MONDAY
Q. What major league manager is currently serving a suspension imposed by his own team?
Hint: Few people remember the twelve games he played for the Orioles.
Twint: He once declaimed, "If I can do it [manage in the majors], anybody can do it," then turned to a reporter and told him, "Not you. You're not smart enough."?
A. Ozzie Guillen (1998 Orioles)
FCR - Harvey Judkowitz, Miami, FL
MONDAY SCHMONDAY
Q. Who is the only major leaguer to have just his first name appear regularly on the back of his uniform?
Hint: He didn’t get 200 hits last year.
Twint: He has had seven hitting streaks of 20 or more games.
A. Ichiro Suzuki (184 H in 2011 after 10 straight years of 200+)
FCR - Matt Repplinger, Denver
TUESDAY
Q. Who is the only Hall of Famer with a thousand games at second base and a thousand games at first base?
Hint: Billy Martin said of him, "He could bunt .330 if he tried."
Hint: Only Ty Cobb has more American League batting titles.
Twint: He spent three seasons in the low minors, never even reaching AA then was never called back to the minors in his nineteen-year major league career.
A. Rod Carew (1,130 G @ 2nd, 1,184 G @ 1st; 7 batting titles to Cobb’s 11; Minors 1964-66)
FCR - Quentin Wittrock, Minneapolis
TUESDAY BONUS
Q. Who is the only player to win league batting titles in each of his first two seasons?
Hint: He was the first player to hit a home run as a designated hitter.
Twint: He borrowed his brother’s identity to appear younger to major league scouts.
A. Tony Oliva (1964-65; DH HR 06-Apr-1973; Pedro Oliva)
FCR - Chuck Durante, Wilmington, DE
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who had to purchase a replica jersey to play in the All-Star game because he’d left his uniform in his car at the airport?
Hint: He received less that 3% of the Hall of Fame votes in his only year on the ballot in spite of a career OPS+ that matched Roberto Alomar’s, while playing just twelve fewer games at second base.
Twint: Although his team has not officially retired it, no player has worn his uniform number since he retired in 1995.
A. Lou Whitaker (1985 ASG he left his uniform in his car at the airport in Detroit. When he realized his error, an emergency uniform was flown in but lost in transit. Whitaker was forced to purchase a replica jersey from a vendor, write the number 1 on the back, wear a Cleveland Indians batting helmet, and borrow a glove from Cal Ripken Jr.. To add insult to injury, Whitaker went 0-2 in the game; HOF vote 2.9% in 2001; No. 1)
FCR - David Krassin, New York
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Whose 57th and final career home run came in his final at-bat off a monster over a monster?
Hint: He was struck in the throat by Bill Virdon's bad-hop grounder in the 1960 World Series.
Twint: He was the first broadcast Hall of Famer [Ford Frick Award winner] to call games for a Canadian team.
A. Tony Kubek (HR 03-Oct-1965 over Fenway Park’s Green Monster off Dick “The Monster” Radatz; WS G 13-Oct-1960; TV color announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays)
FCR - Abbey Garber, Dallas
THURSDAY
Q. Whose game-winning postseason home run was so exuberantly acclaimed by an adoring crowd that he almost didn’t score because of the fans smothering him as he approached home plate?
Hint: He was the first player drafted in the 1970s.
Hint: He is currently the batting coach for the Mariners.
Twint: His first name is Carroll.
A. Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS 14-Oct off Mark Littell of the Royals; Drafted 1st overall pick of the 1970 MLB Draft; Carroll Christopher Chambliss)
FCR - Kenny Fink, Ocala
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the first Seattle Mariner to accumulate 1,000 career hits?
Hint: During his career, he was a Gull and a Buffalo.
Twint: He added “PTL” after his name whenever he signed autographs.
A. Alvin Davis (1,000th H 22-Jul-1990; 1984 Salt Lake City Gulls, 1992 Osaka Kinetsu Buffaloes; A deeply religious man, Davis was adding “Praise The Lord”)
FCR - Tim Swindle, Tucson
END-OF-THE-WEEK BONUS
Q. Who was the first Baltimore Orioles [AL] with 200 hits in a season?
Hint: He hit his first home run in the majors off Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter.
Hint: The next batter, also a rookie, proceeded to do the same.
Twint: He left the Orioles as their career stolen base leader.
Twint: He only stole two more bases in the rest of his playing days in the majors.
A. Al Bumbry (205 H in 1980; 1st HR 09-May-1973; Rich Coggins followed with his 1st career HR; 252 SB on the Orioles list at the end of 1984. He now trails Brady Anderson [307] and Brian Roberts [274].)
FCR - Dave Raglin, McLean, VA
SATURDAY
Q. Who played in the World Series in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for three different teams?
Hint: He hit his only triple for the Braves in his first at-bat for the team.
Hint: He majored in Special Education at the University of Arkansas.
Twint: After an advertisement in The Globe and Mail, he was called “The Big Fish”.
A. Eric Hinske (WS 07, 08, 09; Ad by Bushnell said “Eric Hinske eats fish tonight” as the Jays were playing the Florida Marlins.
FCR - Dave Williams, Glastonbury, CT
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first player chosen in the first round of the major league draft whose father had also been chosen in the first round?
Hint: Both were Top Ten picks.
Hint: His $1,200,000 signing bonus, modest at the time, was nevertheless more than his father’s cumulative earnings during a nine-year major league career.
Twint: His father took some of members of the Texas Rangers to watch him [the son] play on his high school team.
Twint: Some of those watching later became his teammates.
A. Ben Grieve (Was the 2nd pick in the 1994 Draft. His father Tom Grieve was the 6th pick in the 1966 Draft)
FCR - Paul Greenwell, Fort Worth
EX POST FACTOID
Q. Who hit the first grand slam at Anaheim Stadium?
Hint: This should be somewhat easy since you already know this week’s theme.
Twint: Though he played over 800 games at other positions and fewer than 70 at catcher, he was behind the plate for a no hitter.
A. Curt Blefary (GS 06-Jun-1967, off Lou Burdette who had just come into the game in the 9th inning; 27-Apr-1968, 66 G @ C, 808 elsewhere)
FCR - Gregg Gaylord, Chicago
WEEKLY THEME – American League Rookie of the Year Award winners who threw right but batted left.
ROY Year
Blefary 1965
Bumbry 1973
Carew 1967
Chambliss 1971
Davis 1984
Grieve 1998
Guillen 1985
Hinske 2002
Kubek 1957
Oliva 1964
Suzuki 2001
Whitaker 1978
First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Jeff Bergida, Albany, NY
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