Sully Baseball

Former big league (and Brandeis!) pitcher Nelson Figueroa joins the podcast. He discussed his Annual Charity Bowl in New York as well as his career which took him from Brooklyn to Queens by way of Arizona, Philadelphia, Taiwan and the Caribbean.

Curt Schilling and I may not see eye to eye on many things. But I do think his Hall of Fame candidacy should be debated and his politics should stay out of it.

While at the Pacific Pinball Museum, I thought about some of the most dramatic foul balls of all time. Some of them could have changed the course of baseball history.

Will 2017 be remembered as a year for a team's accomplishments? Or will it be part of a chain of success? And will the 2017 be a rematch of Cleveland and the Cubs?

SUNDAY REQUEST - @TomTaylor1138 asks which fan base is suffering the most now. For a question like this, I could not just make idle speculation. I needed to create a new statistic: THE SUFFERING INDEX

So 2016 is wrapping up. It was a strange year, but a memorable one for Cubs and Cleveland fans.

My son wanted to ask ME questions about my podcast. I obliged.

LeBron James supported the Indians during the World Series. That made me think about the contract players should have with the fan base they play for.

Vanessa Ivy Rose ( @VTLove1Another ), friend of the podcast and grand daughter of Negro League star and Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes, returns to the podcast. We talk about some tough issues about the world today, regard race and perceptions and they ways that sports can raise relevant questions.

I have often wondered which Negro League players and Cuban stars could have excelled in the big leagues. But what about Sadaharu Oh? What could HE or any other Japanese star have done in the major leagues?

As the holidays pile up, I wish I could go to a ballgame. I will do the next best thing. This is part of a conversation I had with podcast superfan Marcel (aka Cubs fan with an 8) about searching for caps in Switzerland.

SUNDAY REQUEST - @BobBuscaglia wonders if I would have signed Edwin Encarnacion for a 3 year deal like Cleveland did. In a vacuum, no. But this signing wasn't in a vacuum. It is a Christmas Day episode.

Former Tigers outfielder Larry Herndon joins the podcast to share memories of the 1984 World Series and winning the 1987 AL East title.

While waiting for a plane at the Bob Hope Airport, or whatever it is called now, I wondered about expansion and relocation. I saw how LA football reflected Tampa Bay baseball and perhaps another team could work in New England.

It might be time for baseball to think about expansion again. But while the usual suspects of cities are still in contention for a new team, an article by J. P Morosi brought up an interesting location: Austin.

Jimmy Rollins will continue his wonderful career as a member of the 2017 San Francisco Giants. Has he had a Hall of Fame career? Would have been a Hall of Famer had be played earlier in time?

Clay Buchholz's long and complicated relationship with the Red Sox has come to an end. It is time for Red Sox fans to salute him.

The Raiders are trying to squeeze hundreds of millions of dollars out of Oakland for a new stadium. Why does Oakland bend over backwards for the Raiders and not the A's? And the A's should think of breaking up with Oakland.

SUNDAY REQUEST - @BobOldisTowel corrects me about the Pitcher's Plate and I continue to realize the tonnage of what I DON'T know about baseball.

I visited new Yankee Stadium and walked around Heritage Field, which reminded me of an Alexandre Dumas novel.