MONDAY
Q. What young Red Sox star, already owner of a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, is currently leading the American League in doubles?
Hint: With only two full seasons under his belt, he has already been a starter in two All-Star Games.
Hint: His major-league-leading 359 total bases in his second full season landed him a solid #2 in the MVP voting.
- 31 doubles as of this writing
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FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect answers: Jackie Bradley, Jr.
TUESDAY
Q. Who holds the record for most times hit-by-pitch in the 20th century?
Hint: The year he won the MVP and helped his team to a first-place finish, he only finished sixth on his team in Wins Above Replacement.
Hint: As he wrapped up his career, he played in 3 consecutive World Series for 3 different teams.
- 267 HBP 1970-88 (Ron Hunt had 243 1963-74; Hughie Jennings had 287 career HBP, all but 44 in the 19th century; 116 of Craig Biggio’s 285 were in the 21st century)
- His pedestrian 3.7 WAR in 1979 lagged behind Bobby Grich’s 5.9, Brian Downing’s 5.6, Dave Frost’s 4.6, Nolan Ryan’s 3.8 and even Carney Lansford’s 3.7.
FCR - Laurel Prieb, New York City
Incorrect answers: Lonnie Smith, Pete Rose, Ron Hunt, Minnie Minoso, Hughie Jennings, Dusty Baker, Frank Robinson
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was the first White Sox pitcher to win the American League Cy Young Award?
Hint: The year after he led the league in victories, he led the league in losses and got traded.
Hint: He was invited, 2 years after his last major league game, to try out for the White Sox after serving a 45-day prison term, but was re-arrested before he could join the team.
- CYA 1983 (Early Wynn won THE Cy Young Award in 1959. There was no such thing as the American Cy Young Award until 1967.)
- 24-10 in 1983; 13-18 in 1984
- 06-Dec-1984: Traded by the CHW w/Kevin Kristan (minors) & Todd Simmons (minors) to SDP for Ozzie Guillen, Tim Lollar, Bill Long & Luis Salazar.
FCR - Bob Kimball, Sutton, Massachusetts
Incorrect answers: Early Wynn, Wilbur Wood, Billy Pierce, Waite Hoyt
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who won the first Babe Ruth Award after the parameters were expanded?
Hint: His twin younger brothers have played baseball of high levels.
Hint: His father was once the Deputy Director of the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame.
Hint: He set a rookie record with17 consecutive saves from the start of the season.
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- The Babe Ruth Award was given from 1949 to 2006 to the best performer in that year’s World Series. Since 2007, the year Papelbon won, it encompasses a player’s performance in that year’s entire postseason.
- Brother Josh, pitched for the Brockton Rox. Jeremy pitched for the Tennessee Smokies, the double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.
- Although he had appeared in 17 G in 2005, 2006 was his official rookie season.
FCR - David Shapiro, Cedar Grove, New Jersey
Incorrect answers: Craig Kimbrel
THURSDAY
Q. Who is the only National League second baseman in the 30/30 club?
Hint: He once stole two bases on a single pitch.
Hint: His sister is taller than he is and stars in the WNBA.
- 30 HR/32 SB for CIN in 2007. Ian Kinsler has done it in the AL. Alfonso Soriano went 46/41 with WAS in 2006, but though he had played most of his career to that point as a second baseman, he didn't play a single game there that year.
- 01-Aug-2007 against WAS with John Lannan pitching and the defense completely shifted to the right field side for batter Adam Dunn, Phillips took off, touched 2nd and cruised into a very vacated 3rd base. Unfortunately, Dunn flied out to end the inning.
FCR - Rick Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect answers: Robinson Cano, Ryne Sandberg, Jeff Kent, Juan Samuel, Alfonso Soriano, Tim Raines, Joe Morgan, Alan Wiggins
FRIDAY
Q. What former Razorback once stole 21 bases in a season without being caught once?
Hint: It was a good year for him all around. He hit 27 home runs, had 99 RBI, ended the year as the Player of the Month and was third in the MVP voting.
Hint: His performance on the baseball team his senior year in high school were so dominant that he was later inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame.
Hint: He now runs a successful commercial duck hunting club in his home state.
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- Turns out that McReynolds is NOT the only one to do this. Rookie Detroit Tiger Quintin Berry was 21-0 in stolen bases in 2012. Thanks to Detroit Tigers author and historian Mark Pattison for that tidbit. Now, Berry had only been a Razorback instead of a Griffin and Aztec… Reader Victor Piacentile of Yorktown Heights, New York then found three (3!) other players with a score of steals without being caught: 23 by Chase Utley w/2008 PHI, 22 by Alcides Escobar w/2013 KCR & 20 by Paul Molitor in the strike-shortened 1994 season w/TOR. [My research team needs some time off!]
FCR - Scott Matteson, Shawnee, Kansas
Incorrect answers: Arky Vaughn, Chase Utley
MALLOY CONFERENCE SPECIAL
Q. Whose 512 putouts in a season are the most any outfielder has had in a season since the expansion era began?
Hint: That contributed to his leading his 3rd place team in WAR that season.
Hint: He hit the line drive that Brian Downing misplayed to end Downing’s record 244 game errorless streak.
Hint: He hit his 200th career home run during the same game where Darrell Evans hit his 400th.
Hint: He is not a professional wrestler.
- 5.8 WAR in ‘77
FCR - Eric Weiss, Scarsdale, New York (via Facebook)
Incorrect answers: Carl Yastrzemski, Waxey Williams
END-OF-THE-WEEK EXCEPTION
Q. Which teammate Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen tied with them and Robin Roberts and Art Houtteman for the major league lead in shutouts one season?
Hint: His impressive second half after an execrable first half with the Cardinals earned him the appellation “Miracle Man” by the New York World Telegram.
Hint: He broke Joe Adcock's arm exactly one year after Adcock had hit 4 home runs in a game.
Hint: He was once tagged with the pitching loss in a suspended game two months after he retired. The ruling was later changed and the loss given to his Hall of Fame teammate.
Hint: He won the MLB Players Golf Tournament on Valentines Day, 1960.
Hint: He was the starting pitcher and winner of the opening game of the famous 1951 National League 3-game playoff.
A. JIM HEARN
- All 5 each tallied 5 ShO that year.
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect answers: Johnny Antonelli, Don Liddle, Marv Grissom, Harry Brecheen
SATURDAY
Q. What former Seminole was the first Texas Ranger to homer in the first three games of a season?
Hint: He went on, however, to lead the American League in strikeouts that year.
Hint: His batting eye improved sufficiently that he won Silver Slugger awards at third base with two other different teams.
Hint: He’s one of only a handful who have homered in the upper deck in left field in Arlington Stadium.
Hint: He was Dave Burba's 1,000th and Roger Clemens’ 3,500th career strikeout victim.
Hint: He would definitely be a starter on the “All-Dimple Team”.
- HR’s 06-; 07- & 08-Apr-1992 off Randy Johnson, Erik Hanson & Russ Swan respectively. Attended Florida State University.
- 154 K in 1992
- Milestone K’s: 16-Jun-2000 for Burba and 23-Sep-2000 for Clemens.
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect answers: Alex Rodriguez, Larry Parrish, Dave Koslo, Ken Caminiti, Eduardo Perez
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first major leaguer, since 1949, to hit more than 20 triples in a season?
Hint: He has stolen more major league bases in a single season than any other player in the history of his franchise.
Hint: He led the Bigs that season with more than 80, setting a franchise record that still stands.
Hint: Bill James calculated that he was the fastest player in the majors.
Hint: He coached two variations of hawks in the early years of this century.
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- 21 3b in 1985
- 83 SB in 1979 for KCR
- He was a coach for the South Bend Silver Hawks in 2001 and Lancaster JetHawks in 2002
FCR - Rick Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect answers: Tim Raines, Lance Johnson, Vince Coleman, Curtis Grandersosn, Carl Crawford, Omar Moreno, Christian Guzman, Maury Wills
WEEK’S FINALE
Q. Whom were the Braves counting on to step in a replace their aging future Hall of Fame second baseman?
Hint: He attended Tom’s big school.
Hint: He was born in the city that was the capital of the Confederacy.
Hint: His career would very likely have been longer had the “Utley Rule” been in effect when he played.
- Largely a pinch-hitter before Red Schoendienst was injured, he stepped in and help the pennant-bound 1958 Milwaukee Braves before he was himself hurt.
- Attended Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
- B. in Richmond, VA
- Taken out in a second-base collision by the Giants’ Daryl Spencer
FCR - Rick Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect answers: Frank Bolling Felix Mantilla
Baylor................. Austin, Texas
Betts................... Nashville, Tennessee
Hearn.................. Atlanta, Georgia
Hoyt.................... Columbia, South Carolina
Lemon................. Jackson, Mississippi
McReynolds........ Little Rock, Arkansas
Wilson................. Montgomery, Alabama
Palmer................ Tallahassee, Florida
Papelbon............ Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Phillips................ Raleigh, North Carolina
Roach................. Richmond, Virginia
First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Rick Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect theme guess:
Wed - Head cases
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