MONDAY
Q. Who
was the first shortstop to hit forty home runs in one season?
Hint: He
had five such seasons.
Hint: No
other National League shortstop has ever done it even once.
Hint: His
one-time manager, Leo Durocher, specifically exempted him from The Lip’s famous
(apocryphal) quote “Nice guys finish last”.
Twint: You
are dearly missed “Mr. Cub”.
A. ERNIE
BANKS (44 HR
1955; 44, 43, 47, 45 & 41 season 1955, 57-60; Durocher said of Banks “Banks
is one nice guy who finished first—but he had the talent to go with it.”; Died
Friday 23-Jan-2015 of a heart attack just seven days before his 83rd
birthday.)
FCR - Jerry
Mora, Prescott, AZ
Incorrect answers: Alvin Dark, Alex Rodriguez, Pee Wee Reese,
Vern Stephens
IN MEMORIAM
Q. Whose
Red Sox franchise record did Roger Clemens break when he struck out twenty
batters in a single game?
Hint: He
was the first Red Sox pitcher to play two consecutive seasons without committing
an error (minimum 50 chances per season).
Hint: A
paragon of tenacity on a poor-performing team, he lost ten or more games for
six straight years, yet made the All-Star team in three of those seasons.
Hint: He
was a teammate of both Willie May and Mickey Mantle.
Twint: He
surrendered the last grand slam a New York Yankee pitcher ever hit.
Twint: He
is the only Red Sox pitcher to allow thirty home runs in a season for three
consecutive years.
Twint: In
Chicago on the first of August 1962, he no-hit a White Sox team that had three
future Hall of Famers.
A. BILL
MONBOUQUETTE (17 Ks 12-May-1961;
Errorless 1963-64; Also a teammate of Ted Williams, Al Kaline, Carl
Yastrzemski, Dick Williams, Eddie Matthews, Whitey Ford, Bobby Cox, Willie
McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry; GS to Mel Stottlemyre 20‑Jul‑1965;
30+ HR allowed 1963-65; No-hitter 01‑Aug‑1962)
FCR - Charlie
Vascellaro, Baltimore, MD
Incorrect answers: Jim Lonborg, Ellis Kinder, Stu Miller
TUESDAY
Q. Who
has the lowest career batting average for any second baseman in the Hall of
Fame? (At least 90% of games at second base).
Hint: He
won the first Gold Glove awarded to a National League second baseman.
Hint: His
greatest defensive skill was considered to be “The Pitcher’s Savior” – a term
coined by the man who recruited him.
Twint: Despite
World Series heroics, including scoring the clinching run, it was the losing
team’s second baseman that won that year’s WS MVP.
A. BILL
MAZEROSKI (.260 career BA; 1960 WS
hit .320, with 5RBI’s besting even Clemente, and hit the only WS Game7 walk-off
homer, yet Bobby Richardson of the losing NYY was series MVP; 1958
GG, Nellie Fox won 1957 when only one GG was awarded for the majors; Known for turning
double plays, it was Branch Rickey that recruited Maz to the Bucs, and who
coined the phrase that is now spoken as “A pitcher’s best friend”)
FCR - Chuck
Durante, Dover, DE
Incorrect answers: Rabbit Maranville, Joe Morgan, Nellie Fox, Dal
Maxvill, Johnny Evers
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who
is the only player to triple twice in an All-Star game?
Hint: He
was the last first baseman to lead his league in triples (100 games minimum).
Hint: No
first baseman has even equaled that number of three-baggers since.
Hint: Billy
Martin once said of him, "He could bunt .330 if he tried."
Twint: No
player born outside the U.S. has more major league hits.
Twint: Pitcher
Alan Bannister
quipped, “He is the only guy I know who can go 4-for-3.”
A. ROD
CAREW (ASG 11-Jul-1978;
16 3b in 1977; 3,053 H, 23rd all-time’; B. 01-Oct-1945, Gatun, Canal
Zone, Panama, has 3,053 H)
FCR - Kevin
Johnson, Broken Arrow, OK
Incorrect answers: Don Mattingly, Stan Musial, Mickey Vernon,
Vic Power, Ferris Fain, Lou Gehrig
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who
was the first American League player to hit 25 home runs as a shortstop in his
rookie season?
Hint: He
joined Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Wade Boggs as Red Sox batters who won
consecutive American League batting titles.
Hint: He
joined another similarly elite group of Bosox when he collected ten RBI in a
game.
Twint: Some
say he married up. Some say she married
up. Seems to be working.
Twint: His
in-season, hard-core workout regimen impressed even long-time fitness
enthusiasts.
A. NOMAR
GARCIAPARRA (30 in 1997; Batting champ 1999, 2000; 10-RBI G: 10‑May‑1999;
Married
to noted soccer player Mia Hamm
since 22-Nov-2003;
SI article, cover)
FCR - Mike Massaroli, Staten, NY
Incorrect answers: Vern Stephens, Gene Stephens, Dale Alexander,
Rico Petrocelli, Miguel Tejada, Cal Ripken, Tony Conigliaro, Carl
Yastrzemski, Dom DiMaggio, Ramon Martinez
THURSDAY
Q. What
St. Louis Cardinals speedster is the only player to lead the National League in
triples for three straight years?
Hint: He
became the youngest player to have a 200-hit season.
Hint: He
is the only National Leaguer to have 100 hits from each side of the plate in
the same season.
Twint: Often
viewed by management as a malcontent, it’s not inappropriate that he led the
Outlaws to a league title.
A. GARRY
TEMPLETON (Triples titles:
1977-79; 200 H in 1977 @ age 21; 100+ from each side: 1979, 211 total; Traded away from STL after
multiple obscene gestures,
nevertheless, managed the AA 2010 Chico
Outlaws to the championship of the Golden
Baseball League)
FCR - Douglas
Sher, Charleston, SC
Incorrect answers: Willie McGee, Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith,
Eckstein
FRIDAY
Q. Who
was the sweet-fielding shortstop on the last team in organized baseball to call
Havana home?
Hint: Ironically,
Cuba was his native land but he had to work up to that AAA level after playing
C ball in Tucson and A ball in Savannah.
Hint: His
team stayed right up to the very eve of Castro’s revolution, notwithstanding
being wounded by gunfire earlier in the season by some over-exuberant Fidel acolytes.
Hint: Opting
for safety over glory, the team moved to become the Jerseys of Jersey City. I’m confident their jerseys were very nice.
Twint: His
118th career home run was the only run scored in Jim Maloney’s first
no-hitter.
A. LEO
CARDENAS (Havana
Sugar Kings; Tucson
Cowboys 1956 of the Arizona-Mexico
League & the Savannah
Redlegs of the South
Atlantic League; Maloney
no-hitter 19‑Aug‑1965)
FCR - Chuck
Durante, Dover, DE
Incorrect answers: Zoilo Versalles, Jose Valdevieso, Elio Chacon,
Felix Mantilla, Bert Campaneris
IN MEMORIAM
Q. Who
the Washington Senators’ lone representative to the 1958 All-Star game?
Hint: Two
Hall of Famers were on that team.
Hint: A
1973 book claimed, “In fact, he may have looked more like a ballplayer than any
other ballplayer who ever lived."
Hint: He
managed teams in the minors for 21 seasons finishing .500 or better 13 times.
Hint: He
was as good at one-liners as Lefty Gomez or Yogi Berra. Judge for yourself:
~
“I managed good but, boy, did they play bad.”
~
“The main quality a great third base coach must have is a fast runner.”
~
“I got a big charge out of seeing Ted Williams hit. Once in a while they let me
try to field some of them, which sort of dimmed my enthusiasm.”
~
“I think it’s a good idea [Little League baseball]; it keeps the parents off
the streets.”
~
“There are three things the average man thinks he can do better than everybody
else: build a fire, run a motel and manage a baseball team.”
Twint: He
played 5 season in the minors and 11 in the majors which prepared him well for
his managing career.
A. ROCKY
BRIDGES (Quote from The
Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, Brendan C. Boyd & Fred C. Harris)
FCR - Richard
Tharp, Gaithersburg, MD
Incorrect answers: Roy Sievers, Wayne Terwilliger, Harmon Killebrew
SATURDAY
Q. Who
played in more games than any other Los Angeles Dodger?
Hint: He
replaced Maury Wills at shortstop mid-way through Wills’s final year.
Hint: He
replaced Tommy Lasorda 24 years later.
Hint: In
the minors he played in the outfield and infield and then, in the majors, the
infield with Davey Lopes.
Twint: His
nickname was acquired when Walter Alston
told Ken
Boyer to teach him the ropes.
A. BILL RUSSELL
(2,181GP
with LAD, 2nd most for the franchise with Zack
Wheat holding the franchise record w/2,322 G as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1972, Wills’
last year, Russell played 121 G at short; 1996
replaced Tommy mid-season; 1970
Spokane Indians, 1972-1981 LAD as
part of the Garvey,
Lopes & Cey long-lived infield; Nicknamed “Ropes”)
FCR - Timothy
Kearns, Washington, DC
Incorrect answers: Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey
SUNDAY
Q. Who
set the National League record for reaching base by catcher’s interference the
most times in a season?
Hint: His
father named him after a pinch hitter whose penultimate major league at bat was
the most famous of his eleven-year career.
Hint: He
garnered a World Series ring one season though he never played a single
postseason game in his career.
Hint: He
was once the second out in a rare 8-6-2-2 double play.
Twint: He
dismissed the assertion that he could be compared to his famous father.
A. DALE
BERRA (Catcher’s interference 7 X in 1983; Dale
Mitchell struck out to end Don Larsen’s perfect game 5 1956 WS [Mitchell
had 1 more AB in G 7.]; “We
Are Family” 1979
Pittsburgh Pirates awarded him a ring for his 44 G that season, though he
didn’t make the WS roster; 02-Aug-1985
Carlton
Fisk tagged out Bob Meacham and Berra in rapid succession as they tried to
make it home after a Rickey Henderson single and a blunder
by Meacham; “You can’t compare me to my father. Our similarities are
different”.)
FCR - Jason
Hoagland, Columbus, OH
Incorrect answers: Cookie Rojas, Cookie Lavagetto, Ron Hunt, Jason
Kendall
WEEKLY THEME – Middle infielders who
led their league in intentional bases-on-balls
Player Year IBB
Banks 1960 28
1959 20
Mazeroski 1962 16
Russell 1974 25
Cardenas 1965 25
1966 18
Templeton 1985 24
1984 23
Garciaparra 2000 20
Berra 1983 19
Carew 1975 18
First Correct Respondent
to Identify Theme – No
one
Incorrect theme guesses:
Monday - Notable players who
have died over the last year
- People who had an obituary on Horsehide Trivia
We archive our questions here: http://horsehidetrivia.blogspot.com/
Horsehide Trivia home page: https://sites.google.com/site/tnfotobbpics/home/horsehide-trivia
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