Sunday, September 16, 2012

September 10-16, 2012 Last active players of a franchise after relocation


MONDAY
N.B.  This week’s questions, hints and theme come to us from Mark Pattison, resident of the nation’s capital.  (No, not Ottawa.)
Q.         Who was “The Killer”?
Hint:     He was the first player to clear the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium.
Twint:    He was an All-Star at three different positions.
A.         Harmon Killebrew (Tiger Stadium HR:  03-Aug-1962 off Jim Bunning; ASS pos. 1b, 3b, OF)
FCR -    Arieh Siegal, Austin, TX

MONDAY AGAIN
Q.         Disney’s famous VW was adorned with a certain number because it was the uniform number of which player?
Hint:     A fellow Hall of Famer once said of his preferred approach when at the plate against him, “Hit him before he hits you.”
Twint:    One of his high school baseball teammates was actor Robert Redford.
A.         Don Drysdale (“Herbie” of The Love Bug, 53; Quote from Orlando Cepeda; Van Nuys HS)
FCR -    Jim Casey, Savannah, GA

TUESDAY
Q.         Which Hall of Famer was the first rookie to hit three home runs in one game?
Hint:     He is one of only a handful of Hall of Famers to retire as a World Series champion.
Twint:    His on-field, in-game fight with Frank Robinson was noted for its mano-a-mano viciousness.
A.         Eddie Mathews (3 HR 27-Sep-1952; HOF ret. WS champs: Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize; Fight w/Robinson 15-Aug-1960)
FCR -    Bill Garrod, Edgewood, WA

TUESDAY AGAIN
Q.         What pitcher won 318 major league games primarily as a knuckleball artist?
Hint:     He is the only pitcher to hurl a shutout for his 300th big-league win.
Twint:    He gave up the only homer that his brother, also a knuckleball specialist, ever hit in the majors.
A.         Phil Niekro (ShO 06-Oct-1985; HR to Joe 29-May-1976)
FCR -    Steven Young, Middletown, MD

WEDNESDAY
Q.         Who succeeded Bobby Thomson in centerfield?
Hint:     Many believe he might have broken Babe Ruth’s career home run record were it not for the conditions in the ballpark he called home over 12 seasons.
Twint:    In the 1960s he made a TV public service announcement warning kids against blasting caps. “Remember now, don’t touch them.”
A.         Willie Mays (Candlestick Park 1960-72; PSA)
FCR -    Fred Brillhart, Mechanicsburg, PA

WEDNESDAY AGAIN
Q.         Who was the first of the tandem who hit back-to-back inside-the-park homers in an American League game?
Hint:     He once played an entire doubleheader at shortstop without a single fielding chance.
Twint:    He can be considered the best palindromic position player in big-league history. (Yes, better than Robb Nen.)
A.         Toby Harrah (Consec. IPHRS w/Bump Wills off Mike Torrez, 27-Aug-1977 off the Yankees’ Mike Torrez [Done in the NL 23‑Jun‑1946 by Marv Rickert and Eddie Waitkus both off Nate Andrews, Thanks to Blake Sherry for that one.] ; Double-header: 25-Jun-1976a & 25-Jun-1976b; Palindrome)
FCR -    Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO

THURSDAY
Q.         Who captained his team to five consecutive division titles?
Hint:     His kid brother also played in the majors and though their careers were of sixteen and nine years respectively, they only overlapped by 53 days.
Twint:    He is now the CEO of Middleton Doll Co., makers of hand-painted collectible dolls.
A.         Sal Bando (Oakland, 1971-75; Overlap with Chris 13-Aug through 03-Oct-1981; Middleton)
FCR -    Arieh Siegal, Austin, TX

THURSDAY AGAIN
Q.         What nephew of All-Star Larry Bowa is on a team with two other players with his same last name?
Hint:     He was selected 3rd in the 1996 draft by the Yankees, right after they took Eric Milton and Jason Coble.
Twint:    His on-base percentage is in the top ten among active players.
A.         Nick Johnson (Bowa, 2012 Orioles: Steve Johnson, Jim Johnson; Milton, Coble; .3989 OBA)
FCR -    Bob Kimball, Washington, DC

FRIDAY
Q.         Who was the first player to lead each existing major league in triples?
Hint:     His record of 27 triples as a rookie has stood for over a century.
Twint:    He should not be confused with the manager of the same name who concluded his managerial career more than a decade before our mystery man’s playing career began.
Twint:    He should also not be confused with the manager of the same name who seemed to be missing an “m”.
A.         Jimmy Williams (Pittsburgh, NL, 1899, 28; Baltimore, AL, 1901-02, 21 each year; Mgr. Jimmy Williams; Jimy Williams; )
FCR -    Bill Garrod, Edgewood, WA

FRIDAY AGAIN
Q.         Who twice in a three-week period spoiled the Indians’ Mike Garcia’s no-hit bids?
Hint:     He was his team’s lone representative in the 1957 All-Star Game.
Hint:     It was the only All-Star selection in his eleven-year career and he never got in the game.
Twint:    It was inevitable that he got caught up in the A’s-Yankees trade winds of the late 1950s.
A.         Joe DeMaestri (Garcia’s one-hitters: 16-May- & 05-Jun-1954; ’57 Kansas City A’s; Trade 11‑Dec‑1959: Traded by Kansas City with Kent Hadley and Roger Maris to New York for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry)
FCR -    Wayne McCombs, Claremore, OK

SATURDAY
Q.         Who is part of the only father-son set who respectively led their major league in losses in a season?
Hint:     He is the only starting pitcher in major league history to have a 3-foot-7-inch tall teammate.
Twint:    He is one of only six major leaguers with the middle name Xavier.
A.         Duane Pillette (Father Herman, 19 L 1923, Duane 14 L 1951; Short teammate the day he started:  Eddie Gaedel on 19-Aug-1951; Middle name w/X: Fran Healy, Francis Healy, Jeff Pfeffer, Carney Flynn, Jimmy Myers)
FCR -    Tom Zocco, Rocky Hill, CT

WEEKEND BONUS
Q.         Who, with seeming gladness, traded in his birth name of Claude for the moniker he was known by throughout his professional career?
Hint:     After he retired, he earned a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, only the second ex-big leaguer ever to do so.
Twint:    He made his major league debut as a third baseman.
Twint:    In a dozen subsequent seasons after a position shift, he never bettered his third base fielding percentage, but equaled it three times.
A.         Skip Lockwood (Ret. 1980, MIT 1983, Art Merewether, 1925; Fldg % @ 3b 1.000)
FCR -    Jason Carbone, Newark, DE

SUNDAY
Q.         Who led the American League in stolen bases in Ty Cobb’s first full season in the majors?
Hint:     His last at-bat in the majors was the groundout that capped Addie Joss’ perfect game.
Twint:    He should not be confused with the pitcher of the same name in the early 1960s.
Twint:    Nor should he be confused with the 1980 independent presidential candidate nor the 1980s country singer who share the same name.
A.         John Anderson (39 SB in 1906; Joss’s perfecto 02-Oct-1908; John Anderson; John B. Anderson, John D. Anderson)
FCR -    Damian Begley, New York


WEEKLY THEME – Last active players of a franchise after relocation

Anderson     06-Oct-1903      1901 Milwaukee Brewers->St. Louis Browns
Bando          19-Nov-1976      (breaks three-way tie of November 1) free-agency granting with Joe Rudi and Bert Campaneris by virtue of his later signing with a different team)
DeMaestri     11-Dec-1959      1954 Philadelphia->Kansas City A’s
Drysdale      05-Aug-1969      1957 Brooklyn->Los Angeles Dodgers
Harrah          08-Dec-1978      1971 Washington Senators->Texas Rangers
Johnson       31-Jul-2009       2004 Montreal Expos->Washington Nationals
Killebrew      16-Jan-1975      1960 Washington Senators->Minnesota Twins
Lockwood    22-Oct-1973      1969 Seattle Pilots->Milwaukee Brewers
Mathews       31-Dec-1966      1952 Boston->Milwaukee Braves (Was still with team when it transferred from Milwaukee to Atlanta)
Mays            11-May-1972     1957 New York->San Francisco Giants
Niekro          07-Oct-1983      1965 Milwaukee->Atlanta Braves
Pillette          08-Jul-1955       1953 St. Louis Browns->Baltimore Orioles
Williams       11-5-1907          1902 Baltimore Orioles->New York Highlanders->Yankees


First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Arieh Siegal, Austin (after the Harrah question)


Horsehide Trivia blog has the questions and answers from this week as well as from previous weeks:  http://horsehidetrivia.blogspot.com/



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