With Meg Rowley on the road, Ben Lindbergh does an almost-all-interview episode featuring the authors of four new baseball books: First (3:22), Howard Bryant on Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original; second (42:45), Jeff Fletcher on Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played; third (1:19:36), Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt on Intentional Balk: Baseball’s Thin Line Between Innovation and Cheating; and fourth (1:58:38), Paul Oyer on An Economist Goes to the Game: How to Throw Away $580 Million and Other Surprising Insights From the Economics of Sports, followed (2:32:42) by a Past Blast from 1876.

Audio intro: Drive-By Truckers, “Dancin’ Ricky”
Audio interstitial 1: Sir Douglas Quintet, “Revolutionary Ways”
Audio interstitial 2: Franz Ferdinand, “Cheating on You”
Audio interstitial 3: Dan Bern, “Economy”
Audio interstitial 4: Feist, “Past in Present”
Audio outro: Kelley Stoltz, “Read it in Books”

Link to Rickey
Link to Howard’s website
Link to Sho-Time
Link to Jeff’s website
Link to Ohtani’s Garcia impression
Link to Ohtani’s bat CPR
Link to Ben on Ohtani’s origin story
Link to Intentional Balk
Link to Mark’s website
Link to Daniel’s website
Link to EW sign-stealing episode
Link to Ben on overrated cheating
Link to An Economist Goes to the Game
Link to Paul’s website
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to vaccination story source
Link to 1876 story source
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Shohei Ohtani taking over the MLB WAR lead, a Taylor Ward/Jared Walsh mixup, an on-air “zombie runner” endorsement, another fruitless hidden ball trick attempt, and the need for an amended rule about replay reviews of slide plays, then (26:03) discuss the Blue Jays firing manager Charlie Montoyo and the revelation that the Royals have 10 unvaccinated players. After that (57:28), they meet major leaguers Vinnie Pasquantino and Bubby Rossman, banter more (1:08:45) about Spencer Strider, Sam Haggerty’s walk-up music, the “pie slice” anti-shift rule, a Pesäpallo water feature, and PGA golfers sponsored by MLB, followed by (1:27:26) a Stat Blast about managerial longevity and teams with the most sequential uniform numbers, info on the etymology of “muffin games” and “batter” vs. “striker,” and (1:43:28) a Past Blast from 1875.

Audio intro: Bobby Darin, “Goodbye, Charlie”
Audio outro: Neil Young, “Ten Men Workin’”

Link to FG combined WAR leaderboard
Link to post about Ohtani as a DH or P
Link to video of the slide at second
Link to Dave on fixing the slide rule
Link to catch/transfer rule change
Link to cricket rule change video
Link to cricket “out of ground” rule
Link to cricket bouncing bat problem
Link to The Athletic on Montoyo’s firing
Link to Vlad’s “trailer” comment
Link to playoff odds changes
Link to Andy McCullough on the Royals
Link to Sam McDowell on the Royals
Link to Stephanie Apstein on the Royals
Link to Alec Lewis on the Royals
Link to CDC vaccination data
Link to report on unvaccinated players
Link to list of unvaccinated MLB players
Link to story on MiLB vaccinations
Link to Pasquantino scouting report
Link to Pasquantino on his call-up
Link to Pasquantino’s first homer
Link to story on Rossman
Link to other story on Rossman
Link to story on Gibson’s explanation
Link to Nerds Herd info
Link to Timothy Jackson on Strider
Link to Justin on Strider and Greene
Link to <162 IP pitcher WAR list
Link to Haggerty video
Link to Pesäpallo play video
Link to Pesäpallo play explainer
Link to water plays montage
Link to Saarikenttä wiki
Link to Pesäpallo EW episode
Link to MLB.com on the “pie slice” rule
Link to Jayson Stark on the rule
Link to story on MLB sponsoring golfers
Link to Stathead
Link to post about Stathead upgrade
Link to manager longevity data
Link to current manager tenure data
Link to manager longevity graphs
Link to Mariners homers tweet
Link to most sequential uni numbers data
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1875 story source
Link to story on muffins
Link to Facebook post about the EW wiki
Link to “How to Help” wiki page

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s hazardous last week, then discuss the ongoing mellowing of attitudes and discussions surrounding the All-Star game, embracing the game’s potential for sentimentality, how it would feel to be a team’s lone All-Star representative, the results of a new poll about robo umps, an NPB record and whether/when Reggie Jackson will be unseated as the all-time strikeout king, the reemergence of Matt Moore, the Rockies, the trade deadline, and Daniel Bard, the suddenly exciting Orioles and how a team in their position should approach the deadline, the Phillies’ anti-vax contingent and what it means to be a bad teammate, the injury-ridden seasons of the Rays and Wander Franco, and a mystery involving shifting on right-handed hitters, plus a Past Blast from 1874 (1:19:20), a listener email about eliminating foul lines, and a few followups.

Audio intro: Harper Simon, “Wishes and Stars”
Audio outro: Echo & the Bunnymen, “Stars Are Stars”

Link to ASG rosters
Link to robo-umps poll
Link to news about NPB record
Link to Nakamura’s wiki page
Link to all-time MLB batter K leaders
Link to story on Grossman’s streak
Link to EW Episode 9
Link to Ben on pitching prospect rankings
Link to Rockies MLBTR story
Link to Orioles MLBTR story
Link to updated FG farm rankings
Link to ESPN strength of schedule
Link to Mark Simon on the Orioles defense
Link to Franco MLBTR story
Link to Dan Szymborski on Rays injuries
Link to BP Injured List Ledger
Link to story on Schwarber
Link to story on Realmuto
Link to Tango on the shift vs. RHH
Link to Tango on the shift vs. RHH again
Link to Ben on the shift vs. RHH
Link to Justin Choi on the shift vs. RHH
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1874 story source
Link to story on Frasier’s swap
Link to Stanky Draft episode
Link to Mauer retirement ceremony

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s unfortunate Brussels sprouts incident, then answer listener emails about the ballparks with the most and least locations where a ball would be a home run only in that park, the Rays’ MLB-leading outs on the bases, the Orioles’ possibly improved pitcher development, a loaner-type trade where a player is his own player to be named later, how to define a comeback, “batters” vs. “hitters,” whether a team can really win without ever holding a lead, whether we’ll ever see another walk-off home run single, why a walk-off ground rule “double” is scored as a single, the legality of applying a tag with a piece of clothing instead of a glove, and a possible Ohtani rule loophole that could theoretically allow Shohei Ohtani to bat twice in a row, plus (1:18:32) a Past Blast from 1873.

Audio intro: Donna Summer, “End of the Week”
Audio outro: Pasek & Paul, “Come to a Party”

Link to article about digesting Brussels sprouts
Link to B-Ref team baserunning page
Link to list of players traded for themselves
Link to win expectancy calculator
Link to tweet about Astros not trailing
Link to Jake Mailhot’s power rankings post
Link to Ventura’s grand-slam single
Link to Judge’s walk-off homer
Link to article about fans storming field
Link to Reddit thread about fans storming field
Link to Chambliss homer video
Link to Disco Demolition Night podcast
Link to Alfaro’s walk-off non-double
Link to explainer of walk-off non-doubles
Link to Jones discussing “Crazy Train”
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to Bull Durham clichés scene
Link to EW emails database

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley rant and banter (ranter?) about MLB’s approach to promoting the Futures Game, then (17:33) discuss superheroes throwing baseballs, the latest exploits of the semi-superpowered Shohei Ohtani and Sandy Alcantara, and Ohtani’s chances against Aaron Judge (and others) in the AL MVP race, Stat Blast (39:03) about losing teams with two hyper-productive players and pitchers with the most even pitch-type distributions, entertain the idea (59:59) of adjusting WAR for quality of competition because of position-player pitchers, speculate about Judge’s free-agent contract, highlight Luis Arraez’s pursuit of Ted Williams, an Andrew Vaughn hidden-ball-trick attempt, Charlie Blackmon’s walk-up song, a fateful Rockies shift, observe (1:23:10) which teams’ playoff probabilities have risen or sunk the most in the last month and react to MLB’s asterisk-esque All-Star Game caps, and close (1:32:32) with a Past Blast from 1872.

Audio intro: Status Quo, “The Future’s So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)”
Audio outro: Heart, “Hijinx”

Link to Futures Game rosters
Link to Jarrett Seidler on MiLB talent
Link to 2023 WBC announcement
Link to The Boys Season 1 clip
Link to Invincible clip
Link to Superman Returns clip
Link to Alvarez throw
Link to video about baseball movies
Link to story on Judge’s 30th homer
Link to story about Ohtani’s game
Link to FG combined WAR leaderboard
Link to Angels PR tweet
Link to other Angels PR tweet
Link to third Angels PR tweet
Link to Jeremy Frank tweet
Link to video of HRs off of VanMeter
Link to Katie Sharp tweet
Link to Stathead
Link to Stat Blast list of losing teams
Link to Dan on sub-replacement Angels
Link to Alcantara’s pitch usage
Link to least-used-top-pitch data
Link to lowest-standard-deviation data
Link to Rob Mains on adjusted offense
Link to Craig on Judge’s contract
Link to PPP velo by year
Link to Patrick on the Rockies’ loss
Link to tweet about the Rockies’ positioning
Link to clip of Rockies-Dodgers play
Link to TikTok of Blackmon’s song
Link to playoff odds changes
Link to France ASG video
Link to asterisky Astros cap
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1872 story source
Link to history of infield fly rule

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the possible end of the Taylor Ward/Tyler Wade broadcaster confusion, Ward getting caught unawares at first base, and the Twins turning the first-ever 8-5 triple play, then Stat Blast (11:06) about Cam Vieaux and the most pitches thrown in various types of innings, share a Past Blast (23:33) from 1871, and discuss the Empire State Greys, a traveling Frontier League team that started the season 0-35 and now, at 2-42, is in danger of posting the lowest winning percentage in pro baseball history. Then (43:23) Ben brings on brothers Eddie Gonzalez and Jerry Gonzalez, the co-owners and co-hitting coaches of the Greys, to talk about their work with the Empire Professional Baseball League, the challenges of operating in indy ball, the Greys’ origins and roster composition, being a perpetual road team, the mood on the team during its historically long losing streak, how the streak was snapped, the close calls they had before their first win, facing Kumar Rocker, their hopes for the rest of the season, the Greys’ growing fan base, and more, followed (1:23:54) by a few postscripts.

Audio intro: Bobby Bare, Jr., “One of Us Has Got to Go”
Audio interstitial: Fleetwood Mac, “Empire State”
Audio outro: Harry Belafonte, “Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back)”

Link to video of Ward play
Link to video of Twins triple play
Link to La Russa ejection clip
Link to Vieaux game B-Ref page
Link to Vieaux’s postgame comments
Link to Stat Blast pitch data
Link to most pitches between outs
Link to 2003 Pavano game
Link to 1954 Dodgers-Redlegs game
Link to Allan Roth SABR bio
Link to 2010 Linebrink game
Link to 1996 Orioles-Rangers game
Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter account
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1871 story source
Link to list of worst team records
Link to tweet about Muskogee Mets
Link to article about Muskogee Mets
Link to B-Ref page on Muskogee Mets
Link to EW wiki on the Salina Stockade
Link to Ben’s article on the Stockade
Link to the Stockade’s B-Ref page
Link to research on indy league quality
Link to the Greys’ B-Ref page
Link to Frontier League standings
Link to Frontier League stats
Link to story about the NCBL
Link to story about Empire League’s origin
Link to Empire League wiki
Link to Empire League website
Link to the Greys’ January announcement
Link to story about the Greys
Link to other story about the Greys
Link to the Greys on Twitter
Link to the Greys’ team shop
Link to the Greys’ schedule
Link to game story about the first win
Link to photo from after the first win
Link to story about Rocker’s season
Link to Cardinals dingers video
Link to Ben Clemens on single-game homers

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the varying interpretations of Bobby Bonilla Day and what may be the last-ever Bruce Sutter Day, then (17:20) discuss what an expansive ESPN profile of Rob Manfred reveals about the MLB commissioner. After that (48:49), they answer listener emails about players jumping straight from college to the majors, whether a player who hit a lot of homers but little else would be playable, how many players would still be two-way players if the rules permitted nine designated hitters, and a chair for catchers. Finally (1:22:53), they Stat Blast about the players with the most unique uniform numbers and the most lopsided starting-pitcher matchups by win-loss record, plus (1:34:35) “fourth out” banter, a Past Blast from 1870, a call for listener testimonials, and a few followups.

Audio intro: Etta James, “Bobby is His Name”
Audio outro: The Hollies, “Pay You Back With Interest”

Link to Planet Money on Bonilla Day
Link to The Athletic on Sutter
Link to thread about deferred payments
Link to Torre on athletes going broke
Link to ESPN profile of Manfred
Link to Selig EW episode
Link to @dril tweet
Link to pitcher stuff aging curve
Link to first dorm chair
Link to second dorm chair
Link to third dorm chair
Link to Stathead
Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter account
Link to active uniform-number leaders
Link to all-time uniform-number leaders
Link to Petriello on George Brunet
Link to Petriello on uniform-number value
Link to winless vs. lossless SP data
Link to winless vs. lossless record game
Link to lopsided net W-L record data
Link to earlier Stat Blast on SP W-L records
Link to EW emails database
Link to post on Nationals “fourth out” play
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1870 story source
Link to CarShield tweet
Link to Ward interview
Link to John Poff’s fundraiser

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley are joined by Jake Mintz of Céspedes Family BBQ to talk about Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson leaving the team midseason to join LSU, why MLB teams are hiring coaches from college and why colleges are hiring them back, whether MLB teams should pay coaches more, the state of player development in college, Jake’s experience at the College World Series, his short summary of what non-college baseball fans should know about the just-completed college season, the arrival of Royals rookie Vinnie Pasquantino, the Astros’ extremely low-offense catchers, the importance of pitch-tipping, Rafael Devers heating up and sitting down, Clay Holmes’s improvement after leaving the Pirates, the unwritten rules of closer entrance song etiquette, Justin Turner’s walk-up song consistency, and more. Then (1:00:19), Ben and Meg banter about yet another Tyler Wade/Taylor Ward broadcaster mixup, how Freddie Freeman leaving Atlanta is like Ben leaving grammar school, and whether wearing two gloves could actually be legal, plus a Past Blast from 1869.

Audio intro: Shy Boys, “In Gloves”
Audio outro: Monophonics, “Let That Sink In”

Link to Dan Hayes on Johnson
Link to SI post about Johnson
Link to article about Fetter
Link to Ben on college player dev
Link to story on Twins’ college coaches
Link to ESPN on the CWS outcome
Link to Jake on Houston’s catchers
Link to team catcher offense
Link to Trout pitch-tipping GIF
Link to Jordan on Devers
Link to Speier on Devers
Link to article about Holmes post-Pirates
Link to Ben Clemens on Holmes
Link to Jordan on Holmes
Link to Cameron Grove on pitch usage
Link to Rob Arthur on pitch usage
Link to Rob on pitch usage again
Link to sinker usage leaderboard
Link to grounder rate leaderboard
Link to Ken Rosenthal on Freeman
Link to Jay Jaffe on Freeman
Link to Kershaw comment on Freeman
Link to article on Flores crying
Link to wicket-keeper wiki
Link to wicket-keeper image
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1869 story source

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a surprising ESPY nomination for Jorge Soler, another Tyler Wade/Taylor Ward broadcaster mixup, the massive Mariners-Angels brawl and ensuing suspensions and pizzas, Bryce Harper’s broken thumb and not-broken face, Mark Appel finally making the majors, an update on the Joc Pederson–Tommy Pham feud, the Yankees getting no-hit, the respectable Orioles, an impressive fact about the AL East, a Willians Astudillo tag mistake and the nature of forces vs. tags, and Freddie Freeman’s representation, plus a Stat Blast (1:13:05) about Robbie Ray and pitchers with high concentrations of runs allowed in one inning, a Past Blast (1:24:32) from 1868, and a few followups.

Audio intro: Colleen Green, “Number One”
Audio outro: The Hives, “Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones”

Link to ESPY nominations
Link to video of brawl
Link to sunflower-seed toss
Link to suspension announcements
Link to pizza story
Link to Tepera’s two ejections
Link to Harper quote
Link to 2021 Harper HBP story
Link to Appel story
Link to Astros no-hitter video
Link to Langs tweet about Yankees
Link to first Judge game-ender
Link to second Judge game-ender
Link to Pederson/Pham update
Link to Astudillo tag play
Link to Olney report about Freeman
Link to Freeman ovation video
Link to Freeman press conference
Link to Stat Blast data
Link to Ray broadcast graphic
Link to Cameron Grove on Ray
Link to Grove on Ray again
Link to third Grove/Ray tweet
Link to Stathead
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1868 story source
Link to other 1868 story source
Link to Bradley broken-elbow video
Link to Bradley broken-elbow news
Link to Meg’s post on Bradley
Link to Sadman Baseball video

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley answer listener emails about why players in the dugout seem so confident in pitch locations, whether it would ever help to wear two gloves, MLB Big Inning and other baseball equivalents of NFL RedZone, the extreme dimensions of the Polo Grounds, what makes it so impressive that some players perform at the same level for a long time, whether the Cardinals are a fun team, and what it means when we say that a player is “fun to watch,” then (55:45) take pedantic questions about “pedantic” vs. “semantic,” whether every batted ball that hits the ground is a ground ball, “former” first-round draft picks, “number one” draft picks, how best to describe a batter’s small-sample line, the (un)importance of head-to-head team records, clearing the bases and homers that drive in multiple runs, how to refer to ballparks that have since changed their names, and the on-deck circle vs. the “next batter’s box,” followed (1:32:07) by a Past Blast from 1867.

Audio intro: Nick Lowe, “Hope for Us All”
Audio outro: The Mynabirds, “Semantics”

Link to Martinez ejection story
Link to MLB Big Inning
Link to B-Ref Stream Finder
Link to Ben on baseball RedZone
Link to the Mitchell catch
Link to Sam on the Mitchell catch
Link to Polo Grounds dimensions wiki
Link to B-Ref on the Polo Grounds
Link to THT on extreme ballparks
Link to THT on ballpark homogenization
Link to 85.4 mph home run
Link to Ben on quality of competition
Link to Dan Szymborski on Cardinals projections
Link to Viva El Birdos on Cardinals projections
Link to THT on political baseball jargon
Link to The Atlantic on baseball stereotypes
Link to research on baseball stereotypes
Link to Craig Wright on the running game
Link to Pages From Baseball’s Past
Link to Defector on The Athletic
Link to Richard Hershberger’s Strike Four
Link to 1867 story source
Link to 1873 dead ball ad
Link to “next batter’s box” diagram

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