SATURDAY
Q. Who
has the highest career home run total for a player who never hit a triple?
Hint: He
was traded to bring Broadway to New York.
Hint: He
caught a perfect game the first time he and the pitcher were teamed up as
battery mates.
Hint: But
there was no enduring magic because the next time they hooked up the pitcher
surrendered 12 hits and 7 earned runs in 4.1 innings.
Twint: Reports
of his Blue Jays’ career were wildly exaggerated.
A. Ramon Castro
FCR - No one
Notes on RAMON CASTRO
Ramon
Castro retired after the 2011 season with 67 home runs and no triples, breaking
the old record of 53 home runs without a triple held by Mark Parent
since 1998. Only 12 players have hit as
many as 30 career home runs without hitting a triple and the active leader is Justin Smoak
with 47 home runs.
The
New York Mets traded Castro, along with cash considerations to the Chicago
White Sox for pitcher Lance
Broadway in May of 2009. It was a
good deal for the Chisox since Castro was their backup catcher for the next two
years whereas Broadway got into only 8 games for the Mets, pitching 14.2
innings with a 6.75 ERA and a WHIP of 1.705 before he became a free agent after
the season ended. Here is an article
about the trade: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4216808
Castro
became A.J.
Pierzynski’s backup after the trade to Chicago, starting ten games through 19-Jul.
Jose
Contreras was the starting pitcher in seven of those games with Clayton Richard,
Bartolo
Colon and Gavin Floyd
starting the others. On 23-Jul, Castro
caught Mark
Buehrle for the first time and Buehrle threw a perfect game. This game account confirms that this was the
first time Castro caught Buehrle: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6022722&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws
Based
on Buehrle’s game log on Baseball-Reference.com, Pierzynski caught his first
start after the perfecto on 29-Jul
then Castro caught the following game on 02-Aug.
On
14-Dec- 2009 it was reported that Castro had signed a 1-year contract with the
Blue Jays . This article points out that it seemed like a curious move since
the Jays had already signed John Buck as a starter and Raul Chavez as the backup.:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/toronto-signs-ramon-castro.html
On
30-Dec-2009 it was then confirmed that this was in error and Castro was still a
free agent: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/ramon-castro-remains-a-free-agent.html
On
January 12, 2010 reports came in that Castro had resigned with the White Sox.
These reports turned out to be true:
Castro
then got into 37 games with the Sox in 2010, hitting .278 with 8 home runs and
21 RBIs. His .832 OPS was the third best
of his career and in the top 10 that year among all players who caught at least
25 games.
SATURDAY X 2
Q. Who
was the first American League third baseman to have a season with 25 home runs, 25 steals, 100 runs scored and 100 RBIs?
Hint: He
replaced the 2002 Rookie of the Year in his team’s line up.
Hint: He
was later replaced by the 2002 World Series MVP.
Hint: His
bobblehead promotion had to be cancelled after he was traded.
Twint: Reed
Johnson’s bobblehead pinch hit for him.
A. Corey Koskie
FCR - Scott
Crawford, St. Mary’s, ON
Notes on COREY KOSKIE
This
feat has been accomplished 58 times through 2012 by 37 different players. Barry Bonds
is the record holder with seven 25/25, 100/100 seasons. It has been done six times by third basemen including
2001 by the Twins’ Corey Koskie. That
year he hit 26 home runs, stole 27 bases, scored 100 runs and drove in 103. This had been done previously by National
League third basemen Howard
Johnson (1989 and 1991), Jeff Bagwell
(1997 and 1999) and Chipper
Jones (1999). Alex
Rodriguez became the second American League third baseman to do this in
2004 (after doing it as a shortstop in 1998) and David Wright
did it for the Mets in 2007.
Koskie
was the Toronto Blue Jays’ starting third baseman at the beginning of 2005
after Eric
Hinske (American
League Rookie of the Year in 2002) filled that role in 2002 through 2004. Hinske played first base and DH in 2005. Koskie only played 76 games at third base in
2005 due to injuries and DH duties but nobody else spent more time there than
he did. Shea
Hillenbrand played 52 games at third, Aaron Hill
35 and Frank
Menechino 9. The 2005 Blue Jays’
fielding stats can be found here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2005.shtml
In
2006 former World Series MVP Troy Glaus played
146 games at third for the Jays after Koskie had been traded. The 2006 Blue Jays’ fielding stats can be
found here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2006.shtml
Koskie’s
bobblehead was offered as an offseason promotion for buying 2006 Flex Packs of
Blue Jays tickets. The Jays were forced
to stop distributing the bobbleheads after Koskie’s trade to Milwaukee on 06-Jan-2006.
After
Koskie was traded ticket purchasers were given a Reed Johnson
bobblehead instead. Here is more information about the bobbleheads: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/corey-koskie-toronto-blue-jays-2006-91582395
SATURDAY X 3
Q. Who
is the current baseball coach at the University of Houston–Victoria?
Hint: Five
of his first thirteen home runs were hit off pitches who each eventually won
300 games.
Hint: He
and Dave Concepcion were the only 1978 National League All Stars not born in
the USA.
Hint: It
was the only time he was an All Star and …
Twint: Sadly,
he didn’t get into the game.
A. Terry Puhl
FCR - Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO
Notes on TERRY PUHL
Puhl
has been the coach at UHV since January 2007. Here is the team’s website: http://www.uhvjaguars.com/coach/0/1.php
Puhl
homered off Tom Seaver (Puhl’s
first), Gaylord
Perry (twice), Phil Niekro
and Don
Sutton, all of whom eventually won 300 games and made it into the Hall of
Fame. This is Puhl’s home
run log.
Puhl
is from Melville, Saskatchewan and Concepcion
was born in Venezuela. American League
All Star Rod
Carew, from Panama, was the only other non-American at the 1978 All Star
game. This is the box score and
play-by-play of the 1978 All
Star game.
Johnny Bench,
Jeff
Burroughs and Puhl were the only National League position players named to
the 1978 All Star team who didn’t play.
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