Andrés Galarraga and a return of the worst (sorta, kinda) (Patreon)

I've learned to not bury the lede when I've got something good. And here is today's something good: a snippet from the upcoming episode of The History of Charging the Mound.

This is not a full return to George Brett and all of his bull shit (which is now on YouTube btw), but Jon found a way to sneak Brett into his love letter to Andrés Galarraga. As previously mentioned, this will be a two parter that will kick off the first Monday in September. Which is in... not many days. Jesus. Sometimes time really does seem like a flat circle. But that flat circle brings football back, so, not awful.

In non-mound charging news, we've got some exclusive Patreon content coming next week from Clara. She's been diving deep into Shaq's reality TV show resume for a future Beef History and uncovered some side stories that she really needed to get out of her head. We all know that Shaq is everywhere and has done too much, but there is somehow always even more. So, check that out this Monday.

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First off, over the years we've opened the doors on some of our Patreon-exclusive work to be enjoyed by all. So, if you've been on the fence about joining the party, make sure you check that collection out. It's just a little sampler platter, something to waste some time with. It's also just a nice place to watch some longer Jon videos without ads.

Click here for the full collection

Now, I mentioned we kinda brought The Worst back. It was fully unintentional, and more just an accidental theme that two recent pieces fell into. I don't think we'll ever bring that series back (at least not as it previously existed) just because tonally it no longer really feels like us, but that doesn't mean we can find ways to tell stories that suck.

For instance: Will sent Seth and Ryan on a scavenger hunt to track down stories showcasing the worst ways to lose your job. Because it's Will, the starting point was hockey, and more specifically it was related to Secret Base legend Roger Neilson. This also features a very good dog who was used to be a very bad dog but was very good at being bad, and also a stinky perfume salesperson. This also felt like a good "podcast" sort of production so made sure that went to the Patreon RSS for anyone to just listen that way. Here's all of those "podcasts" in case you need to do some catching up.

This also led to a friend of Secret Base texting to inform us of how stupid we truly are.

Sorry, Coleman. And sorry everyone.

Alex also jumped into the worst shenanigans. This is something we could probably play off as fully planned and thematically intentional, but I think it's just illustrative of who we are. Alex penned a manifesto about the Saints owning the worst ever coaching decision in the history of organized football (his words). I love Alex. This is extremely Alex.

Oh and lastly, in case you have not yet watched the feature-length Robin Ventura vs. Nolan Ryan, then what're you watching for? A link to do so? In this very email? Maybe a button you can click? Is that what you're waiting for? Oh shit really? Why didn't you say anything? Here you go.

Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura, full length

Ok, that's all for now. As always, something new every Monday and early access, ad-free versions of our YouTube uploads. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being you.