The Infinite Inning is an ongoing podcast that exists at the intersection of baseball, history, politics, and culture. Steven Goldman uses stories set in the past to create analogies to today’s events, whether in sports or in our world at large. He also talks to an array of guests, among them a regular rotation of co-hosts.
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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 CONTENTS
What 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 Navy
One 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?
Infinite Inning 292: One for Dad On a solemn occasion, the last home run in Senators II history is recalled—did it really happen? Plus part one of a hypothetical visit to a transitional time for the Yankees and a very different take on Lou Gehrig in, “The Fall and Forgiveness of Lyn Lary, 1931 and 1940.”
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?
Benjamin Franklin’s warning, the course of empire, and the 1965 Yankees, Joe DiMaggio versus Casey Stengel versus the Detroit Tigers and the Red Sox, how to solve an abundance of outfielders and a lack of first basemen, and much more.
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?
Jimmie Foxx versus Cass Elliot in a battle of unfairly judged passings.
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?
In 1951 a Hall of Fame sportswriter reacts to the advent of Willie Mays in a spectacularly stupid way and we are on the spot with a stern rebuke and a bit of historical background to that moment. Then we look at not the stars of the Negro Leagues, but a pitcher who was at the opposite end of the spectrum—his pitching made the stars possible—and he in turn prompts a visit to the Minnesota Twins of the early 1980s, as well as a spectacularly angry Kirk Gibson doing Kirk Gibson things.
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 Negro Leagues great with a odd nickname opts out of education and into baseball, and we revisit the day that Philadelphia fans booed not Santa Claus but 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?
Two stories begin in different times and places, but both converge on the same great player and the same great lesson. Starring a plethora of Hall of Famers, among them some of the greatest Yankees of all time, a third baseman better remembered today than he was in his time, and a pitcher who had just one great, strange day, but who lived happily ever after in all the ways that count.
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?
Tiny Bonham and William Shakespeare revisited, Steve Trout, Don Mattingly, 20-run losses, and dealing with loss.
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 who only got one chance, an antisocial Hall of Famer who got many, and the one time he didn’t fight, the Max Kepler Ass-Ad (Lucky Larry) and Reggie for Panasonic, and the submarine pitcher killed by an aspect or two of the American Way.
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?
Due to a case of Covid, we have a mini-episode this week in which the pandemic is ruminated upon and a catcher of ancient days bungles the dismount.
A cluster of insanity among 19th century players with Louisville, starring a Gladiator and a Chicken, with resonance to the present day. Plus we visit a forgotten MVP-level season authored by Silent George Stone, pause for a what-if moment with Whitey Herzog as Rockies manager, and so much more.
Gibberish by Timbre, Metrostock99, JohnLaVine333, Vtrmrll, Djgriffin, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Casual Observer. Bell by Nlux.
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?