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    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 than the American League this season? It may seem so at first but it's too early to be certain. Might be that the top #NL teams #Padres #Dodgers #Cubs #Giants #Phillies and Mets are stronger than those in the #AL where the #Rangers & Yankees stand out.

    Is Manny Machado a sure-fire HOFer? He plays 3B which is generally underrepresented in the HOF. He's closer than you think and is in his 14th season of a stellar career. We talk about the slam dunk HOFers playing (Verlander, Scherzer, Kershaw), and others who are probably already there as well as those knocking on the door.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    #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 which is good since many of the other hitters on the team are still not in full gear.

    Since we are avid Mets fans we put them first in our round up of all 30 teams best five starting pitchers in franchise history. We will do this periodically through the 2025 season.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    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 "The Best Team Money Can Buy" Molly Knight.

    We each picked two movies to feature as one's we'd recommend watching again or for the first time if you haven't seen it! Spoiler alert - nobody picked "The Natural" or "Field of Dreams" or "Eight Men Out". To find out which ones we did pick listen or watch the podcast!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

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    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 2-4 but it was the #Tigers who ended up in 1st place after this weekend. #Rangers are in 1st in the #ALWest over the surprising #Angels? #Astros are scuffling and the #Athletics are flawed but interesting.

    #MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had some interesting thing to say about the future of baseball including Robo-Umps as well as competitive balance. We also talked about our podcast that will drop on Thursday with 4 other great #baseball personalities/writers/podcasters where we shared our thoughts on 2 baseball movies we felt fans should take another look at!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    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 runs in three games putting him second to Adrian Gonzalez for most homers in a season's first 3 games. Judge hit 3 HRs Saturday to become the 4th Yankee to do that including Babe Ruth and A-Rod. Lou Gehrig surpassed that with (4) 3-HR games! The Yankees spanked the #Brewers and gave Nestor Cortes a bad reception at Yankee Stadium in his first game pitching for the Brewers. It was a game in which the Bronx Bombers hit 9 home runs.

    Shohei is hitting homers. Mookie Betts is back in the lineup and the 2024 World Series combatants are a combined 8-0 in 2025.

    We pick who we think will win MLB awards this season. Rookie-of-the-Year, Cy Young, MVP, and Manager of the Year for both leagues. It's not as easy as it sounds after Ohtani!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    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 go 162-0? Can any team beat them in the NL West? Which teams will surprise? Which teams will disappoint? What will happen in Sacramento this season? Or Tampa? Both are hosting #MLB teams who've not played regular season games at their ballparks.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    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 and also always managed his teams to win. But his lifelong association with gamblers and gambling proved to be his ultimate undoing. He does have the most hits in MLB history AND a 44-game hitting streak that remains a National League record.

    Keith has so many great stories from having interviewed Pete for 27 hours and talking with so many people who knew and interacted with Pete Rose on a daily basis. Keith asked us if what we thought about Pete Rose being in the HOF!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    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 casinos in Atlantic City. Finally Peter Ueberroth un-banned them which might have been his finest moment as commish.

    Sometimes it's gambling, other times drugs, and still other instances are even more serious and criminal. We talk about the difference between black-listing and blackballing and how #baseball hopes one of the other major sports has a gambling scandal before MLB does.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    #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 going to use it this season anyway.

    Authir Keith O'Brien will join the podcast in 2 weeks to talk about his book "Charlie Hustle". Pete Rose was in the news again as he's set to receive a pardon for his criminal activities (tax related) from President Trump. #MLB commissioner Rob Manfred then piped in that they will take another look at Pete's explusion.

    The youngest player to play MLB was LHP Joe Nuxhall in 1944. He was still 15 years old and only in high school! He pitched one game, got shelled, and didn't come back to the show for 7 years! Joe pitched 16 seasons and won 135 games a pitcher and became a long time broadcaster for Cincinnati with HOF broadcaster Marty Brennaman.

    We also talked about NY Giants Freddie Lindstrom who became a HOFer - somehow, and still is the youngest player to ever play in the World Series. Even younger than #Braves Andruw Jones!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Alex Bregman homered in his first Spring Training game for #redsox. He also went 3-3. #Mets Juan Soto went oppo toco deep in his first AB with his new team. #yankees Aaron Boone got a contract extension and Giancarlo Stanton has tennis elbow. In both elbows? Frankie Montas now of the Mets is injured. Justin Turner goes to #Cubs. Does that give them an edge? ABS made its debut in Spring Training and teams are testing it out.

    Yankees also rescinded the facial hair policy. It lasted 49 years. #reds had a longer time not allowing whiskers - from 1902-1999! Marge Schott put a stop to it of all people!

    We also dream that a salary cap attempt by owners backfires into a salary floor with NO salary cap! It could happen but probably won't.

    Deadball era pitchers like Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Rube Waddell, Cy Young made it tough on hitters and were a bigger part of hitters failures than pithcers were given credit for. Hitters used heavy bats and their approach to hitting was limited once foul balls were counted as strikes - which they were not until 1901 in the NL and 1903 in the AL. We're so glad the deadball era is past but starting pitchers today are a dying breed.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    There was enough news for us to talk about what went on this week. Alex Bregman #redsox was the biggest player news. #Angels Rendon is out of action for the season. Again. Before it even started! Who will be the dark horse teams in #MLB 2025? How about caps for the HOF inductees? Is C.C. really a #Yankees player?

    Then there's the Deadball era which occurred from 1901-1919. It was not completely consistent and happened for a variety of reasons. Ty Cobb led #americanleague with 9 home runs in 1909! Offense did improve with the change in #baseballs in 1910 but pitchers found new ways to cut, slather and doctor baseballs.

    Note: Gavy Cravath actually did lead the lead in home runs 6 times during the Deadball era.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Well here we are with spring training at hand as pitchers & catchers are reporting for #Cubs today. Other teams will follow shortly. Football season is over and baseball is on the way! How did the NL teams offseason go? #Dodgers, #Giants and #Mets were noisy. #Reds have Terry Francona at the helm. #Padres are puzzling. #Dbacks are dynamic w Corbin Burnes at the top of the rotation. #Cubs get Ryan Pressley to close. #Brewers were baffling. #Phillies added Jesus Luzardo, #Braves will get Strider and Acuna back early in the season. #Nationals wish they played in a different division. #Pirates were pretty quiet. #Cardinals got older. #Rockies return to play again.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    #MLB Pitchers and catchers report in about 10 days. So officially baseball winter is over as the sound of balls hitting gloves is imminent! Watching video of #Rangers Jacob DeGrom is compelling and full of promise! The fate of the team is likely tied to how DeGrom pitches in 2025 and how much!

    We talk about the American League teams and what they did of interest since the 2024 season regular season ended in early October. Four months is a long time! Which AL teams got better? Did any? #Yankees lost Juan Soto and Clay Holmes as well as Anthony Rizzo. They brought in Max Fried, Paul Goldschmidt, and Cody Bellinger. Seems like it could be a good exchange if the three play to their best selves.

    But who's gonna play third base for the Yanks especially when Max Fried pitches? We cover every team on the Junior Circuit - even the team that formerly played in Oakland and was called the Athletics. We have no idea what they will be when they play in Sacramento this and the following two years at least.

    "This is the year" is one of our favorite expressions that is too often hope triumphing over experience.

    Correction - Matt Manning did not pitch for #Tigers in playoffs. It was Matt Boyd who is now with the #Cubs.

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Dan was not the voter who didn't vote for Ichiro. But we all wish we knew who it was! For the 3rd straight year Dan joined the podcast to discuss the final HOF voting. He voted for Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Chase Utley, and Billy Wagner. 9 in total and we discussed why he didn't vote for one more - could have been King Felix, Andy Pettitte, or Dustin Pedrioia or even David Wright!

    We also discussed allowing voters to vote for more candidates than the current limit of 10. Gordon suggested that if a player got one vote in his first year on the ballot he could stay on for year 2 and then be subject to some sort of minimum percentage - 5% or even less.

    As #Mets fans we are thrilled that Billy Wagner finally made it. New Yorkers will be traveling to Cooperstown this coming July to celebrate CC and Billy.

    Dan is working on a couple of new articles including an upcoming one on Babe Dahlgren's foray into video analysis more than 70 years ago!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    #pirates and #whitesox Smoky Burgess had a pretty good career with a career OPS+ of 116. But he's third all-time in pinch hits and was a beloved player at the end of his career. We talk about the changes in pinch hitting and why all-time pinch hitting records are likely safe!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    As Director of Product Adam has been part of Sports-Reference for a long time. Keeping Baseball -Reference.com fresh, being part of the addition of Football, Basketball, (both college and pro), and hockey has proven to be groundbreaking. Adam has also worked on bringing in Negro League player data into BR.

    We talk Hall of Fame (Adam is a Dustin Pedroia advocate), and what's next for Adam!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    We don't know about you, but we forget things that happened during a baseball season even when it was LAST season! Sure the #dodgers beat #yankees in the #worldseries but besides Shohei and Aaron Judge, and Skubal, Sale and Skenes, there still were a lot of interesting and even amazing things that happened.

    We discuss the four no-hitters, the pitching triple crowns, and sad things like the #whitesox season.
    Remember how many #MLB managers got fired during the season. We do! This was a way more fun exercise for us than we first thought and we hope you agree! And since it's our first podcast drop for 2025 - Happy New Year!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Founded in 1901, the AL contains teams like #Yankees and #RedSox who have an epic list in their top 5 for players hitting home runs while a member of the franchise.

    Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, David "Big Papi' Ortiz, Jim Rice, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra are all in their teams top 5. All are HOFer.. Aaron Judge is outside the Yankee top five but he's closing fast.

    Then there's the #orioles. Another original #AmericanLeague team, they started as the Milwaukee Brewers for one year before moving to St. Louis and becoming the Browns. HOFers Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr. and Frank Robinson are in the top 5. But Besides being mostly terrible, the Browns had few home run threats. The #bluejays and #Rays are more recent additions but only Fred McGriff is in the top five of either team and is a HOFer. Carlos Delgado rules the roost for Toronto. Edwin Encarnacion has 424 career homers not 434

    #guardians #tigers #whitesox #twins #royals have familiar names in their top two but once you go deeper it gets more difficult.

    #athletics #angels #rangers #astros #mariners have a few HOFers on their list.

    Link to an article by Mark - https://almostcooperstown.substack.com/p/career-home-run-leaders-for-each-be7?r=6m2o9

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Who are the home run leaders while wearing a team's uniform? Sounded like a interesting episode topic but then Rickey Henderson so sadly and suddenly passed away at age 65. Rickey's 66th birthday would have been on Christmas this Wednesday. With 1,406 stolen bases Rickey doesn't only have the most stolen bases in one season, or in a career, he also scored the most runs in baseball history with 2,295! He also had 81 career leadoff home runs, the most in history. Rickey is and was the best leadoff hitter in #MLB history. He will be sorely missed.

    #Padres Manny Machado became the franchise home run leader. But he hasn't been there that long. It was surprising! With 167 he passed Dave Winfield, Nate Colbert, Phil Nevin, and the former leader Adrian Gonzalez.

    Gordon and Mark go team by team in the #nationalleague to reveal the top 5 in home runs for each team while wearing their uniform.

    Here's a link to an associated article by Mark: https://almostcooperstown.substack.com/p/career-home-run-leaders-for-each?r=6m2o9

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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    Steve Phillips has been a radio personality for 20 years starting not long after his time his time as GM for our #mets. Steve brought in Mike Piazza who had the biggest non-playoff home run in Mets history - until this year maybe? Today Steve hosts 'The Leadoff Spot' on Sirius/XM radio weekdays from 7-10AM. Steve also broadcasts some Toronto Blue Jays games and is a regular contributor the #mlbnetwork.

    We didn't want to ask him about Bobby Bonilla but did finally at the end, and we did not have time to get into the failed deal for A-Rod or the Kenny Rogers meltdown in 1999 so we will have Steve back hopefully very soon!

    Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

    Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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