South Side Sox Podcast 79 — Meet Zach Hayes! (Plus Labor Talks Chat)

On the heels of last week’s Meet the Players podcast with Adrian Serrano, Brett Ballantini is right back at it today with another site stalwart, Zach Hayes. Get to know Zach a bit by revisiting his Meet the Players article that originally ran last July, as you listen to the podcast:

• While Brett was trying to grow a playoff beard in 2000, Zach was getting his first memories of the White Sox, brief though that “playoff run” was
• Kismet: Zach and Brett were both in attendance at Mark Buehrle’s perfect game — Zach in fact in Brett’s previous season ticket section!
• You might think a baseball intellectual like Zach would pick any movie but Major League as his fave diamond flick, but you’d be wrong. Our ace analyst explains himself
• So, is Buerhle a Hall-of-Famer? Both Zach and Brett try to squelch amusement and disgust at the mere question
• What’s the key to taking dry analysis and injecting it with color enough that an average fan can grasp it? Zach knows it, as evidenced in his work here, and he shares some thoughts (hint: no, he doesn’t really like the numbers as much as the storytelling)
• You heard it here first: To SEE RED in 2022, the White Sox will bring back the baby blue zipper roadies and the red pinstripes
• Zach WILL NOT be Nightengaled
• Finally: room for optimism regarding this latest labor impasse? In fact, for reasons freely shared here: yes.

Listen below, on our built-in Megaphone player:

or follow along with every episode at Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you consume your podcasts. Or, you can watch the podcast on the South Side Hit Pen YouTube channel.