Baseball the way it's meant to be Loved.
Coach and Tucker debate the 20 “Most Significant” baseball persons to put on a uniform and step between the lines, based on criteria of performance, innovation, character, and importance to the game of baseball. Much love for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum inductees for 2018, and complete disdain for “Blooper”. Editor Note: In the weeks since recording, the list has been altered about 700 times…
Podcast available for download on SoundCloud and on iTunes.
Tucker and Coach recap the premiere of the baseball documentary “Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel” at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Going First to Third: Making sense of the “Race to the Bottom” for tanking MLB teams (2:55). Possible collusion with owners, the future of free agency (23:30), and the need for a Salary Floor (30:45). Coming into Home: The Tampa Bay Rays announce a stadium site (36:35), and if this will make baseball in Florida viable.
Podcast available for download on SoundCloud and on iTunes.
Coach and Tucker cast their annual fictitious ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame, make predictions on who will be in the Class of 2018, the greatest omissions to the Hall, and what changes they would make to the HOF election process. Chipper and Thome are 1st ballot, with Hoffman and Vladdy as virtual locks. Love for Alan Trammel and Jack Morris, the case for Dale Murphy and Tim Simmons, and why Cooperstown should create the “Wing of Infamy.”
RTB is Back! First Podcast of 2018, Coach and Tucker debate the 20 most significant moments through the history of Major League Baseball. From Jackie in ’47 (2:05), the invention of the curveball (6:15), the 1994 strike (17:55), through the significance of baseball in war-time (33:53), Coach and Tucker present the moments that forever changed the course of “Our Great Game”, for better or worse.
Game 5 of the 2017 World Series was EPIC! However… Was it actually a good baseball game? Tucker and Coach sort through the madness of Game 5, the league-doctored ball, the “tremendously awful” managing, and discuss the entire picture of the WS, leading into Game 6. Plus, the era of successful failures in managing, and if the AZ Fall League All-Star Game is the last chance to see Ronald Acuna in a Braves uniform.
Tucker and Coach preview the World Series match-up between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros, including: Best match-up, most intriguing sub-plot, potential heroes and goats, and who America wants to win. We recap the 2017 Postseason that was, why the Indians fell flat (all credit to the Yankees), where the Cubs go from here, and is there no end to the dysfunction in D.C.?
We review all that was in the 2017 MLB regular season: The teams that surprisingly over-performed (Brewers, Twins), underperformed (GIANTS), and the sad state of the Atlanta Braves. The players that shined the brightest (Lindor, Judge, Altuve), and those that would just as soon forget this season happened (MATT HARVEY). Then, all things Postseason, with predictions through to the World Series. Coming into home: We hand out the awards for the regular season, and give our love to Puerto Rico, Houston, South Florida, and Las Vegas.
Cleveland Indians are making history, and it’s a true joy to watch (6:53). The Dodgers are floundering and can’t beat the Snakes (12:35). Going 1st to 3rd- The Nature of Momentum, if there’s truth to peaking too soon in the regular season, whether October clears the slate for all teams (17:29), and how bullpen and health are the best indicators of postseason success (26:20). The Cardinals are the “Ultimate Villain” (33:18), the Yanks are scary-good and still two years away (38:20), and pennant predictions coming into home (46:22).
Orwin Smith, former All-ACC running back at Georgia Tech, joins the podcast to talk about his boys playing youth football, club teams vs. multi-sport at the youth level, CTE and the “gladiator” culture of football. We also discuss the continuing rise of MLS with Atlanta United, NCAA revenue sharing with its’ players, Orwin’s near-sit out while playing at Georgia Tech, and baseball’s problem with reaching inner-city youth.
Out of the Box: The Braves are back! Coach and Tucker debate the All Star Game, which (thankfully) doesn’t count, but does it matter at all? Going First to Third: The moves to make at the trade deadline, how the surprise 1st-half struggles of the Giants, Cubs and Indians, overshadows the success of the feel-good Rockies and Brewers, and the end of the Tigers window. Coming into Home: Sleeper picks for the postseason, and any excitement for the 2017 Hall of Fame weekend?