Almost Cooperstown

Send us Fan Mail We start with the obvious 4 - Miguel Cabrera, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.  But Mike Trout is already in HOFer in our book. But how about Joey Votto? Zach Greinke?  Evan Longoria? Evan Longoria!!!?  Since Cabrera is retiring after this year and playing beyond this season is not certain with Kershaw, Votto, and Greinke, you do well to watch these players care...

Send us Fan Mail Of course Shohei Ohtani would not have been able to play in the 1920s. The first Japanese-born player Masanori Murakari appeared in an MLB game in 1964.  And it might have been the same for Aaron Judge who is bi-racial but may have been deemed 'acceptable' 100 years ago. But we use our imaginations and wonder what Babe Ruth would have looked like (fitter and stronger) in...

Send us Fan Mail Established in 1962 (like the Mets) the Astros were originally the Houston Colt 45's and played in Colt Stadium. The Astrodome opened in 1965 as the self-proclaimed 8th wonder of the world.   The first 20+ years of the franchise did not go very well but since 1997 things have gone better and the 'Stros have only missed the playoffs once since 2015. We've added a You...

Send us Fan Mail We spent the entire episode calling him I-Rod without ever mentioning Ivan Rodriguez by name!  We didn't mention a few catchers like Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter who were close.  We also did not talk about Josh Gibson who may have been the best of all time?! We've added a YouTube Channel and are still working out our own kinks.  No videos yet but if you care to listen fr...

Send us Fan Mail Most baseball fans know the Dodgers have the most Rookies of the Year, 18, since the award now named for the 1st winner Jackie Robinson in 1947.  Jackie was the 1st Dodger with Cody Bellinger being the most recent. The Yankees are 2nd with 9.  Are some teams better at handling rookies? Is it an organizational thing? Or are some teams luckier than others. It's interesting that...

Send us Fan Mail All 30 MLB teams will play on Opening Day March 30 - the day this podcast drops! We were lucky to be joined by Michael Ortman  to talk about his book Opening Day 50-for-50, One fan, One game, A half century of baseball stories.  The history of what was going on at the time of each Opening Day in baseball is woven into his book in a very compelling way.  This season's Opening...

Send us Fan Mail Here we go with season 4!  This is our longest episode ever which we really did not expect since we talk fast. But when you talk about all 30 teams it takes awhile.  And we make our picks for division, playoffs, and the World Series. We've added a YouTube Channel and are still working out our own kinks.  No videos yet but if you care to listen from YouTube here is the link to...

Send us Fan Mail It was not as easy to drop the Indians nickname when talking about the team before, well last season!  Old habits die hard but we're fine with the team having changed its name as it was overdue. 122 years, an original member of the American League with 16 playoff appearances, 2 AL pennants and 2 WS championships. It ain't easy being a fan of the Guardians, Indians, Naps...

Send us Fan Mail We've been asked by listeners about who we'd take out of the HOF since we want to add players and managers. In truth, we don't feel any player elected by whatever means should be 'removed'.  Sure there are some head scratchers and guys that under today's standards should not have been voted in.  But that's reductive and we don't feel it&apos...

Send us Fan Mail Finally we're getting back to baseball games that actually count!  Spring Training games don't and are played like they don't count. But 4 games against pool members followed by one and done quarters/semis/finals makes the WBC a very tidy yet exciting tournament.  Do we think the WBC determines the best baseball nation?  Hardly, but it is fun and of course bragging...

Send us Fan Mail HOFers Brooks Robinson and Carl Yastremski lead the pack playing 23 years for only one franchise. Playing 20 years in MLB surely indicates an excellent player. 15 years with the same one team also contains only great ballplayers although not necessarily a Hall-of-Fame career. But how about 10 year players for one team and one team only?  Playing 10 years is special but does not me...

Send us Fan Mail Having completed their Silver anniversary season, the D'backs franchise  got off to a quick start winning 100 games in their 2nd season and a WS in their 4th (fastest all-time).  While the early years were good overall the past 13 have not been nearly as good.  We talk about the greatest players in D'Backs history and even get into their prospects for the 2023 season sin...

Send us Fan Mail Larger bases, no infield shift, Limits on pitcher throws to 1st. The new rules are radical changes that MLB players and fans will experience in the 2023 season.  This does not even include the new pitch clock!  The revamped schedule is also a major change that's going under the radar.  But we have the most fun talking about are our suggestions for changing some old rules, upd...

Send us Fan Mail Baseball video games have been around not quite 50 years. Way back when there was Strat-0-Matic which people still play today. Are baseball video games more realistic than ever?  How is all the data crunched to make it more real?  We talk about early video baseball games and why people love playing them. Or don't!   We even talk a little about baseball cards.  Please subscrib...

Send us Fan Mail We are very lucky to have had a great conversation with writer and BBWA writer Daniel Brown join us to discuss his 2022 ballot.  He voted for 10 players and feels that the some fellow BBWA voters might be coming a little too restrictive in their votes.    Daniel was a beat writer for the SF Giants and writes now for The Athletic as well as other freelance work and he writes about...

Send us Fan Mail We've wanted to talk about the idea that with all the changes in technology and player year-round training regimens, why does baseball continue to do things the same old way?  We explore the history of spring training and how much it is the same today as it was more than 150 years ago. But also how Spring Training is different for managers trying to build and maintain team ch...

Send us Fan Mail We start the podcast talking about Carlos Correa and his finally-ending saga. But then we dive into a team that we didn't know all that much about until we went through the archives.  After the Dodgers and Giants moved to California following the 1957 season it was only 4 years later that the Los Angeles Angels began playing as an expansion team in the American League. They w...

Send us Fan Mail It's our first episode of 2023!  With 25% of the votes for the 2023 induction of new Baseball HOF members in  we are amazed that there are still voters that vote in zero players.  In fact it's possible that there will not be any players voted in.  After getting that off of our chests we talk about how player definitions differ today from even thirty or forty years ago. A...

Send us Fan Mail Of the 30 MLB franchises only one has never even been in a World Series.  What would the Mariners greatest moment be that raised their chances the most to win a WS?  How about the Rockies who've never won a WS?  How about the non-winning WS teams - Rays, Brewers? Padres, and Texas Rangers?   We go through each of the 30 teams, review their WS winning seasons (if they had one)...

Send us Fan Mail We drop normally every other week in the off-season but could not resist the opportunity to talk about the money and the players moving around in and around the MLB Winter Meetings that ended December 8th.   As usual some teams sat out the proceedings - too rich for their blood probably.   Did any team leap ahead of the pack at least on paper after the Winter Meetings?  We talk ab...

Send us Fan Mail The last of our deep dives to feature a team that has not won the World Series.  Correction: The hockey Rockies were a Colorado hockey team that eventually moved to New Jersey in the 1980s. They were born as the Kansas City Scouts as an expansion team in 1974-75 not the Quebec Nordiques.  Coors Field is a place where hitters thrive and pitchers struggle.  We struggle to pick the b...

Send us Fan Mail A day early for Thanksgiving, in this first episode of our 'off-season' we're joined by SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) membership ambassador Bruce McClure who's a baseball nut just like we are!  Bruce talked about why SABR is not what everyone thinks and is more than a number-crunching site for baseball nerds.  We'll post every other week -...

Send us Fan Mail First correction - the Astros bullpen pitched 26 innings out of the 54 IP by the Astros in the Series not 54.  In addition to winning their 2nd World Series in the past 6 seasons, the Astros had the 2nd biggest season win differential (105) than their WS opponent Phillies (87). Still if not for an amazing clutch catch by Chas McCormick the narrative of this series might have been...

Send us Fan Mail Will this year's World Series be one of the greatest ever?  One team won 87 games the other 107 so that's a good start.  Do the greatest World Series in history have to be 7 games? It certainly helps!  We talk about all the 7 game series' since 1950, great moments in game 7's and otherwise (last at-bat kind of stuff).    We also discuss game times and why there...

Send us Fan Mail The 87-win Phillies are showing the world that winning 100 games far from guarantees a World Series victory.  The Mariners in 2001 won a whopping 116 games but did not even reach the WS!  This year for the 2nd time (4) teams won 100 games or more but only one is still playing - the Astros.  It didn't help the Braves (who've won 100 7x in franchise history but never won W...