Curious by Design
Curious by Design is a podcast about how things get built, and why they end up the way they do.
Every product, city, system, and business is the result of a series of choices. Some intentional. Some accidental. Some brilliant. Some… less so.
Hosted by Jason Hardwick, this show explores the thinking behind the work: the history, the tradeoffs, the constraints, and the invisible decisions that shape the world around us. From design and engineering to culture, technology, and everyday systems we take for granted, each episode pulls on a single thread and follows it deeper than expected.
This isn’t a how-to podcast.
It’s a why-did-they-do-that podcast.
If you’ve ever looked at something and wondered how it came to be—or how it could’ve been designed better, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Curious by Design.
Curious by Design
Why Baseball Is Designed the Way It Is
This episode is only available to subscribers.
Curious by Design +
Exclusive access to premium content!Bonus Episode — Why Baseball Is Designed the Way It Is
A Curious by Design Subscriber Special
The crack of the bat.
The pause before a pitch.
The slow rhythm of a game that seems to move at its own pace.
Baseball feels timeless—but every part of it was designed.
In this subscriber special of Curious by Design, we explore how baseball became one of the most carefully structured games ever created. From the perfect geometry of the diamond to the precise distance of ninety feet between bases, the sport evolved through decades of experimentation until its rules produced the balance fans recognize today.
The episode traces how early figures like Alexander Cartwright helped formalize the game’s structure, why the pitcher stands exactly sixty feet and six inches from home plate, and how the design of the baseball itself—its cork core and 108 red stitches—affects how pitches move through the air.
We also look at what makes baseball unique among sports: a game without a clock, built around outs rather than time. That structure creates something rare in sports design—endless possibility. No matter the score, every team always gets its final chance.
From the unpredictable geometry of ballparks to the rhythm of anticipation between pitches, baseball blends mathematics, physics, and psychology into a system built to produce unforgettable moments.
Because baseball isn’t just a sport played on grass.
It’s a design refined over more than a century—
one built to create moments that last a lifetime.
That’s Curious by Design.
