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Hey everybody, it’s Jon again. Thanks for stopping by! This brand-new Pretty Good episode is about a lot of things. I hope you enjoy them.

As always, we at Secret Base couldn’t be more grateful for your support, and whether you signed up months ago or five minutes ago, we hope you have a great time here. If you’re new here, you should know that there are five more entire episodes of Pretty Good waiting for you that, as of this writing, have still not been released on YouTube. But since you’re a subscriber, they’re all yours. So are tons of fun extra content from your pals at Secret Base, including our exclusive-to-Patreon storytelling podcast, The Annex.

Oh, and one goof to report: you may notice that the title card of this episode says "Episode 15." I meant to edit it to say "Episode 18," since it is Episode 18, but I forgot until it was too late. My bad. But if there' s one lesson that I hope is learned from my body of work, it's that all numbers are basically the same.

Oh yeah, and one more thing I might as well let slip: the December episode of Pretty Good is going to be about mattresses.

Alright, fine, one more thing: starting in the new year, I’m going to be kicking off a special four-part docuseries that will drop on Patreon between January and April. It’s gonna be a big one, with each episode running at least 45 minutes or so. It is not about sports or politics at all. I’ll probably share more about it sometime in mid-December, but it’s about a story I’ve had on my list for years. Should be fun.

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Comments

Chopp

I love you Jon bois

James baird

I can’t wait for another series in the next year, and not sports or politics? I can’t wait to see what it is about

Tom Gill

I, for one, am all about a 3 hour, 4 part Jon series about anything, next year can't come soon enough

Boreal Tempest

The mattress lore finally has a payoff this December!

DrChillbrain

Several years ago, while driving home after picking up my brother from University for Christmas, we saw a blimp. It wasn't the Goodyear blimp, it wasn't flying over a sports arena, it wasn't even branded at all as far as we could tell. It was a plain while blimp, hovering fairly close to the ground in the middle of nowhere off I-75. To this day I have never known why it was there or what its purpose was or who was paying for this entirely unmarked dirigible, but ever since then on December 20th at around 1:00 PM me and my brother have both had reminders on our phone that say "Blimp Sighting Anniversary". An exercise in nonsense that birthed another exercise in nonsense, but one that I always treasure whenever I see it on my calendar or get that buzz in my pocket.

Katie Quinn

so the overwatch league (rip) actually did the mini-seasons with its own championship format for a few years, and as a fan of an otherwise pretty bad team that won one of them it's definitely a lot of fun

Call Me B

Carrying the back end of my pointless work day

Ekelemchi Okemgbo

spoiler alert: it is not, in fact, Joe’s birthday today

Eric Ayma

oh boy that reminds me my birthday is soon thanks jon

42O

today is my birthday & this is the ultimate birthday present + happy birthday joe

Trenchgun

happy birthday Joe Spinz! Your contributions to the human institution of pointlessness will truly never be forgotten

David Falterman

I really loved this episode. It felt meandering and pointless in exactly the way that a good baseball game feels: there's a general overarching goal/structure, but all the interesting stuff is in the detours (the company, the hot dogs you eat, the beer you drink, the weather, etc...)

Secret Base

forgot to mention, still waiting on captions. sorry for the delay!

Frink Zippi

that JP Crawford double had so much hope and delirium. the clip doesn't even show the aftermath with JP screaming "LET'S FUCKING GOOO!" and signing the camera lens before walking into the clubhouse. what that season could've been... also i was very very worried about that ending and...yep. pretty good!

Nate Patrin

This was wonderful, and now I'm also reminded of an even goofier stunt from a couple decades earlier: during Spring Training 1915, Dodgers catcher Wilbert Robinson decided to try catching a baseball dropped 500+ feet from one of those newfangled airplane things. But apparently someone actually forgot to bring a baseball on the plane and the pilot substituted a grapefruit without Robinson realizing it. So when he failed to catch it cleanly and it splattered all over him he thought the baseball had busted him open and he was freaking out because he thought he was bleeding everywhere. And that's (apocryphally) how the Grapefruit League got its name.

Ryan Petriello

The section about baseball diamonds being the only thing seen from space that truly shows recreation and pointlessness was genuinely moving, fucking a

Frink Zippi

nick castellanos once talked about how he's had to stop himself from daydreaming while standing in right field. i bet he's also thinking about artificial islands, aliens studying humanity, and blimps...

Fox Doucette

A baseball field on a piece of Keynesian makework is the most 1930s American thing I couldn't have imagined before just now.

allegedlyharper

videos like this are why I still fully believe it's impossible to not be romantic about the sport it's just, so special

GayGay Bleday

Not pronouncing Marin like Mare-Inn😭😭😭

ranatalus

happy birthday joe

CJ

Well that was pointless

InvisibleRay

Please don't leave us in the void like you did at the end of the video. I started to hear the scary voices in my head.

Jay

Joe Sprinz caught 145 mph fastballs so that Jon could eventually talk about the 2023 Mariners.

Frink Zippi

one bit of feedback (unless i misunderstood this part): at around 25:00, the chart of the current postseason format shows the wild card round as a best-of-five series... woops!

Sera

I'd volunteer for writing captions!

CJ Barrett

I want to live in the future of blimps

Tony Heron

It is paramount to me that every so often Jon Bois sits me down and reassures me that dumb things are the most important things we have

mapleboy

i should do something pointless today

Secret Base

appreciate that Sera! no need for you to take on something like that, i (will) just fucked something up and didn't catch it in time so that's on me to own

Erik Williams

Jon Bois referencing Calvin and Hobbes……somehow that just makes everything SO much better.

Trevor Glisson

Overwatch League jump-scare. Sorry that it was horribly mismanaged, probably could have been a good product.

Trevor Glisson

Pixar's Soul is a reminder about life's moments, those in which we have constantly, but tend to ignore as our responsibilities take center stage consciously. Baseball is, as you said Jon, the meandering of pointlessness that will make the sport last generations.

ARTexplains (Xander Toftness)

I think I am missing from the patreon supporter list in this video for some reason. No names beginning with X appeared in the list. Oversight?

csquar3d

happy birthday joe

Grant B

How can you not be romantic about a guy getting his face smashed in by a small falling object?

Earthlor3

Happy birthday, Joe!

Ankur Mandhania

It was definitely moving--but why wouldn't the same be true of soccer fields?

Ben Rall

Excellent video! The part about baseball fields was especially moving, I'd say it even gives Field of Dreams a run for its money. No other sport comes close to matching the romance of baseball!

Matt Stott

My cat loved this video!

deafhobbit

yeah yeah this is the good shit

Brian Reedy

As a hot air balloon pilot and blimp enthusiast I never thought I'd get to hear Jon talk about dirigibles. To answer your question about the calling them by the proper name: I care, Jon. I care.

30-50 feral höglunds

"staring up at the sky, categorically unable to reach it" roasted

kasherskull

not only is this hilarious, thank you for giving me apocryphally to add to my vocab

Edward Tischler

You warned us about the pie chart and even then my eyes widened once I realized that we've already been looking at the pie chart

haughtybiscotti

I needed this video so darn bad, as a new bay area baseball fan in my 30s

Sexagesimalian

Bulidng land by fililng in water is not uncommon. As you can see from the view Jon showed, the land that the bridges connected to were already occupied or rocky and mountainous. See also Foster City and Redwood Shores south of SF or large portions of Tokyo. Of course, if you are the US Navy and want a base upon which to conduct dangerously irresponsible nuclear training, better to do it on an artificial island physically isolated from major population centers (even if still dangerously close). It's not like you can go out to the Farallones.

Robert

Hearing Jon prounounce it MArin county instead of MaRIN county gave me whiplash lol

Pete Hanner

I am genuinely cackling right now. The fact that this 3/4 hour long video essentially boils down to "the Goodyear Blimp dropped a baseball as a stunt at a minor league game and demolished the pitcher's face" is absolutely incredible the more it sinks in. Also, the bit about baseball fields from space now makes me want to see a Secret Base video mapping out different field types across the United States. I think it would actually be really fascinating to see the trends in what public space different communities are willing to cede to different types of recreational area.

minjachi

87 TWINS MENTIONED

FRESHPOETIC

Came here to mention this. Glad to see I wasn’t the only one!

Michael Truex

This video was absolutely pointless. 10/10 no notes.

Russet Burbank

Do all those credits have to be at the bottom for the entire video?

Hafkie

The fact that subway of all chain sandwich restaurants advertises with a blimp and not blimpie is funny to me

Wyatt Reed

The name "Secret Base" is from a calvin and hobbes comic too! Didn't realise it until it was talked about in a q&a, but I loved those comics as a kid

Wyatt Reed

Could be my favorite pretty good to date. Excellently told story as always. The part about viewing the fields from space hit hard. Nothing else in the world like your work Jon, thanks so much!

Eddie Pettis

Also, there’s not really a place to hold a World’s Fair in Marin County. It’s way too mountainous. Not sure about Alameda County in the 1930s before Oakland, Berkeley, etc. grew to consume all of the East Bay.

Gabe Ruiz

Oh my god, that whole time I assumed he was wearing his catcher gear or at least a mask! How did they not know how bad of an idea this was 😂😭

Gabe Ruiz

And I love your cat

Fox Doucette

Having grown up in Boston, a city with quite a bit of landfill-reclaimed land used to expand the city in the 19th and early 20th centuries, I'm more than familiar with the practice. It's just the specific economic conditions (and New Deal/WPA public-works craze) combined with the sport of baseball specifically that got a chuckle out of me.

Matthew Golden

Pepsi had a blimp in the 80s. The only reason I know this is because I got to ride in it... It was pretty underwhelming, to be honest.

Terry

Once again politely hoping we get the return of Episode 4 on Pretty Good.

pdotjdott

This was beautiful

Christopher Davis

"Boy, do I have some bad news for you: this is gonna be a pie chart" is an all-time Bois line.

SCJ

getting this video immediately after the self confessed "stupidest video you've ever made" about fixing the Knicks makes this one hit twice as hard.

Matt Stott

I sent a picture in base camp if you’re interested

uh huh

I worked on treasure island for a bit this past year. Wow. Thanks Jon

Ahmet Ertan

thanks for the closed caption!

Kevin Weber

The third panel of that C&H strip where Calvin has the blank look on his face is legitimately the single best C&H panel. That look on his face resonated with me so hard

Ged Merrilin

people in the foraging societies that dominated the human lifestyle for most of our prehistory likely only needed to spend 4-5 hours a day gathering food and such (though this would vary depending on their location/exact method of subsistence). They would have plenty of time to relax and appreciate pointlessness. I'm sure you could tell someone from 100,000 years ago (if you could talk with them) about a guy trying to catch a ball dropped from a height, just to see if he could, and they'd appreciate it.

Ross

The way you can take something nondescript and find meaningful layers of depth and beauty is one of the greatest magic tricks I know. I’m always in awe of your storytelling ability, Jon. Please never stop telling stories.

Datsko

Being in marketing, I guarantee you the only reason Subway has a blimp is that some marketing guy thought, "Hey, a blimp is kinda shaped like one of our sandwiches. Let's paint one like a sandwich."

Daniel Barrera

I know I'm late to the party but... 2023 WORLD CHAMPION TEXAS RANGERS MENTIONED! Bless you and your story telling Jon Bois!

Jacob Burrell

The plot of all the fields reminds me of 17776/20020 🥲

Andrew North

Well now I want to simulate the alternate playoff ideas Jon posed. Specifically, the 140 game regular season followed by a 30 game playoff season followed by a Best of 7 World Series. Use the current playoff seeding format (3 division winners + the 3 best records of non-divison winners) and have each team play each league opponent 6 times. 3 game home and home series would work perfectly.

Myst66

That was possibly the most pointless thing I've ever watched. Bravo.

Henry Wheeler

This was my favorite Pretty Good so far

Jordan Cummins

The best part is that it isnt really a magic trick is it? The world, it's people. and the weird things we do and make ARE often just that beautiful and deep if one cares to look hard enough. Thank you jon for teaching me this

bryan

the texas rangers won the 2023 world series, and many of us love that as you mentioned

Flip Kromer

I just added it to my calendar. Please let your brother know the pointlessness has spread

Sean Barry

Probably the most beautiful Pretty Good episode up to this point. I love baseball so much.

Isam Sayeed

You’re totally correct. I can almost recognize nothing while flying over America, but there’s always a baseball field to remind me I’m still here

Christopher Dino

I’ve never spent a better $5 a month than to get more of my favorite YouTube series of all time

Aidenke

I like that we are all here on Patreon, providing money to Jon (and everyone at Secret Base) so they can tell these stories. Why? Because we think they are neat.

Ethan Howard

Yo this is sick. I'm only a couple minutes in but I wanted to point out when tallying Joe's career games Jon says "2,224 games, 2,223 minor league and only 21 major league". Math ain't quite mathing there

GordyHowitzer

If I'm the alien I gotta assume all these weird fields are for some sort of religious practice - which I guess is true

Owen Gette

as the video came towards the end I kept thinking “has Jon lost the plot” and then it just hit me like a baseball falling from 1200 feet above

Adrian Walker

Secret Base , unless I’m missing something my name hasn’t been at the end of any video after several months of Patreon support. I don’t do it for the fame but I’d like to show my kids that I supported peak journalism.

JacoB

you have to donate at the $10/month level

Deacon Shininger

Need the song from around 23:00 that is funky as hell

F

This was peak, hell yeah

Gray K.

Personally I think they're Pretty Good

Sawyer Knierim

Love the speech on why baseball is great. Capsulate’s my thoughts on the sport better than I ever could

joh

it's Solstice by Brian Bennet :)

Gray K.

If you do end up simming this I'd love to find out how it goes

Andrew North

This is quickest I’ve ever seen a Patreon notification. It took me a little while to get it setup to where I could do this on my computer and keep a true baseball scorecard along with stats. I’ve only simmed about 5 games so far (there are 180 in total before the “real” World Series), and so far so good. I’m struggling to find what place is appropriate to post this since it’s based on an idea taken from a Patreon exclusive video for now. I feel like the chats here would be good, but worried about it getting buried. Reddit feels hit or miss too.

Declan Kashou

Baseball is pointless. Pointlessness is what makes us human

Edgar E.

Watching this as a lapsed baseball fan...more specifically, a fan of the Oakland A's...the morning after my first favorite athlete, Rickey Henderson, passed away. Whew.

Carly Rae Jepsen

God I need that 140 Game Regular Season + 12 Game Post-Season + World Series Baseball Season. Would be so dope.

kstp daft

Oh, my sides. I was near tears of emotion until the third act. I was cracking up so much my sides hurt. Pretty good!

John Sanchez

I think this is the profile pic of Jon's YouTube channel.

GayCoonie

Satellite TV's primary market has always been rural areas afaik, and cable just... doesn't come out here. Much less important in the age of streaming, but worth noting.

Alex f

interestingly, Candlestick Park in SF was also built on landfill. 5 million cubic yards of dirt from Bayview Park Hill

bobcollum

When I was in 7th grade I was doing this puzzle thing where I needed something that can fly that starts with the letter D, so I used dirigible. My teacher tried to tell me it wasn't a word. I taught him about it and got credit for it. 30 something years ago.

GolfBaller

Still stands as the greatest love letter to sports, the most important thing that doesn't matter. "How can you not be romantic about baseball?"