Effectively Wild Episode 1837: The Meatiest Meatball

EWFI
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about an unlikely grand slam on a major meatball pitch and the hot start of Seiya Suzuki, then answer listener emails about how to make baseball sound most appealing, the effect of using different-colored balls to denote different pitch types, whether umpires would be better at calling balls and strikes if they had PitchCom devices, Yandy Díaz and what makes a player a “beef boy,” whether we need a new signal for replay review now that umpires don’t use over-the-ear headphones, a “Ruby Runner” award to recognize good baserunning, whether high roster turnover is an impediment to teams winning and fans following baseball, what the disparity between the biggest and smallest payrolls should be, the “90 records” supposedly set by Ty Cobb, and more.

Audio intro: Ry Cooder, “One Meat Ball
Audio outro: The Nude Party, “Records

Link to results on 0-2 pitches
Link to article about Heim grand slam
Link to video of grand slam
Link to video of Camarena homer
Link to Jeff Sullivan on meatballs
Link to Jay Jaffe on Suzuki
Link to Ben Clemens on Kwan
Link to video of moth in ump’s ear
Link to story about moth in Holliday’s ear
Link to video of moth in Simms’ ear
Link to story about noise and PitchCom
Link to story about Yandy’s training
Link to story about NFL roster turnover
Link to study on NBA roster turnover
Link to NBA roster turnover stat
Link to Rob Mains on MLB turnover
Link to Ben on MLB roster turnover over time
Link to Ben on roster complacency
Link to Russell on roster turnover and chemistry
Link to Travis tweet about payroll disparity
Link to Travis story about payroll disparity
Link to Rob on market size and winning
Link to Rob on the CBT and competitive balance
Link to Forbes MLB franchise values
Link to Sportico MLB franchise values
Link to Cobb obit
Link to Cobb trivia quiz
Link to Cobb trivia question
Link to EW listener emails database

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TurkeesElevenmember
1 year ago

How to get people to like baseball? Tell them it is a series of showdowns between hitter and pitcher, punctuated by action in the field. Instead of the stops coming from endless timeouts to move the chains and injuries as in football, the stops are a natural part of the game. Anyone that can wait for a deciding score in a soccer game should be able to appreciate the thrill of watching a game reaching the final inning and someone breaks through.