The Infinite Inning

Pete Alonso’s exit from New York triggers an exploration of an earlier first baseman who was not only dispensable, but mocked for the very fact of his aging. Expect more John McGraw shouting, Deadball Era statistics...

Infinite Inning Reissue 025 (077) The Death of Addie Joss Explained and Old-Time Cheating Too In this week’s new segment, we talk about some fringe major leaguers named Truck and Hunky who were big in the minors and ask...

We return from the IL with Casey Stengel’s endorsement of the designated hitter, and of astronauts too, then springboard from the recent Red Sox-Pirates trade into a discussion fo the latter’s inability to turn...

A pitcher throws a great game in the World Series and is congratulated by a backstop unknown to him, but once he was known to the game. Then we travel back to 1917 when gamblers tried to fix a White Sox-Red Sox game by...

In this week’s new material, we compare a team signing a low-OBP player to the girl you were crushing on choosing the only suitor you would have had her avoid (not that it was up to you, but also not that the universe...

We look at an ordinary day of baseball, May 8, 1949, and some extraordinary—and tragic—things that happened. First, a couple of good pitchers get shelled, then we witness some typically disposable regular season games...

In the new commentary segment of this week’s reissue episode, we talk about childhood fears of the end times, the degraded state of Times Square in the 1970s and 1980s, the slugging 1964 Twins, and one way the Colorado...

We spend the episode in 1933. First, Will Rogers comments on the broadcasts in a way which suggests that not much has changed between the start of on-air baseball commentary and its current state. Then we turn to the...

A slightly discursive rainy-day episode in which we question the unlikely players who have hit three home runs in a game and ask if the Rockies-Pirates season series was really necessary before examining two players who...

First we make amends to a great of the game who was not only left out of last week’s Shohei Ohtani-Babe Ruth approbation, but was poorly served by baseball (and Baseball). Then we jump from the bizarre Muncy double play...

In both this week’s new remarks and our reissue, we go back to pre-Pearl Harbor 1941 and the days when Joe DiMaggio was, day by day, counting up hits and the president, without the medium of television available to him...

We observe the passing of the Milwaukee Brewers out of the championship picture via Casey Stengel (who once managed the minor league Brewers to a championship) mourning a day Whitey Ford was outdueled by a journeyman...

In this week’s new remarks, we observe how quaint the racial dialogue of 2018 was (or at least your host’s was) in light of what was coming down the line for the nation. After a brief discussion of protest and backlash...

We note the passing of Mike Greenwell and an odd time to be an injured player with the Red Sox, and observe the cruel turns fate can take. Continuing on that theme, we go back to the 1925 World Series and ask if Roger...

In both this week’s new remarks and in the reissue segment we revisit our obligation to think critically and how the concept of WAR can help us frame the abstract concepts of “better” and “worse,” and that comes to...

We begin by fixing the Rockies with the 1987 Cardinals, stopping off at the intersection of George Steinbrenner gaslighting and (one more time) my Chuck Knoblauch Story. Then we journey back to World War II and look at...

We revisit an early episode about two great ballplayers who sickened at midcareer and, sadly, could not come back in any sense. What can we learn from them? This week’s new remarks expand on that theme, the government...

Collapsing teams this September inspire a visit with a Twins journeyman who has a huge day at the plate, keeping an unexpected contender in first place for a little longer (though the magic leaves when Elvis does), and...

Before we go back to 2018 for a discussion of the only Cubs general manager who was moonlighting from his job at the fish-market and a non-baseball tale, one of the more obscure and unflattering episodes of America’s...

Babe Ruth backs the attack as Babe Ruth gets married, but to a guy named H.C., not a former model named Claire. Cal Raleigh goes on a rampage and Mickey Mantle finishes 1961 quietly, but why did the latter happen and...

...Because you might just field the ball with your skull. This week’s new remarks include further reflections on the national calamity unleashed last week, leading into a reissue episode focused on a time the manager of...

In which the outfielder called Zaza is rediscovered, as is the hit “dirty” turn-of-the-century play that gave him his name. We then briefly pause for a Dodgers outfielder’s career to come to a sudden end, leading to an...

We return to 2018 and a conversation with the late great manager Davey Johnson, with a cameo from his very excited dogs. This week’s new remarks expand on Johnson’s Hall of Fame case, though it’s now beside the point...

First a catcher and an umpire supposedly participate in a physically impossible act, a computer program vexes the host and leads to a discussion of one possibly beneficial use of AI, and the Yankees acquire a very good...

This week’s new remarks are occasioned by the Florida surgeon general’s decision (which he may or may not have the power to enforce) to repeal all vaccine mandates in the state. Then we return to the first time the...