Comedian George Wallace dropping some wisdom here. Only thing he omitted was “follow baseball and whatnot”

Pete Rose. (I know, I know) I was a Cubs fan, but my favorite non-Cub was Rose. The 44-game hit streak in ‘78 first captured my attention as a kid. The chase for Ty Cobb’s record kept it going. He was different. And yes, I know. Not a great guy. (Nolan Ryan a CLOSE second, and a much better dude)

The OG (along with Ichiro Suzuki) of a growing interest in cumulative, international statistical leaderboards. A fun new(-ish) twist on counting stats.

Are we finally going to see Mike Trout’s “Comeback Player of the Year” season? That might be a fun story this summer.

Roughly 75 days after the US military captured Venezuelan President Maduro, the Venezuelan baseball team defeats Team USA in the WBC? This is all a Shakespearean tragicomedy-simulation, right? Villains at the top. Rooting for the common people, the underdogs, is the only correct option.

The introduction here is giving me that embarrassed feeling.

Here’s a dumb baseball prediction: in 20 years MLB will have franchises on at least 3 different continents. There will be more teams. The regular seasons will be shorter (65-85 games), but there will be all sorts of specialty events, tournaments and the WBC will be bigger than the World Series.

How to make the modern NBA game more interesting? Move the games outdoors. Dribbling through puddles, hoisting 3-balls in gale force winds, Euro-stepping on an ice patch? Yes, please.

Baseball season is supposed to begin around April 12th to 15th. Historically, this was the norm. Over time, the schedule increased from 154 games to 162. Regularly scheduled Sunday double headers disappeared. And now we have the Cubs, opening their season… IN CHICAGO… on March 26.

Old enough to remember watching Berra play. Dale Berra.

NBA to MLB historical timeline translator: The 2020s are what the 1950s were to baseball. LeBron, Curry, Jokic are Ted Williams, Stan Musial, etc. The 1990s are what the 1920s were to baseball. Jordan=Ruth, Pippen=Gehrig, Barkley=Hornsby. The 1980s are baseball’s 1910s: Magic, Bird= Cobb, Cy, etc.

Two guys running the craft beer booth at the old ball yard. First one is the sweaty, leathery 44-year-old dude, divorced, affable and quick-witted, but dying to get home for a double-vodka soda and a couple bong rips. His mother is sending $450 to his apartment, to help him “get out of a jam.” 1/2

Random: All-time pitching great Walter Johnson started 5 games in center field during his career.

Bluesky Baseball Bookclub (Triple-B): Reading suggestion, this biography of Oscar Charleston is excellent. Jeremy Beer has done an amazing job bringing this legend to life.

Spring Training is just around the corner. It’s an exciting time for us baseball weirdos, even though the games themselves don’t matter very much. But before World War II, the spring games were much different than today. Starters played most of the time, and winning mattered. I have details…

NBA thoughts: Trying to find a comp for Cooper Flagg. It’s tough, he’s so uniquely talented. Best I can come up with is Bobby Jones, IF BJ had crazy handles and could shoot. It’s not an insult. CF is amazing. Tied with LBJ and Moses Malone for best teen ever. He could surpass them if he stays hot

I’ve lost track, who is Jamie Moyer pitching for this season?

Wild stuff in the NBA last night, three shutouts. Doesn’t happen often.

When I see T-206 cards I’m grateful for all the chain-smoking men (and children) from 100+ years ago who made this all possible.

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?