MONEYBALLA$, Episode 00: King Cake Baby
Hey, you know how James is always spending eight months a year talking about baseball on Podcast! The Comics and occasionally writing multi-thousand-word articles about it that you pretend to read? Well, get ready for more, because MONEYBALLA$ is here! James and Cody F. Schmidt (of the New Girl Schmidts) are here to talk about baseball in excruciating detail while making jokes about stuff. Just download it and pretend you listened to it, like you do normally.
Episode 00: King Cake Baby
In this first, test episode for the show, James and Cody sat down on the first day of the 2014 Spring Training games to talk about the first day of fake baseball, the inane #FaceofMLB competition that Jose Bautista is being a whiny baby about and their own pasts with baseball. They highlight a few things, including:
- Oakland A’s right fielder Josh Reddick‘s two astounding catches in the first fake game of the season, including one many pros and commentators are describing as the greatest they’ve ever seen;
- Cincinnati Reds mascot Mr. Redlegs, the terrifying evil twin of Mr. Met (the greatest mascot in pro sports), and how he still pales in comparison to the infamous King Cake Baby:
- Former MLB pitcher and current commentator Dirk Hayhurt‘s latest novel - and final chapter of his trilogy about his pro career - Bigger Than the Game. Buy it online at Amazon or Chapters!
Check back in a few weeks for another riveting instalment of two Canadians talking about Major League Baseball, in strict defiance of the Hockey Gods that rule the frozen north! And if you have any comments or suggestions, make sure to send them in to [email protected] or on Twitter at @moneyballas. Compliment James on Twitter at @Leask and complain about Cody at @codyfschmidt.
Download the episode here or subscribe to the RSS feed. iTunes coming soon! I hear Cody’s got an in.
The Chicago Cubs: Still in contention for the 2014 World Series!
Loving this!
As I told James once, I’m an Angels fan for the exact same reasons he’s an A’s fan. When I remember learning the players names of the Trappers, it was when we had our affiliation with the Angels. (And yes, fuck the Yankees)
RE: Blue Jays players of interest, Maicer Izturis was a Trapper before moving on to the Angels, then to the Blue Jays. That should garner a little bit of attention! I should find my Trappers card of him…pretty sure I tweeted it once. Ah, classic.
I saw Lawrie tweek his side in exhibition when playing for Team Canada in phoenix last spring. Couldn’t happen to a nicer a-hole.
Got to see Dicky pitch for the US at Chase field. Against the Mexicans. The stadium was 2/3 mexican fans, 1/3 american…and a family of 4 canadians in the middle of it! It was a RIOT. Glad that Mexico won too, else it might have been a bit scary in the nosebleeds. Dicky did well though, he didn’t lose that game.
And…OMG Reddick’s catch!
MLB.TV this year is much better. All star game, WS, far less blackouts. Yeah, it’s the FAUX feeds still, but still a lot better than previous years. I’ve been a premium subscriber for the last 4 years. Share it with my Dad and Brother.
Licensing is an absolute BITCH with spring training TV feeds, most often because it’s local crews and exclusive feeds back. The fact that there is 200 being broadcast this year is a FSM inspired miracle. But a really good sign. Teams are starting to lean on the broadcasters to get their games out to MLB.TV because they KNOW it’s coming back to them in folds to get fans that aren’t anywhere near their stadiums to spend money…aka ME! Presumably you two as well.
What do you guys think about the opening series being played in Australia? They have a pretty good market there, some key players. No where near Japan or the Caribbean leagues (of outside US and Canada I mean), but of all the rest of the world they seem like the next biggest market. Seems to make sense to me.
Lastly, of course a bit of Angel bias here for a moment. Mike Trout gets a 1 million, 1 year deal. The halo’s didn’t owe him a damn cent more than the guaranteed pay a 3rd year gets. It’s the largest pre-arbitration deal in MLB history. It’s a huge sign from club management saying ‘yeah, we want you and we’re going to pay you big money because we know you’re worth it’ (sidenote: Second AB in first spring training game? Grand Slam. You’re welcome!) Thoughts? Is it possible to overpay for this guy? 300 million on a 6 year deal next year? Not out of the realm of reasonable.
Loved the show guys. Love the fact there is baseball fans in edmonton and doubly so you’re other work is also stuff I’m interested in! I’ll subscribe to any future baseball related stuff you do.
Gah! Sooo much baseball!