0 comments by Bill on 8/2/2018
J.R. Richard is a longtime favorite of both of ours: lightning fastball, unhittable slider, questionable control, and in the words of Carson Cistulli, “the baddest there ever was.” He’s also one of baseball’s real what-might-have-been stories, as 38 years ago this week (after months of complaining of fatigue and medical issues that no one else […]
0 comments by Bill
56 years ago last week, two-sport star Gene Conley and long-delayed-first-African-American Red Sock Pumpsie Green got off the team bus and just kind of…disappeared for a while. Conley longer than Green. It was very weird, and they were both very weird, interesting characters, so they and their “intentional walk” are our topic for Episode 59. […]
0 comments by Bill on 7/19/2018
I hate that title. It’s All-Star Week, and our second annual All-Star Week episode. This year, we’re looking at the Home Run Derby, and specifically, the All-Star Home Run Derby, and its exceedingly weird, almost embarrassingly humble origins 33 years ago this week, right here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 0:00: Intro; we enjoy the Bermanless derby. […]
0 comments by Bill on 7/11/2018
Extreme defensive shifts are all the rage these days–but as I point out in the episode, much like climate change, we’ve been saying that for years, and it keeps getting more true every year. But it was 72 years ago this week that Cleveland shortstop and manager Lou Boudreau debuted the defensive alignment you see […]
0 comments by Bill on 7/4/2018
It was 26 years ago this week that A League of Their Own arrived in theaters. We’re celebrating that this week by talking with special guest Britni de la Cretaz about her brilliant recent article about the AAGPBL and queer women, and about queer women (and all women) in baseball generally. Episode notes: 0:00: Intro; happy […]
0 comments by Bill on 6/28/2018
Hey, welcome back to TPA! This site has lain entirely unused for 2 1/2 years (aside from the odd sketchy gambling or football post that’s popped up thanks to not-us for reasons we don’t know), and was mostly unused for some years before that, as Mike and I have been busy with real life or […]
0 comments by Bill on 8/12/2016
When the news broke earlier this week that the incredibly fun and one-of-a-kind Prince Fielder‘s playing career would prematurely end, there were a lot of sad reactions, understandably, and a lot of shocked ones — and a handful of bad, bad, bad takes with regard to the amount of money Fielder is making, and will continue […]
0 comments by Bill on 1/20/2016
The topic of the week appears to be the possibly-someday-coming universal DH rule, and there’s plenty to read about it. I enjoyed all of this from Grant Brisbee — as I enjoy everything Grant writes — but this part early on got me thinking: I’m a huge supporter of pitchers hitting for the same reason most […]
0 comments by Bill on 1/15/2016
There’s no cliche in baseball along the lines of Hollywood’s “it’s an honor just to be nominated,” as far as I know, but there is a certain cachet attached to a player seeing his name on the BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot. One hopes that the likes of Mark Grudzielanek and Mike Lowell didn’t spend […]
0 comments by Chip Buck on 4/19/2015
Traveling on the road in an RV is only part of the trip. The other part is the activities that you’ll actually do once you arrive at your destination at the campground or park. After all, you’re not just going to sit around and do nothing are you? If not, then it will be a […]
0 comments by Bill on 3/6/2015
A whole lot has happened since November 10, 2014, when Michael Cuddyer became one of the first notable team-shifting free agent signings of the offseason. You might even think a lot has happened that’d be more interesting to talk about in March than the Michael Cuddyer signing, and you’d probably be right, but to you, […]
0 comments by Michael Bates on 2/13/2014
Punch a baby? Major League Baseball can probably do that. Dump raw sewage in a pristine wetland? Why not? Take over the meth trade in New Mexico? I'm not sure why it would want to, given how profitable it is right now, but yeah, Bud Selig and his heir-apparent Rob Manfred would do that. MLB […]
0 comments by Michael Clair
Yesterday, Derek Jeter announced his retirement from baseball at the end of 2014 through a heartfelt Facebook post. But that post, in which he thanks the fans of New York and discusses his career, was actually the result of a lot of trial and error. Here were his earlier attempts: So, uhh, I guess […]
0 comments by Michael Clair on 1/10/2014
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0 comments by Michael Bates on 1/7/2014
I bet Ken Gurnick is actually a hell of a guy. I bet he’s smart, and hard-working, and often thoughtful. I bet he’s kind to pets and babies and houseplants and the elderly. A lot of writers I tend to respect, including Ken Rosenthal, Dylan Hernandez and Eric Stephen, speak very highly of him. Here’s […]
