Effectively Wild Episode 1781: Hidden Balls Trick

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about listener responses to their earlier conversation about the proper pluralization of “hit by pitch,” then (11:41) bring on Bradford William Davis and Dr. Meredith Wills to discuss the reporting and research that revealed that two types of baseballs were used during the 2021 MLB regular season, as well as the differences between balls, players’ and teams’ reactions to the news, whether MLB’s ball problems stem from incompetence or conspiracy, how the league could improve its messaging and production process, the outlook for offense next year, the ball’s impact on gambling and the labor situation, and more. Audio intro : Sparks, “ Balls ” Audio outro : Roy Orbison, “ Two of a Kind ” Link to SABR style guide Link to Bradford’s report Link to thread about Bradford’s report Link to SI report about 2020 balls Link to study about the Yankees Link to Alonso’s comments Link to Ben’s first piece about the HR rate Link to Ben’s first piece about the ball Link to Manfred’s 2019 comments Link to Meredith’s 2019 analysis Link to Ben on 2019 postseason balls Link to article about Wilson basketballs Link to Sporting News on three-pointers Link to NPR on three-pointers Link to Effectively Wild Secret Santa Link to Stove League teaser video Link to Stove League review Link to stream Stove League via Kocowa Link to stream Stove League via Viki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Sponsor Us on Patreon Facebook Group Effectively Wild Wiki Twitter Account Get Our Merch! Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source