MONDAY MORNIN’
Q. What pitcher has lost the more games than
any other in major league history?
Hint: His total innings pitched are over 1,000
more than the Hall of Famer in second place.
Hint: Even with all his career records, the one
that baseball historians feel is safest from ever being broken is his 749
complete games.
Hint: He supplemented his baseball income by
selling traveling trunks designed for ballplayers, using the proceeds to buy
more of the surrounding land near his farm.
FCR - Dennis Cullen, Durham, North Carolina
Incorrect answers: Phil Niekro
MONDAY
Q. Who is the only pitcher to hit more than
200 batters in the 20th century?
Hint: He is the only pitcher to lead his league
in strikeouts more times than Nolan Ryan.
Hint: He lost 27 career games by a score of 1-0.
Hint: He also won 38 by the same score.
- 205 HBP 1907-1927
FCR - Michael Campos, Redmond, Washington
Incorrect
answers: Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Joe
Niekro, Don Drysdale, Randy Johnson, Bert Blyleven, Kid Nichols, Steve Carlton
TUESDAY
Q. Only once has the modern All-Star game
finished with a 1-0 score. In that game,
neither team had an RBI. Who scored that
lone run?
Hint: He is the only player in the modern era to
win his leagues home run title four times and, in four other separate seasons,
win four stolen base titles in the same league.
Hint: He starred in high school as a quarterback.
- ASG held in 1968 in Houston’s Astrodome, Mays, his team’s
first batter, scored in the G’s only R when, in the 1st inning,
teammate Willie McCovey (of Cove fame) hit
into a double play.
- HR titles:
51 in 1955, 49 in 1962, 47 in 1964 & 52 in 1965. SB titles:
40 in 1956, 38 in 1957, 31 in 1958 & 29 in 1959.
- Willie attended Fairfield Industrial
High School,
where he was trained to be a cleaner or presser for a laundry. He also averaged 20 pts./G in basketball.
FCR - Larry Hayes, San Francisco
Incorrect
answers: Tony Perez
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who played in more National League games
than any other player except Pete Rose?
Hint: Nobody in either league has more career
Total Bases.
Hint: He was the first player to hit 40 home runs
in a season with fewer than 400 at‑bats.
Hint: He, Buzz Stephens and Jeff Burroughs have
all been traded for Dave May.
- 6,856 TB (Musial is next w/6,134)
- 1973 = 40 HR, 392 AB (Has since been
accomplished by Barry Bonds
[2003 & 04] and J.D Martinez, but only if he quits
playing now.)
FCR - Rick Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect
answers: Stan Musial, Steve Garvey
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who is the only American League pitcher to
win the “Baseball Digest” Player of the Year Award since Ron Guidry won it in
1978?
Hint: He was the first pitcher to collect 200
strikeouts in a season more than10 times in one league.
Hint: He was the first pitcher to win 15
consecutive decisions for a Canadian team.
Hint: He struck out the last batter he ever faced
in his 24-year major league career.
- 11 X thru 2001; 12 in all
FCR - Mark Lewers, Charlottesville
Incorrect
answers: Dwight Gooden, Randy Johnson,
Dennis Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Phil Niekro
MIDWEEK BONUS AGAIN!
Q. Who was the first major leaguer to win a
batting title in each of three separate decades?
Hint: He hit 24% more career triples than the
next highest player in the history of his franchise.
Hint: He hit .300 or better for 15 consecutive
seasons; 17 consecutive of .299 or better.
Hint: He’s one of the few players more bow-legged
than the Blue Jays’ Kevin Pillar.
- Batting average champion in 1900, 03-04, 06-09
& 1911
- .299 batting streak from 1897 thru 1913. Averaged .269 for his last 4 seasons,
finishing with a BA that’s 12th all-time among right-handers.
FCR - Adam Balutis, Arlington, Virginia
Incorrect
answers: Rod Carew, George Brett, Ty
Cobb, Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett, Ted Williams
THURSDAY
Q. Who is the only player-manager to win
the NL MVP award?
Hint: National League pitchers probably figured that
his name appears to be plural because his baseball talent is twice that of the
average major leaguer.
Hint: He was the first 20th-century
National Leaguer to collect more RBI in a season than the number of games he
played (minimum 100 RBI).
- MVP in 1925 managing STL, taking over from Branch Rickey after Rickey’s charges went 13-25 in
the 1st 38 G.
- His given name was the maiden name of his
mother, Mary Rogers Hornsby. (Or maybe
it’s just one of those weird singulars that SEEMS plural, like kudos or
biceps.)
- It was in his first MVP season, 1925. In 138 G he had 143 RBI, to lead the league,
one of the legs of his second Triple Crown.
FCR - Philip Bess, South Bend, Indiana
Incorrect guesses: Frankie
Frisch, Frank Robinson, Lou Boudreau, Gabby Hartnett, Pete Rose, Joe Torre
FRIDAY
Q. What Hall of Fame hurler led the
National League in innings pitched in 6 of his first 7 seasons?
Hint: When he retired, he was fourth all-time in
innings pitched. He is still in the
Top 10.
Hint: He is the only pitcher in major league
history to cube the Triple Crown by achieving it for 3 consecutive seasons.
Hint: He also led in complete games and shutouts
all three seasons.
- Led NL in innings 1911-1917 (Minus 1913)
FCR - David Johnson, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
answers: Christy Mathewson, Bob Gibson,
Sandy Koufax, Carl Hubbell, Old Hoss Radbourn, Rube Marquard , Warren Spahn
SATURDAY
Q. Which player donated $200,000 to the
Children's Aid Society to benefit mental health programs for Manhattan-area
youth?
Hint: He was the first shortstop to win a batting
title since Dick Groat in 1960.
Hint: He was the first high school player ever to
try out for Team USA.
Hint: He was the first player to win an American League* Most Valuable Player
Award while playing on a last-place team.
Hint: It was his first MVP, but he had already thrice
finished in the top 3 in MVP voting.
- Donation made in the spring of 2005
- Hit .358 to take AL batting title in 1998
- While attending Westminster Christian High
School in Miami in 1993, became the first high school player to try out
for Team USA in 1993 and also play with U.S. Junior National Squad that summer.
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect
answers: Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins,
Robin Yount, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken, Freddie Sanchez,
Hanley Ramirez, Ernie Banks, Michael Young, Gary Sheffield
*Italicized
words inadvertently omitted in the original question.
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. What former Angels outfielder played the
most years in the majors among member of the 3,000-game club?
Hint: Of all the members of the 3,000-hit club,
he played for the most major league teams.
Hint: Responding to the question of whether this
player was a legitimate Hall of Famer, Bill James, James’s famously wrote, “If
you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers!”?
Hint: He was acquired by the Dodgers from the
Newark Bears for a shipment of 72 baseballs.
- 3,055 H, 9 different teams, i.e., OAK, NYY, TOR, SDP, ANA, NYM, SEA, BOS, LAD; (OAK four [4!] times; SDP 2 X)
- Cited in the 2001 “The New Bill James
Historical Baseball Abstract”. 8
years later, he was inducted.
- LAD’s acquisition from Newark of the independent Atlantic League was in 2003. It was Henderson’s last stop in the Bigs. He would play two more years professionally,
for the Bears in 2003-04, finishing in 2005 in San Diego helping the
independent Golden Baseball League’s Surf Dawgs win a championship.
FCR - Josh Murphy, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Incorrect
answers: Dave Winfield, Frank Robinson,
Rod Carew, Eddie Murray, Cap Anson
SUNDAY
Q. Who is the only pitcher to strike out a
minimum of 200 batters for nine consecutive seasons?
Hint: It was very close to eleven. He was slightly under 200 K in the bookend
seasons of the streak.
Hint: As a teenager he helped grow, harvest and
ship the produce of the farms near his hometown.
Hint: He never got to play for the major league
franchise that drafted him even though that was the team he grew up rooting
for.
Hint: His farm today is near a famous spoonerism.
- From his sophomore season (He was Rookie of
the Year in 1967.)
to his last full season with the Mets, he struck out an average of 214 batters
per season, with his lowest total being 201 in 1974.
- In ’67 he K’ed 170; in 77, 196.
- Seaver was drafted and signed by ATL in March
of 1966, only to have his contract nullified by Commissioner
Eckert because his college season was underway at USC. Mets
fans everywhere are appreciative to this day.
- His father worked raisin’ raisins in the
Fresno area, so young Tom did too.
- Today his vineyards are just outside Calistoga, California, inadvertently
named by early California millionaire Samuel Brannan. Hoping for a resort area similar to New York’s
Saratoga, he said, “We’ll make this the Calistoga of Sarafornia.” Sarafornia
is now a café in Calistoga.
FCR - Dan Silverberg, Aventura, Florida
Incorrect
answers: Nolan Ryan, Bob Feller, Roger
Clemens, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz
WEEKLY THEME – The only
right-handed (batting) members of the top 20 in WAR.
Rank Name WAR
FCR with theme: Steve
Berman, Bergenfield, New Jersey (after Wagner)
Here are the lefties
and one switchie who round out the Top 20:
1 Babe Ruth 183.7
4 Barry Bonds 162.4
6 Ty Cobb 151.1*
9 Tris Speaker 133.7
11 Stan Musial 128.1
13 Eddie Collins 123.9
14 Ted Williams 123.2
17 Kid Nichols 116.5**
18 Lou Gehrig 112.4
*BLTR
**BBTR
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tues - They
all have BBWAA awards named after them.
- Hall of Famers with the
highest career WAR
Wed - HOF members elected
first ballot
- HOF's playing
over 20 years in majors
- Leading league
on 30 or more positive categories during their career
- HOFers with 20
or more years with same franchises
- Players with 20+ years in the bigs
- Players
who threw right-handed and had a war over 125 for their career
- Players
who had a war over 140 for their career
- Top
8 all-time WAR
- Top
10 all-time wins above replacement
- Highest
HOF vote percentages
Thu - Top
12 all-time WAR
- All
had or had given up 3000 hits and 100 base on balls
