I am a 99th percentile target for this video--a bespectacled/begoggled diehard Reds fan whose youth baseball career as primarily a third baseman coincided exactly with Sabo's big league career and who remembers the corked bat incident without external media assistance. The algorithm never sent this my way, so I consider it a small victory that this minor piece of my identity is not yet in Google's clutches. Will be interesting to see if this comment changes things!
I was never force-fed this video by the algorithm despite being a huge baseball fan AND interested in minutiae of ballgames. However, I was smart enough to program my own algorithm to get these amazing articles from Sam, so I'm that respect; I win! Another home run, pal; BP and ESPN have got to be missing you by now!!!
I definitely remember being served this video on Youtube, probably multiple times, and finally watching it. I don't remember anything about the video. I think I had heard of the Chris Sabo corked bat incident vaguely before, maybe from an off-hand mention in one of your articles. Or honestly, I probably looked it up on Wikipedia after watching this video to see what the fuss was about.
Wild times we live in. The Sabo corked bat video is benign enough, but it is troubling to know that the Algorithm can just force-feed millions of people some specific thing. Reading this really made me long for the days when the Sears A/C commercial was a staple of my media diet.
I'm not from Cincinnati, but inexplicably trace my love of baseball to Chris Sabo's pinch-running SB at the 1988 ASG. (I used to wear a Reds #17 jersey to school, which wasn't an easy find in pre-Internet Massachusetts.) I'm also an anime fan. Worlds colliding, this is wild. Can it hit 30M?
This newsletter is consistently sublime and compelling - completely fascinating topic, well researched and tied into the sport we love. Pure genius.
I am a 99th percentile target for this video--a bespectacled/begoggled diehard Reds fan whose youth baseball career as primarily a third baseman coincided exactly with Sabo's big league career and who remembers the corked bat incident without external media assistance. The algorithm never sent this my way, so I consider it a small victory that this minor piece of my identity is not yet in Google's clutches. Will be interesting to see if this comment changes things!
this might be your best piece, Sam. Freaking brilliant. And, Aaron Loup.
This was so much fun to read for so many reasons. Thank you.
I was never force-fed this video by the algorithm despite being a huge baseball fan AND interested in minutiae of ballgames. However, I was smart enough to program my own algorithm to get these amazing articles from Sam, so I'm that respect; I win! Another home run, pal; BP and ESPN have got to be missing you by now!!!
I definitely remember being served this video on Youtube, probably multiple times, and finally watching it. I don't remember anything about the video. I think I had heard of the Chris Sabo corked bat incident vaguely before, maybe from an off-hand mention in one of your articles. Or honestly, I probably looked it up on Wikipedia after watching this video to see what the fuss was about.
What a piece.
Wonderful piece -- the tone is just perfect. Made me laugh out loud several times.
Aaron Loup always shows up someway, somehow.
What a ride. Thanks Sam
Loved this!!
Wild times we live in. The Sabo corked bat video is benign enough, but it is troubling to know that the Algorithm can just force-feed millions of people some specific thing. Reading this really made me long for the days when the Sears A/C commercial was a staple of my media diet.
Interesting semi-related article: https://apple.news/A8I19FsQ6QwWUPbdcOqLfWw
This is why I love Substack
I'm not from Cincinnati, but inexplicably trace my love of baseball to Chris Sabo's pinch-running SB at the 1988 ASG. (I used to wear a Reds #17 jersey to school, which wasn't an easy find in pre-Internet Massachusetts.) I'm also an anime fan. Worlds colliding, this is wild. Can it hit 30M?