The Infinite Inning

Steve is joined by major league veteran Greg Pryor to discuss his forthcoming book, The Day the Yankees Made Me Shave: A Baseball Autobiography, and share tales of the game in the 1970s and 80s. Plus, SteveStories on the meaning of 3,000 hits and the way Ty Cobb’s racism is misused.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Paul Waner’s two 3000th hits*Abnormalizing Ty Cobb*Short pants and South Side Hitmen*The Syracuse Mustache Rebellion*“No one ever seemed satisfied with me”*A dark scouting report*The Harry Chappas: Sports Illustrated Cover-Guy Saga*The moral hazard of George Brett injuries*Bottom of the 16th courage*The untimely death of Dick Howser*On strikeouts and “launch-angle stuff”*Disco Demolition Night*Goodbyes.

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?

Cliff Corcoran (The Athletic) takes his turn in the rotation to pursue topics within topics, from the widening space between balls in play to a sinister plan to headhunt an 11-year-old girl. Cliff also quotes Dr. Dre, which is a first for this program. SteveStories include Dan Ford’s infamous baserunning mishap and how outfielder Johnny Mostil’s darkest day collides with a Harlan Ellison adage on resiliency.

WARNING: There is an extended discussion of a ballplayer’s long-ago suicide attempt in the second segment. If you are having similar thoughts, the National Suicide Hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Disco Dan Learns a Lesson*Johnny Mostil was a Paingod*Cliff Corcoran: Rise of the Silver and Black Caps*The uniforms you never see on throwback days*Uniforms intended to intimidate Johnny Cueto and other people*Discrimination in Durham, NH*The lack of pronoun diversity in baseball*Setting the stage for the female ballplayers*A momentary pause for whale facts and insecurity*The state of 2018 so far*The rising time between balls in play*Advanced analysis has pushed us into making baseball boring?*Batter vs. pitcher strikeouts*More time with Brandon Belt and Luke Appling on a Per-At-Bat Basis than Anyone Desires*Getting 1,000 hits in a single day*Jumping on the Phillies bandwagon?*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning now has a Facebook group! Come one, come all, come as you are, come as Willie Kamm ‘28.

Craig Calcaterra (NBC’s Hardball Talk) returns to assess the start of the 2018 season, envision the damage that tanking is doing to the game, and reminisce about some really bad Atlanta Braves teams. Plus, SteveStories about drowned ballparks in Cincinnati and Tampa and a baseball “witch-hunt.”

The Infinite Inning now has a Facebook group! Come one, come all, come as you are, come as Reggie Jackson ’77.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ballpark in Atlantis*Witch-Hunts and Redlegs*The Infinite Inning has a Facebook group; be good to each other*Craig Calcaterra: The Fifth Column works through baseball*Efficiency thinking*The human side of No-Neck Williams*How d’ya like the 2018 season so far?*The March of the Relief Pitchers*Pitching in a Pinch*Can baseball support expansion? And tanking, too! (The Portland Possibility)*The fan as consumer/In the run we’re all dead*Watching the mid-‘80s Braves on TBS*Omar Freakin’ Moreno*Tommy Pham and Jose Martinez, old men of hope*Maybined and Shucked*In-show surprise: The Braves sign Jose Bautista*The Weirdness of Nick Markakis*Goodbyes.

Jacob Pomrenke, editor of Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox and SABR’s Director of Editorial Content joins Steve to explore the relevance of the Black Sox to our time, appreciate and criticize both the book Eight Men Out and its filmed counterpart, and attempt to fix the roles of both Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver in throwing the World Series. In addition, this week Steve offers tales of an unappreciated player from the 1940s and of the world of the Black Sox as seen from a small room with just one exit located in the Washington DC of 1923.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Roy Cullenbine and What Might Seem Like an Inappropriate Comparison to Vincent Van Gogh*“My God, How the Money Rolls In!”*Jacob Pomrenke: Are the Black Sox still relevant?*When all sports were corrupt*Shoeless Joe: Victim or Villain?*The Triples-to-Left Theory of Guilt*Entombed in the Hall of Fame*Illiterate doesn’t mean unintelligent*The most heroic act is failure*The duality of Charles Comiskey*The “Hey, Barney!” Affair*When gamblers were in the stands*Judge Landis’s mandate*Buck Weaver is a man for today*The Lefty Williams Blackmail Myth*John Sayles’ “Eight Men Out”*How the government changed the way baseball players look*SABR in the era of Bowling Alone*Goodbyes.

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?

David Roth returns to talk about competitive balance, over-monitoring mound visits, and the pernicious nature of social media (not back on it, still on it). Meanwhile, Steve tries to turn a nonsensical Jerry Coleman call into something dark and disturbing and rants about outfielders from 1934 to the present day who were damaged, sometimes severely, by unpadded outfield walls.

The Haunting of Bruce Benedict*Hazards in the Outfield, with Billy McKinney, Dustin Fowler, Earle Combs, and Pete Reiser*David Roth: Bartolo Colon rides again*Waiting for R.A. Dickey*The cosmopolitanism of Opening-Day rosters*The Way We Never Were: When baseball was a million white guys named “Pete”*The Taylorizing of baseball*The Applebee’s of Baseball*The consequences of underpaying minor leaguers*Biometrics?*Facebook and other things that should have been obvious*How to follow two sports at once*The downtime in sports*Mound visits*The Jon Rothstein/”This is March” piece*Once more unto The Ratio*The pernicious effect of Twitter*Who we pretend to be*The Zen “Okay” Method of Pitching to Mike Trout*Goodbyes.

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?

Russell Carleton (Baseball Prospectus, author of The Shift: The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking) joins Steven to discuss things we don’t have words for, and surprising findings on third-base coaches, the effect of managers, and, of course, the shift.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Day the Sun Shone on Ty Tyson*Reframing the problem of Alex Johnson*Russell Carlton: Man with a Doctorate*You can’t control for Salvador Perez’s knee*Baseball and Arkham Asylum*Fire all the third base coaches*A book about people (with numbers)*The Zach Britton Game that Zach Britton wasn’t in (We Need a Word for That)*Opportunities for communication (a letter from a general manager)*The Bruce Bochy Effect?*“The shift is kind of freakin’ the pitchers out”*“The model of the starting pitcher is a little bit broken”/”Most teams have a 22-man roster”*Goodbyes.

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?

Steve is joined by Marty Appel, author of Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character and other books, plus a cautionary tale about time and Bob “Fats” Fothergill and another about all the times Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons failed to duck.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Fats Fothergill, Ronald Acuña and the tyranny of time*Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons, Human Target*Marty Appel: “Give me a good team”*Stengel vs. Joe Torre*Stengel vs. Phil Rizzuto*Stengel vs. Joe DiMaggio*Stengel vs. Mickey Mantle*Mrs. Stengel’s memoir*Stengel vs. The Color Line*Elston Howard’s post-career disappointment*A hypothetical: Stengel vs. George Steinbrenner*Stengel vs. Billy Martin*

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?

Jesse Spector returns for a wide-ranging episode in which the question of length of game versus pace of play is explored and the MLB FoodFest is dissected with an eye towards finding the missing Rocky Mountain Oysters, and many a personal encounter of strange press box behavior is told. Plus, Steve opens with a tale of the least-supportive teammates ever and a shortstop whose moment passed at an age before most players have gotten started.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Phenomenal Smith: With Friends Like These*Buckshot Brown and the Curse of Potential*Jesse Spector: The risks of unfollowing*How following PA-18 was like watching a ballgame*How Grant Brisbee infects you with imposter syndrome*The baseball beatwriter’s life*An interlude in Tampa*Defunct museums and Halls of Fame or, “How the Baseball Hall of Fame moves from Cooperstown to Times Square”*A moment’s debate of Ty Cobb*Rob Manfred’s plan to end extra-inning games*The Adam Lind example*Debating MLB FoodFest: Rocky Mountain Oysters AWOL*A 10 percent crab menu*Whither SF Giants garlic fries and chocolate sundaes?*Knocking the Chicago Dog and other Chicago dishes*Praising the Marlins (food, that is), Padres fish tacos in absentia, no Boog’s*Flaming Hot Cheetos?*Dodger Dogs vs. Fenway Frank*Cheap franks in the old Yankee Stadium press box*Bronx Bootleg Street Pretzels*Parenting Test: The Diamondbacks Churro Dog*A tale of marital discord and Ben & Jerry’s*Goodbyes.

Howard Megdal (Wilpon’s Folly, The Cardinals Way, Summit Hoops, 50 States of Blue) joins Steve for a discussion of New York Mets finances, the way women’s sports is and isn’t covered, and his new political journal focused on providing political news that is now neglected by the major media organs.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hawkins, Herman, and defeat from the jaws of victory*June 7-8, 1950: Red Sox 49, Browns 8*Howard Megdal: A fundamental curiosity and the art of freelancing*Rejection*The Mets are not a small-market team*A union not advancing is by definition retreating*It’s about what Sandy Alderson can get*Why the Mets won’t trade Yoenis Cespedes*“Show me what’s inaccurate and I’ll be happy to correct it”*The chicken-and-egg coverage of women’s sports*Let’s bring back the AAGPBL*What is 50 States of Blue?*Goodbyes.

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?

Cliff Corcoran parachutes in to save Steve from a scheduling mishap, taking on service-time issues, the New York Yankees’ amazing depth, and sundry other issues. Plus: Steve on taking a train trip into eternity and a super-fan who had to be put in his place by the player he loved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Brickyard who Wasn’t a Brickyard, Forever Voyaging*The Ballad of Cookie and Jack*Spring training caps and other confusing haberdashery*Talking to your kids about the Parkland tragedy*Arm all the ballplayers!*Service-time manipulation* The Gleyber Torres outlook*Service-time, big round numbers, and anal HOF voting*Ritual Pete Rose Derogation*Brandon Drury’s home/road splits*Humidorgate?*Drury vs. Tyler Wade*The three-man bench and redesigning the roster*Lucas Duda vs. Eric Hosmer*Joe Mauer’s HOF case*Goodbyes.

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?