Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about an aggressive umpiring demotion in the KBO, FanGraphs adding KBO stats, and the pleasures of falling asleep with baseball on in the background. Then (16:30) they talk to former lefty pitcher Andy Van Hekken, who pitched professionally for 21 seasons across nine countries, about being one of the most-traveled pro players of all time, his memorable MLB debut with the 2002 Detroit Tigers, pitching in the KBO, CPBL, and NPB, the customs, strike zones, and strategies of Asian baseball, match-fixing in Taiwan, the key to overseas success, the baseball language barrier, the art of the forkball, becoming a star player and local hero in an unexpected place, and more. Finally (56:45), they bring on Leander Schaerlaeckens to discuss his Slate investigation into President Trump’s high school baseball career, how and why he fact-checked claims about Trump being a pro prospect, and Trump as a player and teammate.

Audio intro: Mac DeMarco, "Baby You’re Out"
Audio interstitial 1: Slothrust, "Travel Bug"
Audio interstitial 2: Yo La Tengo, "If it’s True"
Audio outro: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, "Travel Song"

Link to article on umpiring demotions
Link to FanGraphs KBO stats post
Link to MLB.com article on Van Hekken
Link to local Michigan article on Van Hekken
Link to video of Van Hekken’s MLB debut
Link to KBO video of Van Hekken
Link to CPBL video of Van Hekken
Link to list of players who played in MLB/NPB/KBO/CPBL
Link to list of B-Ref’s most-traveled players
Link to article on CPBL match-fixing
Link to article on the CPBL’s resurgence
Link to Leander’s Trump investigation
Link to Kram on the home-court assists advantage
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about KBO season excitement and answer listener emails about MLB precedents for Warwick Saupold’s KBO complete game, whether MLB fandom would work if teams didn’t play games in their “home” cities, the ethics of time travel in Tommy John surgery rehab and if and when it makes sense to sacrifice life expectancy for greater achievement, Johnny Sturm and other players who’ve qualified for the batting title in their lone MLB season, how Ben and Sam are continuing to challenge themselves as writers and thinkers now that sabermetrics has gone mainstream, Bryan LaHair and the lowest-career-WAR All-Stars, and whether Joey Votto (or any other player) can foul off pitches until they get one they like, plus a Stat Blast about official scorers and “home cooking.”

Audio intro: Field Music, "Something Familiar"
Audio outro: Ages and Ages, "Divisionary (Do the Right Thing)"

Link to story about Spud Johnson
Link to Slate story on sabermetrics and humility
Link to list of lowest-career-WAR All-Stars
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Ben Scruton’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to fouls/swing rate data
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and Meg Rowley banter about fear of criticism, Eddie Murphy vs. Eddie Murray, and dreams, then take turns building the best imaginary Hall of Fame exhibits they can by picking five baseball items from their lifetimes for Cooperstown preservation, drafting one artifact apiece from each of five categories.

Audio intro: Death Cab for Cutie, "Pictures in an Exhibition"
Audio outro: Mavis Staples, "History, Now"

Link to Bonds vs. Gagne video
Link to Bonds vs. Gagne backstory
Link to 1998 andro article
Link to story about Sotomayor ruling
Link to A-Rod contract retrospective
Link to championship belt story
Link to Sale jersey story
Link to Epstein walkout story
Link to Epstein concert fake mustache
Link to Epstein ballgame fake mustache
Link to info on Griffey rookie card
Link to Nomo 30 for 30 podcast
Link to Trout draft story episode
Link to Trout throwing arm story
Link to KBO primer podcast
Link to 2019 KBO podcast inteview
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Facing the prospect of a season without fans in the stands, Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley console themselves and fight baseball withdrawal by revisiting classic accounts of going to games. The authors of three revered books based on single games—Arnold Hano, the author of A Day in the Bleachers (1955), Dan Okrent, the author of Nine Innings (1985), and Rob Neyer, the author of Power Ball (2018)—join the show for a conversation about the enduring appeal of the genre their books belong to, the challenge of writing a book that describes a single game, the different approaches they took, the evolution of baseball’s spectator experience, Arnold’s memories of going to games in the 1920s and 1930s and seeing legends like Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Carl Hubbell, baseball’s capacity to offer comfort, and more.

Audio intro: Dan Bern, "A Day at the Ballgame"
Audio outro: Dan Bern, "Love, War and a Baseball Game"

Link to A Day in the Bleachers
Link to Nine Innings
Link to Power Ball
Link to 1954 World Series Game 1 box score
Link to June 10, 1982 Brewers-Orioles box score
Link to September 8, 2017 A’s-Astros box score
Link to previous interview with Rob about Power Ball
Link to video of Mays catch
Link to speech about Arnold at his Shrine of the Eternals induction
Link to info on documentary about Arnold
Link to Hano! A Century in the Bleachers
Link to A Secret Love
Link to Ben and Travis Q&A
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh, Sam Miller, and senior writer for The Athletic Andy McCullough banter about the people they would be (or have been) most nervous about interviewing and two new noteworthy articles, then discuss Andy’s and Rustin Dodd’s highly controversial ranking of the 30 greatest baseball songs of all time, the dispute about John Fogerty’s “Centerfield,” the best and worst baseball songs, what qualifies a song as a baseball song, why baseball music isn’t better, and more.

Audio intro: The Magnolia Electric Co., "31 Seasons in the Minor Leagues"
Audio outro: Matt the Electrician, "Baseball Song"

Link to Sam’s Mattingly article
Link to Pedro’s rooster reveal
Link to Andy’s and Rustin’s ranking
Link to Ben on baseball sheet music
Link to Sam on baseball rap
Link to Sam on baseball rap again
Link to EW music folder
Link to Ben and Travis Q&A
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about Johnny Vander Meer’s ear boils and the surprisingly ancient origins of the phrase, “A walk is as good as a hit,” then answer listener emails about why some players prove to be flashes in the pan, whether a home run derby would work under current conditions, whether the pandemic makes MLB expansion more or less likely, what one would learn from watching every game from an MLB season (and how one would do it), why some prospects skip Triple-A, and why we don’t talk more about the brief baseball career of Chris Saenz, plus a Stat Blast about the highest Championship Leverage Index.

Audio intro: Paul McCartney, "Boil Crisis"
Audio outro: Paul McCartney, "Boil Crisis"

Link to free Baseball Digest archive
Link to history of “A walk is as good as a hit”
Link to study on OBP vs. batting average
Link to Sam on the home run derby
Link to Joel Sherman on the Home Run Derby
Link to first episode of 1960 home run derby
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Theodor Bierhoff’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to list of highest-CLI plays
Link to video of highest-CLI play
Link to article on Willie McCovey and Peanuts
Link to Peanuts strips on Willie McCovey
Link to Maury Brown on expansion
Link to Ben on minor league difficulty
Link to 2013 article on skipping Triple-A
Link to 2015 article on skipping Triple-A
Link to 2016 article on skipping Triple-A
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about beverage consumption, foreign baseball leagues’ potential for popularity in the U.S., and the life and death of legendary flamethrower Steve Dalkowski, who passed away this week. Then they talk to Rob Liu of CPBLStats.com (25:48) and Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net (58:22) about two leagues that have beaten MLB back to action, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) and South Korea’s Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), touching on how their seasons have started, the best ways for American baseball fans to follow them, the players and teams to know, the aesthetic and stylistic differences between them and MLB, the histories and evolutions of the leagues, their fluctuating home run rates, their foreign-player presences, their embraces of sabermetrics, their engaging ballpark atmospheres, the CPBL’s playoff format, and the KBO’s bat flips.

Audio intro: Alec Benjamin, "Steve"
Audio interstitial 1: Sturgill Simpson, "Fastest Horse in Town"
Audio interstitial 2: James Chen, "Summer in Taiwan"
Audio outro: Nadan, "Play Ball"

Link to Pat Jordan on Dalkowski
Link to John Eisenberg on Dalkowski
Link to Joe Posnanski on Dalkowski
Link to Posnanski on Dalkowski again
Link to Steve Treder on Dalkowski
Link to Dom Amore on Dalkowski
Link to Dalkowski obit
Link to CPBL Stats
Link to info on CPBL home run rates
Link to Chin-hui Tsao’s Wikipedia page
Link to story about Tsao as a prospect
Link to Eleven Sports Taiwan
Link to CPBL streaming guide
Link to Jay Jaffe on the CPBL
Link to Marc Carig on CPBL broadcasts
Link to MyKBO
Link to MyKBO Stats
Link to bat flips feature
Link to Sung Min Kim on KBO ball de-juicing
Link to story about ESPN and KBO
Link to KBO streaming instructions
Link to Jaffe on the KBO
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller discuss the results of MLB’s investigation into Boston Red Sox sign stealing, touching on Boston’s lighter penalties and seemingly lesser offenses compared to the Astros’, whether Boston’s front office and coaches deserved to be absolved, the moral hazard of the advance scout who doubles as a replay-room operator, and more. Then they answer listener emails about firing managers based on one egregious in-game decision, transporting a modern coach to an earlier era of baseball, and properly appreciating Mike Trout, plus a Stat Blast about how many would-be big leaguers will miss out on making the majors because of a canceled or shortened season, and a postscript on trainers, trampolines, and an advance scout.

Audio intro: The Walkmen, "Lost in Boston"
Audio outro: Earlimart, "First Instant Last Report"

Link to MLB report
Link to Sam on Trout and WAR
Link to Stat Blast song covers thread
Link to Mike Conte’s Stat Blast song cover
Link to trampoline study 1
Link to trampoline study 2
Link to trampoline study 3
Link to Stubbs interview episode
Link to Pages from Baseball’s Past
Link to trainer story 1
Link to trainer story 2
Link to trainer story 3
Link to order The MVP Machine

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Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the Effectively Wild community’s least-disliked MLB teams and two unjust Cy Young/MVP snubs, then discuss what Michael Jordan’s brief baseball career taught us about Jordan and about baseball.

Audio intro: Willie Nelson, "Why Do I Have to Choose"
Audio outro: Emmylou Harris, "Jordan"

Link to EW MLB Survivor game recap
Link to EW MLB Survivor game data
Link to Ben on peak Pedro
Link to Jordan oral history
Link to episode about Jordan oral history
Link to Steve Wulf on Jordan and baseball
Link to Neil Paine on Jordan’s career
Link to list of significant minor league seasons
Link to order The MVP Machine

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With MLB in limbo, Ben Lindbergh investigates virtual baseball, talking to the designers of three new baseball video games—Ramone Russell of Sony San Diego, makers of MLB The Show 20, Markus Heinsohn of Out of the Park Developments, makers of Out of the Park Baseball 21 (37:56), and Scott Drader of Metalhead Software, makers of Super Mega Baseball 3 (1:21:50)—about the histories of their respective franchises, how their games differ stylistically, their different development plans, balancing realism and fun, how their games are helping fans and players cope with the absence of actual baseball, and much more (plus postscripts on Baseball Mogul 2020 and minor leaguers’ likenesses in MLB The Show).

Audio intro: The Alan Parsons Project, "Games People Play"
Audio interstitial 1: Jim Noir, "Do You Like Games"
Audio interstitial 2: Shout Out Louds, "Play the Game"
Audio outro: Drive-By Truckers, "Play it All Night Long"

Link to Episode 427 with Owen Good
Link to MLB The Show 20 trailer
Link to MLB The Show 20 website
Link to MLB The Show Players League
Link to MLB Network on Twitch
Link to FanGraphs on Twitch
Link to Ben on the ball in MLB The Show
Link to Mets broadcasters calling MLB The Show
Link to Ben on esports
Link to Out of the Park Baseball 21 trailer
Link to OOTP 21 website
Link to B-Ref’s OOTP 21 season sim
Link to MLB Dream Bracket
Link to Super Mega Baseball 3 trailer
Link to Super Mega Baseball 3 website
Link to Baseball Mogul 2020 website
Link to story about minor leaguers in MLB The Show
Link to Advocates for Minor Leaguers
Link to More Than Baseball
Link to order The MVP Machine

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