Was not aware Strat-O-Matic included a card for Moonlight Graham on their special 1905 NY Giants team set. Terrific #fieldofdreams

The Baseball Hall of Fame is a very cool museum. Every fan should visit Cooperstown at least once in their lifetimes. Just know that many of the best players (especially those of recent vintage) are not included and may never be included as official members, and that’s just the way it goes.

Love how we have people who apparently don’t even *like* the game of baseball voting for Cooperstown candidates. Great system.

Post you from a different era

Fun mail day, courtesy of my good pal Jason @heavyjstudios.bsky.social Finally got my hands on a Jackie. Thanks for the fun additions!

One of baseball’s grand traditions: holding contempt for one of the high-profile, big network television analysts, for one reason or another. Smoltz is the guy in the barrel these days, previously generations it was Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver.

Abner Doubleday Uribe on the bump for Milwaukee

Couple reasons why I listen to most games with the mute button on. Turn it off, occasionally, for crowd reaction on big plays. Then quickly click back to silence.

Phillies pitcher reminds me of a kid who was in my middle school shop class.

Phil’s Christopher Sanchez is roughly the same size as another Philly lefty: 1930s Philadelphia Stars ace Slim Jones. 6’6” stringbean, star in the old Negro National League

Important: Cal Raleigh looks like actor Chris O’Dowd

Check it out. Adam and Von chopping it up on the pod

Adam and Von Spalding helping expand our understanding of baseball history

Old school analysis of yesterday's Cubs acquisition: Michael Soroka is 3-18 with a 4.81 era the last two years. That's bad. Is there a modern metric that pretties this up a bit? The whip (1.26) doesn't help, nor does the BB9 (3.8). He's 27, this is his athletic peak.

The Sandberg news hurts a bunch. He was the man here in the 1980s... #RIPRyno

Just because: Bobby Witt Jr was born 7 years AFTER George Brett retired. Never saw him play. Not even close. If it wasn't for his father, who played against Brett in the 80s, I doubt Jr (or any player born in 2000, for that matter) would know much about Brett at all. Different eras.

Until Ohtani, the only Japanese power hitter to have had an impact here was Hideki Matsui. I think Seiya Suzuki is going to surpass Matsui, moving into the #2 slot, the 2nd best Japanese slugger to play here. Breakout year for Seiya in Chicago. Incidentally, "Seiya in Chicago" sounds like a sitcom.

Jacob Misioroski is awesome, fun to watch, and he's only 23 years old. What blows my mind is remembering back in 1984, Dwight Gooden was doing this same exact shit for the Mets. He dominated: AT JUST 19 YEARS OLD! It was the same kind of must-see baseball with Gooden as it is with Misiorowski today

I've followed baseball since the mid-1970s. Fifty years. And sometimes, when I'm alone on the couch, looking at Pete Crow-Armstrong stealing second base, I tell myself, "I can't believe I'm still watching this shit." It's seemingly impossible for me to get sick of this big, dumb, beautiful game.

For years, I've watched That Guy on various MLB Network shows and just recently learned his name is "Greg Amsinger." I'd flip on MLB Network after dinner and say, "Oh, look, it's Harold Reynolds and... That Guy." Or "It's Dan Plesac and..That Guy." Or, occasionally, "It's That Guy and Al Leiter."

Family/Baseball Note: My Aunt Lynn (she's 75 years old) married longtime partner David Bessent in Florida today. David's Uncle is the late Don Bessent, who pitched for Brooklyn in the 1950s. Congrats to Aunt Lynn and David!

In an odd way, the Covid Summer of 2020, with its shortened @mlb schedule of 60 games, played a role in the decision to absorb Negro Leagues stats of 1920-1948 into the historical record. If we could count the stats from 2020 (or 1877-1878), why not these? www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-bur...

Lucky to have Adam as the point man, and Von as the muscle. Wish I could have been there to see Adam crush it!

August 1945: During a traffic stop, a Washington DC cop punched Satchel Paige in the face a couple times. Satch had just thrown 3 innings, striking out 6 Homestead Grays batters. (New Journal and Guide, Norfolk VA)

A Dead Pool, but instead of people passing away, a competition based on who will have to have Tommy John surgery this year. Pick 10 MLBers who you suspect will blow their elbows out...

Kyle Schwarber might be the most popular .240 hitter in the history of baseball. Hits bombs and just has a good baseball vibe about him. You want the dude on your team, in your dugout, hitting clean-up, because he's there to win.

An Amish lifestyle colony, but 1970s instead of 1870s

The Boone family (Grandpa Ray, Dad Bob, sons Bret & Aaron) has been involved in professional baseball, nearly uninterrupted, (with at least one of the Boone men still active as a player or manager), since 1946. There's maybe one 12 year gap w/o out a Boone, out of the last 79 years. Baseball family

James Bond films. It was an event, whenever one of the Bond films was on TV. My Dad, my older brother and I, hanging out in the rec room, watching Sean Connery or Roger Moore battle villains.

Am I the only one who had never heard of Yuengling, the so-called "oldest brewery" in America? Until, like, a month ago?

I'm genuinely curious how many of these five (Judge, Trout, Stanton, Ohtani, Alonso) will end up with more than 500 home runs in their careers? For various reasons, it could realistically be none of them, or it could 1 or 2, but definitely not all of them. Who do you think makes it?

Does Statcast "neutralize" HR distances yet? Like, factor in the ballpark altitude and wind, etc., to show the long-distance HR leaders in a neutral environment? Hitting a HR in Coors, with the wind blowing out, is much different than hitting one in whatever they call the Miami Marlins stadium today

The Rockies are heating up

Andrew Chafin reminds me of the late, great Rod Beck

Useless Fact: During their professional baseball careers, Micheal Jordan hit THREE times as many Minor League home runs (3) as Babe Ruth did (1)! Ruth had 714 more than MJ at the big league level.

A friend's mother went to Cincinnati's Western Hills High School with Pete Rose. What kind of kid was he back then? "Oh, he was a hoodlum," she replied, zero hesitation.

Can't believe @SABR is passing on my big summer presentation: "TWO BALLS, ONE CUP- From Dick Hall to Dick Williams, the Secret History of Baseball's Jock Strap and Protective Cup" Seven years of research- and a pretty cool slide show- down the toilet.

Don't sleep on the Jardiance baseball team this season. Everybody knows the AL West is up for grabs

Genuinely curious: Do big time college athletes still attend classes or is it just considered pro sports now? I mean, is Cooper Flagg taking biology or humanities classes? Or what?

33-year-old ballplayers named Mike Trout should be allowed to use PEDs. Lots of people would like to see him cook again...Ok, ANYONE over 30 (with massive guaranteed contracts) should be allowed. It's like being prescribed glasses when your eyes go bad.

Future Hall of Famer....

Picked this up several years back. Cuban-Dominican All Star game. Can't place the year, care to hazard a guess @adarowski.bsky.social ?

My Final Four picks: 1. University of Phoenix 2. Devry 3. The French Culinary Institute 4. Trump University

Radio Notes: I'm listening to Red Barber call the Dodgers-Pirates game (May 20, 1950). 1st inning, Ralph Kiner at bat, Brooklyn has shifted everyone, except 1B Gil Hodges, to the left side of the infield. 2B Jackie Robinson has moved across the bag, on the shortstop's side, pushing Pee Wee toward 3B

Great essay...

Listening to a 1957 Dodgers-Reds radio broadcast (w/Vin Scully in the booth), and after a double play, Lucky Strike was "going to send 1,000 cigarettes to a VA Hospital" as part of a promotion.. The entire broadcast was pretty much sponsored by Lucky Strike and Schaefer Beer...

Important baseball history...

Joe DiMaggio and a lady with a broken foot

Harold Baines changed teams, mid-season, five different times during his MLB career. Five. Seems like a lot. Who holds the record for switching clubs, midstream, during their MLB careers? Someone reading this must have that trivia locked and loaded.

Had fun working with @adarowski.bsky.social and Von Spalding on this one...