Episodes

  • Infinite Inning 361: Pitching for Our Lives

    Infinite Inning 361: Pitching for Our Lives
    Jan 31 2026
    A rare three-segment episode this week. First, in what is very much NOT a story, the host quotes Casey Stengel in a totally context-free way. Then a pitcher has to work hard to keep a team he doesn’t like IN the World Series or risk professional extinction. Finally, a personal reflection on the way we live now, based very much on a real-life example of lightning striking twice in a truly malicious way.

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    54 mins
  • Infinite Inning 360: Ballgame Called for Yellow Jack

    Infinite Inning 360: Ballgame Called for Yellow Jack
    Jan 24 2026
    An episode in which yesterday’s headlines are today’s. First, we find not William Bell the Negro Leagues great, but William Bell the victim of a false accusation in 1920s Chicago, the only murder of its kind. Then we travel south to the apprenticeship of one of the low-key center field greats and the epidemic that stopped his career in its tracks.

    Trigger Warning: There are a couple of rude words at the very end of the episode because the hots became exercised. If you are, say, in the middle of a meeting of the executive board or attending preschool, please use your headphones.

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Infinite Inning 359: Famous Yankees Knee You in the Crotch

    Infinite Inning 359: Famous Yankees Knee You in the Crotch
    Jan 10 2026
    A wide-ranging journey inspired by the impulse-control problems of a 1950s catcher that provked, depending on Billy Martin’s mood, two, no three, no four on-field fights, with pints of blood flowing onto the infield dirt. Some of it is true, some of it is better. Also, said catcher gets up close and personal with parts of Whitey Ford’s anatomy you’ve never before considered, and the host provides a few thoughts on current events.

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    55 mins
  • Infinite Inning Reissue 27 (017): The Yankees Shortstop Who Went to War

    Infinite Inning Reissue 27 (017): The Yankees Shortstop Who Went to War
    Jan 7 2026
    In this week’s new discussion, the story of a Yankees prospect who might have made it if not for a certain United Nations police action overseas. Then we return to 2017 for a look back at one of the show’s earliest episodes and what was happening in the game on the days the United States went to war. Gee, I wonder what brough that one to mind?

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    42 mins
  • Infinite Inning 358: Ring Lardner Sent Flowers

    Infinite Inning 358: Ring Lardner Sent Flowers
    Jan 3 2026
    In our second and last holiday mini-episode of the season, we wonder how a sore-armed Yankees pitcher went on a crash diet, then turn to Kid Gleason, manager of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, for a little lesson resilience. Featuring a baserunning tale that isn’t true, but it ought to be.

    (Drum Roll Please.wav by Scheffler)

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    27 mins
  • Infinite Inning 357: Angels Up the Where and Baseball True Love

    Infinite Inning 357: Angels Up the Where and Baseball True Love
    Dec 27 2025
    Infinite Inning 357 Angels Up the Where? and Baseball True Love In a holiday mini-episode we talk about secular vs. religious holidays in America, the films of Powell and Pressburger, and the faith-based baseball comedy (in which it’s the nuns who object most strongly to seeing a manifestation of the divine) “Angels in the Outfield” (1951).

    (Drum Roll Please.wav by Scheffler)

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    33 mins
  • Infinite Inning 356: Did a Hall of Fame Manager Break Three Prospects?

    Infinite Inning 356: Did a Hall of Fame Manager Break Three Prospects?
    Dec 20 2025
    Infinite Inning 356 Did a Hall of Fame Manager Break Three Prospects? A long-promised Casey Stengel episode asks why the press reacted badly when the Ol’ Perfesser was named Yankees manager in the fall of 1948, and what it had to do with three busted Braves prospects. And with Venezuela on our minds we recall a recent outfielder who viewed the wall and a dog who feared the hand, perhaps for similar reasons.

    The Infinite Inning     is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    53 mins
  • Infinite Inning Reissue 26 (039): Trumpian Baseball Math

    Infinite Inning Reissue 26 (039): Trumpian Baseball Math
    Dec 18 2025
    In this week’s new commentary, we wonder how major league strikeout leader James Wood can reduce his strikeouts by 600 percent in 2026. Then we return to early 2008 for a look at some deleterious, franchise-damaging or -destroying decisions, including a regrettable early mistake in free agency and Connie Mack’s decision to run his team like it was the 1910s even though almost 40 years had passed.

    The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
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    38 mins