Monday, July 15, 2019

2019-07-08 Highest and Lowest honors


08-Jul-2019

This week’s quiz was submitted by Steve Klitzner of North Miami Beach, a Horsehide Trivia reader since last Thanksgiving.

MONDAY
Q.        Major League Baseball, during its centennial celebration in 1969, announced its all-time greatest team.  Who was the only position player on that team whose career had begun in the 19th century?
Hint:     He led his league multiple times in:  Hits, runs, doubles, triples, runs batted in, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging.
Hint:     He never led in home runs in his 21-year MLB career in spite of having double-figure home runs in a season twice.
Hint:     He was a real card.
A.         HONUS WAGNER  [SABR Bio]
-  Debut:  19-Jul-1897
-  Led in H = 2X
R = 2X
2b = 7X
3b = 3X
RBI = 4X
SB = 5X
BA = 8X
OBP = 4X
SLG = 6X
-  Hit 10 HR in each of 1898 & 1908
-  A single, famous copy of his 1909-11 T206 “Sweet Caporal” baseball card in excellent condition, perhaps the most famous collectible card of all time, was sold for $3,120,000.00 the last time in changed hands.
FCR -  Dennis Walls, Orrington, Maine
Incorrect guesses:  Cap Anson, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Cy Young, Napoleon Lajoie

TUESDAY
Q.        What pitcher started 143 games his first six seasons, but only started four games his last sixteen seasons?
Hint:     He won all four of those games.
Hint:     He led the league in strikeouts five times.
Hint:     His first house is still standing, but his second house, the one he built,  has been destroyed.
A.         BABE RUTH  [SABR Bio]
-  All 143 were for BOS 1914-19.  The last 4 were for NYY 1920-33.
-  Led AL in K as a batter 1X w/BOS (while a P) & 4X w/NYY.  When he retired, he held the career K record until it was broken by Mickey Mantle 30 years later.
-  The house of his birth is now a beautiful museum at 216 Emory Street in Baltimore.  The first Yankee Stadium, rightfully called The House that Ruth Built” lasted from 1923 until 2008.
FCR -  Michael Shopoff, Houston
Incorrect guesses:  Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz, Hoyt Wilhelm, Randy Johnson, Herb Score, Satchel Paige, Amos Rusie, Steve Carlton, Hoyt Wilhelm, Ichiro Suzuki

WEDNESDAY
Q.        Who had a major league career of only 10 season, but which included a Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP and six All-Star Game appearances?
Hint:     In addition to receiving MVP votes in 8 of his 10 seasons he lead the league twice in stolen bases and won a batting title.
Hint:     He played in 6 World Series and had his number retired by more than one team.
A.         JACKIE ROBINSON  [SABR Bio]
-  Played for BRO 1947-56; ROY 1947; NL MVP 1949*, ASG 1949-54.
-  Received MVP votes
-  Number retired by LAD and now by all MLB teams
*6 Dodger teammates also received MVP votes in 1949.
FCR -  Larry Farin, Plano, Texas
Incorrect guesses:  Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, Joe Gordon, Maury Wills, Ryne Sandburg

IN MEMORIAM (Not part of this week’s theme.)
Q.        Whose decent 3.91 ERA couldn’t prevent his team’s staff ERA from being the worst in its first year in the American League?
Hint:     In games he started, his cap flew off his head more than even Willie Mays’s did.
Hint:     Only Mother Nature could prevent this bulldog from starting a World Series Game Seven.
Hint:     After a seven-year MLB hiatus, he joined a team blessed with two former MVPs, a former Rookie of the Year and a manager and fellow knuckle-baller both headed for the Hall of Fame.
Hint:     In his only victory with them he struck out the first batter he faced—a four-time batting champion.
Hint:     Even in light of his very respectable MLB career, he made a bigger impact on the game with a pen in his hand than with a baseball in it.
A.         JIM BOUTON  [SABR Bio]
-  SEP 1969 team ERA was the worst in the AL.  Not why they moved to Milwaukee, but it couldn’t have helped.
-  When pitching well, his violent pitching motion caused his pitching arm to brush up against his cap and knock it off.  This could happen a few dozen times in a complete game. 
-  He was originally slated to pitch the 1962 WS Gm7 vs. the San Francisco Giants, but was bumped in favor of Ralph Terry when rain postponed that deciding game by one day.
-  After being out of the majors since 1970, he returned for a 5-game cameo with ATL.  Bill Madlock was his lead-off strikeout victim (using mostly knuckleballs) on 14-Sep-1978
-  Bouton’s seminal work, “Ball Four”, was a controversial tell-all exposé that cracked wide-open the hidden lives of major league players.  This well-received book was on The New York Times best-seller list for 17 weeks, the longest a sports book had stayed there for nearly 25 years.
FCR -  Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect guesses:  Tug McGraw

THURSDAY
Q.        Who, in his major league debut, went 4 for 4 at the plate with 2 singles and 2 triples off a Hall of Fame pitcher?
Hint:     The following month he was his league’s player of the month.
Hint:     He had a 22 game hitting streak his first season.
Hint:     Despite playing in only 52 games that season, he won Rookie of the Year with no other players receiving even a single vote.
A.         WILLIE McCOVEY  [SABR Bio]
-  Major league debut 30-Jul-1959 off Robin Roberts.
-  NL Player of the Month August, 1959
-  Hitting streak 17-Aug through 10-Sep-1959.
-  NL ROY 1959
FCR -  Fred Worth, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Incorrect guesses:  Orlando Cepeda, Frank Robinson, Kirby Puckett, Mike Trout, Pete Reiser

FRIDAY
Q.        Who had the lowest average that won his league’s batting title?
Hint:     His nickname has but 3 letters, however, they are not the first 3 letters of his first or last name, nor do they appear in that order anywhere in his name.
Hint:     His grandson was originally drafted by the same team this player played for his entire career.
A.         CARL YASTRZEMSKI  [SABR Bio]
-  Won AL batting title w/.301 in 1968.
-  “Yaz”
-  Mike Yastrzemski was drafted by the BOS in 2009 but did not sign, probably because he wasn’t taken until the 36th round.  Make his MLB debut for SFG in 2019.
FCR -  Alex Poterack, Providence
Incorrect guesses:  Alex Johnson, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Jose Reyes, Elmer Flick, Pie Traynor

SATURDAY
Q.        Who is the only player to lead his league in hits more than 5 times, but never win the MVP award?
Hint:     His highest MVP finish was 3rd.
Hint:     He never hit less than .309 in any full season.
Hint:     During his career, he won awards named for Branch Rickey, Lou Gehrig Memorial Award and Roberto Clemente Award for combining good play and strong work in the community.
A.         TONY GWYNN  [SABR Bio]
-  Finished 3rd in MVP voting in 1984.  When hit .394 in 1994, he was only 7th most valuable in the voters’ collective estimation.
-  Hit .309 in 1983 and 1990.
-  Gwynn won the Branch Rickey Award in 1995, the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1998, and the Roberto Clemente Award in 1999.
FCR -  Dan Schoenholz, Walnut Creek, California
Incorrect guesses:  Wade Boggs, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Ichiro Suzuki, Michael Young, Kirby Puckett



WEEKLY THEME –  “The greatest accomplished in a baseball player’s career is being elected to the Hall of Fame the first time they are eligible.  The worst might well be making the last out in a World Series.  These are the 6 players who achieved these highest and points but not until they had suffered these lowest points.”  ~ Steve Klitzner

1903—Wagner struck out to in the 8th G to end the first WS.  BOS beat PIT 13‑Oct‑1903.
1926—Ruth was caught trying to steal 2b in the 7th game.  Pete Alexander was pitching.  Rogers Hornsby tagged Ruth out.  Bob Meusel was at the plate with Lou Gehrig on deck.  STL won their first ever WS 3-2.  Today’s social media would have had a field day with the Babe’s decision.  10-Oct-1926
1956—Robinson struck out to end the 7th game as NYY beat the BRO.  The third strike was dropped by Yogi Berra who threw to Bill Skowron for the out.  10‑Oct‑1956
1962—One of the most memorable G 7 endings occurred with the NYY leading SFG 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th.  With 1b open and Orlando Cepeda on deck, McCovey hit a hard line drive to 2b Bobby Richardson.  Matty Alou was the tying run on 3rd.  Willie Mays, representing the winning run, was on 2nd.  16-Oct-1962
1975—Yaz flew out to center field in the bottom of the 9th with BOS trailing the CIN 4-3 in the 7th game.  Carlton who?
1984—In the 5th G, SDP’s Gwynn flew out to DET’s LF Larry Herndon.

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Bob Charkovsky, Ashton, Maryland

Incorrect theme guesses:


Tuesday -  First Hall of Famers to be inducted
               -  Inaugural HOF class (1939) [sic]
               -  Players in the first hall-of-fame class
               -  First players elected to the hof
               -  The initial  HOF class

Thurs      -  HOFers who made the last out of the 7th game of the World Series
               -  Hall of Famers who made the last out in the World Series

Friday     -  HOF players who made last out in a World Series

Sat          -  First ballot hall of famers in each decade.
               -  Left handed hitters with the most gidp lifetime or leading the league.
               -  All made last out in a World Series Game 7
               -  Each player did it in a different decade -- Ruth in 20s, McCovey in 60s, Yaz in 70s, Gwynn in 80s. 


_________^^^^^^^^^_________

BONUS QUESTIONS NOT RELATED TO THE THEME

BASTILLE DAY BONUS
Q.        Who are the four batter who hit 30 home runs in the same season they had an on‑base percentage of .500?
Hint:     The fewest home runs any of them hit was 34 in any such season.
Hint:     The lowest OBP any of the had in any such season was .512.
Hint:     It was the same player who had those lows and in the same year.
Hint:     Extra points of Horsehide Trivia honor to anyone who can answer this without aid of references—electronic, dead-tree or otherwise.
A.         In chronological order, they are=> [Just for fun, I’ve added their WAR score for those years.]
Player               Year       HR     OBP       WAR
Babe Ruth....... 1920...... 54...... .532...... 11.9
                          1921...... 59...... .512...... 12.9
                          1923...... 45...... .545...... 14.1*
                          1924...... 46...... .513...... 11.7
                          1926...... 47...... .516...... 11.5
Ted Williams.... 1941...... 37.... .553..... 10.6
                          1957...... 38...... .526........ 9.7
Mickey Mantle. 1957...... 34...... .512...... 11.3
Barry Bonds.... 2001...... 73**... .515...... 11.9
                          2002...... 46...... .582...... 11.8
                          2003...... 45...... .529........ 9.2
                          2004...... 45...... .609**... 10.6
*All-time MLB record for a position player
** All-time MLB record
N.B. In these 12 seasons, these players averaged an OPS of 1.311!
Bold = led the league that year
I was prompted to this particular combination of stats from the back of a 2019 Mickey Mantle Panini "Diamond Kings card, #15.

FCR -  R. D. Lerner, Silver Spring, Maryland (Baseball Brainiac Bill Deane got all 4 off the top of his head.  If you know him, you don’t doubt that that is true.)
Incorrect guesses:  Lou Gehrig, Jim Thome, Rogers Hornsby, Joey Votto, Stan Musial, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ryan Braun, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Kemp, Ian Kinsler, Claude Raymond, Eric Gagne, Ron Piche, Rheal Cormier, Hank Aaron, Bobby Richardson, Mark McGwire, Greg Vaughn, Ken Griffey, Jr.

SUNDAY
Q.        Who is the only left-handed-hitting MLB player with more career doubles on his résumé than does Stan Musial?
Hint:     His name is double-unique.
Hint:     Five times he had 50 or more doubles in a season.
Hint:     He is often overlooked as a player at his position because so many others who played there are among the immortals.
A.         TRIS SPEAKER  [SABR Bio
-  792 career doubles.  No one has more, handedness notwithstanding.
-  Of the 19,587 known major leaguers, no other player has had the first name “”Tris” and no other player has had the family name “Speaker”,
-  Season total in doubles topped 49 in 1912, 20, 21, 23 & 26.
-  Other centerfielders who might come to mind first include Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Ken Griffey, Jr., Kirby Puckett, Andruw Jones, Mike Trout, Richie Ashburn, Larry Doby and Dale Murphy.  Speaker, however, deserves a place at the head, or very near the head, of this list.
FCR -  Cappy Gagnon, Notre Dame (His city is of little consequence.)
Incorrect guesses: 















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