The Infinite Inning
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?
Episodes
May 23, 2026 • 41 mins
A grab-bag episode in which the title says it all: The 40th anniversary of the 1986 Mets, how failed Yankees shortstop Bobby Meacham would have performed if Baseball-Reference had his name correctly, the possibility of women playing major league baseball, Thurman Munson’s Hall of Fame twin discussed, and a certain overweight catcher suffers a breakdown of impulse control.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand t...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand t...
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May 16, 2026 • 51 mins
Infinite Inning 375: The A's, Murder in Camden, and the Spiders from Cleveland Several attempts at finding empathy through self-denial this week: We ask if it’s right to laugh at the players trapped by vile ownership into performing like abused seals for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, if restraining ourselves from saying everything we’re allowed to say is the at all similar to protecting a pitcher’s arm, observe several long losing st...
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May 9, 2026 • 51 mins
We go back to the early days of the Angels (California, Los Angels, Anaheim, or anywhere in-between) for the untimely death of a pitcher, then look forward to next year, when one of the most famous and consequential baseball teams of all time will mark its 100th anniversary. What will Major League Baseball or the Yankees do about it? Why is it the first such team to merit such an occasion? And how do you mark the occasion when memb...
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May 2, 2026 • 56 mins
Two managers dropped this week, but four teams haven’t fired a manager in-season since the last century. Which were they, and is there even a point? Then we travel back to 1887, the ill-fated marriage between a Hall of Famer and an actress, her personal gift to baseball, and the birth of a character type whose time has come again (no matter what anyone says).
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present us...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present us...
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April 25, 2026 • 52 mins
A major metropolitan newspaper contends a pitcher “blows,” while he insists he is in “the best shape of his life.” Which would prove to be closer to the truth? Then we revisit the birth of the atomic bomb, the Yankees’ decision to start a farm system in spite of their wealth, and the mysterious woman whose very existence might have hinted at undisclosed cash-flow problems on the part of a very wealthy man.
The Infinite Inning is a j...
The Infinite Inning is a j...
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April 18, 2026 • 53 mins
We note the recent passing of some stalwart ballplayers, some of all too recent a vintage, then travel back to the 1950s and the breaking of the Braves color line by an outfielder who everyone liked to pick on.
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 wor...
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 wor...
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April 11, 2026 • 48 mins
In which we track the posthumous career of one of baseball’s earliest players, who might simultaneously lie in three different places or maybe nowhere at all. Then we wish Parker Meadows a quick recovery by recalling an earlier outfield collision which injured two future Hall of Famers. And in between some wisdom from Cato the Elder, Robert Pirsig, and others.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present us...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present us...
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April 4, 2026 • 54 mins
Infinite Inning 369: An Odd Cardinals Walk-Off or a Typical Cubs Loss?
First we ask an evergreen question prompted by Konnor Griffin’s promotion: Were Casey Stengel’s expectations of Mickey Mantle unfair? Then we visit 1949 for one of the more unusual walk-off hits in Cardinals history and the popular player whose momentary lack of awareness allowed it to happen—and find ourselves questioning the way we live.
The Infinite Inning is ...
First we ask an evergreen question prompted by Konnor Griffin’s promotion: Were Casey Stengel’s expectations of Mickey Mantle unfair? Then we visit 1949 for one of the more unusual walk-off hits in Cardinals history and the popular player whose momentary lack of awareness allowed it to happen—and find ourselves questioning the way we live.
The Infinite Inning is ...
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March 28, 2026 • 56 mins
Two players who might have made the Hall of Fame if not for time missed to national service during World War II stand in for all of those whose trajectories were deflected by the games played by those in high places, then we visit turn-of-the-20th century Philadelphia for a forgotten first baseman who won it all and lost something even greater at the same moment.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the presen...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the presen...
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March 21, 2026 • 49 mins
In which we talk about some of our own broken relationships, the war of Billy Martin’s ear and what George Steinbrenner’s plan to bring him back for a sixth tour says about his own morality, the way the Washington Senators loved their own players so much they ended up in Minnesota, very small dinosaurs, and so much more.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Ameri...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Ameri...
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March 14, 2026 • 38 mins
A pitcher named Bob becomes Sailor Bob all because his wife wanted him out of the house in a fatal way, then we revisit the 1880s and a truly ridiculous ballpark that led to a player having both an inflated home-run total and an inflated liver.
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 storie...
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 storie...
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March 7, 2026 • 50 mins
How the King of France once had an illicit love life that bore both a great resemblance to that of some of our current villains, but was also kind of similar to one of Branch Rickey’s greatest innovations. Then we join a glowering Yankees owner who absolutely wrecked his team because he was Vince Coleman-dreaming before that was even a thing.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as o...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as o...
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February 28, 2026 • 40 mins
This week, a light-hearted tale of a pitcher who braved the injury nexus in a body that just refused to flinch when under hostile fire, preceded by the story of a favorite cartoonist who pontificated on the subject of children and divorce even as he proceeded to get divorced and abandon his children. And in between, unwelcome news of war.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our t...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our t...
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February 21, 2026 • 60 mins
A player who is remembered as “Jumbo” even though that was neither his name or his shape is described in both complimentary and critical terms, oysters are considered, and one of the greatest shortstops of all time, John Henry Lloyd, Pop, teaches an important lesson about why the past matters, and why his past was especially important.
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time...
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February 14, 2026 • 59 mins
A future Hall of Fame outfielder gets into a tiff with the first Hall of Fame umpire and the umpire says a rude word, but how rude was it? Then we briefly consider the worst 900-plus games careers before joining the 1935 season in progress for a fight at home plate that fizzled, but not before inspiring a New York Times writer to construct an especially inept metaphor involving the game and dire world events.
The Infinite Inning is...
The Infinite Inning is...
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January 31, 2026 • 53 mins
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 jour...
The Infinite Inning is a jour...
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January 24, 2026 • 62 mins
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 becau...
Trigger Warning: There are a couple of rude words at the very end of the episode becau...
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January 10, 2026 • 54 mins
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. ...
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January 7, 2026 • 41 mins
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 ...
The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as ...
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January 2, 2026 • 27 mins
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.
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The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Americ...
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The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. Americ...
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