Effectively Wild Episode 1923: The Umpire Perfect Game
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley
4.7 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2022
⏱️ 117 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about umpire Pat Hoberg’s unprecedented “perfect game” behind the plate in Game 2 of the World Series, followed by musings on Nolan Arenado opting not to opt out of his contract, the Royals hiring Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro as their new manager, and Rob Manfred’s latest update on the zombie runner, then break down Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, reflect on the folly of predicting sweeps and seven-game series, and provide a Past Blast from 1923. Then (1:17:54) they bring on Umpire Scorecards creator Ethan Singer to explain how he realized an umpire perfect game had occurred, how Hoberg’s umpire perfecto was calculated, Hoberg’s track record, the squishy nature of ump perfection, the concepts of accuracy, expected accuracy, and consistency, the odds of a perfect game occurring, Umpire Scorecards in the robot-umps era, umpiring accuracy and difficulty in the postseason, the rest of the umps in the World Series, and more.
Audio intro: John Cale, “Perfect”
Audio interstitial: Ronnie Wood, “100%”
Audio outro: Kiwi Jr., “Highlights of 100”
Link to Ben on umpire perfect games
Link to Hoberg article
Link to Hoberg’s Twitter scorecard
Link to Hoberg’s website scorecard
Link to Hoberg game video
Link to Bob Wolff Larsen call
Link to Vin Scully Larsen call
Link to MLBTR on Arenado
Link to Jay Jaffe on Arenado
Link to MLBTR on Quatraro
Link to MLBTR on the White Sox search
Link to Shakeia Taylor EW episode
Link to study on manager demographics
Link to Shakeia on manager demographics
Link to Rob on manager demographics
Link to James Wagner managers thread
Link to zombie runner comments
Link to 2020 zombie runner survey
Link to The Athletic zombie runner survey
Link to FG zombie runner survey
Link to ZiPS postseason odds
Link to FG WS Game 1 story
Link to FG WS Game 2 story
Link to Jaffe on Verlander in the WS
Link to Posnanski on on Verlander in G1
Link to post on Díaz’s non-HBP
Link to FG post on starters in relief
Link to Valdez suspicion story
Link to Maldonado/Pujols bats
Link to Silver Slugger finalists
Link to Ben on predicting sweeps
Link to Joe’s newsletter
Link to MLB.com WS predictions
Link to ESPN WS predictions
Link to The Athletic WS predictions
Link to CBS Sports WS predictions
Link to 1923 story source
Link to SABR on radio broadcasts
Link to article on televised World Series
Link to Jacob Pomrenke’s website
Link to Jacob Pomrenke on Twitter
Link to Ethan’s first EW interview
Link to Umpire Scorecards leaderboard
Link to World Series umpire lineup
Link to MLB’s no-hitter redefinition
Link to support Umpire scorecards
Link to Ethan’s personal website
Link to Ben in 2014 on postseason umps
Link to Ben on MLB ump evaluations
Link to 2015 article on ump improvement
Link to 2016 article on ump improvement
Link to study on umpire age
Link to umps and high leverage study
Link to EW on umpire decision fatigue
Link to Baumann on rainout implications
Link to NYT umpire interactive
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I can't help it, you're perfect for me, I could care less. |
| 0:05.1 | Your perfect for me, I've been waiting. |
| 0:08.3 | You're perfect for me right now. |
| 0:13.2 | In the most men, your perfect for me, I've been waiting. |
| 0:18.2 | You're perfect for me, I'm not perfect. |
| 0:21.3 | But you're perfect for me right now. |
| 0:24.4 | Hello and welcome to episode 1923 of Effectively Wild, |
| 0:27.8 | a fancraft baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters. |
| 0:30.8 | I'm a rally of fancrafts and I am joined as always by Ben Limberg of the Ring or Ben Hory. |
| 0:35.7 | I could not possibly be more excited. |
| 0:37.8 | Obviously, we had the second perfect game in World Series history. |
| 0:45.5 | This is an up-pire perfect game, but it counts. |
| 0:49.1 | Yeah, it counts for something. |
| 0:51.3 | Yeah, sure does. |
| 0:52.4 | They play the World Series every year. |
| 0:54.8 | So maybe you think we're bearing the lead here, |
| 0:57.6 | leading with the Empire Perfect Game, but they play the World Series every year. |
| 1:00.8 | They don't have an Empire Perfect Game every year. |
| 1:03.2 | This is a first on record. |
| 1:05.2 | So I am extremely excited, of course, referencing Pat Hoberg, Hero of Game 2, |
| 1:13.1 | who has been given a 100% perfect, accurate grade by upscorecards.com. |
| 1:20.4 | And we will be talking to the proprietor of upscorecards.com. |
... |
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