Mick Gillispie, Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard discuss the beginning of spring training and preview MLB rule changes in the Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.  None of the 2023 MLB changes are new to Mick and Jesse, who spent the past few seasons watching these changes in action in the minor leagues. Discussed are the rule changes one by one, in order of impact: No shifts, as two fielders must be positioned on each side of second base. Mick likes the ban on shifts only because batters today lack the skills to take advantage of a shift; former greats could address the shift, bu ..read more

The 2022 Ballpark Digest Broadcaster of the Year is Adam Marco, Voice of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard sit down with Marco to discuss his career and the current state of broadcasting in the minors. Some highlights of Marco's career: manning the midnight-to-6-a.m. shift at Froggy 101 in Scranton, spinning country music under the Froggy-themed on-air DJ name Jumpin’ Jack Splash"; his eight seasons as the Voice of the West Virginia Power; creating the Nestor Cortes dual bobblehead and bobble-leg while heading promotions and calling games for th ..read more

Mick Gillispie, Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard discuss the beginning of the 2022 season and analyze trends on. and off the field in then Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.  Topics discussed in this podcast: Topics discussed in this podcast: -       We begin a discussion in a totally irrelevant fashion discussing ponies as an endangered species. A pony, of course, is a seven-ounce bottle of beer; only a few breweries still produce them in Wisconsin (Miller and Rheinlander). -       With the end of May approaching, we’re finally in the fu ..read more

Eric Shuffler, president of the Staten Island FerryHawks (Atlantic League), joins Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard to discuss the creation of the team, the work in reviving the team's scenic waterfront ballpark and how it will offer more than just baseball as a community center. Topics discussed in this podcast: ·      Unused since the 2019 season, SIUH Community Park--the former Richmond County Bank Ballpark--required millions in renovations for use as a working facility. Maintenance had been deferred for many years, while other essential components were reaching end ..read more

Emma Tiedemann, the Voice of the Portland Sea Dogs (Class AA; Eastern League), joins Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard to preview the 2022 MiLB season, discuss rule experiments and discuss Texas Leaguers and marlins. Today marks the beginning of the 2022 Minor League Baseball season, as the industry takes another major step toward normalcy. While there are COVID-19 protocols in place still in place throughout the industry, ballparks will be operating at full capacity.  Topics discussed in this podcast: ·      Those outside the baseball world may take for granted t ..read more

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, Mick Gillispie and Kevin Reichard discuss what fans can expect when they return to ballparks in 2021—the good, the bad, the ugly—in this week’s Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat. The good: Most MLB teams are poised to welcome fans back to ballparks for home games for the first time since 2019. Only a few are waiting on approvals from local authorities. The bad: Fans will be restricted in what they can do at the ballpark. Most teams won’t allow fans to wander the ballpark, at least at the beginning of the season. The ugly: Those who delight in the ballpark food/beverage ..read more

Two games in the same day is heaven for fans looking forward to the twin bill, double dip or the doubleheader, as explained by Jesse Goldberg-Strassler in this week’s Tales from the Baseball Thesaurus. There are all sorts of descriptive phrases used to describe various iterations of a doubleheader. Two day games represent a double-barrel matinee. Two night games represent a twi-nighter. And two separate games requiring two separate tickets is a day-night doubleheader. A doubleheader represents a big spot in baseball history—you can go back all the way to 1873 and Boston for the first recorded ..read more

It's a festive gathering as Mick Gillispie, Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard discuss what happened in 2021 and what to look forward to in 2022 in the year-end Ballpark Digest Broadcaster Chat.  The three bid farewell to 2021 in this free-ranging discussion. True, 2021 was a better year than 2020, the year of the COVID shutdown. And despite Omicron rampaging through the population at the end of the year, we are looking at a situation where 2022 should be a vast improvement over 2021, as we take further steps toward normalcy. Among the topics discussed:  Among the topics dis ..read more

University of Florida AD Scott Stricklin joins Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, publisher Kevin Reichard and Populous's Jason Michael Ford to discuss Ballpark Digest's 2021 College Ballpark of the Year: Florida Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field. The $65-million facility, replacing Alfred A. McKethan Field on the UF campus and designed by Populous, was created to please fans with game-day amenities like plenty of shade and a 360-degree concourse, and please players with expanded workout facilities, including  a private nutrition area, video and team meeting rooms, indoor pitching and batting ..read more

We have a sockingly different winner for Best New Logo/Branding in the 2021 Ballpark Digest Awards: The Appalachian League’s Burlington Sock Puppets, who turned some lemons into lemonade after losing its MLB affiliation. Sock Puppets Owner and  President Ryan Keur and GM Anderson Rathbun sat down with Ballpark Digest's Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Kevin Reichard to discuss the events leading up to the rebranding, the story behind the logo, and how the new logo/branding was used. Yes, outré branding has been a hallmark of minor-league baseball for many years, but the Burlington Sock Puppe ..read more