Sunday, November 25, 2012

November 19-25, 2012 Pitchers with 100 saves before the save became an official statistic in 1969


MONDAY
Q.         Who famously hit the only home run of his 21-year Hall of Fame career in his very first at-bat?
Hint:     He got his first career pitching win that day thanks, in part, to that home run.
Hint:     Some people claim that he hit his only career triple that day.  He did only have one, but it was the following season, the same year he hit two of his three career doubles.
Twint:    He set a record for rookies for most games played as a pitcher (since broken).
Twint:    Jackie Robinson’s retirement precipitated his first trade in the majors.
A.         Hoyt Wilhelm (HR/W 23-Apr-1952; 3b 04-Jun-1953, 2bs 04-May & 18-Jul, 3rd 2b 25‑Sep‑1966; 71 G in 1952; Robinson’s retirement necessitated a first-string first baseman so the Giants traded Wilhelm for former Giant)
FCR -    Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO

MONDAY BONUS
Q.         Whose record for pitching Games Finished in the National League did Kent Tekulve break?
Hint:     He was the first 20th century National League pitcher to earn ten victories in a season while suffering only one loss that year.
Hint:     His manager called him “Sam Spade”.
Twint:    He was the first Pirates pitcher to win the Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award.
A.         Roy Face (574 GF in NL, Tekulve ended with 638; FOY 1962)
FCR -    Frank Workman, Lake Forest Park, WA

TUESDAY
Q.         What Dodgers pitcher led the majors in winning percentage in 1963?
Hint:     He was Tommy Lasorda’s pitching coach for fifteen years.
Twint:    He was the first pitcher to appear in fifty games in ten consecutive seasons.
A.         Ron Perranoski (16-3, .842; LAN coach 1981-94; 50+ G 1961-70)
FCR -    Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, PA

WEDNESDAY
Q.         Who was the first 20th century pitcher to appear 100 consecutive games without suffering back-to-back losses?
Hint:     He acquired his nickname because of his size and facial resemblance to an Argentine boxer.
Hint:     He led his league in games six times, tying the record held by Joe McGinnity.
Twint:    He would have a World Series victory in his record by today’s reckoning of pitching wins.
Twint:    Even though he was in a serious automobile accident in which he lost his left arm, he continued to pitch in oldtimers’ games.
A.         Firpo Marberry (Luis Firpo; WS W in 1924 went instead to Tom Zachary)
FCR -    Fred Brillhart, Mechanicsburg, PA

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.         What Detroit native attended Berkley High School, but was a basketball star at Michigan State?
Hint:     He surrendered a home run in fellow Polish-American Tony Kubek's final major league at-bat.
Hint:     He struck out Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Duke Snider and Willie McCovey and All-Stars Dick Groat and Julian Javier in two innings of work.
Twint:    Sportswriter Jim Murray wrote that "He brings one weapon—a fastball.  It's like saying all a country brings to a war is an atom bomb."
A.         Dick Radatz (Berkley HS, MI; Kubek HR 03-Oct-1965; Ks in 1963 All-Star Game)
FCR -    Mitchell Below, Oakland, CA

THANKSGIVING EVE SPECIAL
Q.         What former Ram was the General Manager of the “Miracle Mets”?
Hint:     In college, he once struck out sixteen and scored the game-winning run, the game’s only run, on a passed ball.
Hint:     In an exhibition game, he pitched a shutout against the House of David.
Hint:     He had ten complete games as a Yankee rookie, three more than he would total in the remainder off his thirteen-year major league career.
Twint:    He compiled a 1.10 ERA in eight World Series appearances.  Never lost a game.  Never lost a Series.
Twint:    Author Richard Tofel claimed that this player’s nickname came from 1935-37 Yankees teammate Pat Malone, who had tired of his incessant complaining about meals and accommodations.
A.         Johnny Murphy (Fordham University Rams; Fordham 1-0 over Columbia 23-Apr-1929; Nickname “Grandma”)
FCR -    Damian Begley, New York, NY

THURSDAY
Q.         Whose pitches did a fellow All-Star pitcher call “…slow, slower and slowest”?
Hint:     A Hall of Fame opponent quipped, “I still don't see how [he] threw the ball that soft and got it to home plate.”
Hint:     He won an ERA title on a team in its first year in a new (and, one might fairly assume, grateful) city.
Twint:    He served up Mickey Mantle's 500th career home run.
A.         Stu Miller (First quote by Milt Pappas; 2nd quote Frank Robinson; ERA title 1958 w/SFG; Mantle HR 14‑May‑1967)
FCR -    Paul Hirsch, Danville, CA

PLYMOUTH ROCK EXTRA
Q.         Who was the last Yankee pitcher to hit a home run before the advent of the designated hitter?
Hint:     Although he played 21 seasons in the majors, including for the Cardinals, Giants, Cubs, Royals and Yankees, no team of his ever advanced to postseason play.
Hint:     He had a brother who also played in the majors and another brother who played minor league baseball.
Twint:    He once retired 32 consecutive batters over a four-game span.
A.         Lindy McDaniel (HR 28-Sep-1972 off Mickey Lolich; Brothers Von & Kerry Don; 32 straight retired 18-, 21-, 23- & 25‑Aug‑1968, finally snapped w/a pinch-hit double by Gates Brown)
FCR -    Roger Erickson, Kansas City, MO

FRIDAY
Q.         What pitcher had an 18-year career in the Bigs with over 800 appearances but never once spent time on the disabled list?
Hint:     When he retired, the only people who had pitched in more games in the majors were Cy Young, Hoyt Wilhelm and Lindy McDaniel.
Hint:     After his playing days, he was pitching coach for the Giants, Twins and Indians, two of which he had played for.
Twint:    He held Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Harmon Killebrew, Bill Mazeroski, Joe Morgan, Stan Musial, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Willie Stargell to a collective .149 batting average (28-for-188).
A.         Don McMahon (874 G)
FCR -    Paul Hirsch, Danville, CA

BLACK FRIDAY BONUS
Q.         Who was the first pitcher to save thirty games in a season in the majors?
Hint:     This stalwart righty struck out 293 and won 20 games in his first professional season.
Hint:     Only Eddie Plank, Sandy Koufax and he finished their careers with final major league seasons of ERAs under 1.80.
Twint:    He was the first pitcher to appear in 84 games in a season.
A.         Ted Abernathy (20-13 for the 1952 Roanoke Rapids Jays of the Class D Coastal Plain League; 1.70 in 1972, Plank 1.79 in 1917, Koufax 1.73 in 1966; 84 G 1965)
FCR -    John Wilson, Mesa, AZ

SATURDAY
Q.         Before Tim Wakefield did it in 2001, who was the last Red Sox pitcher to win a game as both a starter and reliever in the same series?
Hint:     Although he spent twelve years in the majors, he didn't make his debut until he was nearly 32 years old, earning him the nickname “Old Folks”.
Hint:     The only home run he hit in the majors was a grand slam off ace Billy Pierce.
Hint:     During one game at Fenway Park, a seagull flew over and dropped a three-pound smelt that landed on him while he was pitching for the Browns.
Twint:    He set the American League record for most consecutive games pitched, none complete, but at the time it was also the league record for most games pitched in a season.
A.         Ellis Kinder (Start/W; 18-Jul-1950, Relief/W: 20-Jul-1950; B. 26‑Jul‑1914, Debut 30‑Apr‑1946; GS off Pierce 06‑Aug‑1960, he also won that game; Smelt smack 17‑May‑1947, he won that game, beating Boston 4–2; 1953 69 straight G)
FCR -    Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO

SATURDAY BONUS
Q.         Who was the first 20th century National Leaguer to toss shutouts in his first two starts?
Hint:     The baseball field on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia is named in his honor.
Hint:     In one stretch, he pitched in seven of his team’s eight games, earning three wins, four saves and allowing no earned runs.
Twint:    He was the first pitcher to suffer a loss at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
A.         Al Worthington (ShOs:  06-Jul & 11-Jul-1953; Worthington Stadium; Excellent stretch:  18‑ through 31-Jul-1965; LA L 18-Apr-1958)
FCR -    Bob Wilber, Spokane, WA

SUNDAY
Q.         Who surrendered Willie McCovey's first major league home run?
Hint:     He had a ritual of touching his hat, belt and shirt before every pitch.
Twint:    After his first year in the majors, his pitching record was 0-7.
A.         Ron Kline (McCovey HR 02-Aug-1959; Debut year 1952)
FCR -    Randall Chandler, Germantown, TN

WEEK’S FINALE
Q.         Who was the first player ever to pitch in eighty major league games in a season, along the way breaking the record set in 1879?
Hint:     When the Twins hit five home runs in a single inning, he surrendered that odious fifth one.
Hint:     Not entirely his fault.  He had nothing to do with the first four.
Hint:     Two batters and two hits later, he finally got the out he was sent in to secure.
Twint:    No other pitcher has ever given up at twenty home runs in a season while making three starts or fewer.
Twint:    He missed by one year being a teammate of Hank Aaron’s on the Indianapolis Clowns.
A.         John Wyatt (81 G in 1964, record of 76 set by Will White in 1879, tied in 1883 by Pud Galvin and Charles Radbourn; 5th HR by 09-Jun-1966; 23 HR in 1965, 0 starts; On the Clowns 1953-55, Aaron in 1952 )
FCR -    Steven Elsberry, Windsor Heights, IA


WEEKLY THEME – Pitchers with 100 saves before the save became an official statistic in 1969.  These saves were not recorded earlier, but were retroactively figured in the 1960s.

Abernathy         103
Face                 188
Kinder               102
Kline                 103
Marberry           101
McDaniel          122
McMahon          106
Miller                154
Murphy             107
Perranoski        107
Radatz              119
Wilhelm             196
Worthington      107
Wyatt                103

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO


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

Horsehide Trivia home page:  https://sites.google.com/site/tnfotobbpics/home/horsehide-trivia


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