Episodes

  • Infinite Inning 398: Hey! Babe Ruth's in the Wrong Dugout!

    Infinite Inning 398: Hey! Babe Ruth's in the Wrong Dugout!
    Oct 24 2026
    The Tampa Bay Rays’ return to the World Series inspires a look at the best players to come out of Florida, and—surprise—we discover that the most prominent Hall of Famers may not be the ones who have the most to teach us. Then we visit with Babe Ruth’s two daughters, one delighted, the other disappointed, and track down a story that broadcaster Mel Allen told about the Bambino concerning an improbable Yankees comeback that took place even as the best player in baseball left to hang out with Ty Cobb.

    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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    51 mins
  • Infinite Inning 397: Living with the American Terror

    Infinite Inning 397: Living with the American Terror
    Oct 17 2026
    Meet the Milwaukee Brewers of yesterday and today—1944, 1982, and 2026—as well as that time Casey Stengel managed them to a pennant and had to leave anyway. Then we go back to the world of 1982, take a high-level view of the American League pennant winners, and spend a regrettable amount of time with a very sick teacher named Carl.

    TRIGGER WARNING: The episode contains a discussion of recent violent episodes in the United States and some from the past, including our most recent school shooting.

    SFX: Ding.wav by tim.kahn License: Attribution 4.0

    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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    56 mins
  • Infinite Inning 396: The Pitcher Who Wouldn't Stop

    Infinite Inning 396: The Pitcher Who Wouldn't Stop
    Oct 9 2026
    Two players who destroyed their careers before they got anywhere close to the major leagues. Maybe they never would have, but who can say? A first baseman with a high on-base percentage throws it all away just to get some pants—a lot of pants. All the pants. Then, in our own time, a college pitcher is charged with sexual assault, but despite his lawyers insisting that the victim had “put herself in harm’s way,” the accusers just kept on coming.

    TRIGGER WARNING: Once again, this episode contains extensive, and I mean extensive, discussion of sexual assault and related issues. That discussion begins at roughly the 24:00 mark of the show.

    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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    59 mins
  • Infinite Inning 395: The Cardinals Center Fielder Who Pled Guilty

    Infinite Inning 395: The Cardinals Center Fielder Who Pled Guilty
    Oct 3 2026
    A .500 Astros team that slipped into the playoffs because of a faulty league structure bashes its own fans, something for which a long-ago cranky sportswriter had an answer that still obtains. Then we discuss the Cornell Rape Inquiry and note how some of the responses to it echo two long-ago cases involving major league ballplayers, one a completely incident in the career of a St. Louis Cardinals team captain.

    TRIGGER WARNING: Extensive, and I mean extensive discussion of sexual assault and related issues, one involving an underaged victim, beginning a little after the 20:00 mark.

    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 394 The Rogers Hornsby Theory of Leadership

    Infinite Inning 394 The Rogers Hornsby Theory of Leadership
    Sep 26 2026
    In a column that suggests that sportswriters never change, a “writer’s wing” scribe makes a weak excuse for the negative qualities of one of baseball’s greatest hitters and weakest leaders, the “Rajah of Swat,” Rogers Hornsby. First, though, we stop off with a pitcher who never made it—or, more accurately, he never made the majors, but he pitched long enough and successfully enough that he earned the sobriquet, “The Poor Man’s Satchel Paige.” Also, he was an Artist, capital A. We ask the musical question, “Wasn’t that enough?” Find out within!

    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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    49 mins
  • Infinite Inning 393: Yankee Stadium Goes Fascist

    Infinite Inning 393: Yankee Stadium Goes Fascist
    Sep 19 2026
    First we visit a very close-by alternative reality in which a momentary weakness on the part of the original Yankee Stadium gives someone in a position of power the opportunity to slap his own name on the building (this should be starting to sound familiar). Then we visit a father and son, one who played the game at the highest level available to him, another who made art that celebrated it—and, oh, he was an astronaut too.

    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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    46 mins
  • Infinite Inning 392: Red Sox Hunt/Negro Leaguers at War

    Infinite Inning 392: Red Sox Hunt/Negro Leaguers at War
    Sep 12 2026
    An odd tale of a pitcher unboxing a stuffed and mounted boar in the clubhouse leads to speculation about the nature of marriage and the trial of giving gifts and getting what you want at the same time. Then we check in on the Great War Exploits of one of the less celebrated Negro Leagues greats, speculate of how his homecoming could have been in a different America, and note missed opportunities to learn from the world around us, whether via the Harlem Hellfighters or the ill-fated Herrero tribe of Namibia, both of which found themselves up against the same opponent.

    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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    50 mins
  • Infinite Inning 391: The Shohei Ohtani Trade Deficit

    Infinite Inning 391: The Shohei Ohtani Trade Deficit
    Sep 5 2026
    The 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates blow the pennant race in one of the most dramatic losses of baseball history, but according to one of the current lords of our realm the Cubs should have just handed them the win. Yes, “The Homer in the Gloamin’” has retroactively been declared unamerican. Then we consider under obsession of the leadership by asking if the Dodgers are running a $700 million trade deficit with Shohei Ohtani. Finally, we return to 1938 to see who took the blame for the Pirates’ downfall, and find it was one of the team’s least-heralded and most-special players, stopping off with the 1980 New York Yankees along the 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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    41 mins