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
349 episodes
Pitchers continue to drop like flies as the 2026 MLB season is nearly 25% over - Ep. 707 5.7.26
We had intended to drop this episode on Monday the 11th after taking a week off due to some travel. But we recorded Wednesday night the 6th and so here's the latest episode as we want things to be timely! The teams as of the weekend will ...
7 Catchers had .300 career average. How many can you name? Ep. 706 04.27.26
#Redsox fired Alex Cora in what has to be the story of the week. #Mets Carlos Mendoza may be next. #Padres Mason Miller continues his unreal season and they also signed Lucas Giolito. #Braves rookie gives up homer on first #MLB pitch then...
Elite bat speed leaders & how Mets are cratering - Ep. 705 - 4.21.26
A day later than usual because we were traveling and distraught from watching the #Mets lose their 11th straight. News of the week includes the sudden passing of #Angels great Garret Anderson - so sad. #Dodgers Edwin Diaz to undergo surge...
MLB injuries are piling up early & why the splitter has made a huge comeback! Ep. 704 - 4.13.26
Pitcher injuries are mounting especially if you wear an Astros uniform. We didn't mention the passing of Davey Lopes which was our mistake. Lopes stole 552 bases and was a member of the Dodgers infield for 10 years. No teams h...
News flash - MLB players are shrinking & 2026 season is already 5% over - Ep. 703 - 4.6.26
When #MLB started measuring players in order to more fairly deploy the ABS Challenge system, MLB players who had not been measured for years came up tinier! Why are they shrinking? The season is already 5% gone and by the end ...
Our MLB playoffs predictions & award winners - Ep. 702 3.30.26
We forgot to include our playoff picks last week when we picked the order of finish for each #MLB division. So we do that as well as pick the major award winners - Cy Young, MVP, Rookie-of-the-Year and Manager of the Year. We also cover the fir...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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, ...
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 ...
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...
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...
