Jane Leavy, Make Me Commissioner

Can you believe we are almost wrapped up with the regular season? This year has FLOWN by but boy is this an exciting time! We continue from Ozzie To Orel with numbers 46 and 47, plus the greatest Cleveland baseball player of all time, very much up for debate to many but Tim says he's nailed it. We also rake through some amazing Quirkjians and Takeaways including Shohei Ohtani madness and Cal Raleigh records. Plus maybe the biggest most complicated Team Tim of all time and Tim Kurkjian didn't even come up with this one. Shout out to Dan Simon for making this incredible effort, make sure to check him out!If you are considering becoming a part of our family, just make sure to hit subscribe and follow from wherever you watch or listen, that means a whole lot to us! Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jane Leavy is quite the decorated author and journalist and we were so happy to have her join our show. Her new book, "Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It," is an ode to the sport she loves the absolute most. Don't be fooled, it doesn't trash baseball, it's a "love letter" to it. Thank you to Jane for her time, get the book now wherever books are sold!  Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to another episode of our show, today we honor those who hit from both sides of the plate. Cal Raleigh and Mickey Mantle now have something in common, forever. Plus, another Team Tim about the dentist's office, trust me, we make it make sense. Will the New York Mets bounce back? Tim Kurkjian has a thought on their slump. On this date in baseball history, a whole lot happened including a homerun milestone and a couple big birthdays. But, almost most importantly, today Jeff's daughter starts something pretty amazing. Every parent has this moment with their kiddo, "it is time" as said in The Lion King!Thanks for listening, make sure to find the link below to message Tim directly with questions and comments! GreatGameOrWhat.com is the best place. Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tim and Jeff Kurkjian talk baseball each and every week, thanks for joining. However, there is something much bigger than baseball kicking off this show, the anniversary of 9/11. How did baseball help the country heal? Tim has two great examples of that. We want to thank the brave men and women, our first responders, for putting their life on the line every single day so we can live our life. Thank you. We discuss Cade Horton's insane back half of his year. Walk off hits we didn't see coming. Plus, ladies you are going to love the Team Tim this week, that's for sure. Plus it involves Sandy Koufax, which is always a win. Speaking of great pitchers, we get the greatest number 45 of all time, which is a debate between two of the greatest. The best number 44 of all time, for Tim and pretty much everyone who has seen a baseball game, is super obvious so we do it, quickly. Plus, any Pirates fans? We've got you covered this week!  Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jim Abbott might be the greatest story in baseball history. His perseverance inspires us all and we couldn't be more grateful that he took the time for us. We discuss his no-hitter, a feat that is not easy to accomplishment. We also share with him a member of our family, McKinley Abbott (no relation), who was also born with arm differential and has taken to Jim's story for inspiration. At just nine years old, she has began playing softball and loves listening to our podcast with her dad, Andy. We discuss his time with some very big managers and also what it was like to represent the United States in the Olympics back in 1988. Of course, it wouldn't be our show if we didn't bring up OTHER sports, so we hear about his high school football career too and the importance of playing multiple sports. Leave it up to Tim Kurkjian to bring in the biggest guests and names, we recommend checking out "Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott" streaming now because it's absolutely incredible. If you liked our interview, follow or subscribe wherever you are listening or watching right now and thank you for your support!   Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The 30th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2131 record-breaking game came with a fascinating finish as the Orioles hosted the Dodgers. This among so many other takeaway and Quirkjians. We have to say goodbye to one of the game's greats, Davey Johnson. Tim Kurkjian's stories about the (should be) Hall of Fame manager will make you smile and laugh through the difficult loss for the game of baseball. Just how good has Aroldis Chapman been these last couple months? Good enough for a Cy Young, we weigh in there. Walker vs Walker created a great moment for our show. And in honor of our guest for tomorrow's show, Jim Abbott, Tim created a team consisting only of big leaguers that never played a minor league game! Thanks for laughing with us and loving this game the way we do!  Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A special guest on a Thursday episode? Count us in! When it comes to On This Date in baseball history, we knew we had to bring this former big leaguer on the show to tell us about his biggest day in the big leagues. The greatest number 42 and 43 are in the mix today along with the best Expos/Nationals player of all time. We begin by reading all of your messages you have been sending us. Now that Tim can see and respond to them, reach out GreatGameOrWhat.com, he loves getting that's for sure. The All-Body Parts Team Tim is definitely not one we saw coming but maybe you can lend us a HAND with it (see what we did there).As we continue to grow our show, it is your support, the members of our family, that makes all of the difference. Sharing the show with a friend does wonders for us, take the time to do so. We love hearing from new people every week but it is, the ones who always come back, who we care for the most so thank you for being a part of our family.  Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have been so excited to bring you the ringmaster behind one of the biggest phenomenons the sporting world has ever seen, Jesse Cole, the mind behind the Savannah Bananas. Now, this might not be your grandad's style of baseball but trust me when I say, these guys can just flat out play. Don't believe us? Well go to one of their sold out "shows" and you tell us what you think. They have been traveling across Major League stadiums all this year bringing the athleticism, comedy and bits to young and old from near and from far. Cole draws inspiration from minds like that of Walt Disney, Jeff Bezos and so many others, and you can tell when it comes to his leadership style. From overdrawing their bank account to creating the thing that everyone wants to see, Jesse and his wife have made it but have no plans on stopping. Thank you for taking some time for baseball from a different league, we really think what they are doing is fantastic and hope you get to see them in town near you soon. If you liked this interview, there are plenty more. Follow or subscribe right now so you know when the next one is out! Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to September, folks. The most exciting time of the regular season is upon us and you have a front row seat for it all. Cal Raleigh got a phone call from a legend, and a long time friend of the show. That story you can't miss. Fantasy football drafts aren't just big with you and your high school buddies, it's big for our big leaguers as well. They take this very seriously. NFL kicks off Thursday and the drafts are in, which players are on your team?Happy Birthdays and memories from our great game plus a Team Tim that was challenged by Jeff. If you love names, then you will absolutely love this! Thanks for listening and sharing the show with a friend, every new member of the family helps!  Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to another episode and as you can tell from the title, we've got quite a bit of Tom Seaver in today's episode and for good reason. Also, a whole lot of Willie Mays including a story of what both Johnny Bench and Pete Rose thought of Mays. Trust me, if you don't know how good Mays was, maybe these two can help convince of it. Tim discusses the best number 40 and 41 in the history of our game outlining why one of those players had one of the biggest homers in baseball history (hint, they are both pitchers). Speaking of the mound, Tarik Skubal is just an animal out there and shows us once again how good he is. Plus, Clayton Kershaw hasn't taken his foot off the accelerator, are we sure he's going to retire at the end of this season!Tim also makes a correction to his Team Tim of All Actor names thanks to member of the family, Jeremy Schaap. We also hear about story from Schaap's dad about putting Muhammad Ali and Tom Seaver in a room together, just a knee slapper on this one. If you haven't taken the time to hit the follow or subscribe button, please do so because it really helps with the support of our show! Plus share it with a friend that loves this game as much as you do! Visit GreatGameOrWhat.com to contact the show with your questions, quips and insights.  Joy Pop Productions LLC Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.