MONDAY
(Continuation of
previous week.)
TUESDAY
Q. Since 1930, who is the only player to
win the National League Most Valuable Player awards for 2 different teams?
Hint: He holds the New York/San Francisco Giants
record for home runs in a single season.
Hint: He also holds the team record for
bases-on-balls for a single season.
- NL MVP for PIT in 1990 & 1992; for SFG in 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004 [Was also 2nd
in MVP voting in 1991 & 2000.]
- 73 HR in 2001
- 232 BB in 2004. He also holds the 2nd, 3rd,
9th & 14th most in a season.
FCR - Mark Yecies, Sarasota, Florida
Incorrect
guesses: Orlando Cepeda, Johnny Mize,
Willie Mays, Frank Robinson
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was so good that he was bad?
Hint: He bought his first automobile from a
salesman named Bud Selig.
Hint: He has his own dealership today.
- His nickname “Bad Henry” was meant purely
ironically.
- His first city in the majors was Milwaukee
where Selig owned a dealership.
FCR - Kellen Nielson, Blanding, Utah
Incorrect
guesses: Joe Torre, Bob Newsome, Bob Uecker
THURSDAY
Q. Who is the only player to hit 3 home
runs in a postseason game more than once?
Hint: He is also the first one to do it even
once.
Hint: His beloved step-daughter appeared recently
at an event sponsored by a museum named for him.
- “Recent” is relative especially for the
101-year-old Julia Ruth Stevens. I had my picture taken with her in 2012 in
Baltimore when she appeared as a guest of the Babe Ruth Birthplace
and Museum.
(alas it’s on a cell phone that was stolen.)
FCR - Madison McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra,
Willie Mays
FRIDAY
Q. Who made a New York City street game
famous, if not emulated, across the country?
Hint: THOSE were simpler times.
Hint: He grew up in a family that most
sociologists would not refer to as “nuclear”.
Hint: His most thorough biographer claims that he
purposely missed certain pitches early in a game knowing a pitcher would think
that he’d found a weak spot. He’d used
that to good effect in subsequent innings.
Hint: His swing had no weak spots.
A. WILLIE
MAYS
- New Yorkers played stickball, a clever adaptation of
baseball for space-restricted urban environments.
- Mays was raised by multiple relatives, mostly
his older sister.
- Charles Einstein wrote three books with Mays
as the subject.
FCR - Lee Dembart, Los Angeles
Incorrect
guesses: Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Alfonso
Soriano
SATURDAY
Q. Who has hit an All-Star game home run in
each league?
Hint: One of them earned him All-Star Game MVP.
Hint: The place where he was born has seen a lot
of water recently.
Hint: The place where he grew up has seen a lot
of fire recently.
A. FRANK
ROBINSON
- ASG HR’s:
NL 1959 [2]; AL 1971 (MVP)
- Born in Beaumont, Texas, which felt the full
fury of Hurricane Harvey.
- Raised in Northern California where wildfires
are still burning out of control in some areas.
FCR - Frank Workman, Lake Forest Park, Washington
Incorrect
guesses: Alfonso Soriano
WEEKEND
BONUS
Q. Whose nationally-viewed, completely-unexpected
lachrymosity was viewed by many as hardly concomitant with his culpability nor
even his “alleged” malfeasance?
Hint: Recruited to one of the top college
baseball programs in the U.S., his pitching skills had been well-honed,
widely-admired and feared by all who stood in to face him.
Hint: His robust brachioradiales and those of several teammates became key components
in a publicly-enacted performance-related kudos. They were self-congratulatory, to be sure,
but soon became a fan favorite.
- Wept
openly before Congress, sputtering that he
didn’t want to talk about the past (alleged abuse of
performance-enhancing drugs).
- Played baseball at the University
of Southern California under legendary coach Rod Dedeaux. McGwire had
dominated the game from the mound, but by the time he was drafted
8th overall by OAK in 1984, it was his power at bat and steady
hand at 3rd base they sought.
- Bashed
his meaty forearm with that of A’s teammate Jose
Canseco as a sort of muscle-bound ‘high five’ after either of them homered
or did something equally heroic.
FCR - David Johnson, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Roger Clemens, Tommy John, Rollie Fingers
SUNDAY
Q. In Joe DiMaggio’s final season in the
majors, what teammate of his wore uniform #6?
Hint: He was the third player from his native
state inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Hint: Three more have been inducted since then.
- Since Ruth had been #3, Gehrig #4 and DiMaggio
#5, Mantle was assigned uniform #6, a hint of the great things the Yankees
expected of him. After a stint back in
the minors, he returned to the big club on 24-Aug
of his rookie season, 1951, and was assigned #7, which he proceeded to make iconic.
- Oklahoma native brothers Paul
and Lloyd Waner became Hall of Famers in 1952 and 1967 respectively. Mantle made it in on his first ballot in
1974. Three players succeeded him: Willie
Stargell (1988), Johnny
Bench (1989) and Negro Leaguer Bullet
Rogan (1998). One manager, Bobby
Cox, was voted in in 2014.
FCR - Rick Zucker, St. Louis
Incorrect
guesses: Yogi Berra, Andy Carey, Elston
Howard
SUNDAY
ANTEPENULTIMATE
Q. Who was the first player to pinch-hit a
grand slam in each league?
Hint: He was the youngest player to play catcher
in the modern major league history.
Hint: He once walked 6 times in a single game.
- P-H GS’s:
21-Sep-1931
for PHA
& 18-May-1945
for PHI.
- Played C on 26-May-1925
@ 17 yrs. 204 days
- 6 BB 16-Jun-1938
FCR - Danny Shilkett, Pensacola
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Pagliaroni, Pudge Rodriguez,
Tim McCarver
SUNDAY
PENULTIMATE
Q. Which Hall of Famer ran for a Ward Alderman
during his playing days, losing in a landslide?
Hint: He was the first player to hit at least 45
home runs in a season without hitting 10 in any single month.
Hint: He was the first National League first
baseman to record 22 putouts in a game.
A. ERNIE
BANKS
- 8th Ward Chicago 1963
- 45 HR in 1959 (MVP season): 5 in Apr; 7 in May; 9 in Jun; 8 in Jul; 9 in Aug;
& 7 in Sep.
- 22 PO 09-May-1963
FCR - Patrick Roth, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Willie McCovey
THE
WEEK’S CABOOSE
Q. Of whom did Seattle sportswriter David
Ginsburg say, “[his] bronze bust in Cooperstown will chatter only slightly less
than the man himself. The first line of
text on the monument should read: ‘He spoke rarely & carried a mighty bat’.”?
Hint: No player active in 2017 is within 35
places of catching him on the career leader board for games played at his
position.
Hint: He belongs to one of baseball’s most
exclusive clubs. (Picture a venn
diagram.)
A. EDDIE
MURRAY
- Murray’s HOF
plaque.
- Racked up 2,413 career games at first
base. It should be noted that he played
almost 600 additional games at other positions.
- He is one of only five (5!) players with 3,000
career hits of which at least 500 were home runs: H. Aaron [3,771/755], A. Rodriguez
[3,115/696], W. Mays, [3,283/660], R. Palmeiro [3,020/569] & Murray
3,225/504].
FCR - Tim Phares, Laurel, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Adrian Beltre, Jim Bottomley
WEEKLY THEME – 500 home
run club members who have been coaches in the majors.
Pos Name HRs Coached
1. Bonds 762 Marlins 2016
3. Ruth 714 Dodgers 1938
11. McGwire 583 Cards 2010-12;
Dodgers 2013-15;
Padres 2016
18. Mantle 536 Yankees 1969-70
27. Murray 504 Orioles 1998-2001;
Indians 2002-05;
Dodgers 2006-07
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Know-body!
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Friday - HR
career leaders in descending order.
- Top
HR hitters of all time
Sunday- - Group
of players who collectively have homered in every MLB park since 1910.
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