Effectively Wild Episode 1907: Where’s There a Wills?

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the man who tried to return Roger Maris’ s 61st home run ball, two Mickey Mantle letters, the 2017 Zac Gallen / Sandy Alcantara trade, how Maury Wills changed (and dominated) basestealing, and Aaron Judge ’s recent value even when he hasn’t hit homers, then answer listener emails (38:15) about hitters setting their own strike zones, Atlanta’s extreme day/night winning percentage split, the shift ban and the Stanky rule, which pitchers will suffer from the new pickoff-attempt rules, and immaculate innings that include an automatic strike from the pitch clock (with a digression into “timer” vs. “clock”), followed by a research-intensive Stat Blast (1:05:53) into whether working quickly improves the defense behind a pitcher, and a double Past Blast (1:27:58) from 1907, including an ahead-of-its-time proposal by the eccentric Bob Unglaub . Audio intro : Styx, “ Havin’ a Ball ” Audio outro : Drive-By Truckers, “ Bob ” Link to 2022 article about Durante Link to 2016 article about Durante Link to offer for Judge ball Link to article about Judge ball value Link to other article about Judge ball Link to 1961 Mantle letter Link to 1973 Mantle letter Link to BP on Gallen Link to article about 2017 trade Link to Jeff on the 2017 trade Link to Wills SABR bio Link to Wills obit Link to Pages From Baseball’s Past Link to Craig Wright on SBs Link to Wright on Wills Link to 1960–65 SB leaders Link to 1962 NL MVP voting Link to video of Judge near-homer Link to Defector on the Judge flyout Link to Defector on walking Judge Link to EW emails database Link to Stathead on Atlanta’s split Link to EW Stanky draft Link to Stanky maneuver story Link to Stanky maneuver image Link to Russell on the running game Link to list of immaculate innings Link to Stathead Link to Savant pitch tempo page Link to Savant defense behind pitcher Link to Savant team defense Link to Mike Fast on pace and defense Link to Ben on pace and defense in 2017 Link to pace and defense Stat Blast data Link to 1907 Cubs story source Link to list of in-season exhibitions Link to SABR baseball cards site Link to SABR baseball cards tweet Link to Unglaub’s 1907 arc idea Link to article on eccentric Unglaub Link to article on Unglaub not playing Link to Unglaub SABR bio Link to Rob Arthur on deeper defense Link to Rob on better defense Link to Jacob Pomrenke’s website Link to Jacob Pomrenke on Twitter Link to DraftKings ad Sponsor Us on Patreon Subscribe to Stathead (Code: WILD20) Facebook Group Twitter Account EW Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!) Get Our Merch! Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com var SERVER_DATA = Object.assign(SERVER_DATA || {}); Source