The Infinite Inning

Latest Episodes:

Infinite Inning 130: A Death in the Family Jan 03, 2020

Show notes

Lincoln Mitchell returns to discuss his new book, San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock, And A Third-Place Baseball Team, about the surprising 1978 Giants and the way the events of that year, including/especially the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, changed the city’s future. Plus: An A’s fan lights a flame and a manager takes his owner with him.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A’s Fans Burnin’ Down the House*Bucky Harris Speaks Frankly *Lincoln Mitchell: The third-place 1978 San Francisco Giants?*The almost-Toronto Giants*Memories of Candlestick Park and other Giants dysfunction*Giants vs. Seals (and Burritos in the Mission)*The Milk and Moscone Assassination and Its Effects*The Potato-Stand Graft*Why Did We Turn to Violence in the 1960s and 1970s?*The Potato Stand Quid Pro Quo and Ukraine (But not the Ukraine)*Phony Beatlemania (The Hippies vs. The Punks)*All the Wasted Giants’ Prospects*Johnny LeMaster: “BOO”*Vida Blue Reappraised*And Jonestown, Too*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?

Infinite Inning 129 From Gene Greene to Gerrit Cole Dec 16, 2019

Show notes

Craig Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) returns to discuss the Gerrit Cole signing and the experience of being at the Winter Meetings. Plus 1961 Yankees falsehoods and a Luber-ish Cleveland deal.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
That Lyin’ Yankees Manager*Gene Green Got a Raw Deal*Craig Goldstein: The Red Sox Are In For an Offseason of Tough Looks*The Gerrit Cole Contract*The Nationals Are Irrational (When Do You Actually Spend the Money?)*The Bud Selig Fig-Leaf*George Steinbrenner and the Minority Partners*The Owners are Not Like Us*Fixing Free Agency*What is the Social Contract?*The Royals and Coke*At the Winter Meetings*The Dodgers Miss Anthony Rendon*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?

Infinite Inning 128 Bring on the Yankee Stadium Ghost-Horses Dec 06, 2019

Show notes

Cliff Corcoran returns to ask, “Who is the Best Pitcher in Baseball?” Plus assorted tales of baseball in 1917 (real men eat raw ice cream?) and a Pirates manager loses his job.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Baseball Unpasteurized*Callahan’s Way*Cliff Corcoran: Dr. Hat*Who Was Buried Beneath Third Base in Yankee Stadium?*Who is “The Best Pitcher in Baseball”*Cy Stood for Cyclone*Dave Stieb and Johan Santana: Greats Who Could Expire at Any Time (Ron Santo)*Santana vs. Koufax*Will the Best Pitcher of the 1950s Please Stand Up?*How About the 1980s?*Oatmeal and Lettuce Leaves* Jacob deGrom in the Santana Basket*Early Wynn and Roberto Clemente*Clayton Kershaw and the Hall*The Jacoby Ellsbury Era and the Britt Burns Trade*The New Inefficiency is Wanting to Be Good*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?

Infinite Inning 127 Sgt Utley's Gonna Help Me Nov 23, 2019

Show notes

Amanda Smith, cohost of the Disaster Girls podcast and the author of Le Renard Argenté: The Silver Fox at War explains what inspired her to transport a certain Dodgers second baseman to World War II, plus tales of sign-stealing gone awry and a scrap drive that almost ended Warren Spahn’s career before it started.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chuck Dressen Has a Plan For That*Spahn vs. the Rusty Toasters*Amanda Smith: A Book of Tweets?*Cody Bellinger Wins the MVP*The Politics of Fandom/Bad First-Date Tactic*World War II Twitter*Chase Utley Liberates Europe*Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)*Killing Nazis is Now Political?*It’s Not the Killing, It’s the Justice*Into the Utleyverse*Disaster Girls and 85/34 (1988 Dodgers)*In Defense of Dave Roberts*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?

Infinite Inning 126 Private-Equity Scumbags Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

David Roth (ex-Deadspin) returns to discuss the demise of Deadspin and the rise of Carlos Beltran.
WARNING: As is true of all Roth episodes, there is quite a bit of cussing. Hide the hamsters.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Harvard Eddie and a Requiem for a Friend*Mookie and Pete*David Roth: Spanf’d Out of a Job*The Value is in Not Sticking to Sports*“It’s Unpleasant, But Maybe They Like It”*The Non-Reactionary Death of Splinter*You Have to Admit It’s a Vivid Insult*The Importance of Editorial Independence*The Pro-Union Argument*The Perversity of Work*Roth on Beltran: Excited/Sorry*Ron Darling’s Handshake*The Future of Deadcast and other Features Let’s Remember Some Potatoes)*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?

Infinite Inning 125 Charlie Banks for the Hall of Fame Nov 05, 2019

Show notes

Steve Kluger, author of both the novel and the musical The Last Days of Summer, talks about his tale of a neglected Brooklyn boy and a barely-socialized New York Giants third baseman finding each other in a world on the brink of war. Plus a baseball fixing hypothetical and the dismissal of Jackie Mitchell.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Hal Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter’s Impression of Donald Trump in the Ukraine*Jackie Mitchell > Brandon Taubman*Steve Kluger: On the Road with a Show*Seeing Your Characters Come to Life*The Inherent Compression of the Epistolary Baseball Novel*Letters to FDR and JFK*Verisimilitude in Historical Fiction*The Friendly Neighborhood Ballplayer of the 1940s*Discovering Baseball as an Adult (“The Carnage of 1966”)*Ballplayers in the War*Verisimilitude II (Carl Hubbell is Such a Phony and Steve Garvey is Too?)*The Right and Wrong Way to Honor Jackie Robinson*Fear of ”Damn Yankees”*What Makes a Great Player Great?*Adult Language*Goodbyes.

Infinite Inning 124 If I Were Powerful I'd Have a Better Car Oct 26, 2019

Show notes

Sheryl Ring discusses the backlash to her Addison Russell story and all the ways discrimination affects us in and out of baseball. Plus Jungle Jim Rivera’s case suggests a way to protect the Astros from themselves and another career is lost to war.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Ends Justify the Fleas*One German Bomb Away from Stardom*Sheryl Ring: The Addison Russell Backlash*If I Were Powerful I’d Have a Better Car*Identity Politics in the Jim Crow Era and Jim Crow Laws Today*Red-Lining and Reverse Red-Lining*The Bank Gets Paid Three Times*Sticking to Sports Means Sticking to Everything*We’ve All Seen This Ad*Legalized Discrimination*“The Biology Textbook Mainstream”*They Kill That Which They Don’t Understand*The Oakland A’s vs. Public Housing*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?

Infinite Inning 123 Between Hank Greenberg and God Oct 14, 2019

Show notes

Jesse Spector returns to talk manager firings, the proper way to build a lineup, and dissect Joe Maddon’s past and future, plus tales of ancient Cardinals grudges and a Detroit Tigers great sets his priorities.
WARNING: Jesse’s dog Youppi arrives about 43 minutes into our discussion. However, Youppi does not swear, so it’s all good.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dizzy Dean Holds a Lead*Hank Greenberg Plays, Daniel Hudson Does Not, and It’s None of Your Damned Business*Jesse Spector: When Your Child is Not Juan Soto*A Charlie Brown Way to Lose a Hit*Optimized Little League Lineups and Received Baseball Wisdom (Kids ‘n’ Kittle)*Wade Boggs Batting Leadoff*Pinch-Hitting in the First*Legitimizing the Taxi Squad*Eight Managerial Openings (with Babe and Lou Digression)*Using Managers as Human Shields*A Baleful Glance Back at Cleveland, and the Cubs*Boston’s Buyer’s Remorse*The Albert Pujols Problem*Joe Girardi in Repose*The Product Becomes Inconsequential*Pre- and Post-Apocalypse Visions of the Red Sox*The Relentless Death Machine and Other Playoff Apparitions*Asdrubal Brings Ice Cream?*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?

Infinite Inning 122 Where Have You Gone [Player Name Here]? Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

Craig Goldstein reveals his plans for Baseball Prospectus, mourns King Felix and (preemptively) Clayton Kershaw, and wonders if there’s a wrong way to love your cat. Plus tales of George Steinbrenner and Hal Chase that should sound strangely familiar.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Roy Cohn Client*Hal Chase Asks for a Favor*Craig Goldstein: The Wrong Way to Love Your Cat*The Editor is Dead, Long Live the Editor*The BP Community*Fear of Solipsism*Where Have You Gone?*King Felix and Doc Gooden*Does there Need to Be a Baseball Prospectus?*Baseball is Everything and Everything is Baseball (But Will It Keep the Customers Satisfied?)*The FanGraphs Question*Origin of a Dodgers Fan*When You’ve Married a Braves Fan*The Astros Take All the Marbles?*“Terrible Pedro Baez Performances”*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?

Infinite Inning 121 It Is High, It Is Far, It Is Entropy Sep 23, 2019

Show notes

Emma Baccellieri (Baseball Prospectus, Deadspin, Sports Illustrated) asks what we’re talking about when we talk about baseball dying, plus Mr. Rivera goes to Washington and ruminations on the Felipe Valazquez case.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Senators Game in 1925/Mr. Rivera Goes to Washington*The Valazquez Case*Emma Baccellieri: “A Brief History of the Many Times Baseball Has Died”*Doomsaying Never Goes Out of Style*What We Mean When We Talk About Baseball Dying*It is High, It is Far, It is Entropy*Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Sandwich Shops*So What Will Be Baseball’s Kryptonite?*Patient Zero of a Shaky Era in Media*The SI Legacy*Unlimited Expense Account*Physics Might Have Been the Steadier Profession*Rubbing Mud is Your Destiny*The NL Cy Young Award Race*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?

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