Rising Apple Report, Ep. 9 – Steve From “Kranepool” & Ted Berg Join the Report

Being my lucky number, I was thrilled to get the chance to host Episode 9 of The Rising Apple Report, with not only Steve Keane from Kranepool Society joining us, but SNY.TV’s former Senior Editor Ted Berg, who is currently writing about baseball at USA Today (including the news that a Twin is expecting twins.) The two joined myself, Rich Sparago, Michael Lecolant and Danny Abriano for the piping-hot half hour of Mets talk, which also included some very interesting discussions regarding the blogosphere, and writing in general.

The show kicked off with Danny Abriano, for the 1st time ever in Rising Apple Report history, recapping that afternoon’s Mets Game action. With Steve on his way from a Sandy Alderson conference call, we were afforded 10 minutes to discuss tidbits from Port Saint Lucie, including Wheeler’s late scratch due to an oblique strain, Gorski’s performance in his place, the chance for power at the catching position (a refreshing potential), and the back-up infielder battle.

Then, the Society’s creator and ambassador, Steve Keane, arrived fresh from the conference call, which gave us all a lot of instant insight as to the current mood of Sandy Alderson. After the recap, Steve retraced his blogging history, which dates back to when he put that first AOL CD into his computer. He also put blogging in perspective of the grand scheme of things.

Steve is one of the Metsians who laid the groundwork for what this blog world is today, and we can’t thank him enough for coming on board last night.

With around 10 minutes left, Ted Berg arrived and got right into how the transition over to the national stage is going. After discussing how he began at SNY.TV 5 years ago, we got into talking about the 2013 Mets and his usual optimistic take on (relatively) where this team can go. Though we were not able to talk about Taco Bell, Beltran, or even Cole Hamels, we were able to discuss why facial hair in baseball is so endearing, and Ted’s writing process as well.

All of us here are huge fans of the work Ted Berg has done and look forward to all his future work at USA Today.

Much much more exists in that play button below, so take a half-hour during your afternoon of work and soak in the glory that is The Rising Apple Report.

Thanks for reading! You can visit Sam Maxwell’s personal Mets Blog here. And be sure to Like Rising Apple’s Facebook page and follow @RisingAppleBlog on Twitter to keep up with the latest news, rumors, and opinion.