Infinite Inning 375: The A's, Murder in Camden, and the Spiders from Cleveland

About this episode

The episode explores themes of empathy, morality, and the historical context of baseball, focusing on the Cleveland Spiders and a 1943 murder case.

Infinite Inning 375: The A's, Murder in Camden, and the Spiders from Cleveland Several attempts at finding empathy through self-denial this week: We ask if it’s right to laugh at the players trapped by vile ownership into performing like abused seals for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, if restraining ourselves from saying everything we’re allowed to say is the at all similar to protecting a pitcher’s arm, observe several long losing streaks, and note a 1943 murder carried out in the delusional name of love, a crisis of perspective and morality to which Connie Mack inadvertently provided an answer. The Infinite Inning is a journey to the past to understand the present using baseball as our time machine. America's brighter mirror, baseball reflects, anticipates, and even mocks the stories we tell ourselves about our world today. Baseball Prospectus's Steven Goldman shares his obsessions: history from inside and outside of the game, politics, stats, and Casey Stengel quotations. Along the way, we'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?

People in this episode

Host: Steven Goldman

Topics covered

• baseball history
• Cleveland Spiders
• moral dilemmas
• sports ownership
• long losing streaks
• 1943 murder

Keywords

• Cleveland Spiders
• Connie Mack
• murder in Camden
• baseball history
• sports ownership
• long losing streaks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cleveland Spiders

Books & works: The Infinite Inning

Places: Camden

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