No Crying In Baseball

The postseason bracket is coming into focus but we needed to shed some light on another race – the voting for the Roberto Clemente Award. Please vote as it is important to recognize the whole person, the community outreach, the giving back, and the character of our favorite players.  Pay attention though, to that whole person. Caring for kids is admirable, but if at the same time you treat other people as less than, using religion as an excuse or not, you are not Clemente material. Yay for Naseem, our only current BF on a ballot full of formers. We loo...

Patti and Pottymouth are back in the studio at last. Pottymouth is batting clean up on her fantasy team – when did all these changes happen? Patti shows personal growth regarding Adley on that other team. Your hosts’ bfs Sal and Kaz share a pretty cool rookie stat but is Kaz really a rookie? MIL and TBR are the first to clinch, and MIL does it in a way that makes us nostalgic for two weeks ago. The Hunters are the first team to get eliminated in the WPBL playoffs but there’s still more to go, and this piece in the...

Patti and Pottymouth are back from our Epic Baseball Road Trip and are unpacking and remembering how to go to work or learning how to be retired, respectively. While we take a minute, we thought we'd share with you the inspiration for the adventure. Back in January, we had the honor of interviewing Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. As soon as we finished, we both thought "We need to go there, we need Bob to show us his museum in person." And why just fly to KC when you can over-complicate things, drive a 2013 Subaru...

That’s our big thank you wish for all the fun and support on the Epic Baseball Road Trip. 8 ballparks, 10 beds, 2799 miles, a handful of breweries, wineries, and distilleries, one amazing day with Bob at the NLBM, one Scottish play, one evening of Mozart and Frank Zappa, more cheese than should be legal, and the kindest, friendliest baseball fans and staff we could hope to meet. Today’s show brings you the St. Louis and Louisville leg of the trip. At Busch Stadium we had our best seats of the trip, and then effectively free seats the second night to w...

We are over 1700 miles in to our approximately 2500 mile road trip. Today’s show covers the crazy game in MIL, our two game visit to Springfield to see the WPBL in action, and two games in Kansas City. MIL gave us an historic shut out, a tornado warning, and a “throwing error” for the ages. On the way to Springfield we paid our respects to Rockford, the home of the Peaches, and future home of the IWBC. At the WPBL home base we saw Kelsie and Danae hit homers, Maybelle the mascot shaking her groove thing, and the very first...

Lovely humans. Yes it’s our first episode from the Epic Baseball Road Trip: CLE, DET, CHI edition. We give you the NCiB takes on Progressive Field, Comerica Park, and Wrigley Field. What are pierogi nachos, really? Yes we care that the bathrooms are just that good. No, in fact “good” beer is NOT available everywhere in the park. How far will Patti travel to execute a visual Hello Kitty/Detroit Tigers joke? Yes every single person in the entire midwest is pretty nice and the people working guest services are the people that should be working guest services. With t...

It’s a good day when Pottymouth can work “Durbinator” into a sentence. Patti, like parents of dogs, cats, and small humans all over Baltimore, cannot quit Adley so she will be making questionable if not terrible roster decisions. Luis is mentoring Justin, Salvy is impressed by very strong Jac, PCA and Shohei keep the race interesting. Pottymouth has her first Baseball Girlfriend and Denver is an excellent pick. We crosstrain with JB and the NBA because there is so much right there.  And Patti gets way too invested in female-identifying and gender-neutral mascots.

We say “It’s Ital...

It’s really the only way to cope with the trade deadline. Lots to cover in this super-sized episode, only partly fueled by very delicious (organic!) tequila. The big news was supposed to be Tarik Skubal, for which Patti doesn’t fault the LAD, she faults everyone else. The gut punch was once and forever Adley to BOS, which sets up all sorts of interesting co-host dynamics for AL East games to come. But the rest of baseball continues – Nasim can’t stop stealing bases and Kaz stole his first. Ivan has more bruises than you’d expect and Daylen nee...

Yeah, well, our teams killed each other’s streaks so we’re moving on to the trade deadline.While the Mead/Early trade got things kicked off, the big target is Skubal. Grady and the Rays set a record for a HS draft pick, but sometimes a water gun will do. Salvy sets a Royals franchise record, Kaz sets a Japanese rookie record, and Drake does his job. Pottymouth talks about Caleb like Patti talked PCA last year. José goes to Broadway, Pookie and Kiké did not go to the White House. Johan Sandoval talks about his very real ICE ar...

That described the two longest active winning streaks and coincidentally our two favorite teams, one of which was going down shortly after recording. More wood was knocked upon. Patti’s got two players of the week on her boyfriend roster, congrats to Drake and WIlyer. Several of our guys made their marks in some very lopsided games this weekend. Pottymouth learns that SDI is not what it was in our formative years but Caleb’s got a good one. We’ve got some All Star moments, including mathing out Cuban participation. Women’s World Cup Baseball group states are about to...

Everyone knows you can’t  just talk about a streak without following it up with a protective action. Sure, you all know how the Home Run Derby turned out but we recorded the day before so you get the joy of our terrible predictions. We have some do it for Venezuela, some home field advantage, and our thoughts on dads pitching. We ponder how ASG replacements actually work because it sure is not one for one. Willson and Ivan are in, Nick is out. JJ signs a monster contract extension, Kaz ties Shohei,. Pottymouth starts paying attention to Jonathan Ara...

Pottymouth does not disappoint bringing you the Cavalli-Contreras rant you’ve been waiting for. Putting it firmly in the larger context of the devastating earthquake in Venezuela, Contreras’ home country, we walk through the “brush,” the slur that came awfully easily to Cavalli, and the ensuing fracas (not a picnic, not a brawl). There’s yet another teaching moment about an apology that really isn’t. And the inequitable aftermath. Back to that larger context, “baseball” is rallying around earthquake recovery, from team-level fundraising to actions by individual players, and smaller, incredibly heartfelt moments that mean everything.

Congrats to c...

That’s the question posed by Kurt Weaver, the Executive Director of You Can Play, regarding how Pride events are handled in sports.  Read more here, after the finger pointing, the absence of leadership, and the spin. The deadly earthquakes in Venezuela hit the baseball world hard. Venezuelan players in MLB played through the pain, and wore their hearts on their caps. Current and former players are rolling up their sleeves and organizing relief efforts to augment the donations from MLBPA Trust and individual teams. The LMBP season is suspended and Venezuelans just keep taking hits. The Men’s World...

Keep them everywhere, like ibuprofen. You never know when you need them.  We have thoughts about Giants pitchers, DOJ and Attorneys General wasting taxpayer dollars on non issues, bigotry having consequences, and the chance for Book Club Girl to say Pride and Prejudice on a baseball podcast. The World Cup continues to provide endless opportunities for cross-training. Ecuador/Curaçao brings out the boyfriends, we’ve got a slippery slope of mouth covering with intent, there’s the welcome mats extended to Scots and Vikings and rolled up for many other countries (again we say, why is the US allowe...

That’s right, it’s Happy Retirement Week for Pottymouth – from her day job, not the pod! But that means a little less incognito. If there’s a beer in front of her face, it is because she’s drinking it, not hiding behind it. We’ve got some multihomer bfs this week, including one where others demand the credit, the espresso boys are lighting things up, Josh embraces the beer league. A’s Nick hits the ball really far while BSB Nick throws out a first pitch in a Vegas preview. Freddie gets to 2500 and Kaz gets to 500 level. Kyle is...

Embrace the game! Stop your timid, even if it means running into the outfield wall. Twice. Josh Rojas has a minor league hit and a major league hit in the same day, in the form of an SAT question. Kazuma goes Tex Mex, adding a little Country with the quesadilla. Bello goes a little Devers. Matt completes the home run bingo card with Sacramento as the free space. Patti rants about basepaths. It’s Pride month and TEX celebrates it through rainbow capitalism but dropping in the formerly September-based Faith and Family night into June instead of a public, in...

We crosstrain with the Fascist-in-Chief tearing up the South Lawn of the White House in order to host a UFC event in honor of his own birthday and to celebrate America 250. Because nothing says patriotism, etc. Pottymouth finally gets Blaze on the roster, maybe a day late but it will be great and in talking about Caleb we wonder if anyone else has said GSwing out loud. Nick breaks a streak but also the NYY so Patti’s okay. Cam steals a home run and finally has some fun at home. PCA shows the shirtless guys what’s up and...

We’re pretty sure Batman doesn’t mean what Nathan Lukes thinks it means. The Password is up for PIT and the Username is in Maine. Nick surpasses Rickey’s streak. Other Nick debuts in front of home town crowd. James Frickin Wood scores a real inside the park GS (sorry, JJ). Everybody loves Salvy, and Chris is retiring for real this time. It doesn’t matter if your home run hits the top of the foul pole or the base, it counts the same and both are pretty notable. The Johnson’s, if that’s their real name, home run bal...

Welcome to the episode where we embrace retirement age and a respect for poetry at the same time our inner 12 year olds attempt to discuss cockfighting with the seriousness it deserves. That’s right, in the same hour we reference NPR and the National Baseball Poetry Festival, and Edwin Diaz and his 150 cock photos on Facebook. Not that kind. We tell you about Thor dabbling with slander, Yasiel Puig’s perceived lack of remorse, and the wrong kind of banner day at Nat’s Park. Pottymouth’s boyfriends battle it out – Will Blaze be the new Westy? How will the Jorbit...

Tarik may have had loose bodies removed from his elbow but Patti’s pitching flock remains in shambles. Our boyfriends are getting beaned, sometimes by the aforementioned flock member. We don’t care for it, and yet what happened to warnings? Pottymouth catches us up on her overabundance of catchers. Shea has Dad Power. JJ hits an inside the park grand slam and laments the running. Patti relates. It turns out, at the one-quarter season mark, that we are terrible about predicting where teams will be in the standings but not so bad about identifying individual stand-out players. Pottymouth digs...

We have streaks, and streaks that have been struck, and hello new guy, and some monster home runs fueled by quesadillas. Patti preps you for collective bargaining which should start Any Day Now. And she wants you to do some homework by reading this piece in the Athletic if you want to get all caught up. Pottymouth gets all Alice in Wonderland with the Phils firing their manager and is Mattingly 110 yet? We cross train with national anthems and the NHL and a pretty meaningful O Canada moment. The Women’s Baseball World Cup qualifiers were great for Canada an...

Is it the rant on the Boston massacre or an overview of the Cyclones’ Weenie Weekend? Take your pick, we’ve got both. Buckle up, Pottymouth has takes. Adley is back and he brought his bat, James spoils a debut, and Ben MacDonald has a UFO moment. The Mexico Series brought a split for SD and ARI, and a big win for local kids with a huge free baseball clinic and Play Ball benefits. Patti highlights MLB’s surprisingly good sustainability work including team awards announced on Earth Day. We’re concerned about the health effects of consuming processed meat and...

In which we consider the logistics of the CWS-branded pope hat giveaway. Are they inappropriate?  Are they too tall to see over?  What are the optics if pope hat-wearing fans brawl? Alas, it’s not for us to determine first hand, but we do get in an inadvertent “holy crap.” In the boyfriend report we find both bombs and f-bombs where Sal is concerned, We celebrate the turnaround of slow starts by Nick, Connor, and Josh. The former boyfriend word of the way is “Pokikémon.” You’re welcome. It’s a low bar when we celebrate flipping off fans over homopho...

It's the episode you didn’t know you needed.  Patti and the Pottymouth review all eight new City Connect uniforms at one time. A+ for Baltimore and San Diego, who are both two for two (if we round up). The Os design leans hard into what makes Camden Yards great and an understanding of the importance of neighborhood. The Pads celebrate their bi-national city by embracing multiple cultures as well as the history of the team and the city, and inviting you to do the same. Many of the new looks have their charms but we’re not sold – with th...

Drake Baldwin got mentioned in the same sentence as Henry Aaron, and Pottymouth invited Justin Crawford’s mom for vegan cheesesteaks. Carter overslept, Matt got salty, and Chase got the singalong started. We didn’t call it Police Blotter, but Jo robbed three home runs in one game. There’s a Boston Archdiocese smackdown over corned beef and Fenway Franks, while in New York the PWHL is selling out the Garden. We check in on the ABS challenge system and look forward to next year’s Women’s Baseball World Cup. And we keep adding tabs to the Epic Road Trip...

Join us as we try not to overreact to the small sample size that is Opening Weekend. The kids are definitely alright – rookie BFs Sal, Justin, Chase, and JJ are doing us proud. Dom hits a grand slam that hits especially hard, and Freddie hugs it out. The police blotter features LAD making a bad decision in fan relations, mom and dad making some allegedly bad decisions in money management, the CWS deciding not to consult with Frank, and the mayor of Cincinnati deciding to skip town on Opening Day and turn an overcrowding situation into ammunition. There are mo...

Welcome to the 10th season of No Crying in Baseball! We appreciate those of you who have been with us since the beginning, those we’ve collected along the way, and we welcome you who are just joining in. It’s also the week of our favorite national holiday, Opening Day.  That means it is time for our terrible predictions. You will see no bias for or against any particular teams as we give you our best guesses as to pennants and the post season, as well as the major awards. The prediction we do almost always get right is ou...

We love the WBC so much and it’s not just for the espresso shot cellies or the hair that goes poof when a batting helmet comes off, but it could be. We are dismayed at the military overtones that Team USA embraces, and are pretty peeved about a specific Navy Seal brought in to the clubhouse to hype up the guys. On the other hand the young guys are fun to watch. We love the DR spirit – take a look at this Player’s Tribune piece by Tatis, Jr. After that Team Venezuela upset Patti is feeling good about...

The World Baseball Classic is testing the limits of our attention spans and our channel surfing. We are loving the father-son stories, the espresso shots, the real estate agents, the moms and high school kids, and all the Kims, and are wondering where the politics went. In our last boyfriend week, we bring you our picks for the Blue Jays and the Brewers. We found two more kids who wanted their dads to play for TOR, one wanting to stay and one picking them first among 30. For MIL, we look to a former Red Sox and a current Team...

It’s our second to last boyfriend week of the off-season so we’ve got some Yankees and some Phillies to talk about. For NYY, All signs pointed to Jorbeet in Orbeet for Pottymouth, and how could Patti resist a big man who can fly and cook? Pottymouth dives into a next gen situation for the Phils and Patti follows an unusual, if dope, path to the Show. Harrison Bader signs a food truck and Brooke lobbies for her dad’s spot on the Jays. We crosstrain with some college hoops players to the rescue and a super-iffy World Cup en...

That’s right, spring training games have started and we’re getting alerts about players we don’t know. First though, we’ve got a legit scandal crossed with police blotter and wrapped in labor. Pottymouth is already a man down with her ARI boyfriend heading over to B’more. New boyfriends this week are from SEA and LAD. For the Mariners, Pottymouth picks the army brat who is always prepared, and Patti goes for the Cleveland kid with a shared love of Kenny Lofton. We dug deep for Dodgers, with Pottymouth selecting sexy defense with uncanny timing, and Patti pick...

You can keep your Kevin Bacon, we are practically related to Bad Bunny. I mean, we stood next to Ronald Acuña Jr once and he was in the casita so here we are. Nick is off to unbutton his jersey in San Diego, where they also are not a beer league. Kiké continues his one year at a time pace with the LAD. Players have another winning season over owners in the “stupid” arbitration system. It’s a three hamate week (that’s a bone just west of Detroit). Pottymouth is very excited that we’ve reaced Boston week and int...

It was a visually confusing finale for Serie del Caribe what with the Mexico on Mexico naming convention not matching the jersey situation. And then no jerseys to be had because, well, tariffs. In other major international tournament news, when it rains it tropical storms for Puerto Rico. Here’s looking at you, Javy, with hindsight as 20-20 vision. Check if your favorite players actually made it through the gauntlet to a WBC roster. Here at home we’re picking boyfriends from Cities where Patti has lived a significant number of years. Her hometown CLE team offers Pottymouth a Bad...

This is not the first time we’ve selected baseball boyfriends because of their moms, but this may be the first time we’ve concocted a plan to bring them beer in person. This week we talk HOU and NYM. For the Astros, Pottymouth picks the mom in the stands reminding him to run and Patti chooses the mom in the clubhouse. For the Mets its Pottymouth goes for the mom who just wants both boys to have a great time and Patti the one who could watch her kid every single day playing ball. Two fatal shootings by Feds...

Patti and the Pottymouth warm up with some baseball talk and hot toddies after attempting to shovel the snowcrete encrusting our respective sidewalks. We profile players from Detroit and Cincinnati, stops on our still theoretical epic midwestern summer road trip. For Detroit, Pottymouth goes for bounce in the clubhouse and Patti leans into small town kid makes good. In Cincinnati, Pottymouth picks an energizer bunny/family man and Patti selects a utility player who grew up in Angels stadium. We appreciate PCA demonstrating excellent cross-training tendencies and celebrate José Ramírez locking in the Guardians for life. Winter ball de...

No, we don’t mean us, we mean the PWHL, where Patti crosstrained with their “Takeover Tour” and helped set an attendance record for US women’s hockey this weekend. Our bfs this week, from Kansas City and San Francisco, are all all young guys doing good in the world and on the field. Pottymouth picks a guy who finds a way to make lack of a second language work for him, and one leaning in to the goofy. Patti goes with a collegiate Ohtani and a lightning bolt. The hot stove claims some bats, adding fuel to the salary c...

Bob Kendrick, President of the National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, joins us for a conversation ranging from touring his childhood hero, Henry Aaron, through the museum, to the incorporation of Negro League statistics into MLB stats, the rebirth of the Indianapolis Clowns, Toni Stone, the unexpected benevolence of a white, Canadian rocker, and the ambitious plan to triple the size of the museum to give Buck the house he deserves. Patti and Pottymouth are now planning an epic road trip and we bet you just might too. In the meantime, consider a contribution to Pitch for the Future, the...

We had the great honor of talking with Bob Kendrick, President of the National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which, in his words, “is one of the nation’s most preeminent social justice civil rights institutions – it’s just seen through the lens of baseball.” We share a few of Bob’s stories in this episode, and the full interview will be released as a bonus episode later this week. We’ve got boyfriends from TEX and ARI this week. For TEX, Pottymouth picks the only guy to play for both teams in one game while Patti completes a set of brothers. ...

We did not plan to go all Florida in this episode but you can’t fight the rankings. For the Rays, Pottymouth picks Jonathan Aranda of the excellent qHAR and Kirk friendship, and Patti goes sexy defense and trustworthy babysitter Carson Williams. For MIA, Pottymouth selects Jakob Marsee and his good luck travelling pack, and Patti picks former Oriole Connor Norby, maybe just to tell a call up story. You knew it was coming, buckle up for the Venezuela rant. MLB had no plan and team statements are few and far between. Pottymouth has shared this googlesheet of Venezuelan pl...

In which our boyfriend profiles reference the chicken dance, churning butter, ballers, and something nice to look at. Welcome to (not the Sacramento) Athletics and Cardinals week. The long strange trip of Anthony Rendon is finally over. He may have been why we changed the rules on forever boyfriends… the multi-talented Katia Reguero Lindor joins the Mamdani transition team and we are here for it. Is that why they are using Mets colors? We crosstrain with the ECHL’s brief but effective strike and share the ridiculously low expectations of minor league hockey. There's a series of series in the...