Q. Who was the
first New York Yankee to be voted American League MVP twice?
Hint: His own
teammate kept the first one from being unanimous.
Hint: His
first-ever major league stolen base was a steal of home.
Hint: He hit a home
run and stole home in the same game six times in his career.
- Tony Lazzeri
received a single first-place MVP vote in 1927.
- HR + SBH = 29-Jun-1927; 30-Jul-1927; 19-Jul-1929; 07-Jun-1930; 15‑Apr‑1931
and 12-Apr-1932. The last one was on Opening Day.
FCR - Jeff Orner,
York, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Joe
DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Roger Maris
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the
subject of Jane Leavy’s second baseball biography?
Hint: As a
youngster, he was so physically unimposing that when his dad took him for a
workout with the sad-sack St. Louis Browns, they sent him home without even
letting him on the field.
Hint: Nevertheless,
he and a famous teammate were both recruited to play football at a major
college football powerhouse.
Hint: The best
catch he ever made was the most important one.
- Both he and Roger Maris could have played
football at the University of Oklahoma.
- In the 1956 WS, he raced down a deep
drive to centerfield off the bat of BRO’s Gil Hodges. The play helped preserve Don Larsen’s perfect G.
FCR - John Gottko, Corvallis, Oregon
Incorrect guesses: Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Billy Martin, Roy
Sievers
WEDNESDAY
Q. What former Texas Ranger is the proud
owner of an eight-RBI inning?
Hint: His offspring, already forecast for bigger
things, will likely never eclipse that single feat.
- Fernando Tatis, Jr. is so promising that he
bumped the $300,000,000 Manny Machado over to 3rd base.
FCR - Kevin Johnson, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Pudge Rodriguez, Vlad Guerrero,
Juan Gonzalez, Fernando Tatis, Jr., Adrian Beltre
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. What New York Yankee slugger is famous
for sharing a name with a candy bar?
Hint: He led the majors in strikeouts by a batter
one year but was still an All-Star.
Hint: It was the only black ink he ever mustered
in a respectable eleven-year, 950-game career.
- Oh Henry candy bars were often thrown onto the
field when he homered for any of the 5 MLB teams he played for. Played for NYY in 2001.
FCR - Steven Wright, Naperville, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, Joe
Gordon, Jack Clark, Steve Balboni,
THURSDAY
Q. Who led all National League shortstops defensively
in double plays and putouts but also wielded a decent bat by leading the whole
league in hits in the first year of the century?
Hint: He is partnered with a current major league
manager in a Napa Valley winery.
Hint: When his double-play partner won the league
MVP, he led all shortstops in the league in home runs.
Hint: His school became more politically correct
when he was in college there.
- 2001 = 206 H
- His business partner is Dave Roberts who was his teammate
on SFG 2007-08. Roberts has managed LAD since 2016 and twice won the NL
pennant.
FCR - Josh Murphy, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Incorrect
guesses: Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Correa?
FRIDAY
Q. What St. Louis Cardinal, in the only
All-Star appearance of his fourteen-year major league career, became the last
20th century National Leaguer to play a complete All-Star Game?
Hint: He was the first batter to hit two
upper-deck home runs in a game at Cinergy Field.
Hint: In spite of striking out 100 or more times
for eleven consecutive seasons, he only led the league once in that category.
- 100+ K = 1991-2001, basically every year he
played at least 100 G. Led the NL w/147
in 1992.
FCR - Jesse Asbury, Norman, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Mark Whiten
SATURDAY
Q. Who has the most career pinch-hit home
runs by a player not born in the United States?
Hint: His home country has elected him to their
baseball Hall of Fame.
Hint: His first franchise and his last one was the
same franchise although they were different teams.
Hint: He owns a well-deserved World Series ring.
- Has 23 PH HR, most by any player.
- CBHOF in 2015
- Helped PHI win the 2008 WS by helping them get
there with a dramatic HR in the NLCS. Matt
Zolecki, writing for MLB, has called his pinch-hit home run in the eighth
inning of G 4 in the 2008 NLCS off the LAD reliever Jonathan Broxton “…one of the most
memorable home runs in Phillies history.”
FCR - Sarah Grynpas, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Rico Carty, John Vander Wal,
Rusty Staub, Manny Mota
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first 20th century
National League player to collect six hits in the game where he hit for the
cycle?
Hint: He purchased 200 tickets for each Sunday
home game from for four years to give to underprivileged children in the city
where he played at the time.
Hint: His father-in-law was, for a time, former
MLB manager Jerry Manuel.
- Donations made 1997-2000 to children in
Montreal.
- Married for 18 months to Manuel’s eldest,
Angela.
FCR - Ken Kirk Corning, New York
Incorrect
guesses: Curtis Granderson, Dave
Winfield, Jose Valentin, Rickey Henderson
WEEKLY THEME – Batters
who were second in home runs on their team in a year when the team leader hit
60. Thanks to Mike Caragliano for this
idea.
Year Team__ Player HR Leader HR
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Dan Massey, Lancaster, Pennsylvania (after
Aurilia)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Iron
men at each position
- Yankee
HR leaders at each position
- P layers who
had multiple salamis within a single week
Wed - Players
who had multiple salamis within a single week
- Best
HR combinations by teammates
- The
lesser half of most single season teammate HR combos,
like A-Rod (& Griffey) and Palmeiro (& A-Rod) and Lankford
(& McGwire). Maybe Utley (&
Howard).
Thurs - One-Time
All-Stars
Friday - They
are all 1/2 of the teammates with the most home runs in one season.
- They
are all the lower 1/2 of a pair of teammates that when combined the teammate
who hit more home runs, hit the most home runs by any pair of teammates.
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