MONDAY 19—Apr
Q. Who won the Cy Young Award the year after Cy Young died?
Hint: #1 He
hit fifteen home runs and batted .271 in a ten-year MLB career.
Hint: #2 He
was the only National League pitcher to steal home during the 1950s.
A. DON NEWCOMBE [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In 1956, Newk became the first
ever Cy Young Award winner. Young had passed away the
previous November.
- #1 He also had 33 2B & 108 RBI in a career
that argues against the DH.
- #2 On 26-May-1955, after
hitting a 2-run triple, Newcombe stole home off PIT reliever Roy Face for BRO’s
final R of the G. Newk then pitched the
9th, securing his 7th W and 3rd SHO of the
season. There has only been one other pitcher steal of home in the ensuing 65 seasons.
(Reader Elliott Frankfother pointed out that Rick Sutcliffe stole home on
29-Jul-1988,
and Darren Dreifort stole home on 12-Jun-2001.)
FCR - Evan Thompson,
Mesa, Arizona
Incorrect guesses: Robin
Roberts, Warren Spahn, Vern Law
TUESDAY 20—Apr
Q. Which one-time Yankee reliever defeated
the Yankees in the World Series?
Hint: #1 From 1954 through 1961 he had at least ten
complete games each season, one year leading the majors.
Hint: #2 The small town where he was born is known as
“a Living Memorial to World War I.”
A. LEW BURDETTE [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Debuted
in the majors with NYY in 1950. W/MLN in 1957 won the WS and with his 3-0 record, was named WS
MVP and became the first pitcher since Stan Coveleski in 1920 to earn 3 CG Ws in a WS.
- #1 His
CG totals were 13, 11, 16, 14, 19, 20, 18 & 14 1954-61.
- #2 Born
in Nitro, West Virginia. The name comes
from nitrocellulose, the main ingredient
in smokeless gunpowder, produced there during The Great War.
FCR - Dave Jackson, Irving, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Bobby Shantz, Don Larsen, Ralph Terry
WEDNESDAY 21—Apr
Q. Whose record for most career strikeouts
by a left-handed American League pitcher did CC Sabathia break?
Hint: #1 With no score in the sixth inning of a World
Series Game Seven, he picked off two runners at first base.
Hint: #2 Capitalized?
Very funny!
A. MICKEY LOLICH [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Lolich
ended with 2,679 L Ks. Sabathia passed
that with his 2,680th in 2017.
Sabathia retired with 2,965 AL Ks.
- #1 In
the 1968
WS,
Lolich nabbed Cardinal speedsters Lou Brock and Curt Flood to thwart a rally
and keep the game scoreless. Lolich and DET
broke the tie in the very next inning (against the formidable Bob Gibson in his
last WS start, no less!) en route to a WS championship.
- #2 Mickey
LOL-ich
FCR - Evan Thompson, Mesa, Arizona
Incorrect
guesses: Eddie Plank, Randy Johnson, Sam
McDowell
MIDWEEK BONUS 22—Apr
Q. Who was the oldest starting pitcher to
win an Opening Day game?
Hint: #1 He needed surgery after leading the league
two years in a row in winning percentage.
Hint: #2 He beat Larry Bird to school.
A. TOMMY JOHN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. On
Tuesday, 04-Apr-1989, NYY beat MIN 4-2 with
John’s 7 innings earning him the W. John
was 45 years, 10 months and 13 days old.
- #1 Led
the NL w/.696 in 1973 and led MLB w/.813 in 1974, but
missed all of 1975 with some medical procedure.
- #2 John
attended Indiana State
University
in Terre Haute in the early 1960s, Bird in the late 1970s.
FCR - John Rickert Terre Haute
Incorrect
guesses: Charlie Hough, Jack Quinn, Jamie
Moyer, Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan
THURSDAY 22—Apr
Q. Who pitched to both Ted Williams and Darryl
Strawberry?
Hint: #1 He won Gold gloves playing for three
different major league teams.
Hint: #2 He surrendered a home run to Bert Campaneris
on the first pitch Campaneris ever saw in the majors.
- Ans. Williams
(2 for 3 lifetime vs. Kaat) played from 1939-1960. Strawberry, 1-4 in his 2 G against Kaat, played
from 1983-2007. Kaat’s career was 1959-1983.
- #1 Won
GG for MIN 1962-72, for CHW 1973-75, for PHI 1976-77 – 16 GG in all. Only Greg Maddux has more.
- #2 Campy’s
HR: Top of the 1st 23-Jul-1964. For good measure, he homered again off Kaat
in the 7th inning on the 6th pitch he saw in the majors.
FCR - Dan Greder, Ames, Iowa
Incorrect
guesses:
FRIDAY 23—Apr
Q. Which pitcher, who appeared for the
Detroit Tigers in their World Championship season, did Max Fried pass in 2020
to now have the best single-season winning percentage?
Hint: #1 Both times he pitched in 68 games in a
season, he led the league.
Hint: #2 Trevor Hoffman broke his record for most
career relief appearances for one club.
- Ans. According
to Baseball-Reference, Fried’s 7-0 in 2020 (1.000%) topped Face’s 18-1
(.947) in 1959. Faced appeared in 2 G
for DET in 1968.
- #1 Appeared
68 times in 1956 & 1960, the former also leading MLB.
- #2 Face
had 775 for PIT and Hoffman had 902 for SDP and is the current NL record
holder.
FCR - Tom Hablitzel, Hudson, Ohio
Incorrect
guesses: John Hiller, Denny McLain, Willie
Hernandez, Mickey Lolich, Aurelio Lopez
SATURDAY 24—Apr
Q. Which All-Star righty’s substandard
first inning prevented his teammate, Orlando Cepeda from being history’s
first designated hitter?
Hint: #1 Twice in his career he had scoreless-innings
streaks of at least forty innings.
Hint: #2 Frank Robinson showed him where here was.
A. LUIS TIANT [SABR Bio]
- Ans. On 06-Apr-1973 at Fenway Park, Tiant
loaded the bases full of Yankees in the 1st inning, bringing up the
6th batter, DH Ron Blomberg.
Tiant walked him, walking in a run.
Cepeda was the 6th batter in the Sawks’ lineup and could
easily have been the first DH if the early innings of the opposing pitchers
that day, Tiant and Mel Stottlemyre had switched their early-innings
experiences. Stottlemyre was in his
penultimate season and Tiant was at the height of his career.
- #1 Scoreless
streaks of 41 IP in 1968 then 40 IP in 1972. Walter Johnson (1913 and '18) is the only
other pitcher in baseball history with multiple scoreless streaks of at least
40 innings.
- #2 On
8-May-1966, FRobby became the only player to hit a ball completely out of
Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium when he got a hold of a Tiant fastball. The Orioles commemorated
the feat
by placing a flag at the location where the ball left the ballpark. The orange flag had just one word on it: “Here”.
FCR - Lincoln Mitchel, New York :City
Incorrect
guesses: Catfish Hunter, Juan Marichal, Gaylord
Perry, Jim Lonborg, Mel Stottlemyre
WEEKEND BONUS 24—Apr
Q. Which Orioles pitcher returned to the
clubhouse after being shelled in a game, only to tear the clubhouse apart when
he found that someone had stolen his Flash Gordon comic book?
Hint: #1 He holds the record for the current
Baltimore Orioles for the most losses in a season.
Hint: #2 His manager that year said, “The only thing
(he) fears is sleep.”
Hint: #3 His avian nickname had nothing to do with
the fact that he’d played for the Orioles.
A. DON LARSEN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. On 19-Jul-1954, BOS hung 8 ER on
Larsen in just over 3 innings. People
seek different balms when bombed.
- #1 In
1954, Larsen had a record of 3-21, to lead the majors in that
latter department.
- #2 Larsen’s
manager w/BAL was Jimmy Dykes and was, by turns, amused and amazed by Larsen.
- #3 His
nickname, Gooney Bird, was given to him by his Yankees teammates in recognition
of his widely known rambunctiousness.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect guesses: Steve Barber, Fred Glade, Pat Dobson
SUNDAY 25—Apr
Q. Who was the only rookie pitcher to win three
games in one World Series?
Hint: #1 He once pitched every inning of a twenty-one
inning game and didn’t issue a single base-on-balls.
Hint: #2 Since the beginning of the twentieth century,
no pitcher has pitched at least 250 inning in a season where he walked fewer
than 20—except this guy.
Hint: #3 He was on the wrong side of one of history’s
most notable victories.
Hint: #4 One look at him tells you how he got his
nickname.
A. BABE ADAMS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Adams
was the winning pitcher of G 1, 5 & 7 of the 1909 WS,
holding Ty Cobb to a single hit in 11 at-bats in those games.
- #1 In
a classic matchup with the Gants’ Rube Marquard on 17-Jul-1914, both starters pitched
the whole game. 2 NYG batters, Dave
Robertson & Fred Merkle, were each 0 for 8 against Adams.
- #2 In
1920, Adams threw 263 innings and walked exactly 18 batters.
- #3 On
22-Sept-1911, Adams was the losing
pitcher in Boston Rustler Cy Young’s 511th and
last victory.
- #4 He
appears exceedingly youthful. Here he is at the beginning of
his career. The contrast with his team’s
shortstop must have been jarring.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Ralph Branca, Mordecai Brown, Mickey
Lolich, Chief Bender, Sal Maggie, Christy Mathewson
WEEKLY THEME – Pitchers
with fifteen years on the Hall of Fame ballot, but never elected and still not
in.
Pitcher Career WAR
Adams...........................50.2
Burdette.........................25.5
Face..............................21.1
John...............................62.1
Kaat...............................45.2
Larsen...........................12.5
Lolich.............................47.9
Newcombe....................29.1
Tiant........................
.....65.7
First Correct
Respondent to Identify Theme – David Washburn, Marietta,
Georgia (after Tommy John)
Incorrect
theme guesses:
Tuesday - Players
in the first game there were more black than white players on the field
- Pitchers
who hit two or more home runs in a game two times or more in their career
- Pitchers
who have hit 2 home runs in a game
- Pitchers
who got MVP votes in their 20's, but didn't get Cy Young Award votes until
their 30's
Wed - Victorious
pitchers who hit home runs in World Series games
- Theme
is players who should be in the hall of fame
- 250
game winners not in Hall of Fame
- HoF
eligible pitchers with 200+ wins that are not in the HoF
Thu - Modern-era
pitchers who have won the most games w/o being elected to the HOF
- Non-HOF
LHP with highest WAR
- Non-HOF
LHP with highest WAR in the "live-ball era
Fri - Left-handers
who have the most wins but are not in the HOF
Sat - Pitched
in a memorable World Series game
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