Peanuts & Popcorn

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn… We are back on the air after two weeks of reflection and meditation.  The Houston Astros clearly have issues when working and playing with others.  We’ll discuss some of the surprises and disappointments of the first three weeks of the season as well as whether or not the St. Louis Cardinals will be able to play the full sixty games.  A playoff bubb...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn…Major League Baseball announces a new playoff format for 2020 where 16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason. The 2020 season begins and Black Lives Matter is a central focus of the pre-game ceremonies. The Dodgers make Mookie Betts a very rich man and the Toronto Blue Jays will be playing their home games in Buffalo.  This week, Lucas Smith joins us to t...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, it looks like the Washington Redskins will not be the only sports team changing it's name.  It was 10 years ago that Benjy Molena improbably hit for the cycle.  The Blue Jays can't play in Canada as more players are testing positive for Covid.  We cover the curious case of Yasiel Puig.  We also ask the question:  Is every small baseball to...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, not content to just practice, MLB teams are now playing actual inter-squad games.  We’ll react to what has been seen to this point.  MLB announces the official schedule for… 2021.  We ask the question, why? Joe Posnanski looks back on the career of David Freese.  We examine if the Chicago White Sox are ready to compete.  Buster Posey opts...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, don’t call it Spring Training 2.0, call it Summer Camp, and it's underway as some players are ready play while other opt out, while others still are injured. Rob Manfred walks back an embarrassing admission; while the White Sox will be playing a different opponent in Iowa. The 2020 Koshien Tournament in Japan has been cancelled and Bobby Bonilla Day came and went...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, a second Spring Training begins and a 60 game regular season should begin later next month.  We’ll talk about how this whole thing is supposed to happen. There are unsigned free agents out there who might still help a team.  Jayson Stark writes about the impending universal DH.  We'll try to predict the impact of the new extra-inning rule and we rev...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, either a deal is in place to start the season, or we are looking at waiting until 2021, but as five Phillies test for COVID-19, is this all a waste of time? Pitchers hitting may soon be a thing of the past,.  The Minnesota Twins are in the news of late, we’ll tell you why and we'll give our thoughts on the ESPN documentary on the 1998 Home Run Chase; in the “...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, there is still no final word as to whether we will see baseball in 2020, and yet MLB pushed ahead with a five-round amateur draft. We’ll examine the picks made by the Tigers, Cubs and White Sox as well as recall players who went straight from the draft to the Majors. 50 years ago this week, Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD.  In our Cubs discussion, we pr...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn as protests sweep the nation, we learn what it's like to be a black man in the Major Leagues. The Bears and Cubs each release statements in the wake of the George Floyd murder.  The owners and the players are still unable to come to an agreement as over 1,000 minor league players are given their release. The Governor of Nebraska brings shame to the Chicago Cub...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, protests and riots visit America’s metro areas while baseball’s millionaires and billionaires fight it out over how much everyone will get paid. David Price will give a portion of his sizable earnings to Dodger minor leaguers.  We’ll talk about the legacy of Eddie Collins.  Estaban Loaiza takes a wrong turn.   We’ll get into Trevor Bauer, Kyle...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, Major League Baseball and the Players Union try to figure out how to begin the 2020 season. Joe Posnanski reminds us of when Buck O’Neil “heard the sound again”.  Alex Bregman fires his agent, Big Sexy wants to make a comeback. Joe Maddon is set to discuss the 2016 World Series with Bob Costas and our movie chat this week is on Michael Mann's Heat .  Nex...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, Blake Snell refuses to play baseball in 2020 which begs the question: What happens to players who opt out this year? We talk about how Michael Jordan helped a young man from the Dominican Republic learn English. Bob Watson passes away, and ESPN tells America Trevor Bauer’s phone number. We’ll remember Jackie Robinson stealing home in the '55 World Series and the o...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn… Will there be Major League Baseball in 2020? Leagues in Taiwan and Korea may show us the way. Many changes are being considered, will the universal DH be one of them. Joe Posnanki teaches us about Walter Johnson and Minnie Miñoso. We’ll talk about the day Ichiro Suzuki met Michael Jordan, and whether or not Pete Rose corked his bats. I also have a trivia question...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, we announce the creation of the annual Peanuts and Popcorn PAR Excellence award in Baseball Writing.  Jayson Stark reminds us of why we watch baseball.  Bartolo Colon homers and Manny Ramirez is attempting a comeback at the age of 48.  This week's Top 100 is the legendary Lou Gehrig.  The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is postponed and the Lit...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, we react to the first episodes of The Last Dance on ESPN. The results of the investigation into the Boston Red Sox sign-stealing activities has been released. There will be pro baseball played in 2020… in Taiwan and South Korea.  We look at the career of Steve Carlton .  The Tigers and the Rockies show that it isn’t always about the bottom line, JLO and...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn will begin with a prelude to the airing of The Last Dance ,  Doug Glanville outlines how baseball players will have to come together to police cheating in baseball; Barry Bonds checks in a #3 on Joe Posnanski’s Baseball 100 ; 73 years ago this week Jackie Robinson made his debut and we will talk about the man who scouted him; Damaso Garcia, Glenn Beckert, Jim...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, MLB tries to find creative ways to get the season started. We talk about Hammerin’ Hank and we remember Fernandomania. We mourn the loss of Tiger great Al Kaline., a former St. Louis Cardinal is stepping up to the plate to fight the Coronavirus.  We reveal our favorite Chicago food joints and we find out where the Cubs rank in terms of overall value.  Ou...

This week on Peanuts and Popcorn, the two peas in a podcast will talk about Evan Gattis, the first Houston Asterisk to come clean about stealing signs. Meanwhile, his former manager and general manager wonder if they will ever work in baseball again. We’ll delve into Tom’s memory banks as we look back on the career of former Detroit Tiger, Dave Rozema. White Sox broadcaster and former reliever, Ed...

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn,  the two peas in the podcast watches Opening Day come and go without real baseball.  We discuss Satchel Paige, maybe baseball's greatest pitcher as covered by Joe Posnanski's great Athletic series.  The Red Sox will soon learn their fate as Manfred wraps up his sign-stealing investigation.  Does Ken Boyer belong in the HOF?  We discuss t...

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn,  the two peas in the podcast talk about life in Illinois as we hold in place. As we always do, we remain dutifully socially distant as we talk about Chris Sale’s upcoming Tommy John surgery as well as some of the other problems the Red Sox face.  You too can steal the opposition’s signs and The Athletic shows you how.  Would you have Rogers Hornsb...

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn, we talk about the COVID-19 outbreak and very little else at this point.  We ask what happened to the digital strike zone? Barry Bonds says he’s in baseball limbo and it looks like Trevor Bauer is learning to be a good teammate.  All this and our classic movie discussion is on John Huston's Key Largo.

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn, we discuss the Christian Yelich extension as well as dish on an excellent series in The Athletic by Jo Posnanski on the top 100 players of all time. We recall Luke Apling’s home run in an old-timers game, at the ripe age of 75.  Chris Sale is hurt and Trevor Bauer is intentionally tipping his pitches. The White Sox lock up their third baseman for the next s...

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn, we discuss baseball’s moral compass while the Houston Astros are STILL stealing signs; Madison Bumgarner has an unusual side gig.  The New York Yankees lose Luis Severino for the year; the Mets have a new manager, and at least one of us will be rooting for them.  We congratulate Kerwin Danely on being named the first African-American crew chief…in 2020...

This week on Peanuts & Popcorn, the self-righteous tour continues as the Houston Asterisks aren’t getting a whole lot of sympathy. Rob Manfred sticks a hunk of metal in his mouth, as David Ortiz finds a way to ruin his credibility. Still no punishments announced for the Boston Red Sox, can we please get on with our lives? A Rod Serling revival in Cincinnati has a connection to the Cincinnati R...

This week on Peanuts &Popcorn, the Houston Astros meet the press and the results are less than satisfactory. A former Major League pitcher files a lawsuit against the Astros, we can expect more of the same. A new playoff format has been proposed and Trevor Bauer hates it. Friend of the show, Bartolo Colón is back in the news and a Tigers minor league invitee has some odd housing this spring. T...