MONDAY — Dec 21
Q. Who built
Yankee Stadium?
Hint: He was
called up to the Red Sox at the same time as Carl Mays.
Hint: He dreamed
of managing a Major League team, but it wasn’t to be.
- OK, anybody who
thought he REALLY built it or who thought that’s what we meant—raise your hand.
- In the book “The Pitch
that Killed”, Carl Mays's BOS debut is nicely detailed.
Mays & Ruth were brought to Boston
from the minors, and shared a taxi into the city for Mays's first taste of city
life. Ruth had already had a brief stint
with the Sawx, so he blustered like a veteran while Mays shrank and tried to
remain as invisible as possible. They
both made their mark as members of the '15 BOS staff.
- Twice, immediately
following his playing days, Ruth was lured to NL jobs with the possibility of
the manager’s job made to seem very possible.
History has shown that neither the Braves not the Dodgers intended for
the Babe to be anything but a draw at the gate.
FCR - Evan Thompson,
Mesa
Incorrect guesses: Ed
Barrow
TUESDAY — Dec 22
Q. Who is the
only pitcher to win a game for both leagues in the All-Star Game?
Hint: His owner
offered him a bonus if he would change his first name to “True.”
Hint: He teamed
with Bud Black in Kansas City, but neither was a bruiser at that point in their
careers.
- ASG W 1971 AL representing OAK, Won again a decade later representing the NL’s SFG. These
were the 1st and last of Blue’s 6 AS selections.
- In
1971, one-of-a-kind A’s owner Charles O. Finley offered Blue a $2,000 bonus (about $13,000 in 2020) if he’d legally change his
first name to “True”. Blue dismissed the paltry
offer, but that season, and in following ones, used his
first name “Vida” on the back of his jersey instead of his
last name, to spite the owner's effort.
FCR - Kevin Decker, Hillsborough, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses: Bret Saberhagen
TWOZDAY — Dec
22
Q. Which pitcher’s arm ailment was cured
when he was shocked while changing a spark plug in his truck?
Hint: He was the wide receiver and safety on a state
champion football team.
Hint: Only the supernova that was Albert Pujols
kept him from being National League Rookie of the Year.
A. ROY OSWALT [B-R Bio]
- In 1999, when Oswalt was with the Class A Michigan Battle
Cats in
the Midwest League, he suffered an
apparently serious shoulder injury. After
a month of pain in his upper shoulder, Oswalt was convinced that his shoulder
was torn. Shortly thereafter, he was
checking the spark plug wires on his pickup truck when he touched one of the bare
ones, causing the truck's engine to start. The truck’s electric current flowed through
Oswalt's body, tightening the muscles in his hand on the spark plug wire. Unable to let go of it, he grasped the wire
for almost one minute. Then his foot
slipped off the truck's bumper and he was finally thrown off. "My truck done shocked the fire out of
me, and my arm don't hurt no more.” The
electric charge had loosened scar tissue in his shoulder. Oswalt claims he has not felt any pain in his
shoulder since the incident.
- Played both ways for Weir High School,
Mississippi’s state champion for 1994.
- Finished a strong 2nd behind Pujols
for NL ROY in 2001, though Pujols captured all the 1st-place
votes.
FCR - John Rickert, Terre Haute
WEDNESDAY — Dec
23
Q. Which former All-Star was traded to the
Expos for Randy Johnson in 1989?
Hint: His career pickoffs are in the all-time top
ten.
Hint: He finished second to teammate in Rookie of
the Year voting.
A. MARK LANGSTON [B-R Bio]
- On 25-May-1989: Langston was traded by SEA with a player to be named later to MON for Gene Harris, Brian Holman and Randy Johnson. In
July, SEA sent Mike Campbell to MON to complete the trade. Langston had been an All-Star in 1987.
- Baseball-Reference ranks Langston 6th
all-time in career pickoffs w/78, just ahead of Warren Spahn.
- Debuting with SEA, he finished behind Alvin
Davis in the 1984 ROY voting.
FCR - Matt Clairmont, New Minas, Nova Scotia
MIDWEEK BONUS — Dec 23
Q. Who took it upon himself to teach a star
rookie a lesson?
Hint: To this day, no one is certain what the
lesson was.
Hint: He was voted MVP in consecutive postseason
series.
Hint: He said pitching in his major league
debut against his childhood hero was like being in a video game.
A. COLE HAMELS [B-R Bio]
- On 06-May-2012 during the season where he was to become the
unanimous NL ROY, Bryce Harper was intentionally hit with a pitch thrown by PHI’s Hamels.
Harper, having been advanced to 3rd on Jason Werth’s single, stole home, straight steal, to break the
scoreless tie. WSN pitcher Jordan Zimmerman reciprocated the next time Hamels came to bat and sent him to first base I the
most painful way.
- Hamels was MVP on the 2008 NLCS and 2008 WS.
- In Hamels’ first career inning
on 12-May-2006, he struck out Ken Griffey, Jr., looking, on an 0-2
pitch.
FCR - Dan Greder, Ames, Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Madison Bumgarner, Blake Snell, Brooks
Robinson
THURSDAY — Dec
24
Q. Who became the youngest Dodgers
pitcher to throw six or more scoreless innings in a World Series game in over
60 years?
Hint: He appeared to get stronger over the course
of that game.
Hint: Life moves pretty fast, but he has stopped
and looked around so as not to miss it.
A. WALKER BUEHLER [B-R Bio]
- Only Johnny Podres in G7 of the 1955 World
Series, was younger than Buehler when he twirled his G3 gem in the 2018
Fall Classic.
- Buehler's 1st WS pitch was
clocked at 97.9 mph. 7 innings later,
Buehler's 108th and final pitch hit 98.2 mph.
- For Halloween 2019, Walker Buehler and
his girlfriend McKenzie dressed up as Ferris Bueller and Sloan, the character's
girlfriend. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the John Hughes
teen comedy classic from 1986 that starred Matthew Broderick in the title
role.
FCR - David Krassin, Los Angeles
Incorrect guesses: Fernando Valenzuela, Sandy Koufax, Johnny
Padres, Julio Urias, Larry Sherry, Rich Hill, Yu Darvish, Clayton Kershaw
SUGARPLUM BONUS — Dec 24
Q. What pitcher received the Tony
Conigliaro Award after recovering from a cerebral hemorrhage?
Hint: He was the winning pitcher of the game in
which Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record.
Hint: He and Paul O’Neill are alumni of the same
alma mater.
A. KENT MERCKER [SABR Bio]
- Shared the 2000 Tony C. Award with Tony
Saunders
- W on 08-Sep-1998
- Attended Otterbein University in Westerville, OH
FCR - Sarah Grynpas, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Steve Trachsel
FRIDAY — Dec
25
Q. Who outpitched rotation mates Greg
Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine in a season when the team won more than 100
games?
Hint: No Texas Ranger pitcher has started more consecutive
Opening Days’ games.
Hint: When he retired, he was the active career leader
in strikeouts among major league righties.
A. KEVIN MILLWOOD [Wiki]
- During the brilliant 1999 ATL 103-win season, Millwood bested all three of
the squad’s future Hall of Fame pitchers with the lowest ERA and WHIP, the best
Winning Percentage, struck out more batters and earned the highest WAR.
- From 2006 to 2009, Millwood got the ball for 4
straight ODs, going 1-3.
- When Millwood hung it up on 3-Feb-2013, his
total of 2,083 career Ks was the highest among all major league northpaws.
FCR - Warren Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
Incorrect guesses: Nolan Ryan, Doyle Alexander, Denny Neagle, Kevin
Brown, Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bolin
CELEBRATION BONUS — Dec 25
Q. Which one-time San Francisco Giant
boldly wore uniform number thirteen for the Seattle Pilots?
Hint: He was the first pitcher to win twenty
games in a season for his team, but wasn’t the first to do it for the
franchise.
Hint: He was cut by the Brewers in spring
training in both 1970 and 1974
A. STEVE BARBER [SABR Bio]
- He had also worn #13 when he pitched for BAL 1961-67. Played for SFG for 13 G in 1974 to end his career in the
majors.
- Barber’s record was 20-13 in 1963, BAL’s 10th season in Baltimore as the
Orioles. When the franchise was the
Browns and played in St. Louis, 10 different pitchers had 20-win seasons, led
by Urban Shocker’s 27 in 1921.
- After his best years in Baltimore, he was
plagued by arm trouble and never got back to the form that earned him MVP votes
in his 1st 2 years in the majors and was twice selected for the AL AS
team.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Colborn, John Morris
SATURDAY — Dec
26
Q. Who was the first American League
pitcher to steal a base after the advent of the designated hitter?
Hint: He starred for a high school team that won
consecutive state championships and then played for a team that won three straight at the major league
level.
Hint: He used to hate his unusual nickname but
grew to love it.
A. BLUE MOON ODOM [SABR Bio]
- SB 25-Apr-1973
- Odom led Ballard-Hudson High School
in Macon, Georgia to two consecutive state championships
while personally amassing a 42-2 pitching record. He was a member of the Oakland A’s who won
the World Series 1972, 1973 & 1974.
- Given the nickname “Blue Moon” by a
fifth-grade classmate.
FCR - Warren Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
Incorrect guesses: Catfish Hunter, Gene Nelson, Jim Palmer, Roy
Lee Jackson
BOXING DAY SPECIAL — Dec 26
Q. Who was the last twentieth-century American
League pitcher to have a season with ten games started but no victories?
Hint: He shut out the Yankees in his third major
league start and did it in the season when his team posted its then worst
record since their move to their current city.
Hint: His first three starts after being called
up, two of which he won, were the team’s only wins in their last twenty played
that season, which, believe it or not, was still better than their first twenty
games that year.
A. BOB MILACKI [SABR Bio]
- Started 10 G in 1994 w/a record of 0-5 for KCR in his one season with
them. (The strike that year probably
didn’t help; his 6.14 ERA definitely didn’t.)
- Shutout NYY 28-Sep-1988. BAL record that season was 54-107. (However, 30 seasons later, BAL’s woeful 47-115
2018 record ‘surpassed’ the
1988 team’s and was the worst in the 120-year history of the franchise,
including the years spent in Milwaukee and St. Louis.)
- BAL began 1988 0-20 and
won their 1st G on 29-Apr.
FCR - Rich Klein, Plano, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Bruce Chen, Roger Craig
SUNDAY — Dec 26
Q. Who posted the highest ERA (min. 25 IP)
in any month of June in the Modern Era?
Hint: He was the winner of the playoff game with
the most talk-about bat flip of the last decade.
Hint: His step-father was the community college
baseball coach in the town where he grew up.
He did not play there however, because his performance in high school
was so good that he was drafted into the majors the first round.
A. AARON SANCHEZ [B-R Bio]
- Sanchez’s all-time June record-high 12.00 ERA
in 2019 was the result of allowing 36 ER in 27 IP. In his six starts, he surrendered 44 hits, 19
BB and 7 HR.
- In the top of the 7th of 2015 ALDS
deciding G 5 on 24-Oct-2015, TOR catcher Martin’s threw the ball back to
Sanchez on the mound but his throw deflected off the hand of batter Shin-Soo
Choo allowing TEX runner Roughed Odor to score a contested go-ahead run. In the bottom of that same inning, Bautista
became the hero
and earned Sanchez the victory.
- Step-father Mike Shipley coached Barstow Community College but any chance of
Sanchez attending there was scuttled when he posted a 9-1 win-loss HS record w/a
1.12 ERA with 125 strikeouts in 87⅓ IP. TOR
took him in the 1st round of the 2010 MLB draft.
FCR - Benjamin Chase, Huron, South Dakota
Incorrect
guesses: Roberto Osuna
IN MEMORIAM — Dec
27
Q. Which Hall of Famer’s pitch was so
effective that it actually became his nickname?
Hint: No other pitcher won more games after the
age of forty than he did.
Hint: He, together with his younger brother, racked
up an amazing aggregates of 539 wins, the most by any two or three brothers combined
in major league history.
Hint: His brother’s sole career home run came at
his expense.
Hint: His total of twenty-four years pitching in
the majors places him in very select company and no pitcher with his specialty
pitched longer or tallied more wins, innings pitched or strikeouts.
Hint: During his time in professional baseball,
he witnessed the administrations of seven different U.S. presidents. In fact, he holds the record for most years pitching
with one National League team.
Hint: No slouch on defense, he won five Gold
Glove awards.
Hint: He was five times an All-Star and although he
didn’t win a Cy Young Award, he received consideration for the award in five separate
seasons.
Hint: He said “Mr. Baseball” turned his career
around.
Hint: One of his childhood friends is a Hall of
Famer in another sport.
A. PHIL
NIEKRO
[SABR
Bio]
- “Knucksie” became the master, as much as one
could, of the knuckleball. His signature
pitch is actually thrown with the fingernails dug into the baseball’s seams or cowhide
cover. The delivery of this whimsical
floater was taught to him by his father.
- A full 121 of his career 318 career pitching
victories came after he turned 40
- Brother Joe had contributed 221 wins to the fraternal
total.
- Joe’s HR 29-May-1976.
- Among knuckleballers, Niekro sands alone with 318
W, 5,404 IP (4th all-time among all pitchers) & 3,342 K.
- Niekro’s first year in the minors was 1959 and
he retired in 1987. Presidents during
that span were Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan.
- Won GG in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1983. In all, 24 season in the majors, with 21
years pitching the Braves, beginning in Milwaukee in 1964, is the most for any
player for an NL team.
- An All-Star in 1969,
1975,
1978,
1982
& 1984.Received
CYA votes in 1969 (2nd),
1974 (3rd),
1978 (6th),
1979 (6th)
& 1982 (5th).
- While teammates for ATL in 1967
Niekro had a young catcher
who was not about to call for a knuckleball with a runner on third base,
fearful of a passed ball that would allow the runner to score. But another catcher, Bob Uecker, told Niekro that if he was ever going to be a
winner he had to throw the knuckleball every pitch and that he, Uecker would
try to catch it. Niekro led MLB in ERA (1.87)
that season despite Uecker also pacing the majors, but in passed balls—(27)
in only 62 G.
- He, his brother Joe and NBA great John
Havlicek grew up playing many sports together in Lansing, Ohio. Phil
delivered the eulogy at his friend’s funeral just last year.
FCR - John Michael Pierobon, Ft. Lauderdale
SUNDAY BONUS — Dec
27
Q. Who was the starting pitcher the only
time in major league history when two native Mexican pitchers combined on an extra-innings
no-hitter?
Hint: He, however, was the only major leaguer
born in Blue Hill, Mexico.
Hint: He was the only Pirate to earn Player of
the Week honors during the 1997 season.
A. FRANCISCO
CORDOVA [B-R Bio]
- On 12-Jul-1997, at a sold out Three Rivers Stadium, Cordova
pitched nine innings of a combined 10-inning no-hitter for the Pirates. Ricardo Rincon pitched the 10th inning. PIT won the game on a dramatic 3-run, pinch
hit home run in the bottom of the 10th by Mark Smith, pinch-hitting for Rincon. It is also the only combined, extra-inning
no-hitter by pitchers of ANY nationality.
- Born in the city known locally as Cerro Azul.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect guesses: Ricardo Rincon, Esteban Loaiza, Oliver Perez,
Vicente Palacios John Candelaria
VESPERS — Dec 27
Q. Which former Cougar was the starting
pitcher in the Angels' first home game after the tragic death of teammate Tyler
Skaggs?
Hint: He went public with his criticism of the
shenanigans of the 2017 Houston Astros.
Hint: He was born near the location of a Presidential
Library.
A. TAYLOR COLE [SABR Bio]
- On 12-Jul-2019, he made his most memorable appearance as a
big leaguer. Cole was the “opener” in a
bullpen game against SEA. It was an
emotional occasion, the Angels’ first home game after the tragic death of
pitcher Tyler Skaggs on 01-Jul. Cole pitched two hitless innings the Felix Pena then took over, not giving up a hit the rest
of the way. It was a 13-0, combined no-hitter.
- Cole pushed for additional investigation of the Astros’
sign-stealing scandal. He attended
Brigham Young University.
- Born in Simi Valley, California, home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
FCR - Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas
Incorrect guesses: Mike Fiers
WEEKLY THEME – Pitchers
who started combined no-hitters
Starter Relieved by Date Opponent
Barber4..... Stu Miller.............. 30-Apr-1967(1)..... Tigers
Blue*........ Glenn Abbott2......... 28-Sep-1975........ Angels
Paul Lindblad2
Rollie Fingers
Buehler*... Tony Cingrani......... 4-May-2018........ Padres
Yimi Garcia
Adam Liberatore
Cole.......... Felix Pena*............. 12-July-2019....... Mariners
Cordova... Ricardo Rincon*...... 12-Jul-1997........ Astros
Hamels..... Jake Diekman........ 01-Sept-2014....... Braves
Ken Giles
Jonathon Papelbon
Langston*. Mike Witt3............... 11-Apr-1990........ Mariners
Mercker*... Mark Wohlers2........ 11-Sep-1991........ Padres
Alejandro Pena3
Milacki*.... Mike Flanagan2....... 13-Jul-1991........ A’s
Mark Williamson2
Greg Olson3
Millwood... Charlie Furbush...... 8-June-2012........ Dodgers
Stephen Pryor*
Lucas Luetge2
Brandon League2
Tom Wilhelmsen3
Odom*...... Francisco Barrios3.. 28-Jul-1976........ A’s
Oswalt...... Peter Munro............ 11-Jun-2003........ Yankees
Kirk Saarloos
Brad Lidge*
Octavio Dotel
Bill Wagner
Ruth......... Ernie Shore*......... 23-Jun-1917(1)...... Senators
Sanchez*. Will Harris................ 3-Aug-2019........ Mariners
*Got the win
2Credited with a Hold
3Credited with a Save
4Took the Loss
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Tom Byrne, Old Greenwich, Connecticut
(after Vida Blue)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Players
who later became product placements
- Best
players ever
- Inaugural
class of the HOF
- Appeared
in the WS as a pitcher and a position player
- Career
WAR above 150
- Career
OPS above 1
Tuesday - Players
who won the ERA title at age 21
- Players
whose first and last names both have 4 letters
- Players
who won 20+ games at age 21 or under
- Lefty
pitchers who have been on three World Series-winning teams.
- Lefty
pitchers before age 26.
- Lefty
pitchers before age 30.
- Lefty
pitchers for the same franchise.
- Lefty
pitchers who have led the league in ERA exactly once.
- Lefty
pitchers who have posted a sub-2.00 ERA over a full season.
- Lefty
pitchers who have posted a sub-2.00 ERA in a season with over 300 IP.
- Lefty
pitchers who have led the league in shutouts exactly once.
- Pitchers
who led the league with an ERA below 2.00
- Pitchers
who led the league in ERA and shutouts in the same season
- Players
whose most commonly used first and last names have 4 letters each and who led
the AL in ERA at 21 years old
- Players
with the same number of letters in their first and last names.
- Pitchers
having had the lowest ERA for their franchise?
Wed. - Pitchers
who participated in multi-pitcher no-hitters
- All
Star pitchers who participated in combined no hitters.
- Lefties
that started combined no hitters
Thursday Left-handed pitchers with 4 letter first
names that won WS games.
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