MONDAY
Q. Who is the only player to win two Most Valuable Player Awards with one team and then win two more MVP Awards with a second team?
Hint: That’s four, all in the same league.
Twint: He ended up with seven overall. No one else has won more.
Twint: He was in the top five in the MVP vote five additional times, including twice in second.
FCR - Judah Kaplan, Silver Spring, MD
TUESDAY
Q. What second baseman was the first National Leaguer to play on the same team with his brother where their father was a coach?
Hint: He homered from each side of the plate in a single game for three different American League teams.
Twint: He was once engaged to a professional tennis star who holds passports from three different countries.
A. Roberto Alomar (1988 Padres; SH HRs Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians; Mary Pierce)
FCR - Jess Forrest, Chicago
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who framed a $1,000,000 bonus cheque instead of cashing it?
Hint: He once said, “If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I’ll play like Gallego.”
Hint: Bill James wrote, "Some people have asked me whether or not [he] belonged in the Hall of Fame. I've replied "’If you could somehow split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers.’"
Twint: Jim Murray, Los AngelesTimes columnist, described his strike zone as “…smaller than Hitler's heart.”
A. Rickey Henderson
FCR - John Rickert, Terre Haute
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. What former Pirate is the only man who played 350 games at each of catcher, second base and outfield in the majors?
Hint: He was once traded for Robin Roberts. (Just kidding! He was never traded.)
Hint: He made 3,000 more career plate appearances than anyone else who has ever played for his franchise.
Twint: After Yogi Berra coached him, he made his first All- Star team at catcher.
A. Craig Biggio (Seton Hall University Pirates, C 428 G, 2b 1,989 G, OF 363 G; Roberts was never traded either but pitched for four teams in his Hall of Fame career; ASG 1991)
FCR - Fred Worth, Arkadelphia, AR
THURSDAY
Q. Who hit the first regular-season home run against the Washington Nationals?
Hint: He shoved Fernando Vina a day after Albert Belle had knocked Vina to the ground with a forearm shiver.
Twint: Oft-traded, he was the object of a clever DHL television commercial.
A. Kenny Lofton (HR off Livan Hernandez 04-Apr-2005; Vina shove 01-Jun-1996; TV ad)
FCR - J.R. Richardson, Clarksville, MD
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the last Montreal Expo to steal 75 bases in a season?
Hint: He caught the fly ball that was the final out of Dennis Martinez’ perfect game.
Twint: He, like Hal MacRae, Andre Dawson and Vince Coleman before him, was a Rattler who couldn’t be rattled.
A. Marquis Grissom (78 SB in 1992; Martinez perfecto 28-Jul-1991; Florida A&M Rattlers)
FCR - Paul Hirsch, Danville, CA
SATURDAY
Q. Which player became Wade Boggs’s last career strikeout victim three days after Boggs reached the 3,000 hit plateau?
Hint: He led the league in triples in one of his two seasons with the Cardinals.
Twint: He was traded straight-up for Pedro Martinez. (Yes, THAT Pedro Martinez.)
A. Delino DeShields (K 10-Aug-1999; 14 3B 1997; trade from the Expos to the Dodgers)
FCR - Art Springsteen, Sunapee, NH
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who set the modern National League record with six steals in a single game?
Hint: Only Vince Coleman had more stolen bases than his brother’s 144 professional swipes in 1983.
Hint: He once walked twice in the first inning of a game in the majors.
Hint: He played for nine major league franchises in seventeen seasons.
Hint: He was clearly a speed merchant, but he was also a consumer, resulting in a stint in drug rehab early in his career.
Hint: He later founded the StrikeOut foundation that teaches school-aged children how to avoid drugs.
Twint: Neither he nor Mark Langston received a single vote in the 2005 Hall of Fame ballot.
A. Otis Nixon (6 BB 16-Jun-1991; 2 BB 09-Sep-1992; StrikeOut Foundation)
FCR - John Rickert, Terre Haute
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first designated hitter to bat leadoff for an American League team in the World Series?
Hint: He collected his 1,000th career hit during the game Paul Molitor got his 3,000th.
Hint: As the ball famously trickled away in play, he allowed the lead runner to score while arguing a close call at first base in a postseason game—a game his team lost.
Twint: He snatched the bat out of the hands of Scott’s 4-year-old son during Kirby Puckett’s retirement weekend. Scott does not remember this fondly.
A. Chuck Knoblauch (DH WS AB 21-Oct-2000; 1,000th H 16-Sep-1996; 07-Oct 1998; Bat snatch on Saturday on Kirby Puckett Weekend when his number was retired.. At Puckett’s request, Scott and his family were invited by the Twins to attend. Before the game, Scott presented Puckett with a gift of his personal collection of nearly 2,000 collectible cards, spanning Puckett’s career.)
FCR - David Krassin, New York
WEEKLY THEME – Players with 300 steals 1990-1999
Alomar 311
Biggio 319
Bonds 343
DeShields 393
Grissom 381
Henderson 463
Knoblauch 335
Lofton 433
Nixon 478
First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Gregg Gaylord, Chicago
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