The Infinite Inning

Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt discuss their new book INTENTIONAL BALK: BASEBALL’s LONG AND SORDID HISTORY OF INNOVATION AND CHEATING. Plus tales: The Dodgers’ Uncle Robbie is a hypocrite about weight and one of the greatest Yankees managers does the right thing after an uncharacteristic blow-up. TABLE OF CONTENTS Uncle Robbie Fat-Shames a Pitcher and We Learn a New Vocabulary Word*The Start of Joe...

Chats are back! David Roth returns to ask existential questions about Juan Soto, the billionaire class, and if the average person can develop Steve Blass’s disease. Plus tales: A reserve catcher has a fateful meeting with a man who brought dignity to a bodily function and several current players conjure a classic tale from the beginning of the 20th century due to their lack of vaccination. TABLE O...

Infinite Inning 232: My Boyhood Pal, Marilyn Monroe One more (really) solo episode as we gear up for the Baseball’s Brief Lives, the Infinite Inning book: The son of a Hall of Famer makes a very famous friend and gets grief for it, a great but mostly forgotten player tries to kill another future Hall of Famer with kindness, and more about Cap Anson and his underage bride. TABLE OF CONTENTS Joe D G...

A final solo episode before a return to guests features discussions of a manager realizing he was in over his head after just one game and a Hall of Famer meets his wife—in a way that would land him in jail today. TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of abortion, murder, consent, and child abuse, among other things. THE INFINITE INNING BOOK: Baseball’s Brief Lives: Player Stories Ins...

One more solo episode inspired, as always, by current events in which the right player is suspended for what he didn’t do but what everyone understood he intended and a player attempts to start a fan uprising. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Brawl that No One Saw*Luke/Lute/Daniel Boone’s Strange Ejection*Goodbyes. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating c...

Another solo episode as your host continues to recover from whatever is wrong with him THIS week! (Even his doctors mock him). This week: Tales of two catchers, one of whom was the best uncle baseball ever had, the other a longtime manager who had a moment of unusual frankness after making a trade. TABLE OF CONTENTS Uncle Robbie Phones May Phone it In but He Knows His Meats*Steve O’Neill versus th...

A solo episode in which sad past and sorry present collide in the spring of 1927, when even as Babe Ruth and the Yankees were setting records there was evil abroad in Michigan. Then we journey to 1947 and the moment Ben Chapman tried to derail Jackie Robinson and consider Josh Donaldson’s interaction with Tim Anderson as well. TRIGGER WARNING: A great deal of harm comes to children in this week’s...

Author Dan Good discusses a tragic player and Playing Through the Pain: Ken Caminiti and the Steroids Confession that Changed Baseball Forever. Plus tales: Casey Stengel wonders who you can ask for advice when trying to win a fifth pennant, a 20-game winner goes to the bullpen, and a disgruntled player’s momentary embrace of racism. TABLE OF CONTENTS Casey Wonders Who You Can Ask for Instructions...

Jesse Spector dishes on his new book/podcast/newsletter endeavor, Willets Pen, praises Buck Showalter, and considers the ins and outs of rally sex. Plus tales: A catcher drinks, knits, and recovers while another deserts his team at the worst possible moment. TABLE OF CONTENTS Rollie Hemsley Serves Drinks and Sandwiches*Buddy Rosar’s Police Academy Dream*Jesse Spector: On the COVID IL*What is Wille...

Cliff Corcoran returns to talk about the new dead-ball, pitchers fielding, and the arrival of Kelsie Whitmore in the Atlantic League, plus takes: An umpire provokes the women in the stands and a 25-run game goes down painlessly. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Ladies of Macon Rise Up*The PlayerStories Book is Coming*A Simple Point About a 25-Run Game*Cliff Corcoran: Lee Guetterman Memories*Pitchers Fielding...

Jeffrey Paternostro returns for a premature look at prospects’ progress. Plus tales: A pitcher takes the wrong lesson from adversity and a Red Sox third baseman’s home run underscores present-day offensive woes. TABLE OF CONTENTS Change Your Way, George Earnshaw (Guest-Starring Lou Gehrig and Connie Mack)* Spirit Ballplayers, Last Entry*Jim Tabor Hits a Solo Shot of Note and Other Home Runs in an...

David Roth returns to discuss the uplift provided by the new season, Robinson Cano, how the Reds provoke thoughts of the end of history, Pitchcom, and the 1985 arcade came “Gauntlet.” Plus tales: Teams in the 1880s outdraw the present-day A’s and mouthy third baseman Arlie Latham psyches out the Reds’ manager. WARNING: As in all Roth-a-looza episodes, there is the occasional cussword. Please instr...

Thomas W. Gilbert discusses HOW BASEBALL HAPPENED, the story of the game’s earliest years. Plus tales: The value of a famous hitting coach to a light-hitting shortstop is debatable and the real meaning of Jackie Robinson Day. TABLE OF CONTENTS Bucky Dent Hits a Homer with a Little Help from His Coach (Not THAT Homer)*Why Do We Observe Jackie Robinson Day? (And Why “Camelot” is Such a Downer)*Thoma...

Craig Calcaterra returns to discuss his new book RETHINKING FANDOM, plus tales: A visit to the home of one of the earliest baseball games for a deadly attack and the story of two rookies who couldn’t hang on—in more ways than one. TABLE OF CONTENTS Murder at Elysian Fields*Spirit Ballplayers III*Awards Predictions, Top Rookies, and the Llama*The Gary Scott Story Outlined*Thake’s Epilogue*Craig Cal...

A solo episode about service-time manipulation, entropy, destroyed pitching prospects, “Don’t Say Gay,” and Will Smith’s slap versus the on-field variety. TABLE OF CONTENTS A Brief Invocation of John Candelaria*Oneil Cruz Can Keep the Rain Off of You*Pie Traynor Debunked*Entropy is All and Everything and I Couldn’t Possibly Be Better*Spirit Ballplayers II*Who Killed Russ Bauers?*“Say It With a Sla...

Cliff Corcoran returns to dissect all the moves of March, plus tales: Gender uncertainty on a barnstorming team, a rowdy crowd in Chicago is given way too much leeway to attack a player, and the odd career of the pitcher who began the ruckus. TABLE OF CONTENTS Vaccines and Bloomer Girls*A Quick Note on Bleeding Dodger Blue*Your Spirit Ballplayer 1.0*Don Buford and Bart Johnson: The Ballad of Red-B...

Infinite Inning 218: It Worked, But Never Do It Again Jesse Spector returns to discuss the competitive balance landscape, which still has all the old hills and valleys. Plus tales as reaction to the new CBA: A very slow player makes an ill-advised attempt to swipe home plate and a member of the Gashouse Gang exaggerates his prowess. NEW EDIT WITH IMPROVED AUDIO! TABLE OF CONTENTS Zeke’s Run*More o...

Craig Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) talks about BASEBALL PROSPECTUS 2022, owner vs. player morality, and the best comps for Juan Soto. Plus tales: A pitcher expresses insecurity right on the mound—or does he? The trap of zero-sum thinking, and an obscure player who was as good a hitter, in his way, as Mike Piazza. TABLE OF CONTENTS Pink Hawley is Looking for a Friend*Baseball, Politics, “Evil In...

Solo episode! Tales of ancient battles between owners and the players, none of which make the owners look good. Casey Stengel goes to Washington and, well, criticizes the owners. And a one-year wonder makes an impulsive decision that costs him a World Series ring. TABLE OF CONTENTS Mr. Stengel Goes to Washington*Are Owners Truly Necessary?*The Rapid Rise and Fall of the Players League*The Lockout...

Alex Belth and Emily Shapiro return to discuss HERE I ARE: ANATOMY OF A MARRIAGE. Plus tales: Miller Huggins comes to the wrong conclusion and a second baseman who would sooner fight than order a veggie lover’s pizza. TABLE OF CONTENTS Miller Huggins’ Last Mistake (Plus Spittin’ Bill and Larry Hart)*A Brief Baseball Note from Ogden Nash*Raw Meat Bill and Davey Crockett Times Two Too*Alex Belth and...

Cliff Corcoran (The Cycle newsletter) returns to talk about lockout priorities. Plus tales: Marking the passing of a side-arm pitcher who got less respect than he deserved and a catcher throws it all away on one swing—but not the kind you’re thinking of. TABLE OF CONTENTS Requiem for a Sidearmer*Joe Rue and Greek George*Cliff Corcoran: Ripcord Porkerban vs. the Roc*Ray Harryhausen and Modern Speci...

Prospectmeister Jeffrey Paternostro returns to discuss the Baseball Prospectus 2022 Top-101 Prospects rankings. Plus tales: The 66th-best hitter for average of all time has a cough; a Hall of Fame pitcher messes up his marriage, demonstrating that even people with plaques are as complicated as anybody else. TABLE OF CONTENTS David Ortiz to the Hall*The 66th-Best Hitter for Average of All Time is N...

David Roth on Topps and The Athletic being sold, why baseball color commentors curdle after two years, the Mets’ moves, and more. Plus tales: “Pride of the Yankees” departs from reality and strikes a chord; an All-Star is captured at the moment of his release. TABLE OF CONTENTS Lou Gehrig, “Pride of the Yankees,” and Me*The Ballad of Jim Ray Hart and His DFA Photograph*David Roth: Mickey Rooney in...

Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions returns to discuss the Bill James Handbook 2022, plus tales: The media fails the players when the owners push them into striking 50 years ago. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Media on Baseball Strike ‘72*Folly at the Half-Century Mark*Players vs. Owners vs. Themselves ‘72*Mark Simon: A Hazy Shade of Baseball*Why is Carlos Correa a Great Defensive Shortstop?*A Girthy Tome*...

Our annual holiday historical fiction sees straitlaced Yankees manager taking on the greatest challene of this career: Romance. Plus a brief true tale in which Mama Gehrig is found to be a citizen just like any other American. TABLE OF CONTENTS Mama Gehrig Goes to Court*Intermission: The Pinch-Hitter is Banned (Happy, Healthy New Year)*Story: “Joe McCarthy: Advisor to the Lonely Heart”*Goodbyes. T...