FanGraphs on Tour With Pitch Talks 2017

Last year, we joined up with the Pitch Talks crew for a three-city U.S. tour, and had a blast in Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago. The response was clear, so instead of just hitting up a few cities this year, the tour is expanding to 16 dates, and we’re covering a good chunk of the country from April through August. Here’s the current tour schedule.

The first show in the tour is this coming Sunday night in Phoenix, and the line-up for that one should give you a sense of why these are can’t-miss events if you’re anywhere near these towns when we come to town. Eno and Eric will be hanging out representing FanGraphs, while the Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen — who also did the show in Boston as the Red Sox GM last year — will get to chat about what it’s like taking over a new organization and trying to turn the franchise back around. And because the Cactus League brings a bunch of people together at one time, the line-up of quality beat writers on the show is astounding, so the show won’t just be Diamondbacks-specific. If you’re in town for Spring Training, you should definitely make the show on Sunday night part of your trip.

And the rest of the shows throughout the year are going to be awesome as well. I’m going to be traveling to at least four of these (currently scheduled for KC, DC, Seattle, and the Brooklyn show in August — while Eno, Jeff, Carson, Travis, Craig, and the gang will be representing FanGraphs at the other shows around the country. And because Pitch Talks has become known for hosting high quality events, the local guests are often the people you would most want to hear talk baseball for three hours, including a number of GMs or team executives, broadcasters, writers, and many of your favorite folks from the internet.

Because these events are held mostly in music venues or comedy clubs, the atmosphere is a lot more energetic than you’d expect from a typical gathering of somewhat-nerdy baseball types, and the access to alcohol probably livens things up a bit too. These aren’t lectures or presentations as much as they are engaging discussions about the local teams and the game at large, and I think most everyone who went to the shows in Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston last year had a good time. They were certainly among the highlights of the year for me, and I’m excited to get to do more of these events in 2017.

The Events page here at FanGraphs will keep you up to date on upcoming shows and how you can purchase tickets to the events, and there may be some discount codes that you can use to knock $5 off the ticket price here or there as well. For the price of admission to these shows, you won’t find a more entertaining way to spend three hours.

So come hang out with us this summer. Let’s talk baseball, have some laughs, and enjoy getting together to celebrate the game that we all love.