Sunday, November 29, 2020

2020-11-23 Batters with at least 250 hits in a single season

MONDAY  —   23-Nov

Q.        Who has the highest career batting average among National League players?

Hint:     He was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame between 1940 and 1944.

Hint:     He was the first position player to win a second MVP.

A.         ROGERS HORNSBY  [SABR Bio]

-  His career average of .358 trails only Ty Cobb’s.

-  HOF 1942.

-  MVPs in 1925 w/STL & in 1929 w/CHC.

FCR -  Phil Hertz, Kamuela, Hawaii

Incorrect guesses:  Stan Musial, Honus Wagner, Bill Terry, Ducky Medwick


TUESDAY  —   24-NovQ.        Who was the first American League batting champ to play for that year's World Series champion?

Hint:     He was the first position player from Wisconsin elected to the Hall of Fame.

Hint:     He played for seven teams (including his original team three times!) and was teammate of or managed by a total of twenty-five Hall of Famers.

A.         AL SIMMONS  [SABR Bio]

-  The 1930 Philadelphia A’s won the WS and Simmons hit .381 that year to lead the Junior Circuit.

-  Elected to the Hall in 1953.  362 game winner Kid Nichols had been enshrined in 1949.

-  HOF teammates:

PHA = Mickey Cochrane*, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker Eddie Collins, Zach Wheat, Waite Hoyt, George Kell, Jocko Conlon.

CHW = Luke Appling, Ted Lyons, Red Faber.

DET = Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin, Hank Greenberg.

WSH = Rick Ferrell.

BSN = Al Lopez.

CIN = Ernie Lombardi.

BOS = Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronin*

-  HOF Managers:

PHA = Connie Mack

BOS = Casey Stengel

WSH = Bucky Harris

CIN = Bill McKechnie

-  *Teammates who also managed Simmons:

DET = Mickey Cochrane

BOS =  Joe Cronin

FCR -  Richard Tourangeau, Boston

Incorrect guesses:  Rickey Henderson, Eddie Collins, Paul Molitor

 

WEDNESDAY     25-Nov

Q.        Who finished his career tied with Ty Cobb on the all-time home run list?

Hint:     He won a Gold Glove Award in each of his first ten seasons.

Hint:     He went on a hit streak of 20 or more games seven times in his career.

Hint:     He is the only player to hit an inside-the-park home run in a major league All-Star game.

A.         ICHIRO SUZUKI  [Wiki]

-  Cobb and Ichiro finished w/117 HR.

-  GG = 2001-2010

-  George Sisler also had 7 such streaks.  Willie Keeler, Ty Cobb and Pete Rose had 8 each.

-  ASGITPHR = 10-Jul-2007 at AT&T Park In San Francisco.  He was voted MVP of that game.

FCR -  Patrick Roth, Chicago

Incorrect guesses:  Garry Maddox, Tris Speaker

 

THURSDAY     26-Nov

Q.        Who was the last first baseman to hit twenty triples in a season?

Hint:     Counterintuitively, he was the first player to have 600+ at-bats in a season without a stolen base.

Hint:     He was the first Hall of Famer to hit a grand slam on Opening Day.

A.         BILL TERRY  [SABR Bio]

-  Hit 20 3B in 1931.  Led the majors.

-  In 1934 602 SB/0 SB

-  GS 12-Apr-1927.  He drove in Hall of Famers Edd Roush and Rogers Hornsby as well as LF Ty Tyson ahead of himself on that blast.  Terry also finished the day a triple short of the cycle.  (Tyson had one that day, but he wasn’t giving it up.)

FCR -  Steven Wright, Naperville, Illinois

Incorrect guesses:  Don Mattingly, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, John Olerud, Turkey Stearnes, Eric Karros, Jimmie Foxx, Willie McCovey

 

FRIDAY     27-Nov

Q.        Which one-time Washington Senator’s final career pitching victory was a 1-0 shutout over Walter Johnson?

Hint:     As a qualifying batter, he owns the second-highest single-season American League batting average of the twentieth century.

Hint:     In his fifteen-year career in the majors, he received MVP votes only once—the year he won it.

Hint:     In three successive season, he hit the exact same number of triples, once leading the majors, once leading the league, once leading his team.

A.         GEORGE SISLER  [SABR Bio]

-  Won on 17-Sep-1916  Sisler’s only career shutout in his 24-game MLB pitching career.  He finished 5-6 with a sparkling 2.35 ERA.  Sisler played for WSH for 20 G in 1928.

-  Hit .420 in 1922 (Nap Lajoie’s .426 in 1901 being the gold standard).

-  MVP 1922

-  Playing for SLB, he hit 18 3B in 1920, 18 3B in 1921 & 18 3B in 1922.

FCR -  Joe Liss, Metairie, Louisiana

Incorrect guesses:  Smokey Joe Wood, Ted Williams, Wes Ferrell, Stan Coveleski, Babe Ruth, Red Ruffing, Roger Peckinpaugh

 

SATURDAY     28-Nov

Q.        Who is tied with Barry Bonds for the most National League extra-base hits in a season?

Hint:     He (not Bonds) was the first outfielder to hit four home runs in a game.

Hint:     He won an MVP, placing second in the voting the year prior and the year following.

A.         CHUCK KLEIN  [SABR Bio]

-  107 XBH in 1930 w/59 2B, 8 3B, 40 HR

-  4 HR on 10-Jul-1936.  Ed Delahanty, in Cooperstown as a LF and played 73% of his career G as an OF, was playing 1B on 13-July-1896 when he hit 4 HRs.

-  NL MVP 1932; 2nd in 1931 (behind Frankie Frisch) & 1933 (behind Carl Hubbell).

FCR -  Kevin Decker, Hillsborough, New Jersey

Incorrect guesses:  Mark Whiten, Hack Wilson, Willie Mays, Rocky Colavito, Joe Medwick, Mickey Mantle, George Foster, Mike Trout, Hank Aaron, Bobby Lowe

 

SUNDAY     29-Nov

Q.        Who holds the major league record for most runs allowed by a left-handed relief pitcher in a single appearance?

Hint:     He led the majors in hitting as a Phillie and as a Dodger.

Hint:     The city with a restaurant and a SABR chapter both bearing his name is not one where he ever played in the majors.

Hint:     Twice he finished in the top three in National League Most Valuable Player voting.

A.         LEFTY O’DOUL  [SABR Bio]

-  He debuted in the majors as a pitcher and had a disastrous day 7-Jul-1923.  Pitching for the Red Sox, he gave up 16 runs in just 3 innings of work.  The fielding behind him was most of the problem:  Only 3 of the runs were earned, but his 11 hits and 8 walks allowed certainly didn’t help much either.

-  Hit .398 in 1929 for PHI.  Hit .368 in 1932 for BRO.

-  He was born in San Francisco.  The SABR chapter in that area (the Lefty O’Doul Chapter) frequently meets at “Lefty” O’Doul’s at 145 Jefferson Street.

-  Finished 2nd in MVP voting in 1929 then 3rd in 1932.

FCR -  Steven Wright, Naperville, Illinois

Incorrect guesses:  Zack Wheat, Harry Walker, Dixie Walker, Ed Delahanty, Dan Brouthers, Dolph Camilli

 

 

WEEKLY THEME – Batters with at least 250 hits in a single season.

 

Player             Hits          Year

Hornsby........... 250........ 1922

Klein................ 250........ 1930

O'Doul............. 254........ 1929

Simmons......... 253........ 1925

Sisler............... 257........ 1920

Suzuki............. 262........ 2004

Terry................ 254........ 1930

 

 

 

First Correct Respondent to Identify ThemeDavid Krassin, L.A. (after Ichiro)

 

 

 

Incorrect theme guesses:

 

Tuesday -  Players with the highest lifetime batting averages without 3,000 hits in their careers

 

Wed        -  Players to have at least 200 hits in a season minimum of 6 times

               -  Players with the highest batting average each decade

               -  Players who collected their 2000th hit prior to their 6000th at bat

 

Thur        -  Single season hits record holders, each league

               -  Players with the highest single season hit totals

               - 

 

 

 

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Sunday, November 22, 2020

2020-11-16 Select MLB alumni of William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California

MONDAY  —  16-Nov

Q.        Which one-time Arizona Diamondback was the first ever Cincinnati Reds pitcher to win the National League Cy Young Award?

Hint:     All the games he completed that year were shutouts, with both stats leading the majors.

Hint:     Playing at UCLA, he followed in the footsteps of Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey.

A.         TREVOR BAUER  [B-R Bio]

-  CYA 2020; Debuted and played 1 year for ARI in 2012.

-  2 CG; 2 SHO in 2020

-  Won the Golden Spikes Award in 2011.  Lincecum (2006) and Posey (2008) were previous winners.

FCR -  Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio

Incorrect guesses: 


IN MEMORIAM    17-Nov

Q.        Who holds the record for pitching in the most major league games without ever playing in a postseason game?

Hint:     By hitting the last home run ever hit by a New York Yankees pitcher, he also hit the last home run hit by any pitcher in Tiger Stadium.

Hint:     Totaling 260 decisions to accompany his 174 saves, he managed only 2 shutouts.

Hint:     He only went to the All-Star Game in one year of his twenty-one-year career but was twice an All-Star.

Hint:     Once, in the last inning of a tie game, he picked off Willie Mays and then hit a walk-off homer off the pitcher who had been third in the Cy Young Award voting just the season before.

A.         LINDY McDANIEL  [SABR Bio]

-  Pitched in 987 MLB games.

-  McDaniel homered into the upper deck off Mickey Lolich on 28-Sept-1972.  That was the last time a pitcher hit a home run in Tiger Stadium even though the stadium didn’t close until the end of the 1999 season.

-  141 W, 119 L, 2 SHO

-  Was on the NL AS team for both games in 1960, G 1 & G 2.

-  Played the two-way hero on 6-June-1963.  McDaniel entered the tie game in the 10th inning with one out and the bases full of Giants.  He proceeded to pick Mays off 2B, then strike out Ed Bailey to end the threat and then ended the game with his home run off the redoubtable Billy Pierce.

FCR -  Eric Savage, Short Hills, New Jersey

Incorrect guesses:  Mel Stottlemyre

 

TUESDAY    17-Nov

Q.        Which lanky righty helped two different franchises reach a league championship, one for the first time ever and the other for the first time in three decades?

Hint:     No stranger to big games, he was the ace starting pitcher for both teams.

Hint:     Although he was never on a team that won the World Series, his cousin played for champs in each league.

Hint:     He won ten or more game for nine consecutive seasons.

Hint:     His wife is a professional photographer.

A.         JAMES SHIELDS  [B-R Bio]

-  Played on Tampa Bay when they reached the WS in 2008 and on the Royals in 2014 when they reached the postseason for the 1st time since 1985 when Shields was 3 years old.

-  Nickname is “Big Game James”.

-  His first cousin is Aaron Rowand who played on the 2005 CHW and 2010 SFG.

-  Won 10+ W 2007-2015.

-  Shields married Ryane Barber in November 2007 in Kauai, Hawaii.

FCR -  Josh Murphy, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Incorrect guesses:  Mark Langston, Lindy McDaniel, Orel Hershiser

 

WEDNESDAY    18-Nov

Q.        Which one-time Blue Jay likes to be called “Number One-Five”?

Hint:     He introduced us to the expression “Cowboy up!”.

Hint:     He is a member of the Cardinal Hall of Honor.

Hint:     His uncle played in the majors for eight years.

Hint:     When he talks it’s usually intentionally.

A.         KEVIN MILLAR  [B-R Bio]

-  He wore #15 w/FLA, BOS, BAL, TOR

-  “Cowboy up!” was heard a lot from him during the 2004 postseason.

-  Cardinal Hall of Honor is from attending and playing for Lamar University.

-  His uncle is Wayne Nordhagen who played for CHW, TOR, CHC & PIT.

-  He is a co-host of the MLB TV show “Intentional Talk” with Chris Rose.

FCR -  Kevin Decker, Hillsborough, New Jersey

Incorrect guesses:  Bob Gibson, Chris Carpenter, Johnny Damon, Bill Mueller

 

THURSDAY    18-Nov

Q.        Who is the only pitcher to throw in excess of 100 pitches in a game in the 2020 World Series?

Hint:     He is only righty to strike out ten New York Yankees in a playoff game since Justin Verlander did it in the 2017 ALCS.

Hint:     He’s happy to answer questions about himself on Google.

A.         TYLER GLASNOW  [B-R Bio]

-  Threw 112 pitches in G 1 and 102 in G5 of the 2020 WS, both losses to LAD’s Clayton Kershaw.

-  K’d 10 NYY on 6-Oct-2020, ALCS G2

-  Glasnow Google quiz.

FCR -  Willis Kern, Bloomington, Illinois

Incorrect guesses:  Charlie Morton, Walker Buehler, Blake Snell, Garret Cole, Clayton Kershaw

 

FRIDAY    20-Nov

Q.        Who was warmed up in the bullpen when Francisco Cabrera hit the two-run, game-winning , series-winning single?

Hint:     He was the first post-expansion rookie to start Game One of a World Series.

Hint:     The length of his career behind the microphone has far eclipsed that of his playing career.

Hint:     Few people were saddened when he decided to shave off his mustache.

A.         BOB WALK  [B-R Bio]

-  Despite both Walk and Cabrera being right-handers, Pirates’ manager Jim Leyland opted to keep Stan Belinda in the game—despite Belinda’s having just walked Damon Berryhill to load the bases and having given up a deep fly ball to Ron Gant—to pitch to Cabrera.

-  He was the starter and the victor of G1 of the 1980 WS, the first ever championship for the NL’s Philadelphia franchise.

-  Has been in the broadcast booth for the Pirates since 1994.  It was during his 27th season of broadcasting for the Pirates that he and his wife contracted the Covid-19 virus this summer.  They both made full recoveries.

-  Walk’s mustache?  Well, click and see for yourself.

FCR -  Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Incorrect guesses:  John Smoltz, Tim Wakefield, Steve Blass, Rollie Fingers

 

SATURDAY    21-Nov

Q.        Which player founded a movie production company, Green Diamond Entertainment, after retiring?

Hint:     He was the Rockies' player representative during the 2002 union negotiations.

Hint:     He is a descendant of the 6th U.S. President John Quincy Adams and, amazingly, as it turns out, also of the 2nd U.S. President—John Adams!

Hint:     He was the last person to hit a home run off a Montreal Expos pitcher.

Hint:     He was born on the day Sandy Koufax pitched his perfect game.

A.         TODD ZEILE  [SABR Bio]

-  Greed Diamond Entertainment’s biggest production is a 2005 movie called “Dirty Deeds”.

-  He came to that position with the experience of being the Cardinals' player representative during the 1994-95 players' strike.

-  Zeile’s HR took place 03-Oct-2004, the Expos’ final G before the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. for the 200 season.

-  Birthday 09-Sep-1965.

FCR -  Bob Flynn, Chandler, Arizona

Incorrect guesses:  Dante Bichette, Todd Zweigle, Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle

 

SUNDAY    22-Nov

Q.        Who played in every game for the team that had the most losses by a College World Series champion?

Hint:     His team went from underdogs to wonderdogs.

Hint:     He still holds his university’s records for career doubles and RBI.

Hint:     Don’t judge him by his college’s most famous alumni.  That bar has been set very high.

Hint:     His first major league extra base hit was off of a future Cy Young Award winner. 

A.         STEVE SUSDORF  [Wiki Bio]

-  Fresno State University lost 31 games in 2008 during their Cinderella ride to destiny in Omaha.  They also won 46, with Susdorf playing in every single game.

-  In 2008, the FSU Bulldogs became the lowest seeded team (4th in the Regionals) to win the National Championship in NCAA history.  The bulldogs belonging to the University of Georgia were their opponents and the runner-up team.  44 NCAA universities have bulldogs as their sports mascot.  Woof!  (Only schools with Eagles have more – 46.  Tigers come in 3rd w/40.)

-  Susdorf amassed school-career bests of 70 2B and 217 RBI over his 4 years as a starter.

-  Aaron Judge (FSU 2011-2013) is the most famous former Fresno State Bulldog player to make it to the majors.

-  Susdorf’s 28-July-2013 double off of 2016 CYA winner Rick Porcello was his lone major league hit.

FCR -  Dave Rickard, Tigard, Oregon

Incorrect guesses:  Aaron Judge, Terry Pendleton, Ryan Zimmerman, Will Clark, Rex Hudler

 

 

WEEKLY THEME – Select MLB alumni of William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California (Bold = active)

 

Player                        MLB Debut              WAR

Bauer............................... 2012................. 17.7

Trevor Brown................... 2015.................. -0.1

Greg Garrett..................... 1970................... 2.0

Glasnow.......................... 2016................... 2.2

Andrew Lorraine.............. 1994.................. -1.3

Millar................................ 1998................. 14.2

Mike Montgomery.......... 2015................... 6.1

Jerry Owens..................... 2006................... 0.8

Shields............................. 2006................. 30.7

Susdorf............................. 2013.................. -0.1

Chris Valaika.................... 2010.................. -0.4

Pat Valaika...................... 2016.................. -1.2

Walk................................. 1980................... 5.6

Zeile................................. 1989................. 19.4

 

 

 

First Correct Respondent to Identify ThemeRandall Chandler, Germantown, Tennessee (after Millar)

 

 

Incorrect theme guesses:

 

Monday  -  Pitchers who have led both Ohio teams in victories

               -  First cy young award winner for each franchise

               -  Players who won awards in Years entering after agency

               -  2020 award winners

               -  CYA award winners who once toiled for the Cleveland Indians

               -  CYA award winners who once toiled for the Cleveland Indians but won the award elsewhere

 

 

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