Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller interview AJ Shnack, the director of ESPN’s new 30 for 30 documentary about the 1998 home run race, Long Gone Summer, touching on the involvement of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, how AJ structured the story, which slugger was the star of the race, the myth that the home run race “saved baseball,” whether he thought about interviewing Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds, what the auctioned-off record home run balls are worth now, Jeff Tweedy’s score, and more. Then (26:51) Ben and Sam banter about what the ’98 home run race was like at the time, what they learned or remembered about it from the documentary, whether baseball could be that big again, the role of the ball in the offense of the so-called PED era, how we remember McGwire and Sosa, and more.

Audio intro: Dan Bern, "I Miss the Steroid Era"
Audio interstitial: The Roots, "Rising Up"
Audio outro: Lonestar, "Don’t Let’s Talk About Lisa"

Link to Long Gone Summer
Link to David Schoenfield on the 1998 season
Link to Schoenfield on the 1998 home run race
Link to Tim Keown on the 1998 home run race
Link to Matt Trueblood on Sosa’s offensive evolution
Link to Steve Wilstein’s 1998 andro article
Link to Ben on steroids and the 1998 home run race
Link to Tom Tango on the 1990s home run spike
Link to Eric Walker’s site about steroids and home runs
Link to Rob Arthur on steroids, the ball, and power surges
Link to Nate Silver on stats and steroids

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the continued standstill over starting the season, MLB’s series of superficially different, substantively identical, and equally unproductive proposals, public perceptions of the owners’ and players’ positions, the difference between a 50-game season and an 80-game season, and how the “negotiations” seem destined to end, plus a Stat Blast about repeatedly drafted players. Then (27:01) they talk to FanGraphs lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen about which teams did and didn’t appear to do well in the 2020 draft, how limiting the draft to five rounds affected team strategy, how the pandemic changed draft prep and draft predictions, the potential of Tigers top pick Spencer Torkelson and other notable names, what will happen to the hundreds of players who didn’t get drafted, and the latest on when and where prospects will play in 2020.

Audio intro: Mates of State, "My Only Offer"
Audio interstitial: I Was a King, "Eric"
Audio outro: Wild Flag, "Short Version"

Link to latest Craig Edwards analysis
Link to Jeff Passan report on most recent MLB offer
Link to Eno on season length
Link to Angus Kellett’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to spreadsheet about most-drafted players
Link to Eric’s 2020 draft primer
Link to Eric’s Day 1 draft recap
Link to Eric’s draft odds and ends
Link to story about amateurs signing with NPB teams

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Ben Lindbergh talks to Braves outfield prospect Trey Harris about how he’s processed the murder of George Floyd and learned from the ongoing protests, how race and racism have affected his life and career, the additional barriers black players face, how he’s tried to talk to teammates, coaches, and friends about systemic racism and recent events, why baseball has historically been quiet about social justice compared to other sports and why players have started speaking up, the scarcity of black players, how to cover baseball better, the precarity of minor league life, acting casual in big league camp, the difficulty of not knowing if there will be a baseball season, how he’s trying to train and stay prepared to play, his thoughts on MLB’s negotiations with the MLBPA, how he’s used technology to improve as a player and what that might mean for the future of player development, and more.

Audio intro: The Pollies, "Things You Learn to Know"
Audio outro: Treyballcrazy, "Treyballin"

Link to Trey’s Twitter account
Link to recent Trey video interview
Link to start of section on Trey in The MVP Machine
Link to video of Trey at the AFL
Link to article about Trey’s 2019 season
Link to The Athletic on Trey
Link to Andrew McCutchen piece in The Players’ Tribune
Link to Adam Jones’ 2017 comments about racism
Link to Clinton Yates on black players and the Dream Series
Link to Victor Luckerson on Black Wall Street
Link to 13th on Netflix
Link to Votto’s opinion piece

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Ben briefly explains this week’s podcast hiatus.

Link to Joon Lee on players’ statements
Link to Marc Carig on MLB’s response
Link to Bradford William Davis on team and league statements
Link to Randy Wilkins on MLB’s statement
Link to Doug Glanville and other ex-players on race and baseball
Link to Shakeia Taylor on civil rights and black baseball
Link to Stephon Johnson on being a black baseball fan
Link to Shakeia Taylor on Tim Anderson’s 2019 suspension
Link to James Fegan on Tim Anderson and Lucas Giolito
Link to Clinton Yates on black ballplayers and the MLB Dream Series

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the results of a survey of sports fans about fake crowd noise on telecasts, then discuss a difficult, frustrating week for baseball, touching on ownership overreach and intransigence, widespread releases of minor league players, teams and players that have made more commendable choices, baseball’s lost opportunity to lead, the disaster scenario the sport is facing, and who baseball is for. Then (51:12) they talk to labor lawyer Eugene Freedman about the ongoing negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA, how he expects the talks to play out, why MLB players aren’t engaging with ownership’s financial proposal, the role of Scott Boras, the obstacles in the way of a minor league player union, and more.

Audio intro: The Lone Ghosts, "Bad Week"
Audio interstitial: Willie Nelson, "A Little Unfair"
Audio outro: Hazel English, "Make it Better"

Link to Morning Consult survey
Link to ESPN report about minor league releases
Link to Baseball America report about minor league releases
Link to Eric Nusbaum on the owners’ actions
Link to Craig Edwards on the owners’ economic proposal
Link to report about leaked lawyer email
Link to report about Boras letter
Link to Ohtani’s Instagram account
Link to Foley’s farewell message

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about MLB’s ongoing labor negotiations, the team-to-team differences in minor-league pay and front-office furloughs, and the perils of believing that baseball is purely for profit, follow up on the previous episode’s discussions of Carney Lansford’s claim to be a descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a forward-thinking 1989 Cy Young voter, and answer listener emails about bringing hockey’s three stars system to baseball and redoing the 2012 AL MVP vote with a 2020 awareness of WAR, plus Stat Blasts about an offensively futile game and the most hitless PA any batter has ever had against a single pitcher (featuring former major leaguer and Cardinals farm director Mike Jorgensen on his historic struggles against Dock Ellis, the first time he saw Albert Pujols, and how he helped avert a disastrous Pujols trade).

Audio intro: Townes Van Zandt, "No Deal"
Audio outro: Jerry Lee Lewis, "Thirty-Nine and Holding"

Link to Forst’s letter to minor leaguers
Link to unemployment info for minor leaguers
Link to latest Passan report on MLB labor issues
Link to info on the three stars in hockey
Link to info on FanGraphs’ stars of the game
Link to Mack Longpré and Sophie Welsman’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to Mack Longpré’s website
Link to 1987 bad sequencing game
Link to Good Night, Giants
Link to batter vs. pitcher hitless streaks data
Link to batter vs. pitcher on-base-less streaks data
Link to article on Bagwell vs. Sullivan
Link to article on facing Jeter
Link to Goold on a possible Pujols trade
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about viral particles, Mike Trout’s self-identified best at-bat, Carney Lansford’s possible link to Sir Francis Drake, sports card “breakers,” a perplexing story involving Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, Wilbert Robinson’s five birthdays, why a love of playing baseball often translates to a love of anything connected to baseball, the serendipitous discoveries that come from browsing newspaper archives, and a mysterious 1989 Cy Young vote.

Audio intro: Darlingside, "Best of the Best of Times"
Audio outro: The Birthday Crew, "Happy Birthday Wilbert"

Link to COVID-19 guide
Link to Trout video
Link to BP bobbleheads piece
Link to Emma on “breakers”
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about a mystifying comment on the back of track star and Oakland A’s designated runner Herb Washington’s 1975 Topps card, the phenomenon of wildly inaccurate appraisals of player value, and the utility of pinch-running specialists. Then (21:48) they talk to ESPN broadcaster Jon “Boog” Sciambi about calling KBO games from home, learning a new league, the perils and pitfalls of remote baseball broadcasting, how calling games in a different time zone has affected his sleep schedule, making international baseball accessible to American fans, how the pandemic may impact the future of broadcasting, and more.

Audio intro: Phish, "Fast Enough for You"
Audio interstitial: Richard Thompson, "Johnny’s Far Away"
Audio outro: James Taylor, "As Easy As Rolling Off a Log"

Link to Washington’s 1975 Topps card
Link to Andrew’s book about baseball in Taiwan
Link to Cardboard Gods entry on Washington’s card
Link to video of Washington pickoff
Link to 12/1/74 article on Washington
Link to 12/27/74 article on Washington
Link to Sam on Hamilton’s value
Link to Travis on Hamilton’s value
Link to Sam on Washington, Hamilton, and Bolt
Link to Ben on Lords of the Realm
Link to KBO on ESPN schedule
Link to photo of Boog’s backdrop
Link to Boog on building a better broadcast
Link to Bryan Curtis on remote broadcasts
Link to info on Project Main St.
Link to donate to Project Main St.
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the reliability of betting on baseball using the Grays Sports Almanac from Back to the Future Part II, then answer listener emails about a baseball broadcaster reality show, awarding bonuses for success in specific batter-pitcher matchups, and whether there’s any way to make pitchers into less terrible hitters, plus Stat Blasts about how a bandbox ballpark with a ton of foul territory would play and the least valuable World Series MVPs.

Audio intro: Ten Years After, "I’d Love to Change the World"
Audio outro: Sharon Van Etten, "Nothing Will Change"

Link to video of ESPN’s Dream Job
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Garrett Krohn’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to World Series MVPs data
Link to Sam on Bumgarner
Link to post on pitchers pitching to Bumgarner
Link to article on Bucky Harris and pitcher hitting
Link to Ben on the DH
Link to Russell Carleton on the DH
Link to Glavine on the player PR problem
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about MLB’s proposed in-game distancing measures and what degree of difference from the norm would prevent the game from still looking like baseball, then draft and discuss their favorite highly specific ways in which to follow a baseball game, whether in person or from afar.

Audio intro: Sloan, "Listen to the Radio"
Audio outro: Ezra Furman, "Watch You Go By"

Link to ESPN report about safety protocols
Link to The Athletic report about safety protocols
Link to Yates Twitter thread
Link to Ben Clemens on socially distanced baseball
Link to AP report on MLB’s financial claims
Link to Baseball Prospectus analysis of MLB’s financial claims
Link to FanGraphs analysis of MLB’s financial claims
Link to order The MVP Machine

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