Effectively Wild Episode 2489: Baseball: Better Late Than Never
6/10/20262 hr 4 min
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the bunt’s rehabilitation and (17:49) the President publicly picking a side in MLB’s labor battle, then talk to two guests about falling in love with and learning about baseball as adults. First (32:35), beloved BBC presenter and The Guardian columnist Adrian Chiles breaks his baseball silence to expound on how he got bitten by the baseball bug, his long-distance Rays relationship, the loneliness of following baseball from afar, cross-sport comparisons, Chiles-like wonder, and what mystifies him as a fan. Second (1:21:39), Jade Van Kley joins to discuss her journey from registered nurse to baseball content creator, bingeing baseball history, finding an audience for baseball lore drops and video diaries of her first season as a fan, and what fascinates her about the sport.
Audio intro: Moon Hound, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio interstitial: Kite Person, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Philip Tapley and Michael Stokes, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Link to Leo on left-handed hitting
Link to Other Ben on bunting
Link to Stat Blast about bunting
Link to The Wire quote
Link to Padres’ three bunts
Link to MSG boos
Link to Trump interview comments
Link to BP on Trump comments
Link to Drellich on Trump comments
Link to Drellich on Trump’s influence
Link to Trump’s Yankee Stadium visit
Link to Dodgers White House visit
Link to EW episode on Trump’s baseball past
Link to voter registration research
Link to article on screwworms
Link to Adrian’s baseball column
Link to Adrian’s Guardian archive
Link to Chiles wiki
Link to West Bromwich Albion wiki
Link to Adrian’s BBC show
Link to Adrian’s book about drinking
Link to Adrian’s columns collection
Link to article about Adrian 1
Link to article about Adrian 2
Link to article about Adrian 3
Link to article about Adrian 4
Link to Chiles headline generator
Link to Machado comments
Link to European Super League wiki
Link to EW episode on promotion/relegation
Link to “silly position” at EW wiki
Link to Playing Hard Ball book
Link to foul strike rule
Link to foul tip rule
Link to Snickometer wiki
Link to British baseball wiki
Link to “Baseball Brit” EW episode
Link to “London Series” EW episode
Link to Adrian on soap dispensers
Link to Whales logo
Link to @backlinenurse on Instagram
Link to Jade interstitial video
Link to Jade on her first game
Link to Sulphur Dell wiki
Link to Green Cathedrals book
Link to Veeck As In Wreck
Link to Ben on Veeck As In Wreck
Link to Ben on losing track of the count
Link to pitcher hitting by year
Link to backline wiki
Link to Jade article 1
Link to Jade article 2
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBen Lindbergh· Host0:00
[singing] How do you calculate WAR? Does it come from the heart? Should we use defensive runs saved? Or follow the OAA way? Who's gonna weigh in? With their quips and opinions. It's Effectively Wild. Hello and welcome to episode 2489 of Effectively Wild- Wild ... a baseball podcast from FanGraphs, presented by our Patreon supporters. I am Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer, joined by Meg Rowley of FanGraphs. Hello, Meg.
Meg Rowley· Host0:42
Hello.
Ben Lindbergh· Host0:43
Well, we have a wonderful pairing of two delightful guests today. I am very excited for everyone to hear these conversations because they were lovely. Sometimes I wonder and fear that we are not accessible enough to neophytes.
Meg Rowley· Host1:00
Oh.
Ben Lindbergh· Host1:00
We try to be. I think we, we try to appeal to baseball fans of all stripes- Oh, yeah ... and experience levels, but sometimes it can be a bit intimidating to dive into an Effectively Wild episode. We try to explain things, we try to lay it out, but you never wanna overexplain for the people who have listened to 2,400 episodes, [laughs] but you always know it's someone's first episode. I don't want them to feel excluded, and also people have been following baseball for decades. Other people are new to baseball. This is