Del Jones On "At The Bat: The Strikeout That Shamed America", DiDi Richards' Comeback, Start-Bench-Cut (Acuna-Guerrero-Soto-Tatis)

Alex, Chris, Jesse, Jon, and Josh discuss Marc-Andre Fleury's milestone of passing Ed Belfour for sole possession of fourth most wins by a goaltender (5:50), the Toronto Maple Leafs' chances of winning their first Stanley Cup since 1967 (8:56), and takeaways from the young MLB season (20:17). The crew offer their Qualin Awards (23:54), and play a round of Start-Bench-Cut focused on budding MLB superstars (30:06). Alex interviews longtime USA Today columnist and author Del Jones to discuss his book, "At The Bat: The Strikeout That Shamed America" (37:07). Del recounts the fascinating time period of the 1880s (when his historical fiction novel takes place), and how he paid homage to actual people in his book (44:56). Del offers his perspective on what needs to change in the modern game of baseball (49:12), and gives a brief history of the evolution of the game from the dawn of professional baseball in 1871 to the current game (50:43). Del ends the episode by sharing some hilarious and surprising stories of his time umpiring baseball and slow-pitch softball (56:19).