MONDAY — 19-Oct
Q. Who is the
only right-handed pitcher to finish in the top five vote getters for the Cy
Young Award for seven consecutive seasons?
Hint: No other
major league pitcher had more total strikeouts in the decade 2010-2019.
Hint: He once
sported eyes of three different colors.
A. MAX SCHERZER [B-R Bio]
- CYA Vote positions
2013 – 1st
2014 – 5th
2015 – 5th
2016 – 1st
2017 – 1st
2018 – 2nd
2019 – 3rd
Lefty
Clayton Kershaw had a similar string 2011-17.
- In that 10-year
period he struck out 2,452 batters.
Justin Verlander (2,260), Clayton Kershaw (2,179) & Chris Sale (2,007)
were the only other ones with more than 2,000.
[ERRATUM: Greg Maddux also
finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young voting for 7 consecutive seasons,
1992-98.]
-Scherzer was born
with one hazel-colored eye and one brown eye, but while practicing bunting before the on 18-Jun-2019,
not a start day for him, an errant bunt came up and caught him in the face,
breaking his nose and blacking his right eye.
He still pitched and won a game 2 days later,
but rocking a hazel eye, a brown eye and a black eye.
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FCR - David Umansky,
Washington, DC
Incorrect guesses: Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber, Greg Maddox
TUESDAY — 20-Oct
Q. What baby-face
pitcher, in his rookie year for the Orioles, set a record for the number of
strike outs in a single season?
Hint: He never
reached even 50% of that total again in a season.
Hint: He became
the pitching coach for the A’s.
Hint: The year
after he led the league in losses, he led the majors in wins.
A. MATT KILROY [SABR Bio]
- Kilroy struck out (wait for it… ) 513
batters for the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association in 1886. While this number has been confirmed,
pitching circumstances 140 year ago were substantially different from those
today.
- His next best K season was in 1887 where he
racked up 217, a total he tied in 1889.
- His relationship with Connie Mack’s
Philadelphia A’s pitching corps was never formalized.
- In 1886, Kilroy suffered 34 losses
against 29 wins. His record was 46-19
in 1887, a year where he started 69 and finished 66
of them. That win total is still the
all-time single-season record for a left-handed pitcher.
FCR - Jake Flynn, Los Angeles
Incorrect guesses: Rick Honeycutt, Milt Pappas, Bob Turley, Wally
Bunker, Rube Waddell, Mike Boddicker, Dave Stewart, Erik Bedard, Mike Mussina, Chuck
Estrada, Dave McNally
WEDNESDAY — 21-Oct
Q. Which Hall of Fame pitcher surrendered
but a single hit in his major league debut, that hit being by another Hall of
Famer?
Hint: He (the pitcher) had as many hits that day
as did the opposition.
Hint: He was the reason for the first modern all
star game.
A. ADDIE JOSS [SABR Bio]
- MLB debut 26-Apr-1902. The lone hit was a controversial 6th
inning single by Hall of Famer Jesse Burkett. On the softly-hit 2-strike hit, CLE RF Zaza Harvey charged in and,
according to most accounts, caught the ball 3” from the ground. But umpire Bob Caruthers ruled differently,
saying that Harvey had scooped the ball off of the ground, ending the tantalizing
prospect of a no-hitter in Joss’s debut.
- Joss added an RBI double.
- Joss was felled 2 days after turning 31 by tubercular
meningitis. He was buried at Woodlawn
Cemetery in Toledo, OH. Two months
later, a group of star players from other AL teams played
Joss’s team, the Cleveland Naps, in an exhibition game to benefit Joss’s widow,
Lillian, and their two children. 15,000+
tickets were sold for the game raising $12,914.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, ON
Incorrect
guesses: Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Bob
Feller, Carl Hubbell, Christy Mathewson, Juan Marichal
THURSDAY — 22-Oct
Q. Who was the first Expos pitcher to strike
out 250 batters in a season?
Hint: He was the General Manager for another
expansion franchise, overseeing their only World Series championship.
Hint: He attended college in Moscow.
A. BILL STONEMAN [SABR Bio]
- 251 K for MON in 1971, 3rd
in the NL that year
- GM for ANA 1999-2004 then LAA 2005-07; WS champs in 2002
- Attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect
guesses: Steve Rogers, Pedro Martinez
FRIDAY — 23-Oct
Q. Who was the National League’s ERA leader
the first year after the league adopted the pitching distance still currently
in use, sixty feet, six inches?
Hint: He was the pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds’
”Pretzel Battery”.
Hint: Active in the U.S. military, he is buried
in Normandy.
Hint: The Borneo Python is named for his
namesake.
A. THEODORE “TED” BREITENSTEIN [SABR Bio]
- Pitching distance was moved from 50’ in 1892
to 60’6” in March of 1893. Breitenstein
led the league that season with an ERA of 3.18.
- During Breitenstein’s years with STL
(1893-1895) & CIN (1897-1900), the main catcher for both teams was Heinie
Peitz. The parents of both men had been
born in Germany. The nickname reportedly
developed when the pair were drinking beer and eating pretzels after a game. A fan noticed them and yelled, “Look, it's
the ‘pretzel battery’.”
- During WWI, Breitenstein was named director of
an athletic camp especially organized for U.S. military servicemen. He died in St. Louis at the age of 65 and is
interred in Saint Peter's Cemetery in the Normandy area of St. Louis.
- The scientific name for the now endangered Borneo python is “Python
breitensteini”. It is a species of
non-venomous python native to Borneo. The
name is in honor of Heinrich Breitenstein, a German doctor and naturalist who
collected amphibians and reptiles in Borneo in the 1870s and discovered the
species.
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FCR - Willis Kern, Bloomington, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Billy Rhines, Juan Marichal, Pretzels
Getzien, Gary Nolan, Amos Rusie
SATURDAY — 24-Oct
Q. What pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in
the 1890s was believed to be a black man passing as white?
Hint: In his rookie season, he pitched only one
game, but it became famous enough that games like it bear his name.
Hint: His feat that day is noted on his grave.
A. BUMPUS
JONES [SABR Bio]
- Historian Gary Ashwill presents statements from Jones’s home town. While not conclusive, it is compelling.
- The Dodgers’ Ross Stripling came close to
pitching a “Bumpus Jones” when, on 08-Apr-2016, he no-hit SFG for 7⅓ innings.
- Money for his gravestone was raised by a young
player named Curtis Hughes whom Jones had encouraged as a player.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Clarence Stephens, Ice Box
Chamberlain, Bill Pfann, Fred Blank
SUNDAY — 25-Oct
Q. Which thirty-one-year-old rookie pitcher
was the first to throw an extra-inning no-hitter?
Hint: It was a watermark game for several other
reasons.
Hint: Less than a year later he threw another
no-hitter, hitting a three-run home run in support of his own cause.
A. SAM
KIMBER [SABR Bio]
- No-hitter 04-Oct-1884
- Uniqueness of the game and records set in that
game are documented by SABR historian David Nemec.
- The second no-hitter was in the minors.
FCR - Mark DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Maloney
WEEKLY THEME – Regular
season no-hitters thrown in the month of October.
Kimber............ 04-Oct-1884
Kilroy.............. 06-Oct-1886
Breitenstein.... 04-Oct-1891
Jones............. 15-Oct-1892
Joss................ 02-Oct-1908
Stoneman....... 02-Oct-1972
Scherzer......... 03-Oct-2015
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Bill Deane, Cooperstown (after
Stoneman)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Wed - Pitchers
(righties?) who have thrown a no-hitter and a one-hitter
- Threw
a no hitter in their first month of existence
- Pitched
two no-hitters
Sat - No hitters thrown earliest in a career
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