The Infinite Inning #035: We Are All The 1988 Orioles

A rare (somewhat) shorter solo episode for Steve as baseball leaves the 2017 offseason unfinished and hopes the 2018 segment will bring more action. Tales of Joe McCarthy, Hack Wilson, and the decline of the 1980s Baltimore Orioles as a metaphor for our lives.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Joe McCarthy’s one joke (“Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat”—Sammy Davis, Jr.)*Hack Wilson’s worm*Babich!*With apologies to “The Small Assassin”*The New Deal and the 1983 Baltimore Orioles*Fireside Chat” April, 1938*The O’s, Entropy, the Universe, and Everybody Else*The 1988 Orioles 30th Anniversary Tour*The Tippy Martinez Game*Goodbyes.

The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’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?