Q. Who held the
career strikeout record for pitchers for sixty-two years?
Hint: He once allowed
fifteen hits in a complete game shutout.
Hint: Among those
hits, his opponents had five doubles and added a stolen base.
Hint: He was
depicted on the cover of a national sports magazine signing with a team in the other
league, though he ultimately remained with the team where he debuted.
- He passed Cy Young
in 1921 with his 2,804th K and wasn’t passed until Steve Carlton
threw his 3,510th in 1983.
- The April, 1915 Baseball Magazine showed him forsaking the AL for the Federal League
and any potential increase in pay.
FCR - J.P. Wanamaker,
Binghamton, New York
Incorrect guesses: Cy
Young, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rube Waddell, Christy Mathewson
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the
only pitcher to win 300 games between WWI and WWII?
Hint: He was the
first American League pitcher to win the MVP award as voted on by the BBWAA.
Hint: He was the
only American League pitcher other than Lefty Gomez to start the All-Star game
before 1939.
- Career 300 W 1925-41
FCR - Mark Pattison, Washington, DC
Incorrect guesses: Walter Johnson, Early Wynn, Cristy Matthewson
TUESDAY TWICE
Q. Who was on the mound when Babe Ruth daringly
tried to steal second?
Hint: He returned from military duty deaf in one
ear.
Hint: He won more games than anyone else who had
never thrown a no-hitter.
Hint: He holds the record for the pitcher with
the most career victories against a single team.
- In G 7 of the 1926 WS, Babe Ruth ha walked
with 2 down in the bottom of the 9th with NYY behind 2-3 and tied in
G 3-3. Trying to catch the defense off
guard, he broke for 2nd base whereupon C Bob O’Farrell threw and
Rogers Hornsby tagged Ruth out to secure the Cardinals’ first World Series
championship. It wasn’t a completely
foolhardy move. Ruth has stolen 11 bases
that season and had 123 for his career, including 10 steals of home.
- He served in WWI.
- 373 wins.
- 70 W vs. CIN
FCR - Dave Huners, Herndon, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses:
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was the first pitcher in either
league to win the BBWAA MVP award twice?
Hint: The first home run he ever hit was off a
Hall of Famer.
Hint: Every team he pitched for was based in New
York City.
- Pitched all 16 years of his career for the New
York Giants.
FCR - Dr. John Rickert, Terre Haute, Indiana
Incorrect
guesses: Don Newcombe, Ernie Banks,
Lefty Grove, Hal Newhouser
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who is the first pitcher to win three
games in a World Series lasting six games?
Hint: He once stole second base, third base and
home in the same inning, helping secure a win for his team in a rain-threatened
game.
Hint: He once thought he’d stolen third base. Unfortunately, there was a teammate already
occupying it… and in the World Series no less.
FCR - David Holtz, Northridge, California
Incorrect
guesses: Dizzy Dean, Babe Ruth, [Christy
Mathewson (1905) and Jack Coombs (1911) would both have qualified as the
question was originally worded, even though neither satisfies the hints.]
THURSDAY
Q. Who appeared in relief in the first
major league game he ever attended?
Hint: He pitched for more than 20 years in the
majors but never stuck out as many as 75 batters in any one season.
Hint: His hometown newspaper invited fans to send
in donations to buy a pennant since it had become apparent that his team was
never going to win one for him before retirement.
Hint: He was both a teammate of Hall of Famer
Eddie Collins, who started his career in 1906 and Dave Philley, who retired in
1962.
- MLB debut = 02-Jul-1923.
He pitched a perfect inning against the Browns before being lifted for
pinch-hitter, fellow rookie Roy Elsh (Yes THE Roy Elsh!)
- The Chicago Tribune asked for merely a dime
apiece for that mocking pennant.
- His career stretched from 1923 to 1946.
FCR - Sam Bass, Decatur, Georgia
Incorrect
guesses:
THURSDAY THOROUGH
Q. Which spitballer once pitched the first
seven innings of a game without throwing a single ball?
Hint: With his brother, they were the first
sibling pitchers to win twenty games each at some point in their careers.
Hint: When he was only twelve years old he
started working 72 hours a week in a coal mine.
- This claim came from Coveleski himself
explaining that every pitch was either hit, missed or called a strike. Some dedicated SABR researcher will one day
confirm this or prove it an exaggeration.
- Grew up in the coal-mining area of central
Pennsylvania
FCR - Mark Vatavuk, Erie, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro,
Harry Coveleski, Burleigh Grimes, Dizzy Dean, Joe Niekro
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the last player traded to the
Yankees from the Red Sox before Yankee stadium opened?
Hint: His nickname was based on his hometown, known
as The Mushroom Capital of the World.
Hint: As the Philadelphia general manager, he was
responsible for changing the team name from the Phillies to the Blue Jays.
Hint: He had a lifetime contract with them but passed
away while serving in that position.
- Players traded from BOS to NYY between 1914 and 1922 include Babe Ruth,
Bullet Joe Bush, Carl Mays and Ernie Shore, to name a few. Yankee Stadium opened 18‑Apr‑1923.
- He hailed from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and was
called “The Knight of Kennett Square” or sometimes “The Knight of Kennett
Square”. Originally exactly one square
mile, it is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, not far from
Philadelphia. Known as the Mushroom Capital of the World, its region produces
over a million pounds of mushrooms a year, half of the U.S. mushroom crop.
- The new Blue Jays nickname ultimately didn't
prove popular enough and was dropped after 2 years.
- He was the GM of the Phillies from 1944 until
his death on 30-Jan-1948.
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses:
T.G.I.F. BONUS
Q. What former St. Louis Browns pitcher was
inducted into the San Francisco Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural
class along with Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio?
Hint: A Stanford grad, he returned to Stanford as
an assistant coach and was later the head coach at Lafayette.
Hint: He played for the Browns under
player/manager future Hall of Famer George Sisler and had a decent batting
average for a pitcher including a brace of doubles during his career in the
majors.
Hint: He was also inducted into the College Hall
of Fame in its inaugural class.
- Played football at Stanford University 1922-25. Coached football at Lafayette University in 1936.
+ He is, of course,
also in the NFL
Hall of Fame.
FCR - David Serota, Kalamazoo
Incorrect
guesses: Lefty O'Doul, Elden Auker, George
Sisler
SATURDAY
Q. Which Hall of Famer was drafted into U.S.
military service during WWII, despite being 38 years old and missing four toes?
Hint: He was the first Yankee pitcher to hit a
grand slam.
Hint: He’ll get you two minutes.
- At 15 he was working as a train car coupler,
hooking coal cars together when his left foot was crushed between cars. Doctors
managed to save the foot, but he lost four toes. (Uncle Sam really needed
soldiers and was anxious to induct just about anybody even if not 1-A classified.)
- GS = 14-May-1933.
It was a 2-out, 9th inning
walk-off. 3 of the 4 runs scored were by
Hall of Famers
- Roughing is an offense
and penalty in ice hockey the penalty for which is usually two
minutes in the penalty box..
FCR - Sarah Grynpas, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Tommy Byrnes, Curt Simmons, Elmer
Gedeon
Q. Which twenty-plus year MLB pitcher worked
in a mortuary during the off season?
Hint: He was a double-unique until a certain
future Cy Young Award winner got called up.
Hint: He led the majors in saves forty years
before that statistic became official.
Hint: In the same game his pitching stopped a
28-game hitting streak by that year’s home run champ but allowed that year’s
MVP to extend his consecutive-games hitting streak to 24 games.
- He got involved in the mortuary and funeral
business through his father-in-law.
- Had 8 saves in 1928.
- On 25-Aug-1922 he shut out Ken Williams who went 0-4, but gave up a couple of
singles to George Sisler whose streak didn’t end until he
stretched in to 41 G. The Browns won 3-1.
FCR - Kevin Mix, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Wilcy Moore, Firpo Marbury, Jack
Quinn
SUNDAY
Q. Who is the only National Leaguer to play
on his franchise’s first five pennant-winning teams in the modern era?
Hint: As a 34-year-old, he led the National
League in complete games and shutouts.
Hint: He was portrayed by fellow Hall of Famer
Bob Lemon in the movie "The Winning Team"?
- He pitched for Cardinal teams in 1926*, 1928, 1930, 1931* & 1934*. (N.B. Christy Mathewson was
really first since was on NYG in 1904, 05, 11, 12 & 13. Thus, he’s not incorrect, even though his
team didn’t play in the ‘4 postseason, that was not what the question asked. Overlooking that [if you would please,
just this one time…],
only Haines satisfies the hints.)
- In 1927 he threw 25 complete games among which
were 6 shutouts.
- Lemon resembled Haines enough to be credible… “The
Winning Team”
a biopic about Pete Alexander starring Ronald Reagan and Doris Day.
* World Series champs
FCR - Bob Flynn, Chandler, Arizona
Incorrect
guesses: Grover Cleveland Alexander, Cy
Young, Frankie Frisch
WEEKLY THEME – Hall of
Fame pitchers who surrendered home runs to Babe Ruth.
Faber 9
Grove 9
Hoyt 5
Johnson 10
Lyons 10
Nevers 2
Pennock 5
Ruffing 3
*National League
pitchers
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Patrick Ray, Paradise Valley, Arizona
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Hall-of-Fame
inductees at first ceremony
Tuesday - Pitchers
with the most wins in the American League.
- Pitchers with
more than 300 wins who only pitched in the American League.
- Most
wins by a pitcher who only pitched in the American League.
- First
pitchers elected to the HOF
- Players
with 5+ consecutive years of 20+ wins for the same team
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