The Infinite Inning

We visit the high-flying world of Florida real estate speculation 100 years ago with the volatile manager of the New York Giants John J. McGraw. When the bubble burst, would it be a case of murder? 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 Drum Improv_1_Jan_2019_3.mp3 by Glen_Hoban -- https://freesound.org/s/457500/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 conga stabz beat 88 bpm by simmys_recycle_bin -- https://freesound.org/s/757340/ -- License: Attribution 4.0)

We examine the Los Angeles Angels’ hot start in light of the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers’ hot start and what happened afterwards, and stumble across a writer saying inappropriate things about Spike Owen and Teddy Higuera. Then we talk about the tragic loss of Octavio Dotel, “The Pitt,” and Philadelphia’s 1903 “Black Saturday.” Trigger Warning: There’s nothing graphic about any of the above, but we do talk a bit about more than one tragic building collapse. It’s tasteful, it’s respectful and, we hope, totally not exploitative, but thinking about it too much still might be troubling. 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

Infinite Inning 324: The Way We Live Now (Again) In a largely improvised episode we reexperience current events through the lens of Joe DiMaggio’s 1941 hitting streak, counting the days while the war stays away, while once again a government effort requires us to rally ‘round Jackie Robinson—and Abraham Lincoln too, and we do so while checking in on the better brand of shortstops offered by the Negro Leagues’ Newark Eagles and Philadelphia Stars (and shame Connie Mack one more time). 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 debate whether a victim of the First World War and the 1918 influenza pandemic was the heretofore unidentifiable Greatest Lost Prospect, we make a quick stop to compare takes on the 1915 World Series to Social Darwinism, and rediscover a dirty owners’ trick after a pitcher gathers up all his many girlfriends and drives into a wall. 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 reaching a breaking point with his creator sends us scurrying back to the Old Testament for guidance, and then we unpack the stories behind Steve’s Baseball Prospectus column this week, a reaction to the Department of Defense labeling Jackie Robinson as “deisports.” Should you wish to read the column, it’s available free (no paywall) at BP. Trigger Warning: There are extensive discussions of slavery, and a brief one of rape, in the second part of the show. There is also perhaps one mild cussword in here. It’s nothing you haven’t heard the current president say repeatedly. 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?

Casey Stengel (our mascot, hero, and deity) steals a couple of uniforms and feels bad about it, and then a successful manager of the Red Sox is fired under dubious circumstances, and then virtually everyone in the story catches tuberculosis. Trigger Warning: There are a couple of fleeting mentions of self-harm in the second act of the show. 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 sportswriter faces his own irrelevance on the morning after Pearl Harbor and finds a way back to baseball, and then a pitcher loses it and reignites a brawl that had already ended—featuring more future Hall of Famers than wound up in the Hall of Fame. Yes, it all makes sense in the end. 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 way we live today prompts a tale of two future Hall of Famers inflicting pain on one another, yet another Hall of Famer, Phil Rizzuto, suffers pain and the host does too, and finally a story of a catcher who decided to engage with a world of corruption and paid a high price.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 minor leaguer gets involved with the wrong woman, but who does she get involved with in the aftermath? And why did the pitcher throw the inkstand? Tigger Warning: There is one mild cussword early on, but one supposes there are a few adult matters related to sexuality that come up in passing. You might want to say “La la la” over that if the kids are around. 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?

Infinite Inning 317: You Can’t Be There If You’re Already Here The show must go on, and so we begin with Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Walt Alston, the overreach of the man he replaced, Chuck Dressen (and Mrs. Dressen too) and what Walt did to make ends meet, then pause for some ruminations on The Way We Live Now, then visit Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in 1957 for home-run heroics by a forgotten player, bad play-by-play, and a dire song choice. Tigger Warning: There is a machine gun fired about 18 minutes into the episode. There is also one cussword at around the 20-minute mark. Cauterize your ears if necessary. (LightMachineGun2.wav by SuperPhat. 8bit-scream.wav by DeltaCode. R21-09-Man Screams.wav, R28-45-Woman Screams in Rumbling Space.wav by craigsmith. ) 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?