The Infinite Inning

Craig Calcaterra returns to baseball’s lockout, teenage drunkenness, and division of labor in marriage. Plus tales: Ralph Houk’s prophecy/Jim Bouton’s waltz and Babe Ruth sacrifices his socks for the greater good.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Fate, Ralph Houk, and Bobby Murcer*Babe Ruth in the Snow*Craig Calcaterra: Dessert Wine*Raymond Chandler’s Evenings*1990 Gut*Cash-Laden Ships that Have Sailed*The Strange Love of the Atlanta Braves*Not Really a Baseball Company Anymore?*Rentiers*Drive-Up Surf ‘n’ Turf and the Team Budget*The Tablecloth Trick*Kept Males*Competitive Owners vs. Tanking Owners*Baseball vs. Netflix*Dystopia in Your Inbox (Gambling Cometh)*Life Lessons from the High Rollers*Betting in the Stands*Goodbyes.

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 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 solo episode with an owner-player conflict that anticipates the tenor of the current lockout (with some amazing stats) and the question of which Harry Frazee show really killed the Red Sox is taken on (A: None, or maybe all of them)! Plus excuses for being tardy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The New Babe Ruth Holds Out*Please Excuse My Son’s Absence From Class*The Old Babe Ruth is Sold, But Not for the Reason You Think (In Honor of Stephen Sondheim)*Goodbyes.
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 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?

Cliff Corcoran talks hot stove baseball and ice cream in plastic batting helmets. Plus tales: The thief who just had to go to the Dodgers-Giants game and current Hall of Fame candidate/long-neglected pitcher Cannonball Dick Redding and his times.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Killer at the Polo Grounds*Cannonball Dick Redding’s America*Cliff Corcoran: The Browns’ Brownie’s Brownie Sundae*Carvel and the Ground Round*Staring at Big-Little Books and the Impenetrability of Nostalgia*Proust’s Baseball Cards*The Braves as Championship Team*Do You Miss Starting Pitchers?*Rules Changes Around Pitchers*Danny Murtaugh, Un-Manager*A Pitching Rules Proposal*Pitch Counts and Long Innings*Joey Gathright vs. Felix Pie and the Not-Stove League*Playing the Texas Rangers Speculation Game*Some Hot Stove and Sonny & Cher Talk*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Lincoln Michel talks his science-fiction/noir/baseball novel THE BODY SCOUT. Plus tales: An umpire does something unforgivable to a great pitcher and the players vs. teams in the Hall of Fame.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dolf Luque, Bill Klem, and the Very Bad Word*Buster Posey and the Hall of Fame*Lincoln Michael: An Idea on Every Page*Context and Electric Forks*It Would Happen to the Mets*Philosophical Neanderthals*Science Fiction, Body, Horror, and PED-Era Baseball Taken to the Logical Extreme*Ham Fighters vs. Ham-Fighters*Animating Play-by-Play (and Sex)*Plot!*Apocalyptic Realism*Short Story Market ‘21*Rounded Characters in Science-Fiction?*Asimov vs. Bradbury*Will there be a Body Scout Sequel?*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Gabrielle Starr (Fansided) discusses the Red Sox fall out of the playoffs, the hazards of being a female in sports online, and rails against analytics. Plus tales: Charlie Morton isn’t the first pitcher throw with a broken leg and the tomahawk chop is once again placed in its sad and objectionable context.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bobo Newsom and Charlie Morton*The Tomahawk Chop Revisited*Gabrielle Starr: Fenway Park Downfall*Yankees and Red Sox Fans* Fans Cross the Line*“I’m Wrong Because of My Gender”*A-Rod at the Game*Kiké Hernandez*Manager vs. Front Office*Analytics and the Tesla Analogy*“Braining People Out of Baseball”*Gambling Content*The Red Sox and Family*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Hall of Fame senior curator Tom Shieber, co-author of Picturing America’s Pastime, talks about great images of the game as art and as documentary. Plus tales: Bobby Grich feels provoked and responds in kind, the Phillies achieve “a truly elite system” with mixed results.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Bobby Grich Method of Anger Management*When the Phillies Actually Rebuilt*Tom Shieber: You’ll Believe Johnny Bench Can Fly!*Inferring Biography from Photos*Preservation (and Lew Fonseca)*No Buzz Arlett Bat*The Secret Casey Stengel Photo*How is PICTURING AMERICA’S PASTIME Different?*The Conlon Photos*Strangeness at the All-American Girls Game (What Are These People Doing in the Outfield?) and Other Hard-to-Explain Artefacts*Remember the Baseball Team of the Maine*Posed Versus Candid Images (Ichiro and Blyleven)*The Secret Baseball Artefacts in Old Films (Baseball Movies vs. Baseball in Movies)*Frank Chance vs. Satan*The Help Desk*What’s Left to Be Discovered?*Babe Ruth at a Typewriter/Uncle Robbie on a Bicycle*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Dan Taylor discusses Lights, Camera, Fastball, his new history of the Hollywood Stars baseball team. Plus tales of great Giants catchers of the distant past and George Steinbrenner fires a third-base coach because of a controversial playoff send.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Buck Ewing Would Like a Word With You*George Steinbrenner’s Postseason Tantrum ‘80* Dan Taylor: The Hollywood Stars and the Studio Stars*Co-Starring William Frawley, Spencer Tracy, and More!*Respect for Joe E. Brown*Harry Ruby on the Field*Bob Cobb: More Than Just His Salad*The Stars Ally with Branch Rickey*The Virtues of Manager Fred Haney (in the Men’s Room?)*The Tragedy of Carlos Bernier*The Stars and Integration*Bobby Bragan and Jackie Robinson*Bragan and the Consecutive Pinch-Hitters*The Minor Leagues Today*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Mike Ferrin, Kevin Goldstein, and Steven Goldman, once the hosts of Baseball Prospectus Radio on SiriusXM, reunite to discuss that Chicago vibe, awkward interviews, and debate just how the San Francisco Giants are doing it. Plus tales: A fringe player gets on the wrong train and the longest winning streak of all time amounts to nothing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Fats Dantonio Story*The Big Streak*Mike Ferrin and Kevin Goldstein: Bob in Crisis*Two Eddie Vedder Stories?*Why is Chicago?*Cubs Attendance vs. White Sox Fans (“Trixies and Chads”)*That Wrong Billy Interview*The Sad Gene Lamont Interview*Should Players Have to Talk to the Media?*Mike Zunino, Third-Overall Pick*Reverse-Engineering the San Francisco Giants*Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the Border*Will We Have Labor Peace?*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Cliff Corcoran, David Roth, Jesse Spector with a rare collective sighting as the starting rotation reflects on four years of episodes, 20-plus years of writing about baseball, managers who aged before our eyes, Javier Baez, and so much more. Plus tales of a manager making that one fatal mistake and Tris Speaker gets a heart.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Babe Ruth Doesn’t Quite End Two Careers with One Hit*Tris Speaker, His Mom, and Healing Old Wounds*Cliff Corcoran, David Roth, Jesse Spector: Lantern Flies in the Phillies Dugout*Keeping it Fresh*Baltimore Orioles Reggie Jackson is a Dirty Lie!*Red Sox, COVID, Stick to Sports*100,000 in the Stands*Rangers at Orioles; Please Help Us*The Lee Elia Rant*The Chris Davis Contract and After*The Mets vs. Their Own Prospects*Wilford Brimley Managers*The Time Steve Met Billy Martin*The Big Finish to the 2021 Season*The Javier Baez Conundrum*Steve Kemp Alert!*Goodbyes.

WARNING: This episode has a few more swear-words than usual. Please undertake evasive action if your battleship is easily dented.

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 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 new hour-long mini-episode features yet another John McGraw insult, a discussion of vaccine mandates, Holocaust analogies, and the logical fallacy of hasty generalization both in and out of baseball (Babe Ruth has two legs and plays baseball and Isan Diaz has two legs and plays baseball, so they must be exactly the same), and a tale of catching great Ernie Lombardi mouthing off to his boss with predictable consequences. Guests resume next week!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1, in which Charles Ebbets is Insulted*Hasty Generalizations, Distortions, Vaccines, the Holocaust, and Why Various Players Are Not Fish*Ernie Lombardi Says Exactly What He Thinks of His Boss*Goodbyes.

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 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 medically-necessary solo episode has a lesson about keeping your eye on the ball rather than your fingers on the banjo, some Zen advice from Casey Stengel, and the tale of a busted prospect who could have used some Zen of his own.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Pirates Try to Sing Their Way to a Pennant*Just Tra-La-La (Yankees and Mets versions)*Sympathy for Roy Parmelee*Goodbyes.

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 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?

David Roth returns to discuss the Mets’ fall from the pennant race, the Baltimore Orioles’ complete absence therefrom, and the 1982 Yankees vs. the Afghanistan withdrawal. Plus tales: A pitcher who did everything right and yet everything went wrong and the Orioles compared to the Mary Celeste.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Book of Koob*Rebuilding vs. Tanking vs. Not Giving a Damn*David Roth: Maine is Another Country/Misplaced Darwinian Struggle*The Ad You Don’t Want to Hear/Grammar-Policing Derek Jeter*The Mets in Freefall*deGrom’s Detachable Torso and Zack Wheeler*Mets Crazy-Board*The 1982 Yankees vs. the Afghanistan Forever-War*The Cat-Food Analogy*Managing to Feel Like You’re Managing*The Orioles’ Losing Streak (Measured in Years)*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Craig Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) returns to talk Dodgers, diving for balls, and salary caps. Plus tales: A short shortstop fails to measure up and Roy Campanella asks the wrong team for a job.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tommy Macmillan and the Non-Magical Manger*Campy’s Plea to the Phillies*Craig Goldstein: Baseball is Everything it Touches*The Trea Turner: Time-Traveler?*Cool Papa Calls In/Joe DiMaggio Didn’t Dive*Seager vs. Turner?*Once More Unto Cody Bellinger*Betts to Second/Tatis to the Outfield*Goldstein on Sprint-Speed*Is the ‘Playoff Chase’ Over?*James and Chaim*The Orioles and ‘Competitive Balance’”*The Barstool Flirtation*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Cliff Corcoran returns to talk trading deadline and Olympic-mandated underwear worn as outwear. Plus tales: A player loses half of what he’s got below the waist and another loses everything, period, on two hellish plane-flights.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Schang!*Cool Papa Bell and Roy Parnell*Proper Comportment for Airline Passengers, 1935 and 2021*Cliff Corcoran: The Busiest Trading Deadline in History*The Trevor Story Story*Juan Samuel Tingles*Eugenio Suarez at Sea/Kyle Farmer at WAR*Women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Uniforms*How Does Anyone Survive the Olympics?*What’s Up with the Rays?*No First Baseman to Boston/Schwarber vs. the Green Monster?*The When/As/If of Chris Sale*The Blue Jays Stay In*A Brief Look at the Phillies*Goodbyes.

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 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?

Jesse Spector returns to talk everything from Olympic softball to Australian-rules football with a great deal of trade deadline chatter in-between. Plus tales of a player whose bat-control skills got him punched in the face and some Negro Leaguers recall one time they struck back.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Twenty-Seven Foul Balls Equals One Punch*Revenge on Bobo*Jesse Spector: Olympic Ennui*Softball, Carl Mays, Dan Quisenberry*Watching for the Joy of It*Trade Deadline for the Unvaccinated/State of the Yankees*Joey Gallo for Another Year*Jason Derulo?*The Children are Awaiting on You All to Awaken and See*What if You Bring a Gun to a Genocide?*Kendall Graveman Revisited*“Too Much Analytics!”*The Interchangeable Rays*Back to the White Flag Trade*Amoral Drafting (Logan Mailloux) and Empathy*An Australian Grace Note*Goodbyes.