MONDAY – 13-Apr
Q. Who was the
only player to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat playing for the
Milwaukee Braves?
Hint: He was the
manager in a victory which was the opposing manager’s only game in the majors.
Hint: That person
later hired him to manage his team.
- Tanner was in his 1st
year of managing PIT when ATL came into Pittsburgh for a 4 G series. The Braves’ 38-year-old owner Ted Turner
decided he needed to do something dramatic to help turn around his club’s
dismal record (they had just lost 16 straight). On 11-May-1977,
after telling manager Dave Bristol
to “take 10 days off”, Turner said he would manage the team for a while to see
what was going wrong. Oops—Turner meant
that literally and took his hand at managing. Tanner’s Pirates beat him 2-1. The very next day, NL President Chub Feeney,
supported by MLB Commish Bowie Kuhn, gave Turner the thumb. Anyone who owned stock in a team was forbidden
to manage it, they told him. Turner decided
not to sell.
- Tanner’s major
league career began with 3 seasons with the Braves and ended with 3 seasons managing
them.
FCR - Eric Morrison,
Myerstown, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Del
Crandall, Joe Torre, Eddie Mathews, Felipe Alou, Alvin Dark, Bobby Cox,
Joe Adcock
TUESDAY – 14-Apr
Q. Who set the
record in 1983 for getting on base the most times in a season via catcher’s
interference?
Hint: Ironically,
his father was a catcher in the majors.
Hint: Combined, he
and his father hit more than 400 home runs and were the first father-son duo to
do so.
- CI 7 X in 1983 for PIT. Jacoby Ellsbury set the single-season CI mark in 2016 = 12 X. Berra still holds the PIT record.
- Yogi hit 358 HR between
1946 and 1963. Dale totaled 49 from 1977
to 87, hitting the historic father-son 400th on 16-Jul-1984 off Rick Honeycutt.
FCR - Dave Rickard, Tigard, Oregon
Incorrect guesses: Bob Boone, Bret Boone, Randy Hundley, Todd
Hundley, Aaron Boone, Roberto Alomar, Buddy Bell, Mike Hegan
WEDNESDAY – 15-Apr
Q. Who was the first pitcher to win a
League Championship game for the Detroit Tigers?
Hint: He threw a four-hit complete game in his first
major league start, just a few months out of high school.
Hint: He didn’t give up a run until there were
two outs in the ninth that day.
Hint: He was the first Blue Jays pitcher to go
undefeated in a season.
Hint: He is the only pitcher in major league
history whose father and son also played in the majors.
- 2-0 for TOR in 1978
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect
guesses: Jack Morris, Todd Stottlemyre,
Woodie Fryman, Hal Newhouser
THURSDAY – 16-Apr
Q. What one-time BLTR Phillie was the first
to get 160 hits in a single season as a designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox?
Hint: He once lost a grand slam when his drive
bounced off the light tower above the Green Monster & was ruled in-play.
Hint: He ended up on second base and nonetheless
managed three runs batted in on the play.
Hint: Most of his nicknames paid homage to his mastery
with a bat.
- GS demoted to a 2B on 05-Sep-1985. Still batted in Boggs, Rice & Armas. Would have been his 3rd GS in 5
days. During post-game interviews, CLE
LF Joe Carter admitted that the ball
had clearly left the yard.
- Nicknames: "Hit Man", "Line
Drive" & "Easy"
FCR - Tom Lee, Nashville
Incorrect
guesses: Matt Stairs, Mo Vaughn, Shane
Victorino, David Ortiz, Deron Johnson, Bobby Abreu, Pat the Bat Burrell
FRIDAY – 17-Apr
Q About which prospect did Hall of Fame
talent evaluator Branch Rickey say, “[He is] “absolutely the best natural
hitter I’ve seen in many years. …The boy has a tremendous future.”?
Hint: Later, as a manager himself, he actually resigned
during the season due to his star player’s discipline issues.
Hint: He’s a gem and comes from the gem.
- Rickey was executive vice-president
and general manager
of PIT 1951-55, when Skinner
was coming up.
- Skinner resigned because he felt he could not bend
ROY Dick Allen into what he thought a
major leaguer should be.
- Born in La Jolla, California (The Gem or Jewel—a
corruption of “joya”)
FCR - Dennis Bidwell, Morgantown, West Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Pete Reiser, Red Schoendienst,
Ted Williams, Gene Mauch, George Shuba
SATURDAY – 18-Apr
Q. Who was the first player to hit three
grand slams in a season for the New York Metropolitans?
Hint: His seemed to favor the Niekro brothers,
homering off them a total of eight times.
(Not in the same season. That
would be a record!)
Hint: He grew up in Atlanta and was such an
admirer of Hank Aaron that he adopted “The Hammer” as his own nickname.
- 3 GS in 1976:
26-Jun off CHC’s Bill Bonham; 01-Jul off STL’s Mike Wallace; then on 27-Sep off MON’s Chip Lang.
- He almost justified that nickname. He hammered 131 home runs off major league
pitchers.
FCR - Michael Green, Las Vegas
Incorrect
guesses: Rusty Staub, Josh Willingham, Donn
Clendenon, Bob Horner
SUNDAY – Apr 19
Q. What hirsute hidalgo rookie hurler had
been the only member of the inaugural expansion Seattle Mariners staff to
finish the year with an ERA of less than 3.00?
(Min 20 IP.)
Hint: On a team with a 162-game schedule. he
combined with a teammate for an impressive total of 178 pitching appearances.
Hint: He and his older brother, after a combined total
of fourteen seasons and 685 appearances totaling nearly 1,250 innings, finished
their careers in the majors with identical numbers of losses and saves.
- His ERA of 2.83 to lead the freshly-minted
1977 SEA pitching staff was even 7th in the AL that year. (Min 100
IP.)
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Perry
WEEK’S FINALE
Q. Which Rutgers alumnus spent thirty-five
years in the Pirates’ organization as a catcher, minor league manager, farm system
director and general manager of the big club?
Hint: He is one of the very few players to play in
each of the final games played by the Dodgers in Ebbets Field and the New York
Giants in the Polo Grounds.
Hint: He got a hit in each game.
Hint: He played for Rutgers the only time they
played in the NCAA World Series tournament.
Hint: Even though they only placed third that
year, his teammate was tournament MVP.
- Rutgers 1950 baseball team lost to eventual
champion Texas.
FCR - Jeffrey Fink, Howell, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Hal Brown, Larry MacPhail, Lee
MacPhail, Jeff Torborg, Jack Shepard
WEEKLY THEME – Members
of the 1979 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates “We Are Family”
team family with relatives who also wore Major
Leagues uniforms. It was apparently more
than a metaphor!
Member Position Relative Relationship
Berra................... Infielder........................ Yogi
Berra............................. Son
Coleman.............. Relief
P,....................... Casey
Coleman........................... Father
Easler.................. Pinch-Hitter.................. Cliff
Johnson............................. Brother-in-law
Milner.................. Utility............................ Eddie
Milner............................. Cousin
Romo................... Pitcher......................... Vicente
Romo............................. Brother
Skinner................ Coach.......................... Joel
Skinner............................. Father
Tanner................. Manager...................... Bruce
Tanner............................. Father
First Correct
Respondent to Identify Theme – Bob Savoy, Philadelphia (after Coleman)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Something
to do with the Pirates
- Individuals
who testified at the drug trafficking trial of Curtis Strong in federal court
in 1985.
Wenzdy - Chuck
Tanner and the sons of major leaguers who played for him
Friday - Families
with multiple generations of major league players
Saturday - Guys
that won WC Championships with the Pirates whose names end in "er"
- Players
who had relatives play in the major leagues
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