The Infinite Inning

In new remarks for this week's baseball, history, and politics reissue, we consider the heat dome hovering over half the country and wonder what it means for baseball. Then we revisit the offensively potent but frequently discarded outfielder Roy Cullenbine and take a visit to interwar Washington for a mostly non-baseball story of political corruption. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

Emotional trades happen, and the Cardinals—anticipating the exile of Rafael Devers from Boston—made one with a future Hall of Famer (who eventually wound up in Boston). Then a Cardinals pitcher is kidnapped—or was he?—and the host questions whether he once witnessed an example of the same on the mean streets of New Jersey.  The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

In new remarks for this week's baseball, history, and politics reissue, notes from the 1500s on kings and princes vs. the mob and what that might tell us about the Rafael Devers trade. Then we revisit two acts of resistance: Tom Seaver and John Lennon have an indirect team-up to remind us of our own power, and the wrong president shows up at the World Series.The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

A 1980s designated hitter is traded to the National League, a fish-needs-a-bicycle baseball moment reminiscent of recent US diplomacy, and a 20-game winner who pitched as Theodore Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill throws it all away in favor of good diction. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

In new remarks for this week's baseball and history reprise, we argue about bunts, kites, and kings—why would anyone wish for any of them? Kites are okay, of course, but the other two are problematic. We then revisit the Brooklyn Dodgers with Jackie Robinson asked to comment on a fallen Hall of Famer who had once been his teammate, then jump back to the days before World War II, when the America First Committee wanted to take over a baseball stadium for one of their isolationist/anti-Semitic rallies. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

There are very few general managers in the Hall of Fame, but that doesn't mean your local team executive doesn't know what he's doing—it's just that there are only so many obvious choices to make in any baseball season whether your name sounds something like “Ranch Bickey” or “Cryin' Rashman.” Then, following a quick stop with Babe Ruth and a close-mouthed Lou Gehrig, we visit Cleveland Indians camp in 1938 for a manager who was too insensitive to handle a troubled catcher—and his drawer full of shirts. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

In early February 2021 it seemed as if the danger of internally-inflicted fascism might be over, and so we looked at an occasion when Lou Gehrig was confronted with the same kind of movement and had a visceral reaction. Plus a lighter tale of a semi-pro pitcher who injured himself in an unusual way. We also revisit some of Twins executive Kevin Goldstein's comments on the Colorado Rockies from this episode. In this episode's new introduction: The naivety of some of this episode's comments about the dangers of Trumpism and a close encounter with 1000-game reliever LaTroy Hawkins. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

We take another trip around a past sun with the Brooklyn Dodgers, wondering about the origins of Uncle Robbie's pronounced facial scar and then question a couple of old stories involving his lack of education: Were umpires really policing his spelling? Then, after a brief pause to ponder the nature of unrequited love, we rejoin the pennant-winning 1941 Dodgers for a future Hall of Fame shortstop with the yips and the unfairly derided first baseman who tried to calm him. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

We return to the program's first year for two of our more fun baseball profiles, both featuring Brooklyn Dodgers—one from the 19th century, one from the 1940s, and both a little uncomfortable. In a new introduction, we explore different modes of parenting and a form of relationship for which we lack the right word. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

Infinite Inning 332: Women at the Park and Dictators in the Dugout The Chicago Cubs push hard on Ladies Day promotions, but a few object claiming that women don't know the game of baseball Then baseball managers as autocrats compared to the real thing, and why confusing one for the other is a very dangerous idea, featuring Ossie Vitt and the Crybaby Cleveland team, Stengel vs. Spahn, McGraw vs. Groh, Buchanan vs. emancipation, and everyone vs. “virtue signaling.” The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

Before we revisit episode 13 and it's discussion of the O'Connell-Dolan scandal, starring a player and a coach lately sprung off the banned list by Rob Manfred, we have a new introduction discussing Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis, the death of Franklin Roosevelt, Derek Jeter's refusal to move off of shortstop, and we give one more encore to the most perceptive thing Grantland Rice every wrote.The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

The secret to managers' success is revealed and dispensed with, in a hypothetical version of 1976, George Steinbrenner gifts Reggie Jackson with a plane, Hal Chase isn't off the list because he was never on the list, a pre-Orioles pitcher becomes ill indeed, and baserunners are obstructed in 1928 and 2025, with differing outcomes suggesting the ways baseball can be like a sloppily-written document. (Snare Drum Buzz Roll, then Tada by TheRandomSoundByte2637)The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

In this return to one of this baseball podcast's earliest episodes, we discover two utility infielders, the Yankees' Wayne Tolleson and, well, nobody's Snooks Dowd (he was a Tigers, A's, and Dodgers reject) who weren't where they were supposed to be—or maybe they were exactly where they were supposed to be, but those in authority had a different opinion. This episode features a new introduction reflecting on how these lost players relate to some of the displaced people of our own times.The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Baseball, America's brighter mirror, often reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman discusses the game's present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect history, politics, stats, and frequent Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? 

A pope who supposedly wanted baseball but caved to the Nazis instead, an amateur pitcher who cost a team a pennant, the Perdicaris incident, a Pirates manager is fired and the way his predecessor resigned, and the 2025 Colorado Rockies versus the 1932 Boston Red Sox and both in the hands of the President of the United States.   The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

For the show's first reissue, we return to an episode from almost precisely five years ago which compares players who wouldn't follow rules and inspired their clubs not to follow rules back, a subject framed by our once and possibly future public health crisis. We then turn to one of the great baseball stories, the misbegotten career of Don Padgett, who Branch Rickey tried to squeeze into a catcher's mask. This episode features a new introduction and occasional other interruptions.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We consider the legacy of the great Venezuelan players who have graced the game going back to Alex Carrasquel in 1939, constructing an all-star team of players from that beleaguered nation. What can any one of them tell us about Venezuelans as a whole? Hint: it's the same thing that a highway serial killer can tell us about your best friend's gramma. Then we return to the strange, inebriated world of Shufflin' Phil Douglas. Did he betray not just the game and himself, but his wife as well?The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We begin with two players who would have been crowded off of modern rosters, and also couldn't have made the 1970s Oakland A's due to the owner's insistence on carrying two pinch-runners at once. Then we travel to Philadelphia and visit two pitchers seemingly on parallel tracks, one who might pitch forever as the other confronts a life-threatening illness.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We visit the high-flying world of Florida real estate speculation 100 years ago with the volatile manager of the New York Giants John J. McGraw. When the bubble burst, would it be a case of murder? The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?(Two Drum Improv_1_Jan_2019_3.mp3 by Glen_Hoban -- https://freesound.org/s/457500/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 conga stabz beat 88 bpm by simmys_recycle_bin -- https://freesound.org/s/757340/ -- License: Attribution 4.0) 

We examine the Los Angeles Angels' hot start in light of the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers' hot start and what happened afterwards, and stumble across a writer saying inappropriate things about Spike Owen and Teddy Higuera. Then we talk about the tragic loss of Octavio Dotel, “The Pitt,” and Philadelphia's 1903 “Black Saturday.” Trigger Warning: There's nothing graphic about any of the above, but we do talk a bit about more than one tragic building collapse. It's tasteful, it's respectful and, we hope, totally not exploitative, but thinking about it too much still might be troubling. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve

Infinite Inning 324: The Way We Live Now (Again) In a largely improvised episode we reexperience current events through the lens of Joe DiMaggio's 1941 hitting streak, counting the days while the war stays away, while once again a government effort requires us to rally ‘round Jackie Robinson—and Abraham Lincoln too, and we do so while checking in on the better brand of shortstops offered by the Negro Leagues' Newark Eagles and Philadelphia Stars (and shame Connie Mack one more time). The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We debate whether a victim of the First World War and the 1918 influenza pandemic was the heretofore unidentifiable Greatest Lost Prospect, we make a quick stop to compare takes on the 1915 World Series to Social Darwinism, and rediscover a dirty owners' trick after a pitcher gathers up all his many girlfriends and drives into a wall. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A pitcher reaching a breaking point with his creator sends us scurrying back to the Old Testament for guidance, and then we unpack the stories behind Steve's Baseball Prospectus column this week, a reaction to the Department of Defense labeling Jackie Robinson as “deisports.” Should you wish to read the column, it's available free (no paywall) at BP. Trigger Warning: There are extensive discussions of slavery, and a brief one of rape, in the second part of the show. There is also perhaps one mild cussword in here. It's nothing you haven't heard the current president say repeatedly. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Casey Stengel (our mascot, hero, and deity) steals a couple of uniforms and feels bad about it, and then a successful manager of the Red Sox is fired under dubious circumstances, and then virtually everyone in the story catches tuberculosis. Trigger Warning: There are a couple of fleeting mentions of self-harm in the second act of the show. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A sportswriter faces his own irrelevance on the morning after Pearl Harbor and finds a way back to baseball, and then a pitcher loses it and reignites a brawl that had already ended—featuring more future Hall of Famers than wound up in the Hall of Fame. Yes, it all makes sense in the end. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

The way we live today prompts a tale of two future Hall of Famers inflicting pain on one another, yet another Hall of Famer, Phil Rizzuto, suffers pain and the host does too, and finally a story of a catcher who decided to engage with a world of corruption and paid a high price.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A minor leaguer gets involved with the wrong woman, but who does she get involved with in the aftermath? And why did the pitcher throw the inkstand? Tigger Warning: There is one mild cussword early on, but one supposes there are a few adult matters related to sexuality that come up in passing. You might want to say “La la la” over that if the kids are around. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Infinite Inning 317: You Can't Be There If You're Already Here The show must go on, and so we begin with Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Walt Alston, the overreach of the man he replaced, Chuck Dressen (and Mrs. Dressen too) and what Walt did to make ends meet, then pause for some ruminations on The Way We Live Now, then visit Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in 1957 for home-run heroics by a forgotten player, bad play-by-play, and a dire song choice. Tigger Warning: There is a machine gun fired about 18 minutes into the episode. There is also one cussword at around the 20-minute mark. Cauterize your ears if necessary. (LightMachineGun2.wav by SuperPhat. 8bit-scream.wav by DeltaCode. R21-09-Man Screams.wav, R28-45-Woman Screams in Rumbling Space.wav by craigsmith. ) The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We begin once more with nice guys who finish last, but we confront the possibility that the qualifier was overstated, segue into the “Window Breakers” Giants of the late 1940s, Octavius Catto and Tommy Henrich, two pitchers who had more than their share of freak injuries, and so much more. Plus some more thoughts on the future of the show. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

An embarrassing moment for Johnny Evers as he makes the reacquaintance of a pitcher he dismissed, and a certain town in Pennsylvania suffers a man-made disaster—but which Hall of Famers family lived there? And some questions about the show's next direction.Trigger Warning: This episode contains one solitary cussword at the end of the episode. Save your dog from having his vocabulary corrupted.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Four quick tales: Leo Durocher excoriates a baserunner and gives us some quality advice, a college player dies on the field, a player is signed by the Yankees under false pretenses, and a minor league Baltimore Oriole goes into the stands. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We begin the new year with two tales of pitchers who could have used a break, one an ancient Cubbie into self-deprecation, another a war-era Cardinal in need of appreciation—from Branch Rickey. pistol_riccochet.ogg by Diboz The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A half-length Casey Stengel-centric episode as we all get ready for the big holiday with all its joy and peppermint bark. Includes way too much about pinch-hitting during the Truman administration, if that's your kind of thing. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We begin with a brief threnody on those who would say ballplayers are overpaid, spanning Babe Ruth to Juan Soto and the arbitrary nature of those ‘plaints. We then head into the darkness for the thwarted careers and prematurely-concluded marriages of two 1930s middle infielders and how they reacted to a very specific, cruel form of tragedy. Trigger Warning: This episode contains a discussion of self-harm and attempted suicide. That doesn't come up until the second act of the show. As always, hide the children! Love, the management. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A manager fails to comfort a nervous rookie pitcher and an outfielder of ancient days ends his career when he overreacts to an unusual family-oriented insult. Trigger Warning: This episode contains one unusual cussword from 1892. Hide the children. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out? Cloggers clogging in Lincoln, Nebraska by bmccoy2

On the road to grandmother's house, we ask whether a 19th-century game purported to be the greatest of all time was any fun, stopping along the way to admire the marital problems of a star second baseman and various other acts of criminality. Plus Walter Johnson avoids comparisons with a young star. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

By listener request, the story of Casey Stengel and the sparrow, but first, a pitcher is mercilessly mocked for his pickoff move and a second baseman is disabled by a piece of chewing gum. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Two players are cursed with high expectations and both have their moments, but one becomes best known for sitting down and the other finds you can't succeed if your best tool is a razor blade. Then we consider why Sam Rice finished just short of 3,000 hits and its implications for the near future. TRIGGER WARNING: The second half of this episode contains a discussion of suicide and the loss of a child. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

After the week we've had, we're all once again in the Infinite Inning, but is there a way out? Follow along the winding path as a Yankees ace puts his head through a windshield, toxic soup is eaten, a Negro Leagues catcher suffers an awful fate, a manager gets a duck, and a pitcher plays the William Tell Overture on the harmonica but fails to record a single strikeout, and somehow all of this tells us something about where to go from here.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

An election-eve episode that begins with two notable World Series gaffes and the players who weren't blamed and those who were, and what that says about us as a society. We then turn to contingency and its effect in history—how much of what happens to us is the result of wisdom, and how much is luck?—as exemplified by one move that Connie Mack didn't make, and one that he did. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

First, some brief thoughts on the passing of the great Fernando Valenzuela and Fernandomania as a contrast to the great upheavals of 1200 BC. Then join Steve at the Morristown Festival of Books for a conversation with author Kevin Baker about The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

This week, stories of fathers, sons, and brothers playing baseball, one an ancestor of the current Yankees manager who witnessed a strange Phil Rizzuto baserunning blunder, and three brothers who ran a baseball school, but only two of them were major leaguers. Join Steve October 19 at the Morristown, NJ Festival of Books for a baseball panel starring Kevin Baker and Andy Martino! This week's Baseball Prospectus column, featuring Honest John Anderson: Spare the Goat. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Luis Tiant's passing provokes an exploration of both his and his father's immigrant story and dovetails with a sequel to our discussion of Pete Rose's passing in which four very early Negro Leagues greats—two in the Hall of Fame, two out—ask to be fairly measured against history.Join Steve at the Morristown, NJ Festival of Books on October 19!The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

There is no such thing as a bad baby, but there is such a thing as a bad man. The passing of Pete Rose brings on thoughts of Darryl Strawberry's peak and rapid fall, ice cream sundaes served in batting helmets, and the responsibility of the audience to separate art, artist, and shrine. Then take a quick tour of the best third basemen not yet in the Hall of Fame and why they and Pete Rose stand as equals before the Cooperstown Gate. Join Steve October 19 at the Morristown, NJ Festival of Books for a baseball panel starring Kevin Baker and Andy Martino! The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

This anniversary episode brings a fresh look at some of the themes that have obsessed us since the show began back in 2017, specifically humanity, empathy, and the replacement level. We revisit Joe McCarthy and Slim Jones' pain and the former's Hall of Fame induction, Heinie Mueller's basepath errors, Oscar Grimes' fielding miscues, Theodore Roosevelt's “Fear God and Take Your Own Part” and how it contrasts to the current demonization of a helpless minority, another Cuban great who never got to play in the US, and it all comes full circle at the end. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A list of New York-centric baseball nicknames in Kevin Baker's The New York Game sends us down a rabbit hole a hundred years deep in which we consider dozens of players and stories before being stopped by a mystery: Who—and why—was “The Lively Turtle?” Join Steve for a baseball panel at the Morristown Festival of Books, October 19! The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

A 19th-century player is intentionally hit so many times he forces a crazy rules change, and then we consider one of the Negro Leagues greats in light of recent racist rumors about pets in danger. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Two tales of Frank Chance, who may have been the Cubs' Peerless Leader but had a pathological compulsion to sacrifice his brain on the altar of baseball—and this after he had saved himself and a Cubs pennant from extortionist threats—or did he? Also includes too effusive an appreciation of San Diego. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

We explore what put the “Solon” in Sacramento, plus the Man of 1,000 Baseball Caps returns! We enjoy a visit with original Infinite Inning rotation member Cliff Corcoran for the usual wide-ranging discussion of hats and a variety of 2024 baseball topics! TABLE OF CONTENTSWhat is a Solon? *Cliff Corcoran: “I Prefer the Ones Without Guests”*Ghosting Guests and Baseball Cards*Jorge Posada vs. Yadier Molina*Rejection and Mike Scioscia*Distance and Objectivity*Brett Phillips: Athlete*Running ‘Em Out*Qualifying for the Marathon*19th Century Senators Toque Caps (Mike Easler/Cliff Johnson)*Authentic Browns Caps, Authentic Reds Caps*Upside-Down NY*The Astros Ride Again*SlumpyTeams ™*The White Sox Clean Out the Coaches' Room*“Major League Coach”*The Giants*Gabe Kapler's One Big Year*MVP: Judge vs. Witt*The DH Argument/Judge Finds the Ledge*Hard Scoreboards, Power Boxes, Drains, and Chicken-Wire Fences*Progress in Trout-Medicine*Wounded Mantle, Injured Maris*Rickey's Hammies*Goodbyes.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Various reflections of the Orange Confidence Man extended universe, the 2024 White Sox, and other frauds, featuring an exploration of what happens when you knock the opposing pitcher out in the first, featuring visits with Babe Ruth, Jimmy Carter, and other legendarily temperamental figures.   The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

The meaning of a sign in a manager's office is considered and interlinked with one of the final Beatles singles and a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and “The Fall and Forgiveness of Lyn Lary, 1931 and 1940,” concludes. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman discuses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?

Infinite Inning 293: The Pitcher Who Was at Sea Before and After He Joined the NavyOne of baseball's all-time punchlines turns out to deserve his status, but not for the reason we thought. Plus, “The Fall and Forgiveness of Lyn Lary, 1931 and 1940,” continues as Lyn grows closer to Lou Gehrig following one of the greatest baserunning gaffes of all time.Trigger warning: Mention of Suicide.Steven Goldman discusses 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 possible. Along the way, they'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can't get anybody out?