The Infinite Inning

Prospectmeister Jeffrey Paternostro returns to discuss the Baseball Prospectus 2022 Top-101 Prospects rankings. Plus tales: The 66th-best hitter for average of all time has a cough; a Hall of Fame pitcher messes up his marriage, demonstrating that even people with plaques are as complicated as anybody else.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
David Ortiz to the Hall*The 66th-Best Hitter for Average of All Time is Not in the Hall of Fame*Lefty, June, and the Perfect Murder*Jeffrey Paternostro: Top 11s are Better than Top 10s*Who is the Top Prospect in Baseball? Adley Rutschman vs. Bobby Witt Jr.*Matt Wieters Memories*Catcher Stagnation*Ranking 11 Catchers*Drafting Second Basemen*Seattle Mariners: Player vs. Team*Supplemental Help*Teams with Few Prospects or Punishments*Burger on Second*Kumar Rocker?*Jo Adell and Angels Player Development*Sleepers*“You Want to Be Right”*My OBP Sweetheart*Goodbyes.

Links:
The BP Top 101: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/72047/2022-prospects-the-top-101/

“The Poison Years” by Steven Goldman: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/72225/you-could-look-it-up-poison-years/

Brother, Can You Spare a Podcast? Episode 1: https://www.spreaker.com/show/brother-can-you-spare-a-podcast

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 on Topps and The Athletic being sold, why baseball color commentors curdle after two years, the Mets’ moves, and more. Plus tales: “Pride of the Yankees” departs from reality and strikes a chord; an All-Star is captured at the moment of his release.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lou Gehrig, “Pride of the Yankees,” and Me*The Ballad of Jim Ray Hart and His DFA Photograph*David Roth: Mickey Rooney in Van Halen*Topps Sold*“A Long Position on Phil Plantier”*Two Business Idiots on The Athletic Sale*Baseball Cards as Bookmarks Etc*Louis Bromfield and Booth Tarkington*Death of the AV Club*John Madden and the Art of Enthusiasm*When “Damn Yankees” Tells a Deep Dark Truth*Buck Showalter Goes to Queen*The Forever Rebuild and Its Hazard*The 2022 Mets are Not the 1927 Yankees*Jeff McNeil Chill Out?*The Steinbrenner Retcon*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?

Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions returns to discuss the Bill James Handbook 2022, plus tales: The media fails the players when the owners push them into striking 50 years ago.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Media on Baseball Strike ‘72*Folly at the Half-Century Mark*Players vs. Owners vs. Themselves ‘72*Mark Simon: A Hazy Shade of Baseball*Why is Carlos Correa a Great Defensive Shortstop?*A Girthy Tome*Too Much Information?*Book Layout Likened to the Shift*The Home-Run Robberies Table*Defense (Derek Jeter AGAIN?)*Diagnosing a Defensive Slump*Penalized by the Shift or by Bad Defense?*Ohtani vs. Ruth*How Hard Did the Old-Timers Throw?*Voting on the Cover-Model*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 annual holiday historical fiction sees straitlaced Yankees manager taking on the greatest challene of this career: Romance. Plus a brief true tale in which Mama Gehrig is found to be a citizen just like any other American.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mama Gehrig Goes to Court*Intermission: The Pinch-Hitter is Banned (Happy, Healthy New Year)*Story: “Joe McCarthy: Advisor to the Lonely Heart”*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?

Ian Coss of “Forever is a Long Time” talks marriage, divorce, and facing your doubts by looking at the past. Plus tales: Managers are hired/quickly fired and a catcher’s career ends too soon.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Buck Showalter, Billy Herman, and the Fallacy of Managers*The DeLancey Story*Ian Coss: A Thoughtful Show*Ignorance is a Kind of Shield*It Could Happen to You*Change is the Enemy but Change is Good*The Part That Everyone Asks About*Grandmother’s Adventures in Love and War/”The Work of the Devil”*A Paradox of Marriage*The Burden of Empathy*The Absent Ex*Unexplored Depths of Shallow*Love Songs of a Well-Worn Relationship*The Compounding Nature of Lies*A Brief Note on Gamelan Music*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 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?