Sunday, December 18, 2011

December 12-18, 2011 Managers with 400 wins over .500


MONDAY
Q.         Who was the first player to go five-for-five in his major league debut?
Hint:     He twice hit for the cycle.  (Not that day.  That would be a record.)
Hint:     He was on four pennant winners but only played in the two World Series.
Hint:     An outfielder, he once recorded four assists in a game and on another occasion made ten putouts in a single game.
Twint:    He was scouted by his local newspaper circulation editor.  That man later became a Hall of Fame manager.
A.         Fred Clarke (5/5 30-Jun-1894; 4 A/G in 1910, 10 PO/G in 1911; Ed Barrow at the Des Moines Register)
First Correct Respondent – Henry Hascup, Lodi, NJ

TUESDAY
Q.         What batter trails only Ted Williams and Babe Ruth in career on-base percentage?
Hint:     He began his career playing shortstop but moved over to play mostly third base.
Hint:     He scored 140 runs in a season three times.
Twint:    Tony LaRussa would have passed him in 2012.
A.         John McGraw (.466 OBP; Williams:  .482, Ruth:  .474; Career managerial wins 2,763 to LaRussa’s 2,728)
FCR -    Frank DiPeima, Morristown, NJ

WEDNESDAY
Q.         Who hit the last bounce home run in major league history?
Hint:     He held for 42 years and 13 days, the big league record for games played at catcher.
Twint:    He was replaced by Ernie Lombardi in Lombardi’s debut.
A.         Al Lopez (BHR 12-Sep-1930 off Ray Kolp over Bob Meusel’s head and into the bleachers at Ebbets Field; Passed Gabby Hartnett’s, 1,792 G caught on 03-Sep-1945, passed by Bob Boone on 16-Sep-1987 w/ Boone’s 1,919th.  Record is now held by Ivan Rodriguez at 2,427 and counting; Lombardi debut15-Apr-1931)
FCR -    Dick Adams, Ellicott City, MD

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.         Who played third base for the Yankees in Mickey Mantle’s last game?
Hint:     That season he hit a home run against the Cy Young Award winner as well as an inside-the-park job against the American League’s WHIP leader.
Twint:    He was the first manager to guide the Blue Jays for as many as 500 games.
A.         Bobby Cox (Mantle’s finale 28-Sep-1968; HR against Denny McClain on 02-Jun, IPHR against Dave McNally on 05-Aug; 355-329 in 648 games managing Toronto 1982-85)
FCR -    Peter Mitchell, Mission Viejo, CA

THURSDAY
Q.         Who was the only baseball player in the inaugural induction class for the University of Miami Hall of Fame?
Hint:     He taught high school industrial arts and phys-ed in the off season.
Hint:     He only faced a total of three pitches at the major league level—all strikes.
Hint:     If possible, his fielding was even worse:  He had two chances in the field and made an error on half of them.
Twint:    His playing career ended when he injured his shoulder in a fight with Sal Yvars in a 1946 minor league game.
A.         Walter Alston (Didn’t not me to be more elusive than appropriate for a Thursday, but the question should have read “Miami University”; Sole MLB game 27-Sep-1936)
FCR -    Eddie Deezen, Hollywood, CA

FRIDAY
Q.         Whose plebian behavior on the field belied his patrician nickname?
Hint:     It’s not true that he wrote a book on classical art.
Twint:    He can tell you the difference between Horatio and Polonius.
Twint:    He popularized a now common baseball sartorial affectation.
A.         Earl Weaver (“The Earl of Baltimore”; Book he did write:  Weaver on Strategy; Hamlet reference; He turned his cap backwards in order to argue with umpires with, um… enhanced propinquity.)
FCR -    Randall Chandler, Germantown, TN

SATURDAY
Q.         Who was the first native of New Hampshire to be inducted to the baseball Hall of Fame?
Hint:     He left a secure factory job in Waltham to play ball.
Hint:     He died in Denver and is buried in Wyoming.
Twint:    He led teams to championships in Oshkosh and Omaha.
A.         Frank Selee (b. 26-Oct-1859 in Amherst, NH,, HOF 1999; d. 05-Jul-1909 in Denver, CO, buried in Wyoming Cemetery, Melrose, MA)
FCR -    Frank DiPrima, Morristown, NJ

SUNDAY
Q.         Who was offered a scholarship to Niagara University to play baseball in spite of never attending high school?
Hint:     He was portrayed by Hugh Sanders in the movie The Winning Team.
Twint:    He was the first manager to win a pennant in both the National League and the American League.
A.         Joe McCarthy (Sanders, The Winning Team; Pennants w/1929 Cubs and 1932 Yankees)
FCR -    Wayne McCombs, Claremore, OK


WEEKLY THEME – Managers with 400 wins over .500

Manager         Wins          Losses      Diff.
Alston          2,040       1,613      427      Bio
Clarke          1,602       1,181       421      Bio
Cox              2,504       2,001       503
Lopez           1,410       1,004       406      Bio
McCarthy      2,125       1,333       792      Bio
McGraw        2,763       1,948       815      Bio
Selee           1,284         862       422
Weaver         1,480       1,060       420

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Dave MacEntee, Beacon, NY

No comments:

Post a Comment