Almost Cooperstown Gordon Kolier & Mark Kolier

58 of the 273 (21%) players elected to the Hall of Fame played only for one franchise.  As Gordon pointed out, before baseball had free agency players did not move around nearly as much not because they didn't want to but because they were not allowed to!

We talk about the only set of teammates that were elected to the HOF in the same year. There are 9 teams that lack a one team Hall of Famer. That number will drop to 8 once #Twins Joe Mauer is inducted this July.

There are plenty. of Hall of Famers who didn't quite make the one team idea. Players like Ron Santo who played his entire career with the Cubs until he went crosstown for his last season to play for the rival White Sox.

Pie Traynor has 2,416 career hits not more than 3,400.  

Watch this episode on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/snUQMLsQS1I

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!  And please tell your friends. 
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The Angels were 9-9 for a moment this week with Mike Trout leading the way.  Could they possibly make the playoffs? Then they proceeded to lose 3 straight.  Same old.  AL West is a dogfight even with the Astros still mired in last place.

The Twins have been having trouble scoring. They could use a good week coming up as the Guardians are sailing even without Shane Bieber and can that last?  Royals hanging tough but the Tigers are treading water.  Yankees without Gerritt Cole are neck and neck with the Orioles in a tight division that has all 5 teams over .500.  32-year old Cam Booser (pictured) made his MLB debut for the Red Sox and it's quite a story. 

The Mets have won a lot lately but have gained no ground on the Braves and Phillies who've been equally as good.  The Nationals are better than the Marlins which we did not expect. Brewers and Cubs at the top of the NL Central and this could get interesting. Pirates sliding back a bit and the Reds have steadied and are poised. The Cardinals are bumping along but are not far behind. 

Is there anything wrong with the Dodgers?  Watching the top three hitters Betts, Ohtani, and. Freeman is a treat. Even Will Smith is a force. But the rest of the lineup has been bad to awful. The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Giants are all close in talent as well as the standings. The Rockies are happy the Marlins play in the NL since some of the negative attention is deflected to Miami.
 
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FEO3JOeMyyM

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!
www.almostcooperstown.com

Having a discussion around MLB player union issues can easily make your eyes roll. So we sprinkled in a little Scott Boras since he's one guy everyone loves to hate.  Except for his clients of course.  When MLB brought in the MiLB players into the union 2 years ago it went kind of quietly but it's no small deal. 

Rumors of mutiny within the MLBPA have come around Harry Marino who's been termed an 'insurgent lawyer' looking to rankle players into thinking about what Tony Clark and his office has done for them. Or not done. Is it time for a change? 

We talk a little about the history of baseball player unionization which goes back as far as 1885 and Hall of Famer, John Montgomery Ward.  They even discussed salary caps in 1885. 

Watch this episode on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/yYFZ-qm4yvo

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!


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Are the Pirates and Royals for real? Both teams have gotten off to great starts but we've seen it before.  We're at nearly 10% of the 2024 season has been played and there are a bunch of things that are happening as predicted. But not everything!

Shohei Ohtani is great as is Juan Soto. The Dodgers are good. So are the Yankees and Braves.  But those teams have issues as all teams do.  Just think in 3 weeks we will be 25% through the season and perhaps by then the surprise teams will have shown they might hang around and not be the 2023 Pirates.

Injuries continue to play a big part and there's no sign that an increase in injured arms for pitchers are going away.  Games have been a little slower, hitting is down and strangely steals are too,  But it's SO early. 

George Springer will turn 35 this season.

Watch this episode on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/jkUTc8tqEsg

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!


www.almostcooperstown.com

If the expression 'chicks dig the long ball' is still true as it was in the 1990s when Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine did a TV spot about the baseball's obsession with home runs, today's pitchers love to light up the radar with triple digits or at least get as close to that as they can.

Pitching labs are the newest tool to get the most out of a pitcher's repertoire.  But is all this efficiency helping pitchers stay healthy?  Why are more pitchers getting TJ surgery than they used to?  Dr. James Andrews noted that before he retired his patient population had flipped from professionals and college players to youth baseball players not even 16 years old sometimes!

What can be done? We talk about how things got to where they are and a few ideas on how MLB and baseball in general can pull away from the new generation of throw harder and harder pitchers. 

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0Vl2KGZhB60

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!
www.almostcooperstown.com

What was the signature moment of the past full week in MLB?  Ronel Blanco's no hitter? The earliest date for a no-hitter in history!  Or was it Bryce Harper's three home runs in a game last week?  It might have been a few moments when star pitchers Eury Perez (Thursday), Shane Bieber (Friday) and Spencer Strider (Saturday) all went down with UCL injuries and face Tommy John surgery. On our next podcast we will talk about the constant chase of velocity by pitchers. 

The Braves look good as do the Dodgers, Yankees and Orioles. The Guardians and Tigers have started well as have the Pirates and Brewers.  Texas has done a good job so far and they are still finishing a wrap-around 4 game series with the Astros. 

Intro & outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid!  Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!

 
www.almostcooperstown.com