MONDAY
Q. Who
was the first player to hit a grand slam in his first home game as a Yankee?
Hint: He
set the Major League record for the most consecutive games played at the start
of a career.
Hint: The
streak was ended by an injury sustained in a game that didn’t count in the
streak.
Hint: He was nicknamed after a huge movie star of
the 1950s and 1960s.
Hint: For
most of his career he wore a number in honour of professional baseball’s
all-time home run king.
Twint: He
announced his retirement just this past weekend.
A. Hideki Matsui (David’s research notes on all answers will be given at the end of the
week, but will also appear during the week on the Horsehide Trivia blog
page. They’re extensive and impressive. We will also retain the order of questions as
he submitted them whether or not they follow our typical increasing-difficulty
format.)
FCR - Arieh
Siegel, Austin, TX
Notes on HIDEKI
MATSUI
Matsui was signed by the Yankees in
December 2002 after playing ten seasons in Japan. The Bombers started 2003 with a six-game road
trip through Toronto and Tampa before Matsui made his Yankee Stadium debut on 08-Apr.
After a ground out and a walk he batted
in the fifth inning. An intentional walk
to Bernie
Williams that loaded the bases with one away proved unsuccessful when
Matsui homered to right on a 3-2 pitch from Joe Mays
for his first Major League home run, a grand slam that gave the Yankees a 7-1
lead. The second paragraph of this story
confirms Matsui as the first Yankee to hit a salami in his home debut:
He set the Major League record for the
most consecutive games played at the start of a career.
Matsui played in 518 straight games to
start his major league career. This set
a record, confirmed in the attached report from SABR’s Baseball Records
Committee. It is the 13th
item in the list of Regular Season Batting Records Set in 2006: http://sabr.org/cmsFiles/Files/DEC2006.pdf
The streak was ended by an injury
sustained in a game that didn’t count in the streak. The rules for these streaks are listed at this
site under “Determining player performance streaks": http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp “A
consecutive-game playing streak shall be extended if the player plays one
half-inning on defense or if he completes a time at bat by reaching base or
being put out. A pinch-running appearance only shall not extend the streak. If
an umpire ejects a player from a game before he can comply with the
requirements of this rule [10.23(c)],
his streak shall continue.”
On 11-May-2006,
after Kevin
Youkilis lead off the top of the first by reaching on an error, Mark Loretta
blooped a ball to left and Matsui broke his wrist in an unsuccessful attempt to
make the catch. Since Matsui’s injury
took him out of the game in the top of the first inning before three outs were
recorded and before he came to bat this 519th game didn’t count in
the streak. Here is a recap of the game:
He was nicknamed after a huge movie
star of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. Matsui’s
nickname is Godzilla. Godzilla first appeared in the movies in 1954 and he was
pretty huge, ranging in stature from 50 to 100 meters (164 to 328 feet). Here
is the IMDb listing for Godzilla’s first movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047034/
Matsui’s player page on
Baseball-Reference.com confirms his nickname: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/matsuhi01.shtml
As noted in the first paragraph of the
following article, the nickname was given to Matsui because of skin problems he
suffered as a child and not his own large stature: http://www2.gol.com/users/jallen/column/20021121.html
The two Godzillas once shared the
silver screen. Matsui had a cameo in 2002’s Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
(Gojira tai Makegojira). Open the “Full Cast and Crew” link in this
article to find him: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314111/
For most of his career he wore a
number in honour of professional baseball’s all-time home run king. “Matsui was given uniform number 55,
highly symbolic in that it stood for the single-season home run record held by
Sadaharu Oh, a mark that everyone fully
expected Matsui to challenge one day.” Robert
Whiting, The
Samurai Way of Baseball, (2004), p. 235.
Matsui wore 55 while playing in Japan
then with the Yankees, Angels and Athletics. When he joined Tampa in 2012, 55 was already
taken by Matt
Moore so he wore 35 instead.
Oh hit 868 regular season home runs in
Japan, as confirmed in the second paragraph of this article: http://www.500hrc.com/800-hrc-articles/sadaharu-oh-salutes-hideki-matsui-for-combined-500-hrs-in-japan-mlb-2.html
This is generally considered to be the
professional record although Josh
Gibson is credited with “over 800” in the Negro Leagues. This is noted in the second to last paragraph
of this article: http://www.500hrc.com/800-hrc-articles/the-man-known-as-the-black-babe-ruth-josh-gibson.html
Barry Bonds
(762 regular season home runs, 9 in the post season and another 20 in the minor
leagues for a total of 791) and Hank Aaron
(755 regular season, 6 post season and 31 minor league for 792 total plus
whatever he hit in his 3 months with Indianapolis in the Negro Leagues in 1952)
are Oh’s closest competition for the professional record.
MONDAY X 2
Q. Who hit the second of the Yankees’ record breaking three grand slams 25-Aug-2011?
Hint: He spent part of his childhood in Paris.
Hint: He was named after a bebop legend.
Hint: He honoured his mother on his jersey.
Twint: He had a custom mouthpiece created to help stop his chewing tobacco habit.
A. Russell Martin
FCR - Blake Sherry, Dublin, OH
Notes on RUSSELL
MARTIN
The Yankees set a record that day,
becoming the first major league team to hit three grand slams in one game. Robinson Cano hit the first one in the fifth
inning off the As’ Rich Harden and Fautino de los Santos surrendered Martin’s
in the sixth. Curtis Granderson hit the
team’s third in the eighth inning off Bruce Billings in a Yankees’ 22-7
victory. Here is a recap of the game,
with the second paragraph mentioning that this was the first time the feat had
occurred: http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310825110&teams=oakland-athletics-vs-new-york-yankees
Russell Martin went 5 for 5 with 2 HR
and a double, driving in 6 and scoring 3. The Yankees had 16 plate appearances with the
bases loaded that day. Besides the 3
home runs they hit 3 singles, had 2 walks and hit a sacrifice fly while making
7 other outs. In total the Yankees had
21 hits, 13 walks and 1 hit batter. It was only the ninth game in the expansion
era in which a team had 35 or more base runners in a nine inning game. Here is the box score and play-by-play of the
game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA201108250.shtml
The list
of other games with 35 base runners can be found on Baseball-Reference.com’s
Play Index, Team Batting Game Finder, searching for Times on Base without
reaching on error and filtering for games with nine innings or less.
Martin lived in Paris from ages 8 to
10.
His full name is Russell Nathan
Jeanson Coltrane Martin Jr., and his fourth name is in honour of saxophonist
John Coltrane. His father Russell Sr. is a sax player. This, and his childhood
in Paris, are mentioned in this article:
In 2009 he added the letter “J” to his
jersey, J. Martin, in honour of his mother’s maiden name, Suzanne Jeanson. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Russell-Martin-orders-up-a-J-in-honor-of-his-m?urn=mlb-138943
Martin started wearing the mouthpiece
at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. More information can be found here: http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090312&content_id=3976480&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
MONDAY X 3
Q. Who
ended Ichiro Suzuki’s eleven-year streak of leading the Seattle Mariners in
stolen bases?
Hint: He’s known as “The Condor”.
Hint: He has used a 60-ounce bat in batting
practice.
Twint: He
was his team’s right fielder at the Beijing Olympics.
Twint: This
is a position he rarely plays in the majors.
A. Michael Saunders
FCR - Alan
Work, White Plains, NY
Notes
on MICHAEL SAUNDERS
Beginning with his first year in the American
League in 2001, Ichiro lead the Mariners in steals outright nine times and tied
for the team lead twice: with Mike Cameron in 2002 and Chone Figgins in 2010. Ichiro had stolen 15 bases and was leading the
team when he was traded to the Yankees on July 23, 2012 but Michael Saunders
was right behind him with 14. Saunders
caught up by mid-August and ended the year with 21 stolen bases. No other
Mariner stole more than 13.
He’s known as “The Condor”. Mariners’ play-by-play man Dave Sims gave
Saunders the nickname. http://fanhub.me/people/detail/2953/Michael-Saunders
Saunders used an extra-heavy bat
during 2012 training camp to help speed up his swing. Here is a link to a video
showing the bat in action: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/marinersblog/2017512979_watch_michael_saunders_swing_h.html
Saunders played full games in right
field in six of team Canada’s seven games in Beijing. In the other game he
split time between right and center fields. Here is his game-by-game record from Beijing: http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/mike-saunders-1.html
Before Ichiro was traded to the
Yankees Saunders had never played a major league game in right field. Through 2012 he has played 173 games in center
field, 150 in left and only 5 games in right field. His first game in right field was on August
31, 2012, the 321st game of his career. Saunders’ fielding records can be found on his
Baseball-Reference player page.
