Almost Cooperstown
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© 2026 Almost Cooperstown
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We're a father & son who love to talk and argue about baseball! Baseball is the professional sport that has the longest history so there is a lot to talk about. We launched Almost Cooperstown noting that baseball contains a long history of players that, for whatever reasons, have been shunned by the electors of the Hall of Fame. Consequently here are many 'Almost' players still waiting their turn for induction. With less than 1.5% of the now more than 23,000 players in the HOF, we feel there should be more players included. In these podcasts we also discuss current seasons & trends. Please send any messages to almostcooperstown@gmail.com.
Baseball articles can be found here: https://almostcooperstown.substack.com/publish/posts
335 Episodes
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Send us a text When we talked with Dan Brown about his HOF choices in episode 645 we noted that just before our prior podcast the Mets signed Bo Bichette. Right after the podcast with Dan, the #Mets traded for #Brewers #1 starter Freddy Peralta. What will happen this week after our podcast? Will Framber Valdez sign with the #Orioles as Gordon says in this podcast? Where else might he go? What about Tarik Skubal's arbitration case? If the #Tigers lose and have to pay him $32M, are they m...
Send us a text For the third straight year The Athletic's writer Daniel Brown who is also a BBWAA voter, discussed his and his fellow writer's votes for the Hall-of-Fame. Center fielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones both were elected with a few players making big strides in the their voting totals. We talked about trends in voting, who's on the ballot next year and why the process might be changing. Dan is a terrific writer and you should look for his pieces in The Athlet...
Send us a text Happy MLK Day. A little late but hopefully worth the wait. When we recorded this episode the news that #Mets signed Bo Bichette for 3 years $120M had just dropped and Gordon wasn't aware until Mark told him! Kyle Tucker's behemoth contract led to a discussion of a baseball salary caps which have always been a red line for the MLB Player's Association. Will a salary cap make MLB more competitive? That's not guaranteed. But a salary floor would bring up the salaries of the ...
Send us a text While Bregman, Bellinger, Tucker, and Valdez wait for some team to pull the trigger and sign them, two more Japanese League players - Imai and Okamoto signed with the Astros and Blue Jays respectively. Baseball WAR scores are not adjusted for when players played. But that does not acknowledge what really happened. Before baseball was integrated, and before international players became integral, the player pool was smaller and thus a replacement player was not as able.&nbs...
Send us a text Free agent hitters Cody Bellinger, Alex Bregman, & Kyle Tucker have still not yet found a team for the 2026 season as the dog days of winter continue. Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen are also still out there as starting pitchers along with Chris Bassitt. But relief pitchers are off the board with Pete Fairbanks the last one to sign - he with the Marlins for 2 years. White Sox Sign Murakami and Pirates sign Ryan O'Hearn after trading for Brandon Lowe. Mets move Jeff McNe...
Send us a text Dr. Stephen W. Dittmore has written a book that needed to be written about Jim "Junior" Gilliam. Gilliam followed HOFer Jackie Robinson through Montreal to Brooklyn and was signed by Branch Rickey. Not quite a HOFer himself, Gilliam was a member of four Dodger World Series winning teams - one in Brooklyn and three in Los Angeles. He played in three different stadiums for the Dodgers. Jim did not like being called "Junior" but the nickname stuck around for most of his car...
Send us a text Closer Robert Suarez goes to Braves who only need to figure out shortstop to be a juggernaut once again. The Tigers signed future HOFer Kenley Jansen & re-signed Kyle Finnegan. Sure doesn't look like a team about to trade 2 time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. Pete Alonso leaves the Mets and goes to the Orioles! Wow. Kyle Schwarber goes back where he belongs with the Phillies after toying with the Pirates and Reds. Edwin Diaz also left the Mets to be a Do...
Send us a text 2nd baseman & one-time NL MVP Jeff Kent got into the Hall-of-Fame which few expected including us. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did not get 25% of the votes to return to the Contemporary Era ballot in 2028 and now will have to wait until 2031 for what could be their final chance. Kent was great and has the most HRs for a 2B in MLB history. Every player who has the most homers at a position is in the HOF except for Albert Pujols at 1B and Barry Bonds in LF. The ...
Send us a text We began by talking about the best HOFers that did not make the HOF. Not hitting as many home runs hurt the chances of Derek Jeter, Wade Boggs, and Tony Gwynn all of whom did not win an MVP. Manny Ramirez did hit a lot of HRs never won an MVP, but he's also not a HOFer. Mike Piazza never won an MVP finishing second twice. Dylan Cease got the big bucks for seven years while Sonny Gray got $41M for one year. Pitchers get paid in different ways but long term deals have been&...
Send us a text The four that accepted the $22M Qualifying offer from their teams - Gleyber Torres, Shota Imanaga, Trent Grisham, and Brandon Woodruff all made sense for them and their teams. But for #Rangers one-time star Adolis Garcia, he was non-tendered a 2026 contract along with his teammate Jonah Heim. It's a 'what have you done for me lately' league. We also talk about who are the MVP candidates aside from Judge and Ohtani who have won seemingly year after year. Intro & ...
Send us a text Hot stove season in #MLB is fully in gear but the deals are yet to commence. That will happen and probably in December as the Winter meetings are often the kickoff for wheeling and dealing. We did one minute on every team in Major League Baseball and what they should be doing. What did we say about your favorite team? Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music! Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks f...
Send us a text It's not as if either of us went way far off the limb in our picks. We talked about the Hank Aaron Award for best offensive player and if that impacts the AL MVP race. There's a difference of opinion. Cy Young in the AL was close and the same was true for the NL. #Brewers Pat Murphy won NL Manager of the Year last year. Could he win it again? #Red Terry Francona is also a candidate. What do you think of the Comeback Player of the Year award? Some more strong o...
Send us a text Since 1973 there gave been 17 seven-game World Series. None of them had an 18-inning game, a player who got on base 9x in one game, a rookie striking out 12 hitters and a solo extra inning home run for the final runs. #Dodgers #BlueJays will be talked about for a long time. Gordon and Mark talk about each game of the series and answer the question is this the greatest World Series in history? www.almostcooperstown.com
Send us a text #Bluejays found their groove in Seattle winning the series 4-3 over the #Mariners in 7 interesting and often exciting games. #Dodgers dominated #Brewers who could only muster 4 runs in 4 games. A George Springer dinger made the difference in game 7. Shohei Ohtani had the greatest single game a player has ever played. What were the biggest plays of the LCS? We talk about which managers got things right and which one got things wrong. Intro & Outro music th...
Send us a text Did you stay up late to watch game one of the ALCS Sunday night the 12th? #Mariners and #BlueJays both entered the American League in 1977. Toronto has won 2 World Series but the Mariners have never won a pennant. Will they get past the Jays who have the home field advantage? We make our points and tell you why one of the teams may win easily! Mariners got by the #Tigers winning a 15 inning classic in game 5. George Kirby hopes he never has to face Kerry Carpenter ...
Send us a text It was quite a week in #mlb! #Dodgers subdued #Reds but not before a little excitement in game 2. #Phillies will be a much tougher test and the series started in Philly. #Cubs were better than #Padres but is that enough as they head to Milwaukee to face #Brewers over the weekend. What do the Padres do now that the season is over? #Tigers vanquish #Guardians who caught and passed them for the AL Central title. Great 3-game series! What do Guards do now? How abo...
Send us a text #Mets fans like we are might be relieved that the nightmare finish to the season is finally over. Sure making the playoffs would have been great, but #Reds deserved it more & getting spanked by #Dodgers would have been up next for the boys from Citi Field. #Phillies look good to Gordon, Mark is between Dodgers and #Padres. Neither of think give the #Cubs a chance and both of us still doubt #Brewers which is totally unfair. In the AL #BlueJays & #Mariners fin...
Send us a text Mike Trout hit his 400th home run. Remember when he was the best player in #MLB? We started the show talking about Ep. 628 where we talked with author Jane Leavy about her new book - Make Me Commissioner - I know what's wrong with baseball and how to fix it! Jane has some eye-opening comments and ideas so give it a listen or watch! There are now 3 players with 50 home runs this season - Cal Raleigh, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber. #Yankees Aaron Judge is on the doorstep...
Send us a text We're so excited to have had the chance to talk with former Washington Post baseball writer and best-selling author Jane Leavy join the podcast. Her new book "Make Me Commissioner - I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It" is fascinating and yet a love letter from Jane to the sport she loves the most. Great stories in the book including the Cape Cod League, Savannah Bananas, how a heavier and slightly larger baseball could save pitcher's arms. Lowering the mou...
Send us a text Mark went to the #mets game Friday night to see the return of Jacob DeGrom. It did not go well for the Metropolitans as rookie Jonah Tong didn't make it out of the 1st inning. The Mets are so awful lately that Mark proclaimed them dead as he did the #rangers a couple of weeks ago. That proclamation was before the Rangers went on a tear! So maybe that's the trick as the Mets came back to win 5-2 on Sunday immediately after that? Paul Skenes pulled after less than 70 pitche...
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