Almost Cooperstown

Send us Fan Mail Dan was not the voter who didn't vote for Ichiro. But we all wish we knew who it was! For the 3rd straight year Dan joined the podcast to discuss the final HOF voting.  He voted for Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Chase Utley, and Billy Wagner. 9 in total and we discussed why he didn't vote for one mor...

Send us Fan Mail #pirates and #whitesox Smoky Burgess had a pretty good career with a career OPS+ of 116. But he's third all-time in pinch hits and was a beloved player at the end of his career. We talk about the changes in pinch hitting and why all-time pinch hitting records are likely safe! Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Musi...

Send us Fan Mail As Director of Product Adam has been part of Sports-Reference for a long time. Keeping Baseball -Reference.com fresh, being part of the addition of Football, Basketball, (both college and pro), and hockey has proven to be groundbreaking. Adam has also worked on bringing in Negro League player data into BR.  We talk Hall of Fame (Adam is a Dustin Pedroia advocate), and what's...

Send us Fan Mail We don't know about you, but we forget things that happened during a baseball season even when it was LAST season!  Sure the #dodgers beat #yankees in the #worldseries but besides Shohei and Aaron Judge, and Skubal, Sale and Skenes, there still were a lot of interesting and even amazing things that happened.  We discuss the four no-hitters, the pitching triple crowns, and sad...

Send us Fan Mail Founded in 1901, the AL contains teams like #Yankees and #RedSox who have an epic list in their top 5 for players hitting home runs while a member of the franchise.  Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, David "Big Papi' Ortiz, Jim Rice, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra are all in their teams top 5. All are HOFer.. Aaron Judge is outside the Yankee top...

Send us Fan Mail Who are the home run leaders while wearing a team's uniform?  Sounded like a interesting episode topic but then Rickey Henderson so sadly and suddenly passed away at age 65. Rickey's 66th birthday would have been on Christmas this Wednesday. With 1,406 stolen bases Rickey doesn't only have the most stolen bases in one season, or in a career, he also scored the most...

Send us Fan Mail Steve Phillips has been a radio personality for 20 years starting not long after his time his time as GM for our #mets. Steve brought in Mike Piazza who had the biggest non-playoff home run in Mets history - until this year maybe? Today Steve hosts 'The Leadoff Spot' on Sirius/XM radio weekdays from 7-10AM. Steve also broadcasts some Toronto Blue Jays games and is a regu...

Send us Fan Mail How about the #Giants finally getting their man in Willy Adames. But it was a big price to pay. Clay Holmes to the #mets as a starter? Luis Severino to Sacramento is a big deal for the franchise formerly known as the #athletics who seem like they will eventually move to Vegas.  Frankie Montas to the Mets was the reason Severino headed west. But still no word on Juan Soto but we th...

Send us Fan Mail Having worked with HOFer Roland Hemond with the Chicago #whitesox, Dan Evans took on the job of rebuilding the #dodgers in 2001. He was there for four seasons and had a winning season each year before being fired with almost 200 others. The Dodgers went 71-91 the next season and Dan tells us it did not bother him a bit!  Dodgers GM from 2001-2004 having a winning record each year,...

Send us Fan Mail Why aren't more teams on #MLB free agent Juan Soto? They make plenty of money but are afraid. Afraid even though they are increasing franchise value and have more revenue streams than ever before.  Teams should be spending more on Free Agents. We tell you which ones. Which teams should be spending more period? After Juan Soto signs who will be next?  Pete Alonso? Anthony Sant...

Send us Fan Mail 79/113/122 those are the numbers representing the amount of days until pitchers & catchers report, #Dodgers #Cubs opening games in Tokyo March 18, and the REAL opening day on March 27.  MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year were all awarded. There were exactly ZERO surprises. Guess that's but it's also kind of boring. News Flash - #Mets Francisco...

Send us Fan Mail Baseball fans may have heard the story that Stan Musial began his career in baseball as a pitcher/outfielder. A shoulder injury forced him to become a hitter and outfielder full-time for which #MLB is forever grateful. Stan-the-Man had 3,630 hits - the same 1,815 hits at home as he had on the road! He missed only one season due to WWII in 1945 only to return the next year, win the...

Send us Fan Mail Japanese sensation 23-year-old Roki Sasaki wants to play #MLB. He finally got Chibu to allow him to have that opportunity. Yoshinobu Yamamoto showed the #Dodgers that top-tier NPB pitchers can dominate in the Majors. Gerrit Cole thought about leaving the #Yankees and then thought the better of it.  We didn't discuss Shohei Ohtani's surgery but he'll be ready for Ope...

Send us Fan Mail If you are using Baseball-reference.com or Football or Basketball reference you will be using aspects what Sean Lahman created 30 years ago. Sean is a member of SABR and has generously donated the database to SABR so it's in excellent hands!  We asked Sean how to use the database, how much and how long it took to put it all together (Bill James was an inspiration) and ways th...

Send us Fan Mail No longer can #dodgers be talked about as not having won a WS in this century in a 162-game season. There are a few players like Max Muncy who remember taking Covid-19 test after winning the 2020 World Series. No parades. No cheering from the fans. The 2024 championship behind a great job of managing by future HOF manager Dave Roberts makes all the noise go away. Was #yankees mana...

Send us Fan Mail Just last season the #dbacks came from 2-0 down to beat the #Phillies in the NLCS.  So the #Yankees being down 2-0 is not insurmountable. But their fans are going nuts and negative since presumptive AL MVP Aaron Judge has struck out 6 times in 2 games. How will the Yankee fans greet Judge upon his return to the Bronx?  #Dodgers Shohei Ohtani will play in game three and lead off. H...

Send us Fan Mail Do today's Yankee and Dodger fans care about the 1981 World Series? That was the last one between the teams. The Yanks and Dodgers played 11 times from 1941 through 1981. They did not like each other. Really. That's not the case today as all belong to a very exclusive club of millionaires and billionaires.  In the #ALCS #Guardians gave it their best shot vs. #Yankees but...

Send us Fan Mail As #Mets fans of course we're excited that somehow our favorite team is still in it. Yet the prospect of a subway series vs. #Yankees is very enticing and exciting. #Dodgers will have a lot to say about it and Shohei will likely not have another subpar series. #Guardians surprised #Tigers Tarik Skubal with former #National Lane Thomas providing two huge blows.  We wrap up the...

Send us Fan Mail If you know our podcast you know we are huge Mets fans. This week was one of the better ones in the team's history. Playing the only games in #MLB on Monday and Thursday, the Mets were the Drama Queens from Queens!   Now that #Brewers are vanquished #Phillies await and will be a much tougher task. We preview the best of 5 series between #Yankees #Royals #Guardians #Tigers #Do...

Send us Fan Mail The #Mets & #Braves split a doubleheader on Monday. Game 1 of the DH was one of the best baseball games a Met fan has ever seen. So we're naturally happy. But there were a ton of other things this week in baseball. We didn't discuss Luis Arraez 3rd straight batting crown, or Shohei Ohtani at all! Our segment on things you might not have heard included some rarely dis...

Send us Fan Mail The Rookie League championships took place at the end of July!  There's have also been championships settled in Low A and High A Ball. This week the AA and AAA finals are being played with the AAA overall championship a one game 'winner take all' playoff this Saturday Sept. 28th.  Do minor league players get trophies for winning a minor league title? Do they care? T...

Send us Fan Mail What was CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals thinking when he stayed out until 8AM before a day game!!  The White Sox tie the Mets record for futility with 120 losses. Tigers believe!  Twins like the Royals are sinking. Mariners are hanging on and the Braves go home to play the Mets for the playoff lives.  Dodgers will need to hold off the Padres this week and the D'Backs w...

Send us Fan Mail #Tigers Tarik Skubal and #Braves Chris Sale are both in line to win the AL and NL pitching triple crowns this season. Most wins, most strikeouts, and lowest E.R.A. is the criteria. It was last done in 2020 in the pandemic season by #Guardians Shane Bieber. It's happened 33 times in #MLB history which is more than double the amount of batting triple crowns (15).  We discuss wh...

Send us Fan Mail Tyler Glasnow is out for the year. Yamamoto might be able to throw 6 innings by playoff time. What will the #Dodgers do? #Rangers had the future and the past happen this week with Kumar Rocker, Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer start consecutive games.  Why did Gerritt Cole intentionally walk Rafael Devers while working on a no-hitter? It totally backfired. Bobby Witt Jr. has 100 RBIs...

Send us Fan Mail Albert Belle isn't in the HOF. Nor did he ever win an MVP although he deserved one in 1998. Instead Juan Gonzalez of the #Rangers (also not a HOFer). But Belle's not the biggest snub ever for MVP. There are lots of other more worthy, or unworthy, candidates!  #Giants Barry Bonds ruined it for #Cardinals Albert Pujols in 2003. But Bonds did that to #Cubs Sammy Sosa who al...