Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the retirement of Kyle Seager and the lockout implications of a recent report about player payrolls, then discuss an assortment of listener-nominated, team-centric topics that they had previously overlooked on the podcast in 2021.

Audio intro: Spooky Tooth, “Kyle”
Audio outro: Hockey Dad, “I Missed Out”

Link to list of most HR in final season
Link to Seager ovation video
Link to payroll report
Link to story about Ryu and Manoah
Link to Korean story on Ryu and Manoah
Link to Blooper/Duvall video
Link to more Blooper/Duvall videos
Link to Romine/Romine story
Link to Casali story
Link to second Casali story
Link to Flexen story
Link to Lindor/McNeil report
Link to Zimmerman ovation video
Link to story on Harrison’s taunting
Link to Suárez FanGraphs post
Link to story on Cruz callup
Link to Cruz highlights video
Link to Mauer/Morneau hockey video
Link to FanGraphs post on Robert
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about their holidays, how the omicron variant is affecting sports and personal decisions, and how analyzing COVID case counts is (kind of) akin to analyzing baseball stats, discuss the pace and prominence of signings of former major leaguers by KBO and NPB teams, the results of 2021 interleague play, and Shohei Ohtani’s showing in a New York Times quiz about notable people from this year, and answer listener emails about minor league signings during the lockout, Ohtani’s Hall of Fame chances, redrafting Derek Jeter or Ichiro Suzuki, and an evolving Hall of Fame, plus a Stat Blast (1:22:30) about how long it took for every player from given MLB games to leave the league for good.

Audio intro: Vince Guaraldi, “The Great Pumpkin Waltz”
Audio outro: John Williams, “Duel of the Fates”

Link to Will Leitch on omicron and sports
Link to thread on omicron and boosters
Link to story on the week after Christmas
Link to MLBTR’s KBO posts
Link to MLBTR’s NPB posts
Link to Phantom Menace duel video
Link to Tom Tango’s league quality post
Link to year-by-year interleague records
Link to Russell Carleton on interleague records
Link to Rob Mains on interleague records
Link to Rob on NL DHs in 2022
Link to 2016 interleague roundtable podcast
Link to NYT notable people quiz
Link to Ohtani’s AP award
Link to story on Astros drafting Jeter
Link to Ichiro’s high school hitting appearance
Link to Ichiro’s high school pitching appearance
Link to Stat Blast inspiration thread
Link to 2014 Stat Blast game
Link to 2013 Stat Blast game
Link to 1945 Stat Blast game
Link to 1906 Stat Blast game
Link to 2009 Stat Blast game
Link to Drake LaRoche retrospective
Link to 2006 Stat Blast game
Link to 1949 Stat Blast game
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh concludes a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to singer-songwriter Dan Bern about his origins as a baseball fan and musician, rooting for different teams at different times, his songwriting process, sneaking into Wrigley Field, composing his first baseball song, the tools of his trade, what makes a song a baseball song, the most fitting subjects for baseball songs, the best baseball songs by other artists, the pandemic’s impact on musicians, writing bespoke songs, appreciating multiple eras of baseball history, and more. Dan also performs his songs “Ballpark” (15:40), “The Year-By-Year Home Run Totals of Barry Bonds” (18:50), “Slowly Turn Around” (19:47), “Everything’s Better Than it Used to Be” (45:36), “This Side of the White Lines” (49:45), and “Seven Miles an Hour” (55:25).

Audio intro: Dan Bern, “When My Buckner Moment Comes”
Audio outro: Dan Bern, “Merkle”

Link to Dan’s website
Link to Dan’s song store
Link to Dan on Bandcamp
Link to Dan on Facebook
Link to Dan’s Doubleheader album on Spotify
Link to Dan’s Rivalry album on Spotify
Link to NYT piece on Doubleheader
Link to Dan’s 10,000 Crappy Songs podcast
Link to Dan’s discography
Link to Dan’s lyrics
Link to press coverage of Dan
Link to “Ballpark”
Link to “The Year-By-Year Home Run Totals of Barry Bonds”
Link to “Slowly Turn Around”
Link to “Everything’s Better Than it Used to Be”
Link to “This Side of the White Lines”
Link to “Seven Miles an Hour”
Link to “The Golden Voice of Vin Scully”
Link to EW episode about baseball music
Link to Ben on Get Back
Link to Neil Young’s “Old Black”
Link to Conan’s old-timey baseball video
Link to EW episode about old-timey baseball
Link to EW episode about discovering sports late
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh continues a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to painter Graig Kreindler about Noah Syndergaard, Nick Adenhart, and the best way to pay tribute to past players via uniform number, how Graig got started as a baseball fan and artist, how he began to unify the two hobbies into a calling and career, the combination of inherent ability and practice, the tools of his trade, parting with completed pieces, how his portraits draw on but differ from photographs, his rigorous research process (and the heightened challenge of researching Negro Leagues players), blending preparation and passion, correcting mistakes, his artistic aspirations, his favorite paintings, and much more.

Audio intro: The High Llamas, “Painters Paint”
Audio outro: The Band (Feat. Bob Dylan), “When I Paint My Masterpiece”

Link to Sam Blum on Adenhart and Syndergaard
Link to first EW episode about number tributes
Link to Graig’s website
Link to Graig on Instagram
Link to YouTube video about Graig
Link to NYT piece on Graig
Link to Sports Collectors Digest on Graig
Link to Todd Radom on Graig
Link to National Review piece on Graig
Link to Graig’s Negro Leagues Project gallery
Link to Graig’s “large works” gallery
Link to Murderer’s Row (1927 Yankees)
Link to The Dutch Master (Johnny Vander Meer)
Link to Foreign Reinforcement (Josh Gibson)
Link to Big Sam (Sam Thompson)
Link to Advice From the Big Kid (Ruth)
Link to In a Fog (Ernie Banks)
Link to Graig’s Bautista bat flip
Link to Tom Shieber EW interview
Link to Tom’s Baseball Researcher site
Link to history of perspective in art
Link to NFTs explainer
Link to EW episode about discovering sports late
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh kicks off a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in mediums other than writing or podcasting by talking to YouTuber Bailey Freeman of Foolish Baseball about the Mets hiring Buck Showalter and the challenge of evaluating managers, how many bases Rickey Henderson would steal today, Bailey’s origins as a baseball fan and video maker, his process for picking topics and producing videos, watching videos vs. reading articles or listening to podcasts, MLB’s video policy, how he and his videos have evolved, the tools of his trade, which baseball footage he wishes he had, his YouTube influences and recommendations, being beholden to algorithms, and much more.

Audio intro: Lucinda Williams, “Foolishness”
Audio outro: Superchunk, “Foolish”

Link to Foolish Baseball YouTube channel
Link to Foolish Bailey YouTube channel
Link to Bailey’s Patreon page
Link to Bailey’s latest Ohtani video
Link to Bailey’s Bleier video
Link to Bailey’s Henderson video
Link to Bailey’s Verlander video
Link to Bailey’s two-way revolution video
Link to Bailey’s Locastro video
Link to Bailey’s Simmons video
Link to Bailey’s Mathis video
Link to Bailey’s spring training video
Link to Bailey’s Yankees/Twins video
Link to Bailey’s Barajas video
Link to Summoning Salt YouTube channel
Link to Jomboy Media YouTube channel
Link to SportStorm YouTube channel
Link to YourFriendKyle Twitch channel
Link to history of perspective in art
Link to article about players peeing on hands
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the United States of Shohei Ohtani and Baseball-Reference player page popularity, a perplexing fact about fielding percentage, time-shifted baseball (and watching only wins), learning to love a sport later in life, whether pruney fingers would be a performance-enhancer for pitchers, the great rosin bag battle of the 1920s and ’30s, sketching Mike Trout, and more.

Audio intro: Sparks, “Popularity”
Audio outro: The Electric Prunes, “It’s Not Fair”

Link to Baseball-Reference year-end stats
Link to Trueblood tweet about fielding percentage
Link to EW email questions database
Link to pruney skin explainer
Link to historical life expectancy story
Link to Craig R. Wright on rosin bags
Link to Wright’s subscription story series
Link to Rob Arthur on the spin rate resurgence
Link to Alex Speier on testing tacky baseballs
Link to Trout sketches on Reddit
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about how baseball writers are coping with the lockout, revisit the burst of spending that preceded its start, and marvel at the wide variety of Hall of Fame ballots that have surfaced so far. Then (19:01) they talk to Sean Gibson and Ted Knorr, two of the founders of the 42 for 21 Committee, about getting greater recognition for Negro Leaguers and other stars of Black baseball, their efforts to improve the Hall of Fame induction process, and the most deserving pre-integration Cooperstown candidates who are still outside the Hall. Finally (54:14), they talk to Dr. Sally Yerkovich, a professor of Museum Anthropology at Columbia University, about the field of museum ethics, the challenges confronting modern museums, and the parallels between the thorny issues other institutions face and Hall of Fame voters’ character clause dilemma.

Audio intro: Basic Plumbing, “Too Slow”
Audio interstitial: Paul Weller, “The Strange Museum”
Audio outro: Tiny Ruins, “Me at the Museum, You in the Wintergardens”

Link to Ben Clemens on free agent spending
Link to Clemens on math and walk rates
Link to BBHOF Ballot Tracker
Link to Jay Jaffe on Bonds/Clemens/Sosa/Schilling
Link to 42 for 21 website
Link to 42 for 21 Committee press release
Link to 42 for 21 on FanGraphs Audio
Link to info on HoF committee membership
Link to Sean’s previous appearance on EW
Link to Josh Gibson Foundation website
Link to Ted Knorr on Rap Dixon
Link to Dixon’s SABR bio
Link to Rap Dixon NLBM page
Link to John Beckwith NLBM page
Link to George Stovey NLBM page
Link to Gus Greenlee NLBM page
Link to Adam Darowski EW episode
Link to list of upcoming HoF elections
Link to Dr. Yerkovich’s Columbia bio
Link to A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics
Link to Institute of Museum Ethics website
Link to Jared Diamond on the character clause
Link to Michael Baumann on the character clause
Link to Puckett’s Hall of Fame page
CW // Link to SI report about Puckett
CW // Link to report about Puig
CW // Link to allegations by Bonds’s ex-wife
CW // Link to allegations by Bonds’s ex-girlfriend
CW // Link to Britni de la Cretaz on Bonds
Link to Negro Leagues MLEs explainers
Link to podcast about Negro Leagues MLEs
Link to Hamtramck Stadium website
Link to Hamtramck Stadium video
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the reasons for and consequences of MLB’s lack of compelling record chases (à la Alex Ovechkin’s in the NHL, Stephen Curry’s in the NBA, and Tom Brady’s in the NFL). Then (21:16) they talk to Sam Dingman and Mac Montandon, the hosts of The Rumor, a just-completed six-part narrative podcast about a rumor that a fight between Cal Ripken Jr. and Kevin Costner caused the Orioles to cancel a game to preserve Ripken’s consecutive-games streak, touching on the origins, prevalence, and plausibility of the rumor, their reporting process, baseball hero worship, the interviews they wish they could have done, the appeal of baseball rumors, ideas for The Rumor Season 2, and more.

Audio intro: Ian Hunter, “Old Legends Never Die”
Audio interstitial: The Records, “Rumour Sets the Woods Alight”
Audio outro: Electric Light Orchestra, “The Lights Go Down”

Link to Sam Miller on unbreakable records
Link to Sam on hitting .400
Link to Sam on a 21-strikeout game
Link to Neil Paine on Ovechkin
Link to Zach Kram on Curry
Link to USA Today on Brady
Link to article on Franco’s on-base streak
Link to research on days off and offense
Link to The Rumor
Link to Vulture interview about The Rumor
Link to video of record-breaking Ripken game
Link to Secret Base video about the rumor
Link to Randy Johnson EW interview
Link to story on Jeter’s gift baskets
Link to “Yeah Jeets” story
Link to Paul Pierce pooping story
Link to Ripken’s 2001 ASG homer
Link to article about “pipe shots”
Link to Emma Baccellieri on baseball mud
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to Stove League teaser video
Link to stream Stove League via Kocowa
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the slow drip of baseball news during the lockout, why MLB’s competitive balance gets a bad rap, the Rays’ historic collective minor league winning percentage, and the difficulty of evaluating individual defense in the age of Statcast-based and non-Statcast-based metrics. Then (33:09) they continue their series of discussions of Korean baseball drama Stove League by breaking down Episodes 9–12. (Note: No spoilers beyond Episode 12.)

Audio intro: Superchunk, "Slow"
Audio outro: Michael Nesmith, "Propinquity (I’ve Just Begun to Care)"

Link to James Smyth’s parity thread
Link to Rob Mains on 2021 parity
Link to Ben on competitive balance
Link to Organization of the Year announcement
Link to story on record Rays winning percentage
Link to story about winning and player dev
Link to best minor league records of the 2010s
Link to story on Astros’ minor league winning
Link to Sam Miller on the best farm systems
Link to FanGraphs farm system rankings
Link to Effectively Wild Secret Santa
Link to The Rumor podcast
Link to first EW Stove League discussion
Link to second EW Stove League discussion
Link to basepaths bubble tunnel photo
Link to Stove League teaser video
Link to Stove League review
Link to stream Stove League via Kocowa
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley talk to Adam Darowski, the baseball historian, Hall of Fame scholar, and Head of User Experience at Sports Reference, about working on the Baseball-Reference website, creating the Hall of Stats, the Hall of Stats vs. the Hall of Fame, the appeal of 19th-century baseball, the Hall of Fame elections of Buck O’Neil, Minnie Miñoso, Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, and Bud Fowler, another near miss for Dick Allen, deserving candidates who weren’t on a ballot, the future of Cooperstown committees, ballot math, and more.

Audio intro: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, “Tribal Statistics”
Audio outro: Whitney, “Golden Days”

Link to the Hall of Stats
Link to Hall of Fame announcement
Link to Jay’s intro to the ballots
Link to Jay Jaffe on the voting results
Link to Adam’s Hall of Fame podcast
Link to Joe Posnanski on ballot math
Link to Posnanski on O’Neil’s election
Link to Shakeia Taylor on O’Neil
Link to Jay on Fowler
Link to Jay on Dahlen and Reynolds
Link to Jay on Kaat
Link to Jay on Hodges
Link to Jay on Oliva
Link to Jay on Allen
Link to Craig Wright on Miñoso
Link to Wright on Freehan
Link to 42 for 21 Committee
Link to John Donaldson EW episode
Link to Doc Adams EW episode
Link to Ben on Baines
Link to Effectively Wild Secret Santa
Link to Stove League teaser video
Link to Stove League review
Link to stream Stove League via Kocowa
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

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