FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: May 9, 2026

Certainly one of my largest regrets within the years I’ve been masking baseball is that I by no means bought John Sterling’s checklist. You see, along with our mutual love of baseball, Sterling shared my appreciation for movie noir. I don’t bear in mind the way it got here up, however I discovered of Sterling’s noir kick in the summertime of 2023, when Yankees beat author Chris Kirschner, of The Athletic, recommended I speak to the longtime Yankees radio broadcaster about it. I had by no means met Sterling earlier than, however the subsequent day within the Yankee Stadium press field eating room, I launched myself. He was so excited to know that this 27-year-old child additionally cherished noir, and he instantly requested me what my favorites have been. Straight away, I rattled off In a Lonely Place, Out of the Previous, and Double Indemnity, which trying again on it, will need to have made me appear to be a noir novice, as if I mentioned my three favourite Springsteen songs have been “Born to Run,” “Born within the USA,” and “Dancing within the Darkish.” However Sterling didn’t suppose something of it. Or if he did, he didn’t present it. As a substitute, his face lit up, and in his baritone voice, he beamed about Bogart and Mitchum and MacMurray. We chatted for a couple of minutes earlier than I requested him for his suggestions. He needed to get again to the sales space — it was virtually recreation time — however he instructed me to return discover him subsequent homestand and he’d make a listing for me. Sadly, I didn’t see him for an additional month or so, and once I did, I didn’t ask him for the checklist. We didn’t actually know one another, and I didn’t wish to hassle him with one thing so trivial. He retired early the following season.

Rising up a Yankees fan from the Hudson Valley, I listened to Sterling for many of my life. His voice is woven into the material of my baseball fandom. It’s not a stretch to say that each one these years spent listening to him on the radio contributed to my changing into a baseball author. And but, once I noticed the information that Sterling had died on Monday at age 87, the very first thing I considered was the transient time we spent speaking about movie noir in entrance of the press field espresso machine that summer time day in 2023. I by no means bought the checklist, however I did get an exquisite reminiscence. I’ll cherish it without end.

There’s no pure transition to the mailbag from there, so let’s simply get to it. This week, we’ll be answering your questions on Austin Hedges’ sudden sizzling begin on the plate, essentially the most environment friendly pitchers on a per-pitch foundation, groups that register a .500 OBP in a recreation, and the biggest share of profession stolen bases coming within the shortest span of time. However first, I’d prefer to remind you that this mailbag is unique to FanGraphs Members. If you happen to aren’t but a Member and wish to preserve studying, you possibly can join a Membership right here. It’s one of the best ways to each expertise the location and assist our employees, and it comes with a bunch of different nice advantages. Additionally, in case you’d prefer to ask a query for an upcoming mailbag, ship me an electronic mail at mailbag@fangraphs.com.