The Infinite Inning

Latest Episodes:

The Infinite Inning 040: An 80-Grade Pituitary Gland Feb 02, 2018

Show notes

Cliff Corcoran returns to discuss the current scene, including Mark Appel’s break from baseball, the state of the Dodgers’ starting rotation, and gives an important pro-tip about how to adjust your microphone pack (not a metaphor).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Farewell to Oscar Gamble*Reggie Jackson, Steve Chilcott, and Casey Stengel*Cliff Corcoran: Behind the scenes at the MLB Network*Surprised by Bill James on set*Insulting Ken Rosenthal over OPS*Mark Appel’s career time-out and TINSTAAPP*Are prospect lists too long?*Bryce Harper: A disappointment?*The prospect aging curve*Shohei Ohtani vs prior Japanese players*Will Yu Darvish return to the Dodgers?*A requiem for Julio Urias*Davey Lopes and the Whimsical World of 1970s Dodgers Defense*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 #039: In The Press Box With Radio Ecuador Jan 26, 2018

Show notes

Did anyone say stick to sports? Baseball’s slowest offseason collides with the national mood when Deadspin’s David Roth returns to break down a case of universal paralysis and, of course, supply his particular brand of Mets ennui.
WARNING: As is typical of a David Roth episode, there is the occasional profanity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Wayne Garland and Mother-Love*Connie Mack and the Wilpons*David Roth: The thin line between Collusion and Cincinnati, OH*The fantasy of doing more with less*The McCourt Dodgers period as forerunner of the apocalypse*The Astros Way might only work for the Astros (not the Pirates)*Going to the Mets game can be cheaper than going to Shake Shack alone*Doubleheaders and congealed fried chicken*No cheering in the press box (seriously)*The Dead Hand of Adrian Gonzalez*Brandon Nimmo’s true nickname*The Hall of Fame vote (Jim Thome full of love and good will)*Gary Sheffield*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 #038: Kevin Goldstein, Astros Troubleshooter Jan 19, 2018

Show notes

Steve is joined by Astros Special Assistant Kevin Goldstein to review the championship season and delve into the psychology of a title defense. Plus: Things fall from the sky on shortstops and the Red Sox shoot themselves in the foot.
WARNING: There is one slight profanity in this episode. It quotes the President of the United States and is now in common usage in even the better publications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Smiting Woody Woodward* Deposing Dom DiMaggio*Kevin Goldstein: The winning moment*Mistakes were made*The Derek Jeter example*Taking credit and blame*What does a special assistant to the general manager do?*The Gerrit Cole trade*Thinking prophylactically*Veterans vs. youth (“I can’t afford to learn about this one just now.”)*Scouting and Chill*Would you sign a player who has sex with goats?*Keeping Carlos Beltran and other positive influences*The Most Important Question About Dallas Keuchel*Losing the prospect focus*Trading your friends*Roster cut-down day*Is the Dominican Republic a “shithole” too?*Ambition achieved?*
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?

The Infinite Inning #037: The Deadly Accurate Projections Episode Jan 12, 2018

Show notes

ESPN baseball analyst and ZiPS projections proprietor Dan Szymborski joins Steve to talk about the art of player projections, plus integration, an awkward moment at the doctor’s office, and World War II deflects Buddy Lewis from both the Hall of Fame and the game itself.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A question of courage: Jackie Robinson, Vic Power, Elston Howard, Panglossian racism*What Buddy Lewis saw*Dan Szymborski: Projections of spring*“Deadly Accurate”*PECOTA PTSD*Advances in projection systems*Projecting Aaron Judge*The useable universe of ballplayers*The Pacific Coast League in the 1920s*Filling in Ted Williams’ war years using retro-projections*Projecting Rafael Palmeiro in 2018*Projecting older players*The Rule of Backup Catchers*Herm Winningham?*Are projection systems making the draft more rational?*“You can always tell an old usenet person”*Sabermetrics won*WAR*A statistician’s education*Inventing ZiPS*Holding projections accountable (and letting them off the hook)*Ryon Healy’s zero WAR projection*Projecting the 2018 Yankees bullpen*Projecting relievers*Projecting Shohei Otani*ZiPS vs. Law*Goodbyes.

Infinite Inning #036: How To Properly Address Derek Jeter Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

Jesse Spector, recurring cohost/periodic comet, returns to break down the offseason, such as it is, plus we mourn the death of Rob Picciolo, the most impatient player ever, and consider how Red Ruffing’s global war might be like our own.
WARNING: The F-word is deployed right at the outset of the Jesse segment. It’s clean before and after that.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rob Picciolo’s intentional walk*Red Ruffing’s war*A false start*Dave Winfield dreaming*Two things will happen 11 months from now*“pitchers and catchers”*Jesse’s new podcast, “Locked on Yankees”*Edit your podcasts*The state of AL races, 2018*Free Jose Abreu?*The Cardinals vs. the Cubs*Disputing Marcel Ozuna*How to Respectfully Address Derek Jeter for Hardcore Yankees Fans*A-Rod is a huge dork*Clarifying Ozuna*The Cubs 2018 rotation*Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas*Matt Kemp, defensive liability*Jesse’s Mets/Yankees loyalties*Homerism in all forms*You have to have room to fail in order to grow*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning #035: We Are All The 1988 Orioles Dec 29, 2017

Show notes

A rare (somewhat) shorter solo episode for Steve as baseball leaves the 2017 offseason unfinished and hopes the 2018 segment will bring more action. Tales of Joe McCarthy, Hack Wilson, and the decline of the 1980s Baltimore Orioles as a metaphor for our lives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Joe McCarthy’s one joke (“Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”—Sammy Davis, Jr.)*Hack Wilson’s worm*Babich!*With apologies to “The Small Assassin”*The New Deal and the 1983 Baltimore Orioles*Fireside Chat” April, 1938*The O’s, Entropy, the Universe, and Everybody Else*The 1988 Orioles 30th Anniversary Tour*The Tippy Martinez Game*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 #034: Christmas With The Baseball Bigamist Dec 22, 2017

Show notes

Meg Rowley returns to talk about the discontents of the Shohei Ohtani decision and its aftermath, as well as sundry other topics, and somehow it all ends up being related to “Star Wars.” Plus: A ballplayer with more than one family and the last play of Richie Ashburn’s career.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Arthur Irwin, Baseball Bigamist*Feeling like a loser, feeling like a Phillie*Meg Rowley: The Shohei Otani decision*Ed Whitson and Cecilio Guante*The platonic ideal of the Jerry Dipoto Plan*The Dee Gordon trade*Buck Showalter is the Dick Clark of baseball*The Marlins and the Mariners*“We put all this faith in business”*A Charlie Brown Christmas vs. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown*Pre-Christmas Gift Ennui*A Star Wars moment*Otani and Star Wars possessiveness*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 #033: Derek Jeter And A-Rod Have Switched Bodies Dec 15, 2017

Show notes

Sports on Earth’s Cliff Corcoran returns to break down the winter meetings in our longest episode yet. Bring supplies, be ready for Marlins-bashing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ted Williams for Joe DiMaggio*Give Us 18-Player Trades and Bullet Bob Turley*Cliff Corcoran: Let’s Sign All the Relievers, Jiggety-Jig! (Phillies-heavy)*The Marcell Ozuna trade*Burying the Miami Marlins*A Mets digression*The Yankees in the Stanton era*The Chase Headley dump*The Jordan Montgomery precedent*Stephen Piscotty to the A’s*The Shohei Otani signing*The Chuck Berry Digressions*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 #032:Steroids and Netflix And Chill Dec 08, 2017

Show notes

Mike Bates and Bill Parker, hosts of the This Week in Baseball History podcast, join Steve for a discussion of Cooperstown discontents, plus terminally ill submariners and a Dee Gordon trade reaction.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Russ Christopher, Throwing Underhand in the Infinite Inning*A fight in the bullpen as Seattle acquires Dee Gordon*Mike Bates and Bill Parker: The This Week in Baseball History podcast*Reciting stats on the air*Roy Moore vs. Heinie Zimmerman*The This Week in Baseball remembered*The Monday Night Football theme and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”*I hate the Hall of Fame (Scott Rolen, Jack Morris, Jim Rice)*Edgar Martinez*The Hall of Fame, Statcast, and glove-first players (Derek Jeter’s prostate)*The Lou Whitaker-free ballot*Jimmy Wynn vs. Steve Garvey*Reggie Smith and Jimmy Wynn in context*The inevitable steroids debate (with a cast of a thousand players)*The first-time players on the ballot: Sentimental picks and long-lived players*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?

The Infinite Inning #031: The Highest Form Of Baseball Fandom Nov 30, 2017

Show notes

Steve is joined by Stacey May Fowles, novelist, essayist, and author of Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game that Saved Me for a discussion of finding the calm center that lurks behind the turbulent veneer of Toronto Blue Jays fandom. Plus: Dark mutterings on Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers and a warm memory of Yankees great Bobby Murcer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tinker to Evers to I Don’t Love You Anymore*Saved at the Ballpark by Bobby Murcer*Stacey May Fowles: A Canadian Thanksgiving*All the battles we lost to Canadians*The relevance and irrelevance of the Toronto Blue Jays*Loving the Game that Saved Me*Pitchers and catchers and scaffolding*Coping with the 2017 Blue Jays*The Highest Form of Being a Baseball Fan*Farewell to Jose Bautista*The Bat-Flip Moment*Baseball assimilation stories*Dioner Navarro, gateway drug*A romantic gesture at old Yankee Stadium*Carlos Correa’s proposal*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?

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected