Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and Baseball Prospectus editor-in-chief Craig Goldstein banter about Ben’s latest bad dream about baseball writing and the Toronto (or Pittsburgh?) Blue Jays’ last-minute relocation. Then they conduct the first of two drafts that will be presented on back-to-back episodes, beginning by selecting five things apiece that they’ll miss about “normal” baseball during the shortened 2020 season. (Next time, they’ll draft five things apiece that they’re excited to see.)

Audio intro: Pulp, "You’re a Nightmare"
Audio outro: The Black Keys, "Sit Around and Miss You"

Link to the large baby
Link to Sam on booing the Astros
Link to Ben on the best and worst 60-game spans
Link to FanGraphs 60-game leaderboards
Link to Zach Kram on WAR in 2020
Link to Ben Clemens on Chico

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Mariners prospect Julio Rodriguez’s broken wrist, Meg’s all-time most disappointing Mariners, the Rays’ five-man infield, listener responses to two emails from the previous episode, and news about Freddie Freeman and Yasiel Puig, then complete the 2020 season preview series by (16:23) previewing the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers with The Athletic’s Pedro Moura, and the 2020 Baltimore Orioles (53:26) with MLB.com’s Joe Trezza.

Audio intro: The Replacements, "The Last"
Audio interstitial 1: Haim, "Los Angeles"
Audio interstitial 2: Blur, "This is a Low"
Audio outro: RJD2 (Feat. Blueprint), "Final Frontier"

Link to story about the Rays’ five-man infield
Link to listener Austin’s boost zone graphic
Link to Ben on Dave Roberts in 2019
Link to Pedro on Pollock and COVID-19
Link to Pedro on the legend of Chico
Link to FanGraphs post on Orioles fan event
Link to Ben on MLB’s 2020 strikeout rate
Link to Ben on sabermetrics in the 60-game season
Link to The MVP Machine with Orioles afterword

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about 2020 season predictions, picking (and pricing) blueberries, and a cardboard cutout of Meg at T-Mobile Park, then open up the pre-pandemic mailbag and answer old but evergreen listener emails about the best type of game for a first-time baseball viewer to attend, whether the Cubs’ 2016 title came too soon, whether hitters should have to finish plate appearances with broken bats, how managers should handle players who are having good or bad days, which players would benefit most from a third arm, where to place a boost zone on the field, comparing the careers of Carlos Peña and Paul Konerko, whether Mike Trout could make the Hall of Fame twice, a parable about rooting for personal success versus rooting for a rival’s failure, and more.

Audio intro: Louis Prima, "Three-Handed Woman"
Audio outro: The Everly Brothers, "Three-Armed Poker-Playin’ River Rat"

Link to Meg’s blueberries tweet
Link to purchase a cardboard cutout
Link to the game the family from New Zealand saw
Link to article about reducing broken bats
Link to analysis of managers pulling pitchers
Link to analysis of game-to-game spin-rate variability
Link to FiveThirtyEight hot hand analysis
Link to article about Formula E attack mode
Link to video explainer of Formula E attack mode
Link to Formula E attack mode highlights video
Link to listener email archive
Link to stream Stove League

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about James Paxton’s unappetizing approach to chili, Atlanta signing Yasiel Puig, weirdness and whimsy in Summer Camp intrasquad games, the history of the catcher (and umpire) mask camera, odd-sounding fake crowd noise, players planning to wear masks in regular-season games, umpires opting out of the season, and a potential five-man infield, then (22:56) preview the 2020 Houston Astros with the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome, and the 2020 Seattle Mariners (1:09:35) with the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish.

Audio intro: Hinds, "Chili Town"
Audio interstitial 1: The Jazz Butcher, "Bath of Bacon"
Audio interstitial 2: The Hold Steady, "Banging Camp"
Audio outro: Levon and the Hawks, "Bacon Fat"

Link to Lindor somersault video
Link to story about “Chico”
Link to photos of Harper at third base
Link to video of early 2000s catcher/ump mask footage
Link to new catcher mask cam footage
Link to more new catcher mask cam footage
Link to new ump mask cam footage
Link to Chandler on the Astros questioning MLB’s testing process
Link to Chandler on Astros players’ coronavirus concerns
Link to Chandler on Díaz’s mask wearing
Link to Chandler on the Astros’ DH options
Link to Chandler on Whitley
Link to Chandler on Verlander
Link to Ben on foreign substances and spin rates
Link to Ryan on how the Mariners have avoided testing issues
Link to Ryan on the Mariners’ youth movement timeline
Link to Ryan on Seager’s mask wearing
Link to Ryan on Kelenic
Link to FanGraphs’ Mariners prospect rankings

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Meg’s editing activities, MLB’s COVID-19 intake testing results, Buster Posey and Michael Kopech opting out of the season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. switching positions, and the Blue Jays’ quarantine conditions. Then (19:08) they bring on Baseball Prospectus writer Shakeia Taylor to follow up on the podcast’s recent Negro Leagues coverage by explaining how she researches stories about the Negro Leagues and ties them to current events, some of the underexposed eras and aspects of Black baseball history, the women of the Negro Leagues, the significance of Moses Fleetwood Walker, what she recommends reading, and more. After that (53:32), SABR director of editorial content Jacob Pomrenke joins to discuss how the 1918 flu pandemic affected baseball, his research into a 1919 California Winter League game in which players (including a number of big leaguers) wore masks on the field, and the parallels between past and present pandemic responses in the United States. Lastly (1:18:39), Ben talks to veteran relief pitcher Jerry Blevins about his evolution into a LOOGY, what he thinks of MLB’s new three-batter-minimum regulation, how the rule change has affected his prospects as a player, and why he decided to take this summer off.

Audio intro: Guided By Voices, "Questions of the Test"
Audio interstitial 1: Bill Withers, "Stories"
Audio interstitial 2: Dawes, "Stories Don’t End"
Audio interstitial 3: Olivia Jean, "Shut Your Mouth"
Audio outro: Joseph Arthur, "Hold on Jerry"

Link to article about COVID-19 test results
Link to article about testing transparency
Link to article about Kopech opting out
Link to article about Posey opting out
Link to article about missed time and the Hall of Fame
Link to article about Guerrero’s position switch
Link to Shakeia on Effa Manley
Link to Shakeia on the Negro Leagues centennial
Link to Shakeia on the Civil War and Black baseball
Link to Shakeia on Tim Anderson
Link to SABR’s guide to researching the Negro Leagues
Link to SABR bio of Moses Fleetwood Walker
Link to article about Black players and baseball cards
Link to article about Hinchliffe Stadium
Link to After Jackie
Link to Shakeia’s website
Link to Jacob on the flu mask game
Link to article on Tatís and masks
Link to masked Trout baseball card
Link to article about McGwire’s mask comments
Link to book excerpt about Babe Ruth and the 1918 flu
Link to Jacob’s website
Link to Tom Shieber interview episode
Link to Ben on the the Waxahachie Swap

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley provide a brief update on the health of co-host Sam Miller (who’s on hiatus), then preview the 2020 New York Yankees with The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler, and the 2020 Detroit Tigers (46:57) with the Detroit Free Press’s Anthony Fenech.

Audio intro: Bombadil, "Binoculars"
Audio interstitial: The Sadies, "Tiger Tiger"
Audio outro: The Isley Brothers, "Hope You Feel Better Love"

Link to Lindsey on the Yankees’ revamped pitching development
Link to Lindsey’s Q&A with Matt Blake
Link to Lindsey on Happ’s reinvention
Link to article on Yankees’ overhauled training staff
Link to Lindsey’s Q&A with Tanner Swanson
Link to Lindsey on Sánchez’s new catching stance
Link to Lindsey on Sabathia paying homage to the Negro Leagues
Link to Lindsey on Gardner’s evolution
Link to Dan’s 2020 breakdown candidates
Link to photo of Lindsey’s binoculars
Link to Fabian Ardaya’s binoculars photos
Link to Fabian’s photo-taking technique
Link to Anthony on Mize striking out Cabrera
Link to Anthony’s Boras story
Link to Anthony on the Tigers’ analytics investments
Link to more recent story on the Tigers’ analytics upgrades
Link to FanGraphs’ Tigers prospect rankings

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about baseball dreams and a holiday weekend in MLB marred by testing delays, canceled practices, concerned players, and other impediments to a safe and smooth season, then pick up where they left off four months ago in their season preview series by previewing the 2020 Tampa Bay Rays (16:05) with The Athletic’s Josh Tolentino and the 2020 Miami Marlins (57:10) with the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson.

Audio intro: Warren Zevon, "Disorder in the House"
Audio interstitial 1: Superchunk, "Florida’s on Fire"
Audio interstitial 2: Modest Mouse, "Florida"
Audio outro: Mac DeMarco, "Dreams From Yesterday"

Link to Jay Jaffe’s summary of MLB’s testing mess
Link to story on Chaim Bloom’s cardigan
Link to Yandy Díaz workout
Link to story on Jonathan Erlichman
Link to Josh’s Rays return-to-play guide
Link to Josh on the Rays’ farm system
Link to FanGraphs’ Rays prospect rankings
Link to Jordan on the Marlins’ furloughs
Link to Jordan on the Marlins’ COVID-19 concerns
Link to Jordan on Marlins roster decisions
Link to FanGraphs’ Marlins prospect rankings
Link to Roster Resource Team Info Tracker

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the difficulties of disclosing or obscuring the identities of players who hit the injured list after contracting COVID-19, dissect a few new analogies from Scott Boras’s brain, and discuss resuming their season preview series, then (35:47) conclude their week-long celebration of the Negro Leagues by bringing on esteemed Negro Leagues historian Larry Lester to discuss the origins of scholarship about the Negro Leagues, co-founding the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, collecting Negro Leagues artifacts, his relationships with former Negro League players, helping select the Negro Leaguers inducted into the hall of Fame, his efforts to find Negro Leagues box scores and the status of the project to complete the statistical record, the greatest writers who covered the Negro Leagues, his favorite unsung players, the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project, how he researched Negro Leagues uniforms and helped obtain pensions for Negro Leaguers, and more (plus a postscript about reading recommendations).

Audio intro: Bob Dylan, "One More Cup of Coffee"
Audio interstitial: Natural Resource, "Negro Baseball League"
Audio outro: Blind Lemon Jefferson, "See That My Grave is Kept Clean"

Link to stream Stove League on Viki
Link to Lindsey on COVID and the IL
Link to Larry Lester’s website
Link to NLBM website
Link to Only the Ball Was White
Link to Larry’s Henry Chadwick Award page
Link to Larry’s Bob Davids Award page
Link to Hall of Fame Screening Committee press release
Link to Grave Marker Project page
Link to Jerry Malloy Conference info
Link to info on Cannonball Dick Redding
Link to Seamheads Negro Leagues Database
Link to SABR’s guide to researching the Negro Leagues
Link to Rob Arthur on systemic racism in baseball
Link to Rob on racial bias in player promotions
Link to Shakeia Taylor on Effa Manley
Link to Shakeia on the Negro Leagues centennial
Link to Shakeia on the Negro Leagues Grave Marker Project

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Ben’s effusive streaming recommendation, the Korean baseball drama Stove League. Then (8:51) they start the second episode of their week-long celebration of the Negro Leagues by bringing on Jeremy Beer, author of the award-winning baseball biography Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Player, to talk about Charleston’s bona fides as one of the top 10 baseball players of all time, why his fame falls short of his accomplishments, and the challenges of researching Negro Leagues stars. Lastly (46:18), they speak to Invisible Ball of Dreams author and Ball State University professor Emily Ruth Rutter about two of the only non-documentary movies to focus on the Negro Leagues, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976) and Soul of the Game (1996), touching on where they succeed and fail, the differences in their portrayals of the Negro Leagues and Negro Leaguers, and the history of cinematic and literary representations of Black baseball.

Audio intro: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Forgotten Man"
Audio interstitial: Thelma Houston, "The Bingo Long Song (Steal on Home)"
Audio outro: Sloan, "Set in Motion"

Link to Stove League trailer
Link to stream Stove League on Viki
Link to stream Stove League on Kocowa
Link to Oscar Charleston book page
Link to Charleston at the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database
Link to Charleston’s Hall of Fame page
Link to Joe Posnanski on Charleston
Link to Bingo Long trailer
Link to Bingo Long full movie on YouTube
Link to Soul of the Game full movie on YouTube
Link to BlackBaseballLit site
Link to Invisible Ball of Dreams
Link to Paul Petrovic essay on Bingo Long and Soul of the Game
Link to article about historical inaccuracies in Soul of the Game
Link to Washington Post review of Soul of the Game
Link to Roger Ebert’s review of Bingo Long
Link to New York Times story on Toni Stone

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the backlash to MLB’s use of the sponsored term “summer camp,” four players’ decisions to opt out of the season, a heartfelt, thought-provoking post by Ian Desmond, and the official cancellation of the minor league season. Then they explain the Negro Leagues theme of this week of Effectively Wild episodes and (at 16:19) bring on Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick to talk about the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues, the Tipping Your Cap campaign, how the pandemic has impacted plans to celebrate the centennial, the Negro Leagues’ origin story, Bob’s favorite unsung players and museum guests and artifacts, how young players connect with the Negro Leagues’ legacy, how the story of the Negro Leagues resonates in a year of racial reckoning, and more. Lastly (1:04:25), the late Negro Leagues great Buck O’Neil delivers a classic speech at the 2006 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Audio intro: Dr. Dog, "100 Years"
Audio outro: The Rolling Stones, "100 Years Ago"

Link to Desmond’s post
Link to Baseball America on the MiLB cancellation
Link to Tipping Your Cap website
Link to NLBM website
Link to NLBM donation page
Link to AP story on MVP plaques
Link to John Donaldson interview episode
Link to Hall of Fame page for Martín Dihigo
Link to Buck O’Neil speech
Link to Joe Posnanski on Buck O’Neil

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