The Infinite Inning

WARNING: The odd cussword is heard herein. Hide the kids.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Ballad of Kewpie Dick*Stroopwafel Update*Patreon Update*Ty Cobb Chooses a Catcher*Alex Belth: O.G. Baseball Bloggers*The Golden Age of Magazine Writing*The Joy of Microfilm*A Writer’s Fame is Fleeting*Heinz and J. Lardner*Terry Southern, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Helen Lawrenson*The Yankees of Your 20s vs. Those of Your 40s*Emily Shapiro: What is Crohn’s Disease?*Fighting Your Limitations and Growth Experiences*Partnership and a Blurring of Roles (“I Can’t Take Care of Her, I Can Care for Her”)/The San Diego Story*Fainting!*We’re Not Our Bodies*Sharing*Having Nothing in Common*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

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The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

You Too Can Have a Duck for a General Manager*I Learned the Truth from Rickey Henderson*Lincoln Mitchell: Baseball and Politics/Your Wife and Your Mistress*Reframing the Dodgers-Giants Move as a Good Thing*Who Mourns for the Nightlife in Babylon?*Yankees Fans Kept Going to the Games*What If One NL Team Had Stayed?*“Sitsee”*The Least Significant Victim of Fascist Aggression*Decentralized Early Major League Baseball*Why Didn’t the Pacific Coast League Become a Third Major League?*If the Dodgers and Giants Had Stayed, When Would Baseball Have Caught Up to the Country?*The Stay-the-Course (But Still Racist) MacPhail Argument Against Integration*Felipe Alou for the Hall of Fame*Is There A Realignment Opportunity in 2018?*Theories of Entropy in Major League Baseball and the United States of America*Did Democracy Fail the Dodgers in New York City?*Putin and Bill Buckner*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

When the Bass Comes Falling From the Sky*Remembering William Goldman and Stan Lee*Meg Rowley: An Argument About Coffee*Full Time at FanGraphs*Empathy for Recalcitrant Writers Who Are Also Plumbers*Loving Baseball During the Apocalyse*The Blown Save in Non-Baseball Environments*The Mixed Bag That Was MLB 2018*Knowing When to Go Off and When to Hang Fire*Lorena Martin vs. the Seattle Mariners*“Baseball is Believably Racist”*When Fandom Wears Away*Live, Laugh, Love, and Learn with the Mike Zunino Trade*When Roger Clemens Wet the Bed*An 89-73 Team Surrenders*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Willie McCovey and Sparky Schulz, The Brave & The Bold*A Program Note or Two*Jackie Robinson Goes to Cincinnati*Cliff Corcoran: Election Reflection*J.D. Martinez and the AL MVP Vote*Bookie Metts and Mucky Betts*Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez*Jacob DeGrom NL MVP Disrespect*Blake Snell vs. Justin Verlander*The Aaron Nola Conundrum and The Chris Sale Deprivation*The Phillies’ Defense*Brett Gardner vs. Bryce Harper*Harper, Yankees First Baseman/Will the Yankees Spend?*Much Ado About Andujar*Getting Meta with Daniel Descalso and “The Sopranos”*The “Today’s Game” Hall of Fame Ballot*There is No Word in English for George Steinbrenner*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hack Wilson Gets Hacked Off*When Babe Ruth Homered for the Giants*Jesse Spector: Jesse Has a Cold/Sharing Hats*Racist Dodgers Fans Against the Special Prosecutor*The President as World Series/Rich Hill Commentator*Were the Red Sox a Historic Team?*When 1988 Failed to Validate the Regular Season*What Boston’s Record Does and Does Not Prove*All Postseason Teams Should Get a Home Game*Cleveland Was Secretly Bad*I Don’t Believe in Relievers (I Just Believe In Me)*Nathan Eovaldi’s Game 3*The Mets Have a New General Manager*Revisiting the Punch in the Crotch*The Vince Coleman Moment*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Casey Stengel vs. the Nazi Warlord*The Secret New York Conspiracy to Destroy the Red Sox*Rob Neyer: Elevator Pitch for a Baseball Book*The Zobrist*What is “Postmodern” baseball?*Who Takes Responsibility?*The Best of All Possible Baseballs is For the Best?*Pay (Or at Least Feed) the Minor Leaguers!*Here Comes the Flood*Well-Known Facts, Whether You Like It or Not*Love on the Sands of Iwo Jima*The End of Carlos Beltran (and Everyone Else)*Relaxed Rob ‘Riting*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Addie Joss is Defunct*The Phillies Are On the Wire*Grant Brisbee: Tongue Tied*“To Glorgle”*Joe West’s Greatest Ejections*The Greatest Hits Theory of Joe West Fans*Hate Mail (Never Criticize Matt Wieters)*Back On Bullpenning? (No; Still On It)*Life After Team Blogging*Gonna Be in L.A. For Game 6*The San Francisco Giants’ Beard Deficit and Other Problems*Leaving Latin America Alone*For the Love of Homegrown Players*Will Madison Bumgarner Be Traded? (And Bryce Harper?)*Rebuilding for Real Estate*It’s the End of Evan Longoria As We Know Him*World Series Wonderland*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Cubs Buy Sushi*Chop the Chop (in Colorado)*Ryan Davis: Credentialed and Fatigued*A Dynasty Simultaneously Achieved and Denied*Were the Brewers Just Better?*Chili Davis is an Innocent Man!*Do Joe Maddon’s Lineup Changes Hurt Young Players?*In Praise of Tommy La Stella*The Terrance Gore Memorial Roster Spot*If You Swing Enough Times…*Kyle Hendricks, Pitching Detective (Guest-Starring Steve Adkins)*The Jason Heyward Problem*Heyward, Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuna*So Long, Addison Russell*The Force Awakens Russia*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Trial of Dizzy Dean*Dizzy Dean Balks*David Roth: Let’s Remember Guys Named Herm*Misplacing Bob Melvin and Maligning Tony Armas*A Quick Look at Dominic Smith*Questions of Confidence and Security in Baseball and Other Areas*And $200,000 in Nationals Tickets*Drunk People Are Boring*The 2018 Postseason*The A’s and the Brewers (1982 Milwaukee Brewers Appearances Appraised and Rick Mahler too)*Steve’s 1988 Story*The Career and Post-Career of Pete Vuckovich*The David Wright Farewell Tour of Iceland*The Entire Mets Rotation is Arb- Eligible (Jason Vargas and Jay Bruce Forever)*Indefinitely Delayed Cespedes Gratification*DeGrom and Arrieta*Postseason Picks and… Gregg Jefferies?*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Baltimore Orioles Were Over So Long Ago*McGraw/Chase Redux*Tommy and Roy*Jeff Pearlman: Why is the USFL remembered more fondly than other failed sports leagues?*It’s not the players, it’s the owners*The Strange Owner of the Los Angeles Express and Other Fallacies About the Rich*Did the USFL Need Ban Johnson?*The Dumbest Trade in the History of Mankind*The Villain Arrives (It’s Not a Political Book)*Mexico Will Pay for Doug Flutie?*“Please Bring Your Final Purchases to the Register”*The Move to the Fall*Collusion! (With the NFL)*Young Steve Young*Cigarettes and Cocaine*Dreams Denied*Greg Fields, Football Professional*PEDs (Barry Bonds vs. Sal Fasano)*Bisons/Bills and the Alliance*Goodbyes.

THE INFINITE INNING ARCHIVE: All episodes available, popcorn extra.

THE INFINITE INNING FACEBOOK GROUP: Socialize with like-minded people!

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?