The Infinite Inning

Infinite Inning 294: The Ballad of Bill Terry & John & Yoko

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The meaning of a sign in a manager’s office is considered and interlinked with one of the final Beatles singles and a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, a...

Infinite Inning 293: The Pitcher Who Was at Sea Before and After He Joined the Navy

27 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 293: The Pitcher Who Was at Sea Before and After He Joined the NavyOne of baseball’s all-time punchlines turns out to deserve his st...

Infinite Inning 292: One for Dad

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 292: One for Dad On a solemn occasion, the last home run in Senators II history is recalled—did it really happen? Plus part one of a...

Infinite Inning 291: On the Road to Samarkand

07 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Benjamin Franklin’s warning, the course of empire, and the 1965 Yankees, Joe DiMaggio versus Casey Stengel versus the Detroit Tigers and the Red Sox...

Infinite Inning 290: If Death Be Not Proud

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jimmie Foxx versus Cass Elliot in a battle of unfairly judged passings. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Gol...

Infinite Inning 289: Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions

22 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1951 a Hall of Fame sportswriter reacts to the advent of Willie Mays in a spectacularly stupid way and we are on the spot with a stern rebuke and a...

Infinite Inning 288: The Drunken Why

08 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Negro Leagues great with a odd nickname opts out of education and into baseball, and we revisit the day that Philadelphia fans booed not Santa Claus...

Infinite Inning 287: Even the Losers

01 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two stories begin in different times and places, but both converge on the same great player and the same great lesson. Starring a plethora of Hall of ...

Infinite Inning 286: One Bad Day is Just One Bad Day

25 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tiny Bonham and William Shakespeare revisited, Steve Trout, Don Mattingly, 20-run losses, and dealing with loss.The Infinite Inning is not only about ...

Infinite Inning 284: Truth, Justice, and Some Baggage

18 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A pitcher who only got one chance, an antisocial Hall of Famer who got many, and the one time he didn’t fight, the Max Kepler Ass-Ad (Lucky Larry) a...

Infinite Inning 283A: Charlie's Legs, a Covid Mini-Episode

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Due to a case of Covid, we have a mini-episode this week in which the pandemic is ruminated upon and a catcher of ancient days bungles the dismount. 

Infinite Inning 283: The Way We Go Mad Today

27 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A cluster of insanity among 19th century players with Louisville, starring a Gladiator and a Chicken, with resonance to the present day. Plus we visit...

Infinite Inning 282: Committed to Glaring Mistakes

20 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For very personal but with luck very premature reasons, we ask whether the great Giants manager John McGraw ever made peace with his father and explor...

Infinite Inning 281: Night of the Ambulance Horse

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Christy Mathewson pitches one of his worst best games and John McGraw gets ejected, though probably not because of his umbrella; Gene Woodling smokes ...

Infinite Inning 280: Romancing the Cobbian Poodle

06 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Yankees player’s marriage goes wrong faster than he could steal bases and Judge Landis makes a category error. The Infinite Inning is not only ab...

Infinite Inning 279: Murder in My Heart for the Ump

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A return engagement for Pepper Martin in which he loses his cool in a big way and we consider an obscure reliever… With a cameo from the late M*A*S*...

Infinite Inning 278: Delia's Gone

23 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Young Ruth Nollard meets the wrong baseball player in 1900, and we realize that in some ways very little has changed, plus a number of famous players ...

Infinite Inning 277: No Boxers, No Briefs, No Mercy

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In which the hazards of playing baseball without first properly girding one’s loins is investigated through the person of Pepper Martin, with other ...

Infinite Inning 276: The One With the Anatomical Impossibility

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The host is sick, Dizzy Dean is overweight, and an umpire threatens to do the impossible to a rookie second baseman.The Infinite Inning is not only ab...

Infinite Inning 275: Saving Mr. Williams

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A pitcher has a dominant game despite accusations that his balls are greasy, and then we go to the immediate postwar period to discuss the early days ...

Infinite Inning 274: Who Looks Out for the Lookouts?

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, a lighthearted look at a Hall of Famer who spent four games demolishing one of Casey Stengel’s early teams and then an extended discussio...

Infinite Inning 273: All the Three-Fingered Young Dudes

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In which a veteran pitcher gets the last strikeout of his career in a meaningless inning and yet the moment is somehow triumphal—or tragic, dependin...

Infinite Inning 272: The Schiappacasse Files

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A forgotten left-handed great goes to Augusta and finds three other players in search of a destiny, but none of them gets precisely what he wants, and...

Infinite Inning 271: Pigeon of the American Mind

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A shortstop has two wives (but finds time to invent the padded glove), a .330-hitting outfielder is driven off because of his tan, and a Native Americ...

Infinite Inning 270: The HOBE Factor

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week a discussion of sadism as a way to pass the time with two tales from the early 20th century, one involving a violent Red Sox second baseman ...

Infinite Inning 269: Between the Fire and Us

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Claxton’s Six Rules for Staying Young versus Satchel Paige’s, plus the changing nature of public danger; more on fighting in baseball, with s...

Infinite Inning 268: A Broom of Twigs as Are We All

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 268: A Broom of Twigs as Are We All Casey Stengel, Winston Churchill, the 1962 Mets, Lavengro, what a besom is, Theodore Roosevelt, th...

Infinite Inning 267: We Talk About Bruno

06 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A World War II hero battles his way back to the mound and is given both rough and tender treatment by Ted Williams, a discussion of the Black Sox and ...

Infinite Inning 266: Ukulele at a Gunfight

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The last episode of 2023! A pitcher undergoes a questionable treatment on his arm and loses a unique oral talent, a utility infielder gets drunk, viol...

Infinite Inning 265 Sing As We Go? I Prefer Not To

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Famous last words, including Casey Stengel’s, a shortstop who liked semi-pro leagues better than the majors (and desperately needed a dermatologist)...

Infinite Inning 264: The One Without Peckinpaugh

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

No Peckinpaughs were hurt in the recording of this episode, but we do visit the 1925 World Series, where Babe Ruth makes a dad joke that tempts fate, ...

Infinite Inning 263: Grunting at the Guesser

07 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In which a rookie’s arrogance (mildly) tests Earl Weaver and a pitcher nicknamed “Bucher Boy” prompts a mass ejection event. The Infinite Inning...

Infinite Inning 262: It's Not That We Don't Want You

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We begin with a player whose bid for a major league roster spot was deflected by fish-on-human violence and whose sense of humor was deflected by some...

Infinite Inning 261: A Torkelson Torkels Whatever He Does

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Could there have been a Tigers first baseman more ill-fated than Spencer Torkelson? Yes, by far, especially when his manager thought he couldn’t pla...

Infinite Inning 260: Uncle John's Band Gave Me a Rash

23 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A wide-ranging episode in which we cover the greatest pitching staffs of all time, Ted Lyons, Al Lopez, Tony Cuccinello, an underachieving White Sox t...

Infinite Inning 259: The War Within Joe Dugan and Other Tales of Quitting

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The namesake of a Hall of Fame pitcher and pioneer of the game opts not to become a player but turns into a star nonetheless, while a third baseman wh...

Infinite Inning 258: Only Harmless Rebellions

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Yankees stash one of the game’s founding generation in their press box and a traded player gets sweet revenge against the manager who dissed him...

Infinite Inning 257: In Immensity One Lonelier Than You

14 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Two tales of players punished by time and sundry other flaws. First, Jimmy Dykes loses his legs, then Hall of Famer Al Simmons loses his career, his w...

Infinite Inning 256: Welcome the Bear Inside

30 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A brief history of Popup John, original Yankee, and his run-in with Ring Lardner, while another great writer explains a crusade against injustice in t...

Infinite Inning 255: After Jackie Robinson Day What

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The annual arrival of Jackie Robinson Day brings tales of an early series between Rube Foster’s Giants and Ty Cobb’s Tigers, one that proved a poi...

Infinite Inning 254: The War Between the Cubs and Other Stories

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Losing Pitcher Mulcahy loses one more game for his country, a discussion of a fictional crossdressing firefighter of 1930 and objections thereto, and ...

Infinite Inning 253: Let's Gooooo

01 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Branch Rickey confronts his mortality and misses the date, players rally in slow motion, and the Dodgers pitch a prospect’s arm off, but not before ...

Infinite Inning 252: Thanksgiving in March (The Unpopular Dad)

18 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 252: Thanksgiving in March (The Unpopular Dad) In an odd bit of timing, this week the Infinite Inning presents two stories about birds...

Infinite Inning 251: Not That Rainbow

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

TABLE OF CONTENTSEleven Bites*Scooter and Where to Find Grover Cleveland When He’s Dead*The Children of Greater Boston Want Twinkies*Vice-President ...

Infinite Inning 250 Baseballs Keep Falling on My Head

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“The $100,000 Muff” as a state of being and the tale of a shortstop who tried to play only when he felt up to it. TABLE OF CONTENTSCasey Stengel’...

Infinite Inning 249: The Great Shortstops of Europe

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An episode about having generosity for broken infielders, both the capable and relatively incapable, the healthy but unproductive and the productive b...

Infinite Inning 248 The Infinite Honey-Boy

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In which the player called “Honey-Boy” is traded by the Cubs to great derision and a rebuild movement is compared to the art of long-term self-dec...

Infinite Inning 247: The Shinners Factor

01 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A tale for New Year’s Eve: A Giants prospect wins a job but fails to cope with harsh fate. Plus the usual asides and digressions, including Satchel ...

Infinite Inning 246: Casey and the Lost Umpire

25 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A solo because-it’s-Christmas episode in which Casey Stengel stages a protest but it’s the umpire who pays the ultimate price. TABLE OF CONTENTSIn...

Infinite Inning 245: The Day The Umpires Heard "Ahooga!"

18 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A solo episode dashes from umpires stranded on foggy seas to a Savage pitcher who received multiple Purple Hearts—and somehow conquered his control ...

Infinite Inning 244: It Won't Be The Turkey Who Gets You

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran returns to discuss the new Hall of Fame ballot, negative associations with certain players and even uniforms, the disparate interpretat...

Infinite Inning 243: World Series Oops

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A solo episode features a controversial managerial decision that might have lost the 1935 World Series for the Cubs and a look at a moment in baseball...

Infinite Inning 242: Hell-Bent to the Balls

01 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Roth returns to discuss the postseason thus far, remember bad Braves teams and worse shortstops, wonder at the complacency of the AL Central, an...

Infinite Inning 241: Where Did All the Cool Whip Go

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Author Patrick Montgomery discusses his book, THE BASEBALL MIRACLE OF THE SPLENDID 6 AND TOWNY TOWNSEND, the story of a Virginia youth coach who produ...

Infinite Inning 240: Holiday at the Polo Grounds

09 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lincoln Mitchell (San Francisco Year Zero) returns to talk the future of both San Francisco and the San Francisco Giants as well as the war against Uk...

Infinite Inning 239: The Bullpen Catchers of Classic Hollywood

24 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Calcaterra (Cup of Coffee, Everything is Broken) returns to adjudicate the AL MVP race, the pitch-clock, the value of managers, and more. Plus t...

Infinite Inning 238: To Deny The Umpire's Truth is a Sin

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rob Neyer returns to discuss his contributions to Dale Scott’s memoir THE UMPIRE IS OUT and sundry other matters. Plus tales: A reserve catcher meet...

Infinite Inning 237: Lightning Bolts From Clear Blue Skies

04 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Stephen (True Blue L.A.) returns to discuss the amazing, weird season of dominance being had by the Dodgers. Plus Tales: An outfielder stands in ...

Infinite Inning 236: Sailing the Sea of Baseball's Brief Lives

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran takes over the interview to interrogate Steve on BASEBALL’S BRIEF LIVES: PLAYER STORIES INSPIRED BY THE INFINITE INNING. Plus tales: ...

Infinite Inning 235 No Beatwriters in the Wedding Party

14 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Cotillo (Mass Live) discusses the Red Sox’ incomprehensible season, the beatwriter as a young man, and how to work the pregame clubhouse. Plus...

Infinite Inning 234: Innovators and Hypocrites

07 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt discuss their new book INTENTIONAL BALK: BASEBALL’s LONG AND SORDID HISTORY OF INNOVATION AND CHEATING. Plus tales: Th...

Infinite Inning 233 Smells Like Hot Yogurt

30 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chats are back! David Roth returns to ask existential questions about Juan Soto, the billionaire class, and if the average person can develop Steve Bl...

Infinite Inning 232: My Boyhood Pal Marilyn Monroe

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 232: My Boyhood Pal, Marilyn MonroeOne more (really) solo episode as we gear up for the Baseball’s Brief Lives, the Infinite Inning ...

Infinite Inning 231: The Courtship of Adrian & Virginia

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A final solo episode before a return to guests features discussions of a manager realizing he was in over his head after just one game and a Hall of F...

Infinite Inning 230: The One with Lute

25 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One more solo episode inspired, as always, by current events in which the right player is suspended for what he didn’t do but what everyone understo...

Infinite Inning 229: The Benign Uncle

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Another solo episode as your host continues to recover from whatever is wrong with him THIS week! (Even his doctors mock him). This week: Tales of two...

Infinite Inning 228: A Great Boy for Baseball

04 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A solo episode in which sad past and sorry present collide in the spring of 1927, when even as Babe Ruth and the Yankees were setting records there wa...

Infinite Inning 227: Playing the Sorrow Corner

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Author Dan Good discusses a tragic player and Playing Through the Pain: Ken Caminiti and the Steroids Confession that Changed Baseball Forever. Plus t...

Infinite Inning 226: Willets Point After Dark

14 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jesse Spector dishes on his new book/podcast/newsletter endeavor, Willets Pen, praises Buck Showalter, and considers the ins and outs of rally sex. Pl...

Infinite Inning 225: Real Heavy Idealism

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran returns to talk about the new dead-ball, pitchers fielding, and the arrival of Kelsie Whitmore in the Atlantic League, plus takes: An u...

Infinite Inning 224 Pippen, Heberdick, and Prospects

30 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jeffrey Paternostro returns for a premature look at prospects’ progress. Plus tales: A pitcher takes the wrong lesson from adversity and a Red Sox t...

Infinite Inning 223: Punko Lobster

24 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Roth returns to discuss the uplift provided by the new season, Robinson Cano, how the Reds provoke thoughts of the end of history, Pitchcom, and...

Infinite Inning 222: People Want to Watch This Game?

16 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas W. Gilbert discusses HOW BASEBALL HAPPENED, the story of the game’s earliest years. Plus tales: The value of a famous hitting coach to a ligh...

Infinite Inning 221: Sports and Our Missing Legos

10 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Calcaterra returns to discuss his new book RETHINKING FANDOM, plus tales: A visit to the home of one of the earliest baseball games for a deadly...

Infinite Inning 220: Fire at the Match Factory

03 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A solo episode about service-time manipulation, entropy, destroyed pitching prospects, “Don’t Say Gay,” and Will Smith’s slap versus the on-fi...

Infinite Inning 219: The Ballad of Red-Butt Harry

26 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran returns to dissect all the moves of March, plus tales: Gender uncertainty on a barnstorming team, a rowdy crowd in Chicago is given way...

Infinite Inning 218: It Worked, But Never Do It Again (New Edit with Improved Audio)

19 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Infinite Inning 218: It Worked, But Never Do It AgainJesse Spector returns to discuss the competitive balance landscape, which still has all the old h...

Infinite Inning 217: There's No Reason Why We Shouldn't (Burgers, Rice, and Pudding)

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) talks about BASEBALL PROSPECTUS 2022, owner vs. player morality, and the best comps for Juan Soto. Plus tales: A...

Infinite Inning 216: Are Owners Truly Necessary?

03 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Solo episode! Tales of ancient battles between owners and the players, none of which make the owners look good. Casey Stengel goes to Washington and, ...

Infinite Inning 215: Here They Are and So Are We

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Belth and Emily Shapiro return to discuss HERE I ARE: ANATOMY OF A MARRIAGE. Plus tales: Miller Huggins comes to the wrong conclusion and a secon...

Infinite Inning 214: Of Sidearmers and Salad Bars

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran (The Cycle newsletter) returns to talk about lockout priorities. Plus tales: Marking the passing of a side-arm pitcher who got less res...

Infinite Inning 213: Take a Prospect Leave a Prospect

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prospectmeister Jeffrey Paternostro returns to discuss the Baseball Prospectus 2022 Top-101 Prospects rankings. Plus tales: The 66th-best hitter for a...

Infinite Inning 212: Vainglorious Unvaccinated Dullards & Co

22 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Roth on Topps and The Athletic being sold, why baseball color commentors curdle after two years, the Mets’ moves, and more. Plus tales: “Pri...

Infinite Inning 211: The War in '72 & The Bill James Handbook '22

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions returns to discuss the Bill James Handbook 2022, plus tales: The media fails the players when the owners push them...

Infinite Inning 210: Joe McCarthy's Lonely Hearts Club

31 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our annual holiday historical fiction sees straitlaced Yankees manager taking on the greatest challene of this career: Romance. Plus a brief true tale...

Infinite Inning 209: Not Too Far to Go

24 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Coss of "Forever is a Long Time" talks marriage, divorce, and facing your doubts by looking at the past. Plus tales: Managers are hired/quickly fi...

Infinite Inning 208: Dystopia in Your Mailbox

18 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Calcaterra returns to baseball’s lockout, teenage drunkenness, and division of labor in marriage. Plus tales: Ralph Houk’s prophecy/Jim Bout...

Infinite Inning 207: The No No and Yes Yes Show

11 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A solo episode with an owner-player conflict that anticipates the tenor of the current lockout (with some amazing stats) and the question of which Har...

Infinite Inning 206: Killer at the Polo Grounds and Other Tales

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran talks hot stove baseball and ice cream in plastic batting helmets. Plus tales: The thief who just had to go to the Dodgers-Giants game ...

Infinite Inning 205: The Body of an American Scout

11 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lincoln Michel talks his science-fiction/noir/baseball novel THE BODY SCOUT. Plus tales: An umpire does something unforgivable to a great pitcher and ...

Infinite Inning 204: Prejudices Chapter One-Million

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gabrielle Starr (Fansided) discusses the Red Sox fall out of the playoffs, the hazards of being a female in sports online, and rails against analytics...

Infinite Inning 203: Why Are Those People in the Outfield

20 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hall of Fame senior curator Tom Shieber, co-author of Picturing America’s Pastime, talks about great images of the game as art and as documentary. P...

Infinite Inning 202: Groucho Mans the Turnstiles

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Taylor discusses Lights, Camera, Fastball, his new history of the Hollywood Stars baseball team. Plus tales of great Giants catchers of the distan...

Infinite Inning 201: Now We Can Solve All Our Differences

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Ferrin, Kevin Goldstein, and Steven Goldman, once the hosts of Baseball Prospectus Radio on SiriusXM, reunite to discuss that Chicago vibe, awkwa...

Infinite Inning 200: The 200th Right Downtown

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran, David Roth, Jesse Spector with a rare collective sighting as the starting rotation reflects on four years of episodes, 20-plus years o...

Infinite Inning 199A: The Tools of Ignorance

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A new hour-long mini-episode features yet another John McGraw insult, a discussion of vaccine mandates, Holocaust analogies, and the logical fallacy o...

Infinite Inning 199: The Just Tra-La-La Show

04 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A medically-necessary solo episode has a lesson about keeping your eye on the ball rather than your fingers on the banjo, some Zen advice from Casey S...

Infinite Inning 198: August is Your Last Chance

22 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

David Roth returns to discuss the Mets’ fall from the pennant race, the Baltimore Orioles’ complete absence therefrom, and the 1982 Yankees vs. th...

Infinite Inning 197: There's a Payphone in the Lobby

15 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) returns to talk Dodgers, diving for balls, and salary caps. Plus tales: A short shortstop fails to measure up an...

Infinite Inning 196: Here Until We're Somewhere Else

06 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Cliff Corcoran returns to talk trading deadline and Olympic-mandated underwear worn as outwear. Plus tales: A player loses half of what he’s got bel...