Q. Which Hall
of Famer appeared in only 6 games during the last 5 seasons of his 18-year major
league playing career?
Hint: His on-field
cheer became his nickname.
Hint: He still
shares the shortstop record of 425 put-outs in a season after more than 120 years.
Hint: No one else
has ever been hit by a pitch more times in a season or in a major league
lifetime.
- He was however the
player/manager for DET in each of those seasons, inserting himself only
occasionally into games as a player.
- His famous yell
was “Ee-Yah!”
- He set the record
in 1895 and was tied in 1914 by Donie Bush.
Only 5 other SS have ever exceeded 400 in a season.
- He holds both HBP
records: 51 times in 1896 and 287 for a career.
FCR - Michael Campos,
Redmond, Washington
Incorrect guesses: Fred
Clarke, Alan Trammel, Ernie Banks, Minnie Minoso, Donie Bush, Rabbit
Maranville, Leo Durocher
MONDAY
NIGHT OWL EDITION
Q. Which
pitcher has the most career 20-win seasons for the Cleveland Indians?
Hint: He never
pitched for any other team in the majors.
Hint: He trails only
Wes Ferrell for career home runs by a pitcher.
Hint: Who was the
first American League hurler to give up a walk-off home run in the
World Series.
- Has 7 seasons of 20
or more wins
- Played 13 years
w/CLE.
- Hit 37 HR, however,
only 35 as a pitcher which ties him for second with Warren Spahn whose 35
were all hit in games he pitched.
Ferrell had 38, 37 as a pitcher.
- He surrendered the 10th-inning,
pinch-hit, walk-off home run to Dusty Rhodes in G 1 of the 1954 WS.
FCR - Rich Ottone,
Sykesville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Bob
Feller, Early Wynn, Sam McDowell, Stan Coveleski, Satchel Paige, Ralph
Terry, Jim Bagby, Mel Harder
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the
only National League catcher to hit a triple in the All-Star game?
Hint: He was the
first National League catcher to win the MVP under the current voting system.
Hint: He
participated in the World Series on a very regular basis, every three years,
four times in a row.
- MVP in 1935 voted by the BBWAA,
the same season his Cubs won the pennant.
That year, 4 additional teammates of his received MVP votes.
FCR - Rich Klein, Plano, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Tim McCarver, Roy Campanella, Buster Posey
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who is the only manager with 25 years
between Opening Day victories?
Hint: So great is his commitment to church that he
attends daily. So great was his
attachment to his cigars that he was known to leave a lighted cigar outside
church while attending Mass only to pick up the stogie immediately following
the service. He stopped smoking,
cold-turkey, following heart surgery.
Hint: His son-in-law played for eight years in
the majors.
Hint: He was born the year an original Boston Red
Stockings (1871) player died yet he managed players who are active in the
majors in 2019.
- Smoking trouble caused his cardiovascular
issues and he had the wisdom and strength to quit. He recently told a SABR group that he’s still
tempted but has not had a smoke since he quit in 2013.
- Sam Jackson was a utility man
for BOS
in 1871 and
died in 1930. With FLA in 2011 on his last year
as manager, McKeon managed Giancarlo Stanton, Anibal Sanchez and 4 more are
still active in 2019.
FCR - Doug Wedge, Edmond, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Connie Mack, Felipe Alou, Tommy
Lasorda, John McNamara, Tony LaRussa, Branch Rickey, Calvin Griffith, Yogi
Berra, Joe Torre, Frank Robinson
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Which player's wife was allowed to
spread his ashes over the playing surface of Wrigley Field after his death?
Hint: He led the league in fielding percentage more
times that any other National League first baseman.
Hint: He was incorrectly credited with a
run-batted-in during a game in 1930, that when corrected almost 70 years later
would alter one of baseball most revered records.
- Charlie died in 1983 and his wife, Marion
Sayers Grimm, obtained permission to spread his ashes on the field in April of
1984. Former Cubs owner Bill Wrigley assisted Mrs. Grimm.
- Led in fielding % 7 times. Was never lower than .993% in the years he
led: 1920, 23, 24, 28, 30, 32 & 33.
- In the G on 28‑Jul‑1930(1) Grimm was credited
with one of Hack Wilson’s 2 RBI. When the typo was discovered in 1999 by Cliff
Kachline, one of SABR's founding members, it changed Wilson’s already
unbreakable record for RBI in a season from 190 to 191. Babe Ruth correctly predicted that his record
of 60 HR in a season would be broken before Wilson’s RBI record. No one has come within 25 of that record
since 1938.
FCR - Dave Serota, Kalamazoo
Incorrect
guesses: Hack Wilson, Phil Cavarretta,
Jim Leyland
THURSDAY
Q. Who married a former Miss Wisconsin two
years after he led the majors in hits in his rookie season?
Hint: In his first ten full Major League seasons,
he hit over .300 in eight of them including winning an American League batting
title.
Hint: He played in one World Series and managed
in another.
- On 29-Oct-1955, he married former Miss
Wisconsin 1954, Dixie Ann Sarchet in her hometown of
Stevens Point, WI. Playing for DET in 1953 he led MLB in
H w/209 and was named AL Rookie of the Year.
- AL Batting champ in 1959 w/.353.
- Played for SFG in the 1962 WS losing
to NYY in 7 G. He managed MIL to the WS 20 years
later, falling to STL in 7 G.
FCR - Jeff Frost, Gilbertville, Iowa
Incorrect
guesses: Paul Molitor, Robin Yount,
Ralph Kiner
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the last person to manage a major
league game in street clothes?
Hint: He earned the nickname “Barney” because of
his speed.
Hint: He was Duke Snider’s first managers in the
majors.
Hint: He helped Branch Rickey solve a religious
dilemma.
- An extremely swift center fielder during his
playing days—Shotton averaged 38 SBs over his first six full seasons—he was
nicknamed after Barney Oldfield, the celebrated late nineteenth-century/early
twentieth-century bicycle/auto racer.
- Snider’s debut was 17-Apr-1947, two days after Jackie
Robinson’s. Since Dodger skipper Leo Durocher had been suspended by Baseball
Commissioner Happy Chandler prior to the season for consorting with gamblers,
coach Clyde Sukeforth managed the team's first 2 game before Shotton became the
permanent replacement. So Snider’s debut was also Shotton’s first day as
manager.
- Branch Rickey had vowed to his mother that he
would avoid ballparks on Sundays. He
sensed that he could trust Shotton and, in 1914–15, he became the Browns’ “Sunday manager”.
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect
guesses: Walter Alston, Casey Stengel,
Chuck Dressen, Ted Turner, Clyde Sukeforth, Max Carey, Walter Johnson
SATURDAY
Q. Who was the only qualifying player to
hit.400 in the Union Association?
Hint: He was famous for playing second base
bare-handed which took advantage of his amazing ambidextrous ability to turn
double plays.
Hint: His renown was such that an equally adept
player in the Negro Leagues was nicknamed “The Black __(him)_____”. That Negro Leaguer is now in the Hall of Fame.
Hint: In the Players League, he was the only
player to have more hits than games played.
- Dunlap’s golden year in the majors was in a
league that was only around for one year, the Union Association. His 1884 stats were so dominant that
they were Ruthian before that was a concept.
- Even though some of his contemporaries had
begun to use gloves, he gained increasing fame for firing runners out by
throwing with either bare hand which wouldn’t be possible for a fielder with a
glove.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect
guesses: Ray Dandridge, Mike Kelly,
Honus Wagner, Bid McPhee
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. What papal manager was from Salamanca?
Hint: He wore both hats as general manager and
field manager of a team that he took to the World Series.
Hint: Even though that team played .500 ball in
the subsequent season, it was his last year as a big league manager.
Hint: As a player in the minors, set a league
record by hitting safely in 38 consecutive games.
Hint: It is somewhat surprising that he never
made it to the majors as a player considering that he racked up a minor league
career batting average of .374 during his six seasons in the lower leagues.
- Nicknamed "The Pope", allegedly by
Dick Allen, because of his resemblance to Pope Paul VI. He had attended Salamanca High School in upstate New York.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect
guesses: Pants Rowland, Eddie Dyer, Cap
Anson, Fred Luderus
SUNDAY
Q. Who is the only Boston manager to have
played every position on the diamond as a player?
Hint: He even pitched in seven of his fifteen playing
seasons, demonstrating that his appearances on the mound were more than a
gimmick.
Hint: He was a better manager than anyone besides
Cap Anson according to fellow manager.
Hint: His reputation for integrity led to his
nickname.
- He pitched in 7 of the 15 seasons he played then managed
the Boston Beaneaters 1882-1888 and the NL Washington Nationals in 1889. (In 1882 the NL Boston team was called the
Red Stockings. They changed to
Beaneaters the following season.)
- Comparison was by Hall of Famer King Kelly. Anson managed 21 seasons,
including before and after the tenures of both Morrill and Kelly.
- “Honest John”, as he was known.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect
guesses: Bill Carrigan, George Stallings,
Deacon McGuire, King Kelly, Harry Wright, Fred Mitchell, Bill McKechnie
WEEKLY THEME – Pennant-winning
managers who hadn’t been with the team at the start of the season.
Name Team League
*Jennings, unlike the rest on this list did not
finish the season with the Giants. He
had stepped in when McGraw became ill and relinquished the reins upon Mugsy’s
return.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme–Randall Chandler, Germantown, Tennessee
(After Kuenn)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - HOF
players who won multiple pennants as managers
- Hall-of-Famers
who won the World Series as both player and manager
- Players
who have a team record for home runs at a position
Wed - Managers
who won pennant
- Managers
who won pennant, first year at the helm of the team.
Thurs - Managers
who managed in the World Series against managers who were later elected to the Hall
of Fame.
Friday - Lost
WS as both player and manager
- SWEPT
in WS as both player and manager
