Sunday, February 11, 2018

2018-02-05 World Series MVP winners who were also named "Sports Illustrated" Sportsman of the Year

 MONDAY
Q.        Who was the first left-handed pitcher to win a Cy Young Award for a team on the west coast?
Hint:     He was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award a second time.
Hint:     He was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons.
Hint:     For all that, he never won a Cy Young Award representing his league.
A.         SANDY KOUFAX  [SABR Bio]
-  CYA 1963, 65, 66 for LAD
-  All three were for all MLB, not for either league.  CYA by league began the after he retired.
FCR -  Dennis Cullen, Durham
Incorrect guesses:  Mike McCormick

TUESDAY
Q.        What pitcher surpassed Don Drysdale’s record for consecutive scoreless innings?
Hint:     His canid nickname seems at odds with his gregarious personality.
Hint:     He once plunked four (4!) batters in the space of two innings.
A.         OREL HERSHISER
-  59 consecutive scoreless innings
-  “Bulldog”
-  4 HBP’s in innings 1 & 2 on 19-Apr-2000, Hershiser’s final season
FCR -  Morris Buenemann, Florissant, Missouri
Incorrect guesses:  Clayton Kershaw, Bob Gibson, Dock Ellis

WEDNESDAY
Q.        What coach is credited with transforming Minnesota Twins’ pitcher Frank Viola from someone with a 11-25 record in his first two seasons into an All-Star, a World Series MVP and a Cy Young Award winner?
Hint:     He (not Viola) had his best professional year after spending a whole season in the military:  Led the league in ERA and WHIP and led the majors in Shutouts and ERA+.
Hint:     He was the first pitcher to throw a shutout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a regular-season game.
Hint:     Perhaps no player’s name has better aligned with the moniker of his last team.
A.         JOHNNY PODRES  [SABR Bio]
-  1957 ERA = 2.66;
            WHIP = 1.082;
            ShO = 6; and
            ERA+ = 155
-  ShO at the Coliseum 04-Jun-1958
-  Podres pitched for the Padres.  Their first year was his last year.
FCR -  Daniel Wilson, St. Paul
Incorrect guesses:  Ron Perranoski, Dick Donovan, Sad Sam Jones

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.        Who was the first major league pitcher to strike out 300 batters in a season in both leagues?
Hint:     He was dubbed the next great strikeout artist after Nolan Ryan by… Nolan Ryan.
Hint:     He was the first Houston Astros pitcher to throw shutouts in his first four consecutive starts at home.
Hint:     He was the only Seattle Mariner pitcher to win 20 games in a single season in the 20th century.
Hint:     He allowed the first regular-season home run in major league history in the month of March.
A.         RANDY JOHNSON  [SABR Bio]
-  308 K for SEA in 1993; 364 K for ARI in 1999.  4 additional seasons of 300+ Ks.
-  Ryan quote from a 1993 TV interview
- 4 shutouts:
            ~ 07-Aug-1998
            ~ 12-Aug-1998
            ~ 28-Aug-1998
            ~ 07-Sep-1998
      All four were thrown in Houston in front of an average crowd of 43,946, nearly 15,000 above the average attendance without him starting.  In his 5th and final home start in an Astros uniform, he gave up 2 runs in 7 innings 12-Sep.  His average ERA for those starts was 0.51.
-  20-4 in 1997 for SEA; Jamie Moyer is the only other pitcher in Mariner history with 20-win seasons. He had 2.
- Frank Thomas homered off Johnson 31-Mar-1996 in Seattle.
FCR -  Charlie Fouche, Dalton, Georgia
Incorrect guesses:  Jim Bunning, J.R. Richard, Mark Langston, Mike Scott

THURSDAY
Q.        What former Spartan is the only pitcher in major league history to hit two home runs on Opening Day?
Hint:     He owns the current major league record for the most RBI by a pitcher.
Hint:     His World Series career ERA leads all comers.  He also leads in career win-loss %, hits per 9 innings pitched and walks & hits per 9 innings pitched in world Series play. (20 innings minimum)
Hint:     During his senior year in high school, his father built a wall around their home bullpen pitching mound so that scouts and other observers would not distract him as he warmed up.
A.         MADISON BUMGARNER
-  Led the South Caldwell High (NC) Spartans to the 2007 North Carolina State Title.  His 2 OD HR were on 02-Apr-2017 against ARI.
   -  His career WS ERA is 0.25.  The single run he gave up was a home run surrendered to the next year’s WS MVP, Salvador Perez, in the 1st G of the 2014 WS.
-  54 career RBI (also leads w/17 HR)
-  His father Kevin also build the home Bumgarner grew up in.
FCR -  Judah Kaplan, Teaneck, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses:  Derek Lowe, Red Ruffing, Robin Roberts, Christy Mathewson, Bob Welch, Bob Gibson, John Smoltz, Bob Lemon, Babe Ruth, Larry Sherry

FRIDAY
Q.        What former Astro has the record for the most strikeouts a season by a 20th-century National League righty?
Hint:     No other native of his home state has even played in as many as half the years he logged in the majors.
Hint:     No pitcher has struck out 25 or more batters in a single World Series since he last did it.
Hint:     Interpreted one way, he’s as light as a 20th of a pound.
A.         CURT SCHILLING
-  319 K in 1997 w/PHI
-  26 K in the 2001 WS
-  English /- (shillings) are 20 to a £
FCR -  Judah Kaplan, Teaneck, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses:  Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard, Mike Scott, Billy Wagner

SATURDAY
Q.        Who was the first player to collect 25 RBI in a season at age 45 or older in the modern era?
Hint:     He was the oldest player in MLB history to lead his league in hits.
Hint:     It was the 7th time he had led his league in hits.
Hint:     Leading the league was something of a specialty of his: 
He led the league in…   games played 5 times;
                              in…   plate appearances 7 times;
                              in…   at-bats 4 times;
                              in…   runs scored 4 times;
                              in…   doubles 5 times; and
                              in…   batting average thrice.
Hint:     Mickey Mantle gave him his nickname.  Or possibly Whitey Ford did.
A.         PETE ROSE  [SABR Bio]
-  25 RBI in 1986 @ age 45
-  140 H @ age 40 in work stoppage-shortened 1981
-  His player stat page is dotted with bold numbers.
-  In a 1963 spring training game with CIN playing NYY, he attempted to catch a Mantle HR that was 50 feet over his head.  Seeing this completely pointless effort, Mantle turned to a Ford (or Ford to Mantle) and mockingly commented, “Did you see ‘Charlie Hustle’ out there?”  Various versions of the story differ.
FCR -  Mike Sparks, Las Vegas
Incorrect guesses:  Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor, Julio Franco

SUNDAY
Q.        About whom did Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton say, “I never saw anything like it.  He doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.”
Hint:     In one 3-year period in the middle of his 21-season career, he finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in MVP voting.  He played in the same league his whole career.
Hint:     An All-Star teammate of his once said, “"If [he] asked us to jump off the (… Bridge), we would ask him what kind of dive he wanted.  That's how much respect we have for the man.”
Hint:     His great-grandfather had been a slave.  His great-grandmother was Seminole Indian.  His unusual first name was an amalgamation of his father’s first name and his mother’s maiden name.
Hint:     In a rare moment of focus on himself, he once said, “I'm proud of the fact that I'm the only player to hit a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium.”
A.         WILLIE STARGELL  [SABR Bio]
-  Stargell took Sutton deep 7 times in his career.
-  Finished behind Joe Torre in 1971 when PIT won the pennant; behind Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Billy Williams the next year and then nearly overtook Pete Rose in Rose’s only MVP season.  He received NL MVP votes in 8 additional seasons including finally winning the award in 1979.
-  It was teammate Al Oliver talking about the Fort Pitt Bridge and his and his fellow teammates feelings about Stargell.
-  “I was bred as an outcast, part Negro and part Seminole, in my early years raised as an Indian.”
-  Dodger Stadium blast 05-Aug-1969 off Alan Foster.  Not the last home run ever to be hit out of Dodger Stadium, but it was the first and is still the longest, a jaw-dropping 506 feet.  There was no flirting with any part of the playing field nor any bouncing off the top of any bleachers.  It cleared every part of the stadium and then part of the parking lot.  Four years later, he became the second batter to do it.  It’s been done since by Mike Piazza, Mark McGwire and Giancarlo Stanton.
FCR -  Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio
Incorrect guesses:  Reggie Jackson

IN MEMORIAM
Q.        Behind whom did Ernie Banks, Gene Conley and Hank Aaron finish for Rookie of the Year in 1954?
Hint:     In 1961, he was the last player to hit an inside-the-park home run in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Hint:     Three months later, he was to score the last run ever there.
Hint:     To make room for him as a promising rookie, the Cardinals traded away a future Hall of Fame outfielder.
Hint:     Teammate Stan Musial helped him adjust his swing just before his trade to the Dodgers.
Hint:     The trade paid dividends as he was a significant contributor in the Dodgers the first-ever pennant on the west coast.
A.         WALLY MOON  (LA Times obit) [SABR Bio]
-  IPHR off Robin Roberts 10-Jun-1961 in the 4th inning.  For added flavor, he took Roberts over the wall in the 6th.
-  Last run 20-Sep-1961, 13th inning.  Only 12,000 in attendance.
-  On 11-Apr-1954, STL traded Enos Slaughter to NYY for Emil Tellinger (minors), Bill Virdon and Mel Wright.  Moon debuted on Opening Day, two days later.
-  1959 LAD.  They beat CHW in the highest attendance World Series ever, in 6 G.
FCR -  Michael Campos, Redmond, Washington
Incorrect guesses:  Wally Post, Roy Campanella



WEEKLY THEME – National League players who won the World Series MVP and were named the Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year” in the same season.

1955    Podres
1965    Koufax
1975    Rose
1979    Stargell
1988    Hershiser
2001    Schilling
2001    Johnson
2014    Bumgarner

First Correct Respondent to Identify ThemeBill Deane, Cooperstown

Incorrect theme guesses:

Tuesday -  Dodger Cy Young Award winners

Wed        -  Dodgers that won the World Series MVP
               -  Dodger World Series MVP's with 2 complete game victories and ERA, of under 2.00 for the series.
               -  NL pitchers who were WS MVP with at least one complete game and an era under 2.00 for the Series.
               -  Pitchers with two World Series CG shutouts and a World Series MVP.
               -  World Series MVP pitchers for National league teams.
               -  1) World Series MVP pitchers or 2) Pitchers named Sportsman of the Year by SI
               -  World Series MVPs who were the winning pitcher in the last game.

Thu         -  NL pitchers who won a World Series MVP
               -  World Series MVP's
               -  NL pitchers who have won the World Series MVP

Fri           -  Modern strikeout kings
               -  Starting pitchers who had great performances in the last game of a WS
               -  Pitchers who won the WS MVP
               -  National League pitchers who were World Series MVP
               -  Pitchers for NL West teams at one time, who were All-Star selections multiple times.
               -  World Series pitching -- going 2-0 with an ERA of one or better

Sun         -  WS MVPS who helped break 2+ game AL winning streaks







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