Answers for the Week of November 15, 2010

MONDAY

Q.         Who is the only outfielder with nine World Series championships to his credit?

Hint:     He is the only All-Star to have two brothers who were also All-Stars (besides, of course, them).

Twint:    He twice married movie actresses.

Twint:    I’m told he jolted.

A.         Joe DiMaggio (WS W’s 1936-39, 41, 47, 49-51.  He might have won 10.  He was in the service when the Yankees also won in 1943.; Brothers Vince & Dom; Wives Dorothy Arnold [nee Olson] and Marilyn Monroe [nee Norma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker; “Joltin’ Joe”)

First Correct Respondent – Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI

TUESDAY

Q.         Who won 13 consecutive Gold Glove Awards at shortstop?

Hint:     He wowed them in Walla Walla.

Twint:    He was born in the same town as three other Hall of Famers, but was a high school teammate of another Hall of Famer in a different city.

Twint:    He and that high school teammate were the only players with 100 hits in the 1981 and 1994 strike-shortened seasons.

A.         Ozzie Smith (GG 1980-92, 1977 Walla Walla, WA Padres; Mobile, AL—Satchell Paige, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Locke HS in Watts, CA w/Eddie Murray)

FCR -    Paul Rupright, Cleveland

WEDNESDAY

Q.         Who is the Dodger’ franchise career leader in games, at-bats, hits, doubles and triples?

Hint:     He was the first player to collect 2,000 career hits for them.

Twint:    He was the only National League player to compile 5,000 at-bats for a single team during the 1910s.

Twint:    The most prominent baseball publication during his career said, “[He] is the easiest, most graceful of outfielders with no close rivals."

A.         Zach Wheat (2,000^th 25-Jun-1922; 5,064 AB 1910-1919. “Baseball” magazine 1917)

FCR -    Jim McCoy, Melrose, MA

MIDWEEK BONUS

Q.         What pitcher ended the Yankees' 12-game World Series winning streak?

Hint:     He played for the same team for his entire 16-year major league career, but played for seven minor league teams in two organizations.

Twint:    He afforded many a teammate to eat well.

A.         Carl Hubbell (WS W 30-Sep1936; Nickname was “The Meal Ticket”)

FCR -    Morris Buenemann, Florissant, MO

THURSDAY

Q.         Who was the first National League pitcher to record two victories in All-Star game play?

Hint:     He is the only pitcher with 200 losses for his franchise.

Twint:    He might have been the winner of the Cy Young Award, had the award begun a year sooner.

A.         Bob Friend (ASG W 1956, 60; 218 L for Pittsburgh)

FCR -    Fred Brillhart, Mechanicsburg, PA

MIDNIGHT POSER

Q.         Who was only the third American (after Wally Yonamine and Joe Lutz) to manage in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League?

Hint:     His only All-Star team selection came as a result of controversial ballot-stuffing, even though he had received MVP votes the prior season.

Twint:    He married the daughter of a perennial All-Star catcher.

Twint:    Four times he collected his team’s only hit in a major league game.

A.         Don Blasingame (Mgr. 1978-82; AS 1958; father-in-law was Walker Cooper;)

FCR -    Larry Creeden, Boulder City, NV

FRIDAY

Q.         Who was the first visiting player to hit a home run into the upper deck at Three Rivers Stadium?

Hint:     He homered in three consecutive National League Championship Series.

Twint:    He was runner-up in the National League Most Valuable Player balloting to Reds Joe Morgan in 1975 and then George Foster in 1977.

Twint:    In 1989, he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

A.         Greg Luzinski (18-Apr-79 off Don Robinson 483'; LCS HRs 1976-78; NP-A HOF)

FCR -    John Read, Shaker Heights, OH

SATURDAY

Q.         Who was invited to the White House 16 years after his career?

Hint:     He openly denied being triskaidekaphobic.

Twint:    He appeared four times on the Ed Sullivan Show.

A.         Ralph Branca (Nixon visit 1972; Wore #13 and posed with a black cat on Friday, 13-Apr-1951)

FCR -    Charlie O’Reilly, Rutherford, NJ

WEEKEND BONUS

Q.         Who earned his nickname because of his freckles?

Hint:     He began his career with a team that seemingly never lost and ended it with a team that seemingly never won.

Hint:     He made the All-Star team in his rookie year, but never again in his eight-year career in the majors.

Twint:    He is listed as the "baseball throwing instructor" for the movie "The Natural".

A.         Spec Shea (Career; filmography; ASG 1947)

FCR -    Henry Hascup, Lodi, NJ

SUNDAY

Q.         Who hit a dramatic home run against the Red Sox to help lead his team to the World Series for the first time in their history?

Hint:     He finished a strong third place in Rookie of the Year Award voting, but has never made an All-Star team in his seven seasons in the majors.

Hint:     A baseball scout with 50 years of professional experience called him Joe DiMaggio’s twin.

Twint:    He is of pre-dominantly Italian and French ancestry but has Syrian lineage through his paternal grandmother.

A.         Rocco Baldelli (HR off Paul Byrd 13-Oct-2008; Scout Al Lamacchia)

FCR -    David Krassin, New York

WEEKLY THEME – Players whose nicknames suggest NBA teams.

Name              Nickname                       NBA Team

Baldelli            Woonsocket Rocket       Houston Rockets

Blasingame     Blazer                             Portland Trail Blazers

Branca            Hawk                              Atlanta Hawks

DiMaggio        The Yankee Clipper         Los Angeles Clippers

Friend             Warrior                           Golden State Warriors

Hubbell           King Carl                        Sacramento Kings

Luzinski           The Bull                          Chicago Bulls

Shea               The Naugatuck Nugget    Denver Nuggets

Smith              The Wizard of Oz            Washington Wizards

Wheat             Buck                              Milwaukee Bucks

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – No one