The Futility Infielder

Renowned for his "Pinstriped Bible" column at the YES Network website and for his "You Could Look It Up" column at Baseball Prospectus, Steven Goldman had his first book, Forging Genius: the Making of Casey Stengel, published earlier this year by Potomac Books. While Stengel's years with the Yankees -- during which he won 10 pennants and seven World Championships, including an unprecedented five titles in a row from 1949 through 1953 -- are well documented, his years of managing prior to that have received much less scrutiny.

In eight years of managing two undercapitalized second-division franchises, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves, Stengel's teams only topped .500 once. Goldman's thesis is that Stengel's experiences in managing those lesser teams gave him an opportunity to test and hone many pet theories, including complex platooning and bullpen usage, that he used to his advantage during his tenure with the Yanks. Over the course of the book's 262 pages, he delves into Stengel's early life, playing career and wilderness years, which included stops managing in Toledo, Milwaukee, and Oakland in between his Brooklyn, Boston, and New York tenures. Through it all, Goldman paints a picture of a manager who was far from the cryptically bumbling clown the sportswriters took him for when the Yanks hired him in '49. Faced with a championship caliber club decimated by injuries, Stengel knew just how to get the most out of his charges, and a run of success the likes of which baseball hasn't seen before or since began.

Recently I interviewed Goldman by phone. Among other things, we discussed the genesis of Forging Genius, Stengel's minor league managing experience, and his history with the Yankees and its applicability to managers today for nearly an hour, the results of which have been boiled down to 43 minutes spread out over two MP3s. The files aren't without their technical imperfections; this was something of an experiment I hope to repeat again on a regular basis, but with a better setup next time (special thanks to my pal Issa Clubb for bringing this into the realm of acceptable listenability as it is). Ours was a lively, informative discussion, and I hope fans of Goldman's work, whether they've read the book yet or not, will enjoy hearing what he has to say.

The Futility Infielder Radio interview with Steven Goldman Part I (24:19)
The Futility Infielder Radio interview with Steven Goldman Part II (19:03)