Sunday, September 18, 2011

September 12-18, 2011 Players representing the most common nicknames in baseball history.


MONDAY
Q.         Which Hall of Famer's hold the record for World Series losses at eight?
Hint:     His 2.74 career ERA, however, is the best since the end of the deadball era.
SABR:  His .690 winning percentage is the best in the 20th century.
Twint:    He played his whole 18-year career for a team in the city of his birth.
A.         Whitey Ford ([The Hint is incorrect.  Mariano Rivera and Hoyt Wilhelm both rank ahead of Ford.] WS record 10-8; New York Yankees, b. 21-Oct-1928 in New York)
First Correct Respondent – John Shiffert, Morrow, GA

TUESDAY
Q.         Which Hall of Fame pitcher holds the career record for seasons with 300 innings?
Hint:     His first five seasons were over 400 innings each.
SABR:  He notched his 300th career win when he was still 30 years old.
Twint:    He was elected to the Hall of Fame thirteen years after he was first on the ballot.
A.         Kid Nichols (12 seasons; 1890-94; 300th W 07-Sep-1900, b. 14-Sep-1869; HOF 1949)
FCR -    Matt Gibson, Barboursville, WV

WEDNESDAY
Q.         What Hall Famer and former Yellow Jacket managed a Chicago team to 110 wins one season?
Hint:     Many of those who saw both play rated him a better pitcher than Satchel Paige.
Hint:     Legend has it that he taught Christy Mathewson how to throw a screw ball.
SABR:  He spent his last days in and died in a mental asylum in Kankakee, Illinois.
Twint:    He is often referred to as the "Father of Negro Baseball".
A.         Rube Foster (Waco Yellow Jackets, 1907 Chicago Leland Giants; d. 09-Dec-1930)
FCR -    Kevin Johnson, Broken Arrow, OK

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.         Who is the only person to be in uniform for the Mets in their first nineteen World Series games?
Hint:     Though a National Leaguer, he batted ninth 01‑Jun‑1979.
Hint:     To add to the insult, his manager pinch hit for him with a batter who finished at .204 for the year.
SABR:  He was the first switch-hitter in New York Mets history to collect 1,000 hits.
Twint:    He appeared as himself on Everybody Loves Raymond.
A.         Bud Harrelson (12 WS G as a player in 1969 & 73, 7 G as coach in 1986; hits; Steve Carlton batted 8th that day; Dave Rader; ; ELR 01‑Mar‑1999)
FCR -    Frank DiPrima, Morristown, NJ

THURSDAY
Q.         Who is the only starting pitcher to lose three games in a single World Series?
Hint:     Pitching in the minors one season in Salt Lake City, he pitched 418.2 innings, struck out 294 and had 33 wins—all league-leading marks.
SABR:  He married a manicurist he met that year in Salt Lake City.
Twint:    He personally delivered $5,000 of ill-gotten gains to Shoeless Joe Jackson.
A.         Lefty Williams (1919 WS; 1915 Salt Lake City Bees; wife nee Lyria Wilson)
FCR -    John Rickert, Terre Haute

THURSDAY BONUS
Q.         Which Hall of Famer holds the major league record with six extra-base hits in a doubleheader?
Hint:     He was one of the first major leaguers to wear eyeglasses regularly.
SABR:  He hit over .300 for seven consecutive seasons.
Twint:    His eyesight varied so much on a daily basis that he carried glasses with three different prescriptions with him wherever he went.
A.         Chick Hafey (28-Jul-1928, bis)
FCR -    Paul Hirsch, Danville, CA

FRIDAY
Q.         Who holds the record for fewest pitches in a complete-game victory with 58?
Hint:     Within a nine-month period, he twice came within a single toss of a perfect game.
SABR:  Only fantastic offensive seasons by Phil Cavarretta and Tommy Holmes kept him from winning the Most Valuable Player Award in 1945.
Twint:    In a season where he was traded, he led the league in wins, complete games, innings pitched and batters faced.
Twint:    After the next season, he was purchased back to the team that had traded him.
A.         Red Barrett (58-pitch G 10-Aug-1944; Almosts 02-Sep-1945 & 08-Jun-1946; 1945 MVP voting; 23-May-1945 Traded from the Braves w/ $60,000 to the Cards for Mort Cooper; 09‑Dec‑1946 bought back by the Braves)
FCR -    John Rickert, Terre Haute

END-OF-THE-WEEK BONUS
Q.         What Hall of Famer was Monte Irvin referring to when he called him: “… the equal of any first baseman who ever lived.”?
Hint:     He turned down a chance to play in the majors because it came after his skills were in decline.
SABR:  He played eight games against major league competition until the commissioner ordered the games to stop.
Twint:    In The New Bill James Historical Abstract, Bill James ranked him as the best first baseman in the Negro leagues and as the 65th greatest baseball player of all time.
A.         Buck Leonard (After age 40, he was offered a contract by Bill Veeck)
FCR -    Skip Nipper, Nashville

SATURDAY
Q.         With whom did Ted Williams collide in the outfield, knocking both players out, fracturing Williams' jaw?
Hint:     He led the league seven times in at-bats, but only once in plate appearances.
Hint:     He is still the only player to lead the league in at-bats more than five times.
SABR:  Spot-pitching in the Blue Ridge League, on the last day of the 1929 season, he walked Joe Vosmik four times to preserve his own slim lead in the batting race.
Twint:    He was nicknamed "Flit" after the insecticide of the same name because he was "death on flies".
A.         Doc Cramer (Collision 23-Jun-1940)
FCR -    Steve Van Wagener, Bethesda

WEEKEND BONUS
Q.         Who is the only rookie to pitch three complete-game victories in a single World Series?
Hint:     Still on the same team, he helped them win the World Series again sixteen years later.
SABR:  In the modern era (1901 forward) he ranks second in career bases-on-balls allowed.
Twint:    Two of the four pitchers he is most closely matched with by Similarity Scores, are Hall of Famers.  The other two probably should be.
A.         Babe Adams (1909 WS; 1.292 BB/9 Innings behind only his old teammate Deacon Phillippe; Similarity:  Jack Chesbro [921], Stan Coveleski [906], Jesse Tannehill [922], Guy Hecker [907])
FCR -    Peter Beagle, Oakland

SUNDAY
Q.         Who played for three major league teams with a total of four team names in three different major leagues all in the same city?
Hint:     He led the league in home runs one season and led in runs batted in the next.
SABR:  He is the polar opposite of David Aardsma.
Twint:    He is the Federal League career leader in home runs, a lead he is not likely to relinquish soon.
A.         Dutch Zwilling (Chicago White Sox AL, Chi-Feds FL, Whales FL, Cubs NL; HR 16 in 1914, 94 RBI in 1915; Listed last in player registers.  Aardsma is first; 29 FL HR)
FCR -    Bill Garrod, Edgewood, WA

WEEK-ENDING BONUS
Q.         What former Bulldog was the first Red Sox player to lead the league in stolen bases?
Hint:     He was the first native of Mississippi to receive a Hall of Fame vote.
SABR:  Bill James has speculated that he might be in the Hall of Fame had he stayed on to coach after his playing career.
Twint:    He won his only major league batting title by going four-for-five on the last day of the season.
A.         Buddy Myer (30 SB 1928; HOF vote 1949 [a single vote]; 29-Sep-1935)
FCR -    Kenny Fink, Ocala


WEEKLY THEME – Players representing the most common nicknames in baseball history.

Babe (30)             Adams           Bio
Red (160)             Barrett           Bio
Doc (83)              Cramer           Bio
Whitey (35)           Ford
Rube (38)             Foster            Bio
Chick (36)            Hafey            Bio
Bud (43)               Harrelson       Bio
Buck (60)             Leonard         Bio
Buddy (31)           Myer              Bio
Kid (30)                Nichols
Lefty (181)           Williams         Bio
Dutch (70)            Zwilling

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Joe Ullian, Santa Barbara

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