Almost Cooperstown
We're a father & son who love to talk and argue about baseball! Baseball is the professional sport that has the longest history so there is a lot to talk about. We launched Almost Cooperstown noting that baseball contains a long history of players that, for whatever reasons, have been shunned by the electors of the Hall of Fame. Consequently here are many 'Almost' players still waiting their turn for induction. With less than 1.5% of the now more than 23,000 players in the HOF, we feel there should be more players included. In these podcasts we also discuss current seasons & trends. Please send any messages to almostcooperstown@gmail.com.
Baseball articles can be found here: https://almostcooperstown.substack.com/publish/posts
Episodes
343 episodes
Almost Cooperstown 7th season debut - Season preview for all 30 teams - Ep. 701
We kick off our 7th season of baseball podcasts with this season seven premiere! 342 episodes in the can is something we never expected to do. As we do at the beginning of every MLB season we review all 30 teams and their chances in the 2...
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Season 7
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Episode 1
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1:04:58
Team USA is in the WBC final & they're gonna win! - Ep. 652 - 3.17.26
We recorded this episode just before Team Venezuela was about to play Team Italy. Team Italy is really a bunch of Americans masquerading as Italians with a real Italian or two on the roster. While the Italians beat the USA 8-6 in pool play, the...
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Season 6
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Episode 52
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27:24
World Baseball Classic highlights & HOFers playing right now - Ep. 651 - 3.9.26
Late game pitching in the WBC is the issue and most teams don't have enough. The best teams can be held down for awhile but eventually the cream rises to the top. USA, Dominican Republic, and Japan all have the firepower to exhaust the bu...
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Season 6
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Episode 51
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34:37
Automatic Balls & Strikes review so far in Spring Training & World Baseball Classic Preview - Ep. 650 - 3.2.26
There will not be any Automatic Balls and Strikes called in the World Baseball Classic that begins this week at four sites around the globe. 16 teams are vying for the title currently held by two-time defending champ Japan. ABS is ...
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Season 6
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Episode 50
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23:28
MLB's daily recap writer Tom Stone tells how he delivers 30 teams recaps every single day - Ep. 649
Newspapers have long since stopped publishing MLB box scores and stories about each game in MLB on the prior day. Tom Stone took on a crazy project in 2025 - he put out a daily newsletter recapping not only the results of all of the prior...
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Season 6
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Episode 49
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49:29
3 MLB stars have a bone to fix that you've never heard about - Ep. 648 - 2.16.26
First it was #Mets Francisco Lindor who came up with the 'hamate' bone problem on his left (glove) hand. It bothers players when swinging the bat as the bone rests on the knob of the bat. Lindor had surgery last week as did Jackson Hollid...
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Season 6
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Episode 48
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36:59
Football is over Baseball is up to the plate! This week in baseball - Ep. 647 2.9.26
The Super Bowl is over so we can now focus our attention on where it belongs - Baseball! Pitchers and catchers are officially reporting this week even though many have been in camp early and are already throwing, and catching.
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Season 6
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Episode 47
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25:34
Mets get Peralta. Framber Valdez is still out there, Tarik Skubal get no love from Tigers - Ep. 646 - 2.2.26
When we talked with Dan Brown about his HOF choices in episode 645 we noted that just before our prior podcast the Mets signed Bo Bichette. Right after the podcast with Dan, the #Mets traded for #Brewers #1 starter Freddy Peralta. What will hap...
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Season 6
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Episode 46
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27:37
Reviewing HOF votes with BBWAA voter and The Athletic's Daniel Brown - Ep. 645 1.26.26
For the third straight year The Athletic's writer Daniel Brown who is also a BBWAA voter, discussed his and his fellow writer's votes for the Hall-of-Fame. Center fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones both were elected with a few playe...
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Season 6
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Episode 45
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50:05
Kyle Tucker & Bo Bichette show the way to a MLB salary cap & salary floor - Ep. 644 1.19.26
Happy MLK Day. A little late but hopefully worth the wait. When we recorded this episode the news that #Mets signed Bo Bichette for 3 years $120M had just dropped and Gordon wasn't aware until Mark told him! Kyle Tucker's behemoth contrac...
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Season 6
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Episode 44
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37:16
Japanese free agents signings, weird 2025 baseball records, Era-adjusted WAR Ep. 643 -1.5.26
While Bregman, Bellinger, Tucker, and Valdez wait for some team to pull the trigger and sign them, two more Japanese League players - Imai and Okamoto signed with the Astros and Blue Jays respectively. Baseball WAR scores are not adjusted...
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Season 6
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Episode 43
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23:06
The Big Boring Off-Season, World Baseball Classic Rosters, HOF voting so far - Ep. 642 - 12.29.25
Free agent hitters Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, & Kyle Tucker have still not yet found a team for the 2026 season as the dog days of winter continue. Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen are also still out there as starting pitchers along with Ch...
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Season 6
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Episode 42
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25:04
Ep. 641 - Author Stephen Dittmore "Jim Gilliam The Forgotten Dodger" 12.22.25
Dr. Stephen W. Dittmore has written a book that needed to be written about Jim "Junior" Gilliam. Gilliam followed HOFer Jackie Robinson through Montreal to Brooklyn and was signed by Branch Rickey. Not quite a HOFer himself, Gilliam was a membe...
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Season 6
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Episode 41
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42:55
Tigers bolster bullpen, Mets are confusing their fans & notes from Met fan event Ep. 640 - 12.15.25
Closer Robert Suarez goes to Braves who only need to figure out shortstop to be a juggernaut once again. The Tigers signed future HOFer Kenley Jansen & re-signed Kyle Finnegan. Sure doesn't look like a team about to trade 2 time AL Cy...
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Season 6
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Episode 40
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37:37
Jeff Kent is a Hall-of-Famer, Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens are not Ep. 639 - 12.8.25
2nd baseman & one-time NL MVP Jeff Kent got into the Hall-of-Fame which few expected including us. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did not get 25% of the votes to return to the Contemporary Era ballot in 2028 and now will have to wait until 2...
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Season 6
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Episode 39
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25:46
9 new MLB managers for 2026 & Mets off-season Ep. 638 - 12.1.25
We began by talking about the best HOFers that did not make the HOF. Not hitting as many home runs hurt the chances of Derek Jeter, Wade Boggs, and Tony Gwynn all of whom did not win an MVP. Manny Ramirez did hit a lot of HRs never won an MVP, ...
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Season 6
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Episode 38
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41:27
Only 4 of 13 Accept Qualifying Offer - This week in baseball Ep. 637- 11.24.25
The four that accepted the $22M Qualifying offer from their teams - Gleyber Torres, Shota Imanaga, Trent Grisham, and Brandon Woodruff all made sense for them and their teams. But for #Rangers one-time star Adolis Garcia, he was non-tendered a ...
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Season 6
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Episode 37
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25:18
One minute on each of the 30 MLB teams' off-season needs - Ep. 636
Hot stove season in #MLB is fully in gear but the deals are yet to commence. That will happen and probably in December as the Winter meetings are often the kickoff for wheeling and dealing. We did one minute on every team in Major League Baseba...
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Season 6
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Episode 36
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32:16
Predicting the winners of MLB's postseason awards - Ep. 635 - 11.10.25
It's not as if either of us went way far off the limb in our picks. We talked about the Hank Aaron Award for best offensive player and if that impacts the AL MVP race. There's a difference of opinion. Cy Young in the AL was close and the same w...
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Season 6
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Episode 35
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28:19
Did we just watch the greatest World Series in history? - Ep. 634 - 11.3.25
Since 1973 there gave been 17 seven-game World Series. None of them had an 18-inning game, a player who got on base 9x in one game, a rookie striking out 12 hitters and a solo extra inning home run for the final runs. #Dodgers #BlueJays w...
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Season 6
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Episode 34
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23:44
2025 LCS Wrap & World Series preview Ep. 633 - 10.23.25
#Bluejays found their groove in Seattle winning the series 4-3 over the #Mariners in 7 interesting and often exciting games. #Dodgers dominated #Brewers who could only muster 4 runs in 4 games. A George Springer dinger made the difference in ga...
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Season 6
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Episode 33
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26:27
Division Series postmortem & League Championship series 2025 preview Ep. 632 - 10.13.25
Did you stay up late to watch game one of the ALCS Sunday night the 12th? #Mariners and #BlueJays both entered the American League in 1977. Toronto has won 2 World Series but the Mariners have never won a pennant. Will they get past the Jays wh...
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Season 6
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Episode 32
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31:34
Wild Card Series wrap, Division series look. Several managers fired. In 33 minutes! Ep. 631 - 10.6.25
It was quite a week in #mlb! #Dodgers subdued #Reds but not before a little excitement in game 2. #Phillies will be a much tougher test and the series started in Philly. #Cubs were better than #Padres but is that enough as the...
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Season 6
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Episode 31
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33:39
All at once the 2025 MLB Regular season is over. Ep. 630 - 9.29.25
#Mets fans like we are might be relieved that the nightmare finish to the season is finally over. Sure making the playoffs would have been great, but #Reds deserved it more & getting spanked by #Dodgers would have been up next for the boys ...
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Season 6
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Episode 30
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39:29
The last week of the 2025 MLB Season - so much is undecided! Ep. 629
Mike Trout hit his 400th home run. Remember when he was the best player in #MLB? We started the show talking about Ep. 628 where we talked with author Jane Leavy about her new book - Make Me Commissioner - I know what's wrong with baseball and ...
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Season 6
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Episode 29
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23:02