Q. Who was the
oldest Most Valuable Player Award winner in the 20th century?
Hint: He hit more
total home runs in four different major league ballparks in the state of
Pennsylvania than anyone else.
Hint: Although not
a trained astronomer, he knew plenty about stars.
Hint: 535
- Named NL Co-MVP In 1979
at the age of 39. (Only Barry Bonds was older. In 2004 at age 40, he won his 7th
and final MVP.)
- 240 Pennsylvania
HRs distributed among…
Three Rivers Stadium
(147);
Forbes Field (74);
Veterans Stadium (14);
and
Connie Mack Stadium [ Nee
Shibe Park] (5)
- Stargell’s enormous
spiritual clubhouse influence included the awarding of “Stargell’s stars” to
teammates when they had a good game or made a noteworthy play. While the small cloth gold stars (proudly
affixed to the Pirates’ distinctive pill-box style caps) weren't valuable per se, they were treasured as a symbolic
acknowledgements of a player's positive contributions to his team.
FCR - Steven Cramer,
Philadelphia
Incorrect guesses: Willie
Mays, Jimmie Foxx, Ralph Kiner, Mike Schmidt, Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the
National League’s first two-time “The Sporting News” Comeback Player of the
Year Award winner?
Hint: He was his
franchise’s first true Free Agent signing.
Hint: The year
after, he rocked a .370 batting average playing in front of MLB’s all-time highest
single-season attendance.
Hint: 529
- A two-time cancer survivor and sufferer of
several injuries during his 19-year MLB career, he earned TSN Comeback Player
awards in 1993 and 2000.
- When he signed as a major-league expansion free
agent by COL on 17-Nov-1992, he was
joined on the roster by 36 new teammates the following day when the Rockies
completed their Expansion Draft
selections.
- As a member of the 1993 Colorado Rockies, he
played before 4,483,350 fans at Mile High Stadium. No team has ever drawn more for a single
major league season.
FCR - Jim Casey, Savannah
Incorrect guesses: Ryan Zimmerman, Larry Walker
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was the first player to be voted an
All-Star Game starter at three different positions?
Hint: He is the only member of the 500 home run
club whose first major league experience was as a pinch runner.
Hint: He hit his 500th career home run
the day SABR was founded.
Hint: 522
- PR = 23-Jun-1954. 17-year-old Killebrew pinch-ran for pitcher Clyde
Vollmer who had been hit by a pitch thrown by CHW’s Jack Harshman.
- He hit #500 off recent Cy Young winner Mike
Cuellar. 5 innings later he hit #501 off
him too. Meanwhile… 16 SABR pioneers were in the process of
officially founding the Society in Cooperstown, New
York.
FCR - John Michael Pierobon, Fort Lauderdale
Incorrect
guesses: Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols,
Jamie Moyer, Gary Sheffield, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who was the first player of Latino
descent to be inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Hint: Although his career-best hitting streak is
23 games, he does hold the all-time record for most consecutive games reaching
base.
Hint: No other rookie has ever had more runs
batted in.
Hint: 502
- Williams’ mother May Venzor Williams was born
in El Paso of Mexican parents. Author Ben Bradlee, Jr. revealed Williams’
previously concealed ethnic heritage in his 2013 book: The Kid: The Immortal
Life of Ted Williams. Williams’ 1966
Cooperstown enshrinement predated Lefty Gomez’ by 6 years & Roberto Clemente’s
by 7.
- 145 RBI in his rookie season 1939.
FCR - James Higgins, Bethesda
Incorrect
guesses: Orlando Cepeda, Mariano Rivera,
Edgar Martinez, Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Minnie Minoso
THURSDAY
Q. Which hitter, in the midst of “The Year of the
Pitcher”, had the most prolific slugging week ever?
Hint: Never known
for his foot speed, he once still managed to hit a bunt triple.
Hint: He was Bruce
Bochy’s favorite player.
- Howard walloped a record ten (10!) home runs
in just 20 ABs during calendar week (12‑18—May—1968). [Why in the world did they keep pitching to
him?!]
- On 02-Sept-1964, seeing the Pirates’ 3B
wisely playing at his normal depth for the intimidating right-hand hitting
Howard—about five feet out on the outfield grass—Frank laid down a
surprise bunt. Pirates’ pitcher Joe Gibbon came over and almost fielded the
ball, but it just trickled past him. In
a state of frustration, Gibbon threw his glove at the still-rolling ball—and
hit it. Per Baseball’s Official
Rulebook, that was deemed an automatic triple—one of the shortest in
the history of the game!
- Bochy has been a fan of Howard since seeing him in the first
MLB
game he ever attended. Bochy’s family
lived in northern Virginia and he attended games at RFK Stadium (Originally DC
stadium) in Washington, DC. Howard
played there for the Senators 1966-71.
FCR - Mark Pattison, Washington, DC
Incorrect
guesses: Willie McCovey, Pablo Sandoval,
Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Ernie Banks, Carl Yastrzemski, Gates Brown, Willie
Stargell, Dee Gordon, Willie Horton, Tony Gwynn, Harmon Killebrew, Orlando
Cepeda
FRIDAY
Q. Based on career WAR, who is the best position
player to receive zero (0) Hall of Fame votes?
Hint: He is the only player to hit two home runs
in a game each off Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan.
Hint: He was often linked with military ordnance.
Hint: 480
- Wynn’s 56.6 career WAR is highest ever
accumulated without receiving a single HOF vote during his eligibility. He is still the all-time single-season Offensive WAR
leader for the Astros’ franchise @ 8.5 in 1969.
- His nickname was “Toy Cannon”, a reference to
his (not really) diminutive height of 5’10” and his out-sized power.
FCR - Kellen Nielson, Blanding, Utah
Incorrect guesses: Ron Swoboda, Donn Clendenon, Gary Mathews,
Roy White, Fred McGriff, Carlos May, Bob Horner
SATURDAY
Q. Who led the Major Leagues in Batting
Average without winning the National League batting championship?
Hint: He was the first player to switch-hit
homers in two consecutive games
Hint: A long-time teammate nearly eclipsed his
sole all-time MLB record.
Hint: 413
- Despite hitting a career-high .330 for the 1990 LAD, Murray won nothing but
some lovely parting gifts. He was denied
the batting crown because Willie McGee was batting .335 for STL at the time of his
trade to the AL's Oakland A's. McGee hit
.274 for the A's for the rest of the season and his overall batting average dipped
to. 324. However, since McGee switched
leagues and had enough at bats to qualify for the title at the time of the
trade, his NL average remained .335. Ergo, McGee is the NL’s 1990 batting champion.
- Nine seasons sharing the same Baltimore
infield, Cal Ripken, Jr. needed just one more Sacrifice Fly to tie Murray’s MLB
record of 128. Alas, after notching his
127th SF on 23-Sept-2001, Cal’s 2001 teammates couldn’t provide him
with another chance over the last 14 games of Ripken’s final season.
FCR - Pat Ray, Paradise Valley, Arizona
Incorrect
guesses: Willie McGee, Melky Cabrera,
Ken Singleton
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who is the only player in history to
start his career playing less than half a season for each of two major-league
teams before embarking on a productive
16-year career for a THIRD team?
Hint: Both he and a teammate reached an identical
and significant career milestone by homering back-to-back.
Hint: In a ceremony at the White House, he
presented the president with a jersey of his team with the president’s name and
“#1” on the back.
Hint: 410
- In the top of the 2nd inning on 13-Apr-2009, Jermaine Dye and
Konerko each hit their 300th career home runs back-to-back in a W
over DET.
- The White Sox had won the 2005 WS over swept
the then NL Houston Astros. On 13‑Feb‑2006
the team was welcome by President George W Bush to the White House.
FCR - David Krassin, Los Angeles
Incorrect
guesses:
SUNDAY
Q. Whose uniform number was sixty-four
times higher than the lowest number ever worn for his franchise?
Hint: He was the last American Leaguer to get six
hits in a game in the twentieth century.
Hint: He was the Fiesta Bowl Parade Grand Marshal
shortly after his retirement from baseball.
Hint: 390
- Ripken wore uniform #8 during his 21-year
career with BAL. Eddie Gaedel wore
fractional uniform #⅛ during his storied single‑PA‑career in 1951 with the
Orioles’ forerunners the St. Louis Browns.
FCR - Jerry Miller, Liberty Hill, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Norm Cash, Robin Yount
SUNDAY BONUS
Q. Who manipulated the MLB draft with
threats to return to his successful college football career until his hometown
drafted him 12th?
Hint: He was twice selected for the All-Star Game
but declined the offer both times.
Hint: He was a Worlds Series champion in each
league.
Hint: He once set an aviation record by piloting
a single-engine propeller aircraft to an altitude of nearly five miles.
Hint: 385
- A star football player at Michigan State,
- Invited to be an AS in 1985 and 1988, both
times by his pennant-winning manager, but declined both times.
- On an off day from Spring
Training
in March 1987, with the permission of Manager Sparky Anderson, Gibson
co-piloted a Cessna 206 to a height of 25,200
feet—a record for that class of aircraft.
FCR - Frank Workman, Escondido, California
Incorrect
guesses: Dave Parker
WEEK’S
FINALE
Q. Which healthy, well-rested Hall of Famer
never got off the bench in a wild, nationally-broadcast 16-15 walk-off
slugfest?
Hint: Even Mario Mendoza out-hit him.
Hint: His statue was unveiled inside a nearly empty stadium.
Hint: 165
- Not technically a Hall of Famer, Uecker was
honored by the Hall of Fame in 2003 with its prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in recognition of his
broadcasting career.
- Mario, of the infamous “Mendoza Line”, actually had a
career batting average of .215, Uecker retired at exactly .200.
- The Brewers “honored” Uecker in April 25, 2014
by placing his statue in their ballpark’s worst
possible seat location.
FCR -
Incorrect
guesses: Cal Ripken, Tom Seaver, Willie
Stargell
WEEKLY THEME – “Take A Seat”
Select MLB players who have had stadium seats commemorated in their
honor, mostly for home runs they hit. Answers
shown in order of farthest seat distance from home plate. The last hint for each player (i.e., the
unexplained 3-digit numbers given) is the distance in feet of each seat from
home plate.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Michael Caragliano, Queens, New York
[After Williams]
Player Dist. ' Date Venue Seat Color
Stargell........... 535........ 20-May-1978........ Olympic Std........................ Pirates yellow
Galarraga....... 529........ 31-May-1997........ Pro Player Std........ Black
Killebrew........ 522........ 03-Jun-1967......... Metro Std................ Red
Williams......... 502........ 09-Jun-1946......... Fenway Park........... Red
Howard........... 500........ 25-Apr-1970......... RFK*....................... White
Wynn.............. 480........ 12-Apr-1970......... Astrodome............... Black
Murray............ 413........ 06-Sep-1996........ OPACY.................... Orange
Konerko.......... 410........ 23-Oct-2005......... US Cellular.............. Light blue
Ripken............ 390........ 25-Jul-1994.......... OPACY..................... Orange
Gibson............ 385........ 15-Oct-1988......... Dodger Std................Dodger
blue
Uecker............ 165........ 25-Apr-2014......... Miller Park............... Green
*RFK had multiple white
seats commemorating blasts by Howard.
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tues - Players
who launched home runs into the upper decks of stadia that no longer exist
- Players
who hit balls into a 500 section at a major league ballpark
- Players
with the longest recorded (or estimated) home run distances
- National
Leaguers who hit a ball into the 500 seats
Wed - First
Basemen who hit a HR over 500 Feet
- Players
who have hit homers estimated at over 500 feet
- Players
who hit stadium-longest shots of 500 feet or more in stadia that no longer
exist
- players
who hit the longest home runs in a given stadium.
Stargell --
Olympic Stadium Montreal
Galarraga
-- Joe Robbie Stadium Miami
Killebrew
-- Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington
- Longest
HR’s hit by guys at or over 40 yrs old
- League
leading HR champions who also hit a HR over 500 ft
Thursday- Who hit the longest home run in the player's
home park
- Longest
home runs ever hit
- Players
who have hit 500+ foot home runs
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