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PODCAST

Almost Cooperstown

Gordon Kolier & Mark Kolier

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

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All Episodes

26:08

Spin rates & FIP explained. ASG rosters complete....

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/07/07

Send us a text Sadly #whitesox closer Bobby Jenks passed away from stomach cancer at age 44. Our condolences to the Jenks family. On a happier note #Dodgers Clayton Kershaw struck out his 3,000th #MLB batter! #RedSox Wilyer Abreu hit both a Grand Slam AND an inside-the-park home run in the same game last week! HOFer Robbie Alomar had an ignominus end with #BlueJays having his number un-retired and being erased from the Jays HOF. On the other hand, or hands, Moises Alou, a career ....

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24:44

Defensive metrics are many & confusing. We unravel...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/06/30

Send us a text Dave 'The Cobra' Parker passed away at age 74 less than a month before his induction ceremony in Cooperstown. His arm in right field was legendary and he won the 1978 NL MVP. We're sorry he won't get the opportunity to be there next month. Corbin Carrol of the #dbacks broke his wrist. Without Corbin Burnes the road got that much tougher. #Mets have been awful losing 13 of 16 and falling out of 1st place in the #nleast. #Dodgers #Cubs #Astros are fine. #Yankee...

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28:48

What the heck is xwOBA? TWIB - 6.23.25 - Ep. 615

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/06/23

Send us a text Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are 1-2 in xwOBA. Expected Weighted On-Base Average (xwOBA) tell the story of a player's season based on quality of and amount of contact, not outcomes. It takes out being unlucky. Why can't we get into the College World Series? Rafael Devers is a Giant in the first pre-trading deadline deal of the 2025 #MLB season. Devers said he'd play anywhere once he went to San Francisco. Maybe the Red Sox just didn't ask nicely? Not great for Alex Cor...

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54:02

The Big Nogowskis - Recent MLB player & his father in...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/06/15

Send us a text As a father and son doing a podcast we're keenly aware of the bond that baseball can bring to a family. We loved talking with a real live recent (and possibly future) MLB player and his father about their relationship and journeys in baseball. What's it like playing #MLB today? How hard is it to hit today's pitchers and get out Major League hitters? John Sr. is on a book tour with his latest release "Diamond Duels" which we recommend highly. He's also w...

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33:22

Mets season so far & this week in baseball 6.9.25 -...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/06/09

Send us a text Cal Raleigh aka 'The Big Dumper' hit his 26th home run this week to lead #MLB. If #Mets Tylor Megill was traded to Seattle they'd become a battery meaning the "Big Drip" would pitch to the "Big Dumper". Can we see that happen please? #Braves have lost 8 of 10 and are making the task of reaching the postseason increasingly difficult. Phillies have lost 9 of 10 and now lost Bryce Harper to another injury. #Cubs are still looking good. #Padres Manny Machado got his 2,5...

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38:39

2,500 career hits - the new 3,000? This week in...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/06/02

Send us a text #Phillies pfell out of pfirst place in the #nleast given a very unusually poor start on Saturday vs. #Brewers. Phillies #Cubs, #Dodgers, #Mets all started Sunday at 36-22. They are the class of the league while in the #americanleague #Yankees & #Tigers seem better than all the other teams. #Braves despite the returns of Spencer Strider & Ronald Acuna can't get it together. There's still time but the injury to AJ Smith-Shawver hurts more than it should...

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36:56

MLB Pitcher game scores are hot! TWIB - 5.26.25 - Ep....

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/05/26

Send us a text Happy Memorial Day! This is episode 301 as we forgot to mention our 300th last week! #tigers Tarik Skubal pitched a Maddux on Sunday, throwing a complete game, striking out 13, only yielding 2 hits, and he threw 94 total pitches. His Game Score was an amazing 96. Anything over 80 is special and a 100 is nearly unattainable. It's a great way to evaluate starting pitchers and you will be hearing more about it even though Bill James came up with it years ago. #Braves ...

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32:36

Inside the park homers are rare - & This week in...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/05/19

Send us a text Three managers have been fired already before Memorial Day! #Pirates Derek Shelton, #Rockies Bud Black, & #Orioles Brandon Hyde all were dismissed and it kind of makes sense. You can't fire 26 players! #Twins won 13 straight before finally losing on Sunday. They move to 2nd place in the #ALCentral. #Tigers are the best team in #MLB right now and look strong enough to hold that position. How about #Mariners hitting? After years of putrid offense, the M's are lea...

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37:01

25% of 2025 MLB season is done. Projecting individual...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/05/12

Send us a text #Yankees Aaron Judge is now on pace for 56 home runs which would surprise exactly nobody! Judge also has a #MLB leading 39 RBIs which over 162 games would be 156 RBIs. That hasn't been done since A-Rod did it for those same Yankees in 2007. But the real question is can Judge maintain his +.400 batting average? Doubtful but fun to watch! #Pirates CF O'neil Cruz leads MLB on pace for 60+ SBs. Can he keep that up? He has a new manager now that Derek Shelton has been le...

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35:04

Are MLB team captains irrelevant? TWIB - 5.5.25 - Ep....

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/05/05

Send us a text It was more fun talking about This Week in Baseball goings-on since #MLB team captains are kinda unimportant. A vestige of 19th century baseball, there are only three team captains in the Majors today. # Yankees Aaron Judge #Royals Salvador Perez, & #Rangers Marcus Semien. Why aren't there more? We dive into that thought in this week's episode. Four of the five teams in the #ALWest are .500 or better. Who'da thunk it? Jacob DeGrom is looking like prime DeGrom fo...

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30:17

Check swings need to be checked out & 4 HR game This...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/04/28

Send us a text #Pirates rookie 27 YO Matt Gorski hit a home run in his first #MLB at-bat this week! But maybe #Dbacks Eugenio Suarez outdid him by clubbing 4 home runs in a game versus the #Braves, that Arizona ended up losing! Are the #Giants & #Tigers built for the long haul? Is #Yankees Paul Goldschmidt really back in HOF form? We cover the big and little stories of the past week. Like the phantom triple play turned by the Nationals in their crazy win Friday vs...

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34:44

Future HOFers playing 2025 & This Week in Baseball -...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/04/21

Send us a text About 1/8th of the season is past so you can pretty much take #MLB player stats and multiply by eight. Tyler Soderstrom of the #athletics s is not going to hit 72 home runs. But #yankees Aaron Judge could definitely finish with 56 or more homers. Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt was taken out by a line drive foul ball last week in the #Mets #Twins series at Citi Field. Hoping that he's going to be ok but it was a scary thing. Is the National League really that much better...

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29:57

The 5 best starting pitchers in Mets history - TWIB...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/04/14

Send us a text #Angels in first place is something we did not expect. Mike Trout leading the #AL in homers is not as shock but that he has 6 HRs and 10 hits is at least surprising! The #Tigers are in 1st place as are #Yankees, #Padres, #Cubs w #Mets & #Phillies tied for 1st place in the #NLEast as of Sunday morning. Justin Steele may have an injury to his elbow that could change the Cubs fortunes. #Giants Wilmer Flores also has 6 HRs. #Mets Pete Alonso is off to a raging start...

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56:08

Roundtable discussion - which baseball movies should...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/04/10

Send us a text Baseball movies are rarer than they used to be. Has there been a great one that you love in the past 10 years? Gordon and Mark participated in a roundtable with 4 other baseball writers/podcasters/personalities - Vince Wetzel (author of "Lose Yourself" and a past Almost Cooperstown guest, Scott Bolohan (host of the Twin Bill podcast and content), Kelly Franco (Three Inning Fan the podcast), and former ESPN and The Athletic writer, current Substack author and author of "Th...

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28:08

This week in baseball was SO much fun! - 4.7.25 - Ep....

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/04/07

Send us a text The #Dodgers finally lost & #Braves finally won. Yet it's the #Giants who are in 1st place in the NL West. #Padres also lost but still are off to a great start. #Cubs are looking good as are #Phillies who beat L.A. 2 out of 3 this weekend. #Mets bullpen is over-performing but they will take it for now. #D'backs have good news and bad news. #Yankees are still clubbing home runs and the #ALEast is already a dogfight. At one point this week all the #ALCentral teams were ...

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41:21

This week in baseball & we pick postseason award...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/03/31

Send us a text It's not really been a week in baseball but the Dodgers & Cubs have played 5 games now (Dodgers have won them all and are on a path to be undefeated) so that's close to a week. There are no narratives written in March for MLB teams. That goes for April too although teams will be almost 30 games into the season when April ends. #Yankees Aaron Judge was on a pace for nearly 500 RBIs this season when he had 11 RBIs in his first 11 ABs. That goes with his 4 home run...

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77:46

SEASON SIX PREMIERE! 2025 Season Preview &...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/03/24

Send us a text As we launch our 6th season of Almost Cooperstown podcasts we start by saying thank you to our listeners and viewers. 280 episodes in the can and still going strong! Thank you for liking to hear and watch us talk about our favorite thing - baseball! We go division by division picking all 30 teams in order of finish. It's a long episode for that reason but we just couldn't stop ourselves! Take it in bites if you can't listen all at once. Will the #Dodgers...

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44:35

Keith O'Brien author of Charlie Hustle on Pete Rose &...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/03/17

Send us a text Author of 19 books, Keith O'Brien grew up in Cincinnati and had a front row seat to much of Pete Rose's career. Keith's 2024 book "Charlie Hustle" won awards from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and The New Yorker. We both enjoyed the book immensely and recommend it highly. Pete Rose was addicted to gambling, something he finally admitted, but only when he was trying to get baseball to reinstate him to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Pete always played to win ...

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22:17

Baseball Banning, Blackballing & Blacklisting - Ep. 579

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/03/10

Send us a text Even before Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned eight #Whitesox players for their attempted fix of the 1919 World Series, players had been banned, blacklisted and banished from baseball mostly for trying to fix games but not always. Once Commissioner Landis was given the job and power to kick players and people out of baseball he used it liberally as did his successors. Even Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were banned from #MLB in 1983 for being greeters at different casi...

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28:10

Spring Training injuries & the youngest player in MLB...

Almost Cooperstown ·

2025/03/03

Send us a text #Yankees Giancarlo Stanton is injured. Again. This time it is tennis elbow in both elbows! #Mets FA acquisition Nick Madrigal is doing his Jed Lowrie imitation as he's out for the season before it ever started! Injuries are part of the game but you hope to get through Spring Training! Max Scherzer is not thrilled with ABS testing so far. But Max is never happy about, everything? Terry Francona of the #Reds told his players to ignore ABS since they are not goin...

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