas Series: What if every MLB team made the playoffs?.

Music:

Littlest League Possible - Guided By Voices, 

I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away - Randy Newman (mentioned). 

Artwork by Shelby Criswell

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: facebook.com/tatertotspod

Twitter: twitter.com/tatertotspod

Listen, I tried to find a clip of Free Jazz to drop into this episode, but all my options for YouTube rips were 40 minutes long. Here's a link instead. Give it a listen when you have a chance. It's good, I promise.

Elsewhere, we bemoan the sorry states of our favorite baseball teams and the inevitability of the Los Angeles Dodgers, declare the winner of the Home Run Derby (sorry this episode was late - we were wrong several times, both intentionally and unintentionally,) and talk about the mystical realm of knuckleballers.

Joe Niekro acting a fool

Sam Miller on the post-season

Sam Miller on the Home Run Derby

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This week on Tater Tots, we consider the marque baseball season of 1986, which famously culminated in Bill Buckner’s devastating error, gifting the Mets the word series crown. However, our goal is to investigate the second most famous play of that year, relief pitcher Craig Lefferts’ lone career home run. Now 33 years past, his 12th inning dinger was the first walk-off home run by a pitcher since 1969 and remains the only one since.

We also discuss 1986 in Jazz, with an examination of the controversial Kenny G, who that year released his record-shattering album Duotones.

In the Kings of Baseball, we propose abolishing New York sports teams.

This week’s snake fact: A fascinating study of snake locomotion, suggested by @hello_memmy.

Links

Craig Lefferts’ big dinger, 

A celebration of 30 years since his accomplishment, 

A profile of his work as a coach in the A’s system, 

Craig Lefferts on LinkedIn.

Music:

Kenny G - Songbird, 

Littlest League Possible - Guided By Voices

Artwork by Shelby Criswell

Our theme music is "The Littlest League Possible" by Guided By Voices 

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: facebook.com/tatertotspod

Twitter: twitter.com/tatertotspod

Jazz is dead, long live jazz. Also snakes. Did you know that the average snake can live between 10 and 25 years? Please send us your snake facts - you can find our e-mail below. Some baseball stuff happened over our break too. The Twins' dominance of Major League Baseball goes on unchecked. The Phillies and Diamondbacks combined to hit more home runs in one game than we previously thought possible. A new crop of MLB draftees joined the ranks of professional athletes with silly names. Later, we appreciate Don Blasingame for what he was. A home run hitter? Not really. A lean, mean bunting machine and a true blue Tater Tot? Absolutely. Finally, we discover a website that demonstrates a healthy fascination with the death of the baseball player. We missed you with all our hearts.

Sam Miller's taxonomy of the baseball nickname

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Our theme song is "The Littlest League Possible" by Guided By Voices, and our cover art is by Shelby Criswell

This week we take our mission as historians to heart, delivering a sober and thorough analysis of the year 2004 in Jazz. We also consider how big you could make a TV—could you make it big enough so that it functionally served as a window to an entire baseball diamond?

Links:

Music:

Artwork by Shelby Criswell

Email: [email protected] 

Facebook: facebook.com/tatertotspod

Twitter: twitter.com/tatertotspod