Infinite Inning 171: The Good Balboni and the Angry Dad

David Roth returns to talk about the Lindor trade, wet presidents, Bip Roberts, and the odor of old cigarettes. Plus Don Sutton doesn’t quite get caught, the Cardinals make a really bad hire, 1970s version, and reflections on Henry Aaron. TABLE OF CONTENTS Doug Harvey Makes a Bad Call on Don Sutton But Derives the Right Lesson*Henry Aaron, Briefly*The Rapp Experiment in St. Louis*David Roth: Cigarettes Covered in Butter*Jim Leyland in the Dugout/Smokers at the Diner/Masks at Walmart*A Bip Roberts Mention?/Angry Before Breakfast*Bip Roberts : Joe Biden*Millard Fillmore’s Last Words*Living in Orson Welles’ New Jersey*Friends Don’t Tell Friends About the 1982 Mets*Bruce Bochy/Bruce Bochte Confusion*The Mets Do the Right Thing (and the Astros Did Not)*Wet Ex-President/Wet Ex-Astros*Sociopathy Cannot Be a Universal Value*Starving the Minor Leagues, Starving the People*The Downside of Competitive Imbalance*Forgot Joey Lucchesi and Other Mets Pitchers*“Mortgaging the Future”*Goodbyes. The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?