Baseball History Episodes

For the third straight year The Athletic's writer Daniel Brown who is also a BBWAA voter, discussed his and his fellow writer's votes for the Hall-of-Fame. Center fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones both were elected with a few players making big strides in the their voting totals. We talked about trends in voting, who's on the ballot next year and why the process might be changing. Dan is a terrific writer and you should look for his pieces in The Athlet...

Send us a text Baseball's Two-Way Greats - Pitching/Batting Stars from Ruth and Rogan to Ohtani by Chris Jensen. Is Shohei Ohtani the greatest two-way player in #MLB history? Chris Jensen isn't afraid to take on big subjects and 19th century baseball had its fair share of two-way stars. Chris breaks down the greatest two-way players into 19th century, pre-integration era (1947), Negro Leagues, Latin Leagues, and of course the post-integrated era. Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe ...

This Week in Baseball and highlights of the Deadball Era pitchers

Send us a text Having worked with HOFer Roland Hemond with the Chicago #whitesox, Dan Evans took on the job of rebuilding the #dodgers in 2001. He was there for four seasons and had a winning season each year before being fired with almost 200 others. The Dodgers went 71-91 the next season and Dan tells us it did not bother him a bit! Dodgers GM from 2001-2004 having a winning record each year, Dan Evans is a baseball lifer with a lot of life left ahead! We could have talked with Dan for hours ...

Send us a text Why aren't more teams on #MLB free agent Juan Soto? They make plenty of money but are afraid. Afraid even though they are increasing franchise value and have more revenue streams than ever before. Teams should be spending more on Free Agents. We tell you which ones. Which teams should be spending more period? After Juan Soto signs who will be next? Pete Alonso? Anthony Santander? Blake Snell and Tommy Edman have already signed w L.A. Dodgers. But are the #Dodgers done? Where are ...

Send us a text 79/113/122 those are the numbers representing the amount of days until pitchers & catchers report, #Dodgers #Cubs opening games in Tokyo March 18, and the REAL opening day on March 27. MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year were all awarded. There were exactly ZERO surprises. Guess that's but it's also kind of boring. News Flash - #Mets Francisco Lindor did not win anything but a silver slugger. Sure he gets paid but what does Lindor have to do to get recogniz...

Send us a text Baseball fans may have heard the story that Stan Musial began his career in baseball as a pitcher/outfielder. A shoulder injury forced him to become a hitter and outfielder full-time for which #MLB is forever grateful. Stan-the-Man had 3,630 hits - the same 1,815 hits at home as he had on the road! He missed only one season due to WWII in 1945 only to return the next year, win the #NLMVP and lead the #Cardinals to their 6th World Series victory in 21 years. Musial played 22 seaso...

Send us a text Japanese sensation 23-year-old Roki Sasaki wants to play #MLB. He finally got Chibu to allow him to have that opportunity. Yoshinobu Yamamoto showed the #Dodgers that top-tier NPB pitchers can dominate in the Majors. Gerrit Cole thought about leaving the #Yankees and then thought the better of it. We didn't discuss Shohei Ohtani's surgery but he'll be ready for Opening Day. We discussed the Gold Glove winners who were announced this week. The Classic Baseball committee put out th...

Send us a text If you are using Baseball-reference.com or Football or Basketball reference you will be using aspects what Sean Lahman created 30 years ago. Sean is a member of SABR and has generously donated the database to SABR so it's in excellent hands! We asked Sean how to use the database, how much and how long it took to put it all together (Bill James was an inspiration) and ways the average fan can make use of the Lahman Database which can be found at baseball1.com. We think you'll agr...

Send us a text No longer can #dodgers be talked about as not having won a WS in this century in a 162-game season. There are a few players like Max Muncy who remember taking Covid-19 test after winning the 2020 World Series. No parades. No cheering from the fans. The 2024 championship behind a great job of managing by future HOF manager Dave Roberts makes all the noise go away. Was #yankees manager Aaron Boone outmanaged by Roberts? It sure felt that way. UCLA beat USC in this one. Except Gerri...

Send us a text Can a team go 22-3 to make a playoff run? It can happen but it's not likely. That's where some of the teams that are on the bubble are right now. #Cubs, #Tigers, #RedSox are those kinds of teams with the #Mets not far behind. September baseball is fantastic and there are still many things left to be decided before we start hearing about 'Magic' numbers to clinch a division or playoff spot. Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or App...

Send us a text We did not even talk about #phillies Weston Wilson who became the first Phillie rookie to hit for the cycle! Complete game shutouts are back in vogue. Injuries still are in the picture for pitchers. Outfield defense is better than ever. We talk about why. Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music! Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you h...

Send us a text Mark has been a SABR member for 4 years but has never attended the annual convention. This year it was in Minneapolis in early August and the Twin Cities proved to be a great location for a content-rich three days of baseball talk and presentations. HOFers Rod Carew and Tony Oliva were on a hitter's panel together and HOFers Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat on another along with former Twin's pitchers LaTroy Hawkins and Glen Perkins. Some of the sessions were ultra-nerdy but not too an...

Send us a text The #Mariners won 116 games in 2001 but could not win a playoff series. The 1906 #Cubs also won 116 games and did win the World Series. It's happened other times as well. But most of the time if a team can win 108 games or more they do go on to win the World Series. Which of those teams do we think is the best of them best? 1998 Yankees? 1961 @Yankees? 1986 @Mets? 1975 @Reds? 1927 Yankees? Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or App...

Send us a text Willie Mays did not flaunt it as much as did Joe DiMaggio who reveled in being called Greatest Living Ballplayer (GLB) that he insisted on being introduced that way at public events. But after Joe D. passed away the debate was between Henry Aaron and Willie Mays with Mays' superior defense being a deciding factor. Both Aaron and Mays were amazing and we discuss the whole idea of GLB being silly. Mays and Mickey Mantle were both barred from baseball by then commissioner Bowie Kuhn...