The Infinite Inning

Jesse Spector, recurring cohost/periodic comet, returns to break down the offseason, such as it is, plus we mourn the death of Rob Picciolo, the most impatient player ever, and consider how Red Ruffing’s global war might be like our own. WARNING: The F-word is deployed right at the outset of the Jesse segment. It’s clean before and after that. TABLE OF CONTENTS Rob Picciolo’s intentional walk*Red...

A rare (somewhat) shorter solo episode for Steve as baseball leaves the 2017 offseason unfinished and hopes the 2018 segment will bring more action. Tales of Joe McCarthy, Hack Wilson, and the decline of the 1980s Baltimore Orioles as a metaphor for our lives.   TABLE OF CONTENTS Joe McCarthy’s one joke (“Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”—Sammy Davis, Jr.)*Hack Wilson’s worm*Babich!*With apologie...

Meg Rowley returns to talk about the discontents of the Shohei Ohtani decision and its aftermath, as well as sundry other topics, and somehow it all ends up being related to “Star Wars.” Plus: A ballplayer with more than one family and the last play of Richie Ashburn’s career.   TABLE OF CONTENTS Arthur Irwin, Baseball Bigamist*Feeling like a loser, feeling like a Phillie*Meg Rowley: The Shohei Ot...

Sports on Earth’s Cliff Corcoran returns to break down the winter meetings in our longest episode yet. Bring supplies, be ready for Marlins-bashing.  TABLE OF CONTENTS Ted Williams for Joe DiMaggio*Give Us 18-Player Trades and Bullet Bob Turley*Cliff Corcoran: Let’s Sign All the Relievers, Jiggety-Jig! (Phillies-heavy)*The Marcell Ozuna trade*Burying the Miami Marlins*A Mets digression*The Yankees...

Mike Bates and Bill Parker, hosts of the This Week in Baseball History podcast, join Steve for a discussion of Cooperstown discontents, plus terminally ill submariners and a Dee Gordon trade reaction. TABLE OF CONTENTS Russ Christopher, Throwing Underhand in the Infinite Inning*A fight in the bullpen as Seattle acquires Dee Gordon*Mike Bates and Bill Parker: The This Week in Baseball History podca...

Steve is joined by Stacey May Fowles, novelist, essayist, and author of Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game that Saved Me for a discussion of finding the calm center that lurks behind the turbulent veneer of Toronto Blue Jays fandom. Plus: Dark mutterings on Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers and a warm memory of Yankees great Bobby Murcer. TABLE OF CONTENTS Tinker to Evers to I Don’t Love You Anymore*...

In a short Thanksgiving episode—short by Infinite Inning standards, anyway—we visit the soft places of the Infinite Inning, including hypothetical whiskey-pushing gangsters who had it in for the Cardinals, when the pressures of World War II caused New York Giants fans to threaten to riot during a performance of the National Anthem, and the frightening place that is the family dinner table at holid...

David Roth (Deadspin) returns to take on the World Series, Yuli Gurriel, and Papa John’s. TABLE OF CONTENTS Lou Whitaker, Walter Briggs, and the Hall of Fame*No one who cares about you would use your kindness against you*David Roth: Falsettos*Farewell to wannabe sportscaster Chris Christie*Roth’s national pizza rankings*Why do we accept bad chains?*Oatmeal for dinner*Cats who eat Dunkin’ Donuts*Th...

Author Paul Dickson joins Steve to discuss his new book, Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son. Plus, the Dodgers bullpen at Jutland and a note on eternal World Series goat Roger Peckinpaugh. TABLE OF CONTENTS Jutland*Roger Peckinpaugh’s first World Series*Paul Dickson: How do you write 60 books?*The demise of the slicks*Durocher wasn’t a nice guy, but was he a good guy?*Slapping Babe Ruth*The 194...

Ben Lindbergh (Effectively Wild podcast, The Ringer) returns to not breakdown the postseason, not talk about starting a family, and not talk about all the managers. Actually, we do cover that last one, and some of the others as well. Plus: Fred Merkle vs. the Stoics. TABLE OF CONTENTS Me and My Friend Fred*Bucky Harris, Gene Mauch, Joe Girardi, and Stuckness*The Wedding Bell Blues*Starting a Famil...

Craig Calcaterra (Hardball Talk) returns to talk postseason baseball and the way flawed memory can distort our memories. Plus: The Marriage of Casey Stengel and manager inaction in the World Series. TABLE OF CONTENTS This is How Casey Ran*Owens, Henrich, and Another Casey*Craig Calcaterra: Expansion Dreaming*Derek Jeter’s Marlins Plan of Destruction*MLBPA Accommodationist?*The MLBAM success story*...

Jesse Spector (FanRag and so much more) returns to recap the postseason, argue about home runs, and be barked at by his dog. WARNING: There’s one mild cussword and Jesse’s dog Youppi makes a sudden, shocking appearance that nearly caused the host to soil his undergarments. TABLE OF CONTENTS Phlegmatic Lou*Larry McLean Learns Something Too Late*Jesse Spector: Sixteen hours of baseball*Joe Girardi’s...

Cliff Corcoran (Sports on Earth) returns to simultaneously preview and review the early postseason. TABLE OF CONTENTS Ducky and the Produce Truck*A Manager Wrecks and Arm, 1920 Edition*Cliff Corcoran: From Bud Selig with Love: The mystery of the Brewers’ logo*The Wild-Card play-in games Part 1*Does the postseason truly validate the best team?*Teams are mutable*Finishing the season against your pla...

Steven is joined by historian Mary Craig (Baseball Prospectus, Beyond the Box Score) to discuss the intersection of sports and politics as we see it and/or refuse to see it today. Along the way, Herbert Hoover doesn’t meet Babe Ruth and Tom Seaver crosses into John Lennon territory. TABLE OF CONTENTS War is over if Tom Seaver wants it*Herbert Hoover goes to a ballgame*Mary Craig: John Locke was su...

Marc Normandin of SBNation.com joins Steve to talk postseason baseball, the Boston Red Sox, and the soap opera that is professional wrestling. We also have a more positive encounter with Mickey Cochrane and Phil Rizzuto in the Pacific. WARNING: There is the odd cussword this week, but we omitted a potential anecdote about Rizzuto’s testicles so it’s all okay. TABLE OF CONTENTS More managerial wisd...

David Roth returns to discuss the intersection of the NFL, MLB, and the joys of postseason baseball, plus tales of emotionally distressed catchers. WARNING: There is the odd cussword this week, artistically deployed. It’s a David Roth episode. TABLE OF CONTENTS “What breaks a contender?” 1911 Edition*Black Mike’s Black Dog*David Roth: A friend of us all*Roth’s remembrance of 9/11*MLB, the NFL, and...

Before Cliff Corcoran of Sports on Earth takes his regular spot in the rotation and turns the conversation to an extended fantasia about beluga whales and other zoo-going experiences, Steve is joined by MLB Ambassador for Inclusion Billy Bean. Also: How Walter Johnson was like incorrectly eating a Stroopwafel. TABLE OF CONTENTS Walter Johnson vs. Stroopwafels*Billy Bean and Shred Hate*ZooTalk of t...

Meg Rowley of Baseball Prospectus joins Steve to talk the Mariners, her Celebrating Women in Baseball event, and the sandals and possibly-vanished waterfowl of Seattle. TABLE OF CONTENTS The puzzling Ruben Gomez-Joe Adcock confrontation*Rube Waddell down in the flood*Meg Rowley: Obligatory Game of Thrones discussion*Are there still ducks at the University of Washington?*Birkenstocks!*The Celebrati...

Steve mentions a rude body part three times! Jesse explains one thing the NHL gets right that baseball gets wrong, the Mets are once again dissed, how to cope with Aroldis Chapman is debated, as is the morality of Bartolo Colon, and Franklin Roosevelt’s braces, George Washington’s spectacles, John Beckwith’s rage, and Allie Reynolds’ bad back are explained. WARNING: There is a brief discussion tow...

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...

After discussions of a personal nature involving Carl Edwards, Jr., the 1912 New York Giants, and imposter syndrome, Steve is joined by Grant Brisbee of SB Nation’s McCovey Chronicles to talk about how the San Francisco Giants got to be so bad, what it’s like hosting a TV show in a down season, and the origins of the Marco Scutaro rainglobe.   Warning: Two cusswords this week. We express deep cont...

Cliff Corcoran of Sports on Earth returns to break down the action at the trading deadline, Steve discusses the sad fate of Porter Moss, the uplifting fate of Harry Heitmann, and the Phillies Phanatic makes a couple of very awkward appearances. WARNING: There are no cusswords this week. Perhaps an adult-ish matter is discussed, but obliquely, with taste and discretion. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Porter...

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...

Jesse Spector returns as the Infinite Inning begins its own trading deadline negotiations. Episode #13 begins with a personal tale from Steve’s college days and proceeds to one of the most bizarre episodes in baseball history, the O’Connell-Dolan affair during the 1924 National League stretch drive. It’s a scandal that has echoes in a present-day controversy. Jesse enters with sitcoms on his mind,...

Say your team is done and you’re ready to quit on the season. Should you catch up on summer films? Film critic and podcaster Scott Tobias (The Next Picture Show) catches us up on the good and bad of the summer film season, revisits the experience of co-founding the lauded but ultimately short-lived film site The Dissolve, and advocates for The Brady Bunch Movie (necessary) and Albert Brooks (speak...