Say It Ain't Contagious

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Say It Ain’t Contagious is an ongoing discussion of baseball, social justice, the politics of our country, and how they are inevitably intertwined. Six scholars, activists, and baseball pundits use the game and its history as a lens into issues of race, economics, and American culture.

Steven Goldman


    • Jul 27, 2021 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 54m AVG DURATION
    • 25 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Say It Ain't Contagious

    SIAC 26: The Freewheelin' Greg Proops

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2021 78:54


    Greg Proops joins the panel for a wide-ranging discussion that covers the Giants, the Negro Leagues, women in baseball, the lack of poetry in baseball announcing, and much more!

    SIAC 25: ¡Pleibol! with Dr. Margaret Salazar-Porzio

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2021 55:16


    The panel chats with Dr. Margaret Salazar-Porzio of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on the new ¡Pleibol! exhibit, a journey into the heart and history of U.S. Latino baseball.

    SIAC 24 Untitled Bad Men in Baseball Episode

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 37:51


    The panel reflects on the disappointing way the Dodgers and Major League Baseball have responded to harassment and domestic violence issues from Mickey Callaway to Trevor Bauer.

    SIAC 23: Fernandomania with Dr. Jose Alamillo

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2021 52:51


    Jose Alamillo (Deportes: The Making of a Sporting Mexican Diaspora) joins the panel to discuss the impact of Fernando Valenzuela when he emerged as baseball's biggest star 30 years ago.

    SIAC 22: Say It Ain't Spider Tack

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2021 55:15


    Baseball is gripped by grip-enhancements, or is it the other way around? The panel considers the way the lack of enforcement in the area of ball-doctoring has led baseball into some of the same blind alleys that now trap other areas of American culture and politics. Craig crashes Gaylord Perry's house, Steve goes for a Nazi analogy that may be a bit overwrought, and so much more.

    SIAC 21: The One with Mae Ngai

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2021 49:51


    Columbia University historian Mae Ngai joins the SIAC panel of Craig, Lincoln, Adrian, Tova, and Frank to discuss the rise of anti-Asian sentiment in the US, its long history in this country, and how it coexists with the majesty of Shohei Ohtani.

    SIAC 20: Racism and Reggie Bars

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2021 39:48


    The panel looks at American race relations a year after the murder of George Floyd and wonders if today Curt Schilling could accuse Adam Jones of manufacturing an incident at Fenway Park without facing a greater backlash, plus we remember Reggie! bars and Lincoln objects to Steve's choice of ending.

    SIAC 19: The Unwritten Rules Are Everywhere

    Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2021 52:16


    Tony La Russa throwing his own player under the bus for hitting a home run off of a position player during a blowout leads to a consideration of the other places unwritten rules lurk in American life.

    SIAC 17: Machismo Married to Fantasy

    Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2021 54:39


    The SIAC panel considers the threatened move of the Oakland A's and the precarious state of players' mental health in an increasingly pressured game.

    SIAC 16: The Captain & Me Visit the Garment District

    Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2021 49:35


    Dan Epstein joins the SIAC panel to talk about the book he co-authored with Ron Blomberg, THE CAPTAIN & ME: ON AND OFF THE FIELD WITH THURMAN MUNSON. Come spend an hour in the land of 1970s baseball where the suits were polyester, the dance was disco, and the Yankees had a catcher who should have been in the Hall of Fame 35 years ago already.

    SIAC 15: The Billionaires Always Win Don't They

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2021 56:43


    Craig, Lincoln, Tova, Adrian, and Steve look at MLB's (not "the MLB's") response to the Chauvin verdict, then examine the short-lived soccer "Super League" in the context of baseball's big- and small-market divide.

    SIAC 14: Our Country Almost Made It

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2021 74:51


    San Francisco civil rights legend Reverend Arnold Townsend joins Lincoln, Craig, Frank, and Steve to reminisce about being born into a segregated nation when there was still hope for equality, in part by meeting halfway--in the country of baseball. "If you can't appreciate Bob Gibson, you're not a baseball fan, you're a racist who watches baseball."

    SIAC 13: Race, Class, and Gender with Howard Bryant

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2021 60:47


    ESPN's Howard Bryant joins the panel to discuss MLB's relocation of the All-Star Game, baseball's future, and the great Rickey Henderson.

    SIAC 12: The Season Starts But the World Goes On

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2021 47:47


    Opening Day has arrived and with it the 2021 baseball season, Francisco Lindor has signed an extension, and all seems right with the world... But the George Floyd murder trial and Georgia voter suppression reminds us that it's no time to feel satisfied.

    SIAC 11: Filibusters and Pace of Play

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2021 60:40


    The full panel crosses the streams concerning voter suppression, the Senate filibuster, and Major League Baseball's attempt to change the pace of play and stimulate action in a conversation that ranges from Laurence Olivier to beyond-Bernie baseball fans to doctored balls.

    SAIC 10: The Sports Revolution

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2021 49:54


    In a not very mini mini-episode, Frank, Tova, Adrian, and Lincoln discuss Frank's new book THE SPORTS REVOLUTION: HOW TEXAS CHANGED THE CULTURE OF AMERICAN ATHLETICS. It's a wide-ranging discussion taking in everything from the demise of the Washington Senators expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, the racism of the early 1970s Houston Astros, and more.

    SAIC 9: Texas Superspreader Ball (Bring Back the Troughs)

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2021 60:01


    In a wide-ranging discussion Adrian, Craig, Frank, Lincoln, Tova, and Steve note the planned full-attendance Opening Day in Arlington, the hidden power of stadium naming rights, the discarded and future name of the Cleveland American League team, and remember some retrograde men's rooms at defunct ballparks around the country.

    SIAC 8: The Giants and Their City and Their Crab

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2021 38:20


    Lincoln Mitchell discusses his new book THE GIANTS AND THEIR CITY with Tova Wang and Frank Guridy. Featuring inaccurate directions to San Jose, I left my gestalt in San Francisco, and Giants characters galore from Bob Lurie to Bobby Murcer, Kevin Mitchell to Willie Mays, and one abomination of a crustacean.

    Say It Ain't Contagious 7: Pay No Attention to the Little Man at the Rotary Club

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2021 62:49


    The full panel is back, taking on the Mariners' ex-president's defenestration at the rotary club, what it means to disdain your own international players, the Fernando Tatis, Jr signing, Trevor Bauer's (ahem) sensitivity, glance at the 1970s Yankees, and mark Major League Baseball's progress in responding to domestic violence perpetrators.

    SIAC 6 Mini-Episode: You've Lost That Go Sox Feeling

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 22, 2021 40:31


    In our second mini-episode, Craig Calcaterra, Frank Guridy, Lincoln Mitchell, and Adrian Burgos debate what it means to be a fan. Can you be a fan without being attached to a team? Is there such a thing as toxic fandom? Does anyone like baseball on an aesthetic basis, or is it just about the winning?

    SIAC 5: Let the Wrongness Wash Over You

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2021 65:30


    The impeachment effort fails but there's still hope for labor progress in baseball. But why doesn't the Players Association try to counteract pro-management propaganda? Join Adrian Burgos, Craig Calcaterra, Steven Goldman, Frank Guridy, Lincoln Mitchell, and Tova Wang as they attempt to find out. 1.In Memory of Pedro Gomez.2.Spring Training is Here!3.Kim Ng Faces a Second Ceiling.4.Invasive Wearables.5.Why Doesn't the Players Association Do PR?6.Hokey Goodbyes.

    SIAC 4 Mini-Episode: Lets Remember Some Guys and Presidents

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2021 40:50


    In the first mini-episode of the series, Steven Goldman and Lincoln Mitchell are joined by Defector's David Roth for a game of "Let's Remember Some Guys and Presidents."

    SIAC 3: Remembering Henry Aaron

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2021 60:25


    The Say It Ain't Contagious panel mourns the passing of Henry Aaron and tries to place his experience in context.1.What did Henry Aaron Mean to You?2.White Supremacist Attacks on Aaron.3.The Lost Centrality of Baseball in American Life.4.The Absence of African Americans from Today's Game.5.Aaron and Barry Bonds.6.Aaron and Dick Allen.

    Say It Ain't Contagious 2: Changes in a Major and Minor Key

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2021 62:07


    The panel sees Joe Biden inaugurated and exhales, but clenches again when it comes to Major League Baseball's scouring of the minor leagues.

    Say It Ain't Contagious 1: Jackie Robinson is Not Your Excuse

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2021 58:56


    In the first episode of the ongoing SAIC podcast, the panel reacts to the sack of the Capitol, Major League Baseball's “recognition” of the Negro Leagues, and finds the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates preferable to both. TABLE OF CONTENTS1.Who are we and why are we here? 2.Coup attempt at the Capitol. On “Banana Republics” and the United States in Latin America. MLB PAC suspends donations. White Supremacy in the Republican Party. 3.MLB “Recognizes” the Negro Leagues. Self-congratulatory Jackie Robinsonism. Baseball Jim Crowism and Stats in context. The poor quality of pre-integration baseball. Better means of making amends. 4.Who gets to tell the story of Black baseball? The exploitation of Latin American prospects. In praise of the Negro Leagues Museum.5.Rennie Stennett vs. Donald Trump for the record books. Stennett consequences and Stennett regrets. The function of stats in storytelling. The egalitarian 1970s Pirates. The Giants internationalize integration. Your Masanori Murakami mention for this week. And Manny Mota too. Goodbyes. Say It Ain't Contagious is an ongoing discussion of baseball, social justice, the politics of our country, and how they are inevitably intertwined. Six scholars, activists, and baseball pundits use the game and its history as a lens into issues of race, economics, and American culture. Featuring Adrian Burgos, Craig Calcaterra, Steven Goldman, Frank Guridy, Lincoln Mitchell, and Tova Wang.

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