2021-06-07 Phils who were Phils

MONDAY  —07-Jun

Q.  Who was Clemens’ first twentieth strikeout?

Hint: #1    He was the first Seattle Mariner to hit double figures triples in a season.

Hint: #2    He broke Buck’s leg.

A. PHIL BRADLEY  [B-R Bio]

-   Ans. On 29-Apr-1986, Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners.  4 of those belonged to Bradley, including the 20^th.

-   #1   Had 10 3B in 1987, tied for 2^nd in the AL that year.

-   #2   Future manager & broadcaster Buck Martinez had his leg broken on a play at the plate, while tagging out both runners on 09-Jul-1985.  Bradley, the first runner, bent Martinez’ R leg back, breaking it.  Gorman Thomas was the second out.  Watch it happen here.

FCR -  Dan Schoenholz, Walnut Creek, California

Incorrect guesses:  Harold Reynolds, Spike Owen, Julio Cruz

 

TUESDAY  —08-Jun

Q.  Who holds the Giants all-time record for most RBI in a single game?

Hint: #1    His ancestors were likely oenophiles or vintners.

Hint: #2    His run-in with a flamingo was resolved by his Hall of Fame manager.

A. PHIL WEINTRAUB  [SABR Bio]

-   Ans.      On 30-Apr-1944, Weintraub had 11 RBI as his NYG beat BRO 26-8.  He was the first of only 3 guys to score 5 R & have 10 RBI in a single game.  The other 2 were Walker Cooper (06-July-1949) and Anthony Rendon (30-April-2017).

-   #1   “Weintraub” is German for “wine grape”.

-   #2   In spring training 1934, Weintraub and Harry Danning were refused entry to the Flamingo Hotel in Miami Beach, which had a “No Jews” policy.  They were allowed to stay after NYG mgr Bill Terry threatened to take the whole team to another hotel if his Jewish ballplayers weren’t allowed.

FCR -  Bill Deane, Cooperstown

Incorrect guesses:  Orlando Cepeda, Don Mueller, Mel Ott, Walker Cooper, Frenchy Bordagaray,

 

WEDNESDAY  —09-Jun

Q. Which BRTL Californian won twenty-eight games in his second full season as a pitcher in the majors then never even won as many as fifteen the rest of career?

Hint: #1    No pitcher with as few years in the majors hit more batters with pitches.

Hint: #2    Hard-hitting Ping Bodie acknowledged him as his first baseball mentor.

A. PHIL KNELL  [B-R Bio]

-   Ans.     Was 28-27 in 1891 for the American Association Solons of Columbus.  Won 14 the next year and never got into double figures again.  Batted R, threw L.  B. in Marin County, northern terminus of the Golden Gate Bridge.

-   #1   With a career of only 6 seasons, Knell hit 136 batters, 34^th on the all-time list.  No other pitcher in the Top 100 has a few years in MLB.

-   #2   Bodie, a San Franciscan, was 18 years younger than Knell.

FCR -  Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario

Incorrect guesses:  Russ Ford, Jay Hughes, Amos Rusie, Babe Ruth 

 

THURSDAY  —10-Jun

Q.  Which righty won his first start in the majors then against all odds didn’t start again until six seasons later?

Hint: #1    Led the National League in saves before it became an official statistic.

Hint: #2    In an abbreviated career of eight seasons, he managed to accumulate nine teammates who became Hall of Famers.

Hint: #3    A mere two days before Babe Ruth’s death, cancer also took him home, in the city where he was born.  Must’ve been something in the air.

A. PHIL COLLINS  [B-R Bio]

-   Ans.     Won debut on 07-Oct-1923.  Next pitched in the majors in April of 1929.

-   #1   Had 6 S in 1933, narrowly edging Carl Hubbell and Dizzy Dean who had 5 apiece.

-   #2   HOF teammates:

Pete Alexander

Gabby Hartnett

Chuck Klein

Hack Wilson

Dizzy Dean

Joe Medwick

Jesse Haines

Frankie Frisch

Leo Durocher

-   #3   Died 14-Aug-1948.  Babe Ruth died 16-Aug-1948

FCR -  Adam Foldes, New York City

Incorrect guesses:  Firpo Marberry, Harvey Haddix

 

FRIDAY  —11-Jun

Q.  Who broke Peanuts Lowrey's record of seven consecutive pinch hits when he delivered in his eighth straight pinch-hitting appearance?

Hint: #1    He also holds the American League record for most pinch-hits in a season.

Hint: #2    He holds the record for the most at-bats in an American League regulation-inning doubleheader.

A. DAVE PHILLEY  [SABR Bio]

-   Ans.     Record of 8 straight PH at the end of the 1958 season.  Got a H in his first AB of 1959, pinch-hitting and so extending his streak.  He is tied w/Rusty Staub of the 1983 NYM for the MLB record.  Philley had 24 PH hits in 1961 to set the AL record.  John Vander Wal COL in 1995 holds the major-league record with 28.

-   #1   Had 8 straight PH in 1958-59.

-   #2   Came to the plate 13 X total for the 2 G on 30-May-1950(1) & 30-May-1950(2) w/ 7&6 respectively.

FCR -  Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario

Incorrect guesses:  Smokey Burgess, Gates Brown, Dale Long, Bob Johnson, Cliff Johnson, Bill Stein

 

SATURDAY  —12-Jun

Q.  Whose National League record for intentional walks in a season did Willie McCovey break?

Hint: #1    A fleet centerfielder, he was the last Chicago Cub before Tuffy Rhodes to hit three home runs in three straight plate appearances at Wrigley Field.

Hint: #2    He is in the career Top Ten of players native to Panama in triples, home runs, runs scored, stolen bases, walks, on-base percentage, OPS and WAR.

Hint: #3    As a recent call-up, he played in twelve of Philadelphia’s losses in their sadly-remembered September of 1964.

A. ADOLFO PHILLIPS  [SABR Bio]

-   Ans.     His 29 IBB in 1967 led MLB and tied the all-time NL mark co-held by Ron Northy (1944) and Pee Wee Reese (1947)..  McCovey had 45 just 2 years later in his MVP season of 1969.

-   #1   With CHC on 11-Jun-1967, in the 2^nd G of a doubleheader, Phillips went over the ivy thrice in the Cubs' 18–10 W over NYM.  He had already homered once in the opener.  Rhodes replicated the feat on Opening Day 1994, tying George Bell for most HR in an Opening Day G.

-   #2   Highest rank is SB, where he ranks 6^th among players born in Panama.

-   #3   Few members of that team escaped Manager Gene Mauch’s wrath, with Phillips getting more than his share.

FCR -  Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois

Incorrect guesses:  Tony Taylor, Vic Power

 

IN MEMORIAM  —13-Jun

Q.        Who was the first black pitcher to homer in a World Series game?

Hint: #1    He threw the first pitch in Montreal Expos history.

Hint: #2    He sang at memorial services for Kirby Puckett & Harmon Killebrew.

Hint: #3    He said he made much more money in music than he did while playing baseball. 

Hint: #4    He was one of the “Black Aces”.

Hint: #5    He is one of only a handful pf pitchers with a twenty-win season somewhere in their careers in additional to a twenty-save season.

Hint: #6    He was once denied a no-hitter by a batter who also spoiled no-hitters for three other pitchers

A.         MUDCAT GRANT  [SABR Bio]

-   Ans.     WS HR hit off LAD’s Howie Reed in G 6 of the 1965 WS.  It was the first HR by an AL P since Jim Bagby’s in G 5 of the 1920 WS.

-   #1   Started the inaugural G for Les Expos on 08-Apr-1969.

-   #2   Grant sang "What a Wonderful World", shown here at Killebrew’s on-field memorial service at Target Field.

-   #3   Behind his fine singing talent, Grant created “Mudcat and the Kittens”, a song and dance act featuring himself as the lead singer backed up by some provocatively-clad young women dancers.  They played at nightclubs and hotels during the off-seasons and did quite well.  His combined MLB salaries for his 14-year career came to approximately $350,000.

-   #4   The “Black Aces” are an elite group of pitchers of African descent who have won at least 20 games in a season.  The term comes from the book “The Black Aces, Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners, which was authored by Grant himself.  The original 12 pitchers were profiled in the book were …

Don Newcombe,

Toothpick Sam Jones,

Bob Gibson,

Ferguson Jenkins,

Earl Wilson,

Vida Blue,

Al Downing,

J.R. Richard,

Mike Norris,

Dwight Gooden,

Dave Stewart &

Grant.

After the book’s publication, three more 20-G winners have been added to the “club”: Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia & David Price.

-   #5   The 20W/20SV pitchers are John Smoltz, Wilbur Wood, Dennis Eckersley, Derek Lowe, Ian Kennedy & Grant.

-   #6   Don Blasingame had the lone hit in Gs by Cal Koonce, Stan Williams, Moe Drabowsky & Grant.

FCR -  Jeff Kallman, Las Vegas

Incorrect guesses: 

 

SUNDAY  —13-Jun

Q.  Which outfielder outhit his future Hall of Fame teammate Miller Huggins for a league batting title?

Hint: #1    He was brought up to the majors with Nap Lajoie and the talk at the time was that HE was the player they wanted and that Lajoie was a throw-in.

Hint; #2    Half his career home runs were inside-the-park.

Hint: #3    He was born in Washington and died in Washington

A. PHIL GEIER  [B-R Bio]

-   Ans.     In 1903, Geier hit .351 with the A-level St. Paul Saints to lead the American Association.  Huggins, though good, was a bit far back in the pack.

-   #1   He had come from the Fall River Indians team, and so had 21-year-old Nap Lajoie. The apocryphal account is that the Phils wanted Geier and that Lajoie was just a throw-in.

-   #2   Had 2 HR in the majors, the 1st on 04-Sep-1897.  The 2nd, almost 7 years later on 30-Jul-1904 was IPHR.

-   #3   Born in Washington, DC 03-Nov-1876; Died in Spokane, Washington 25-Sep-1967.

FCR -  Johnny Murray, Taylor, South Carolina

Incorrect guesses:  Sam Rice, Elmer Flick, Cy Seymour, Sam Crawford 

 

 

WEEKLY THEME – Phils who were Phils (Phillies who were named Phil):

 

Name               Yrs w/PHI.... WAR

Bradley....................... 1988......... 18.6

Collins...................... 1929-35...... 15.7

Geier........................ 1896-97........ 0.0

Phil Gosselin.............. 2018-.......... 0.9  BIO

Phil Klein.................... 2016.......... -0.3  BIO

Knell........................... 1892......... 10.9

Phil Linz................... 1966-67........ 2.0  BIO

Phil Saylor.................. 1891........... 0.0  BIO

Weintraub................... 1938........... 8.9 

Phillippe Aumont...... 2010-15....... -0.8  BIO

A. Phillips................. 1964-65...... 13.7

Taylor Phillips.......... 1959-60....... -0.4  BIO

Philley...................... 1958-60........ 7.9

J.R. Phillips................ 1996.......... -1.6  BIO

Lefty Weinert........... 1919-24........ 0.3  BIO

Marshall Brownson.... 2000........... 0.4  BIO

Jim Owens............... 1955-62........ 5.3  BIO

Felipe Crespo............. 2001........... 0.5  BIO

 

 

 

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (After Weintraub)

 

 

 

Incorrect theme guesses:

 

Monday  -  Players who were starting QB's at a D-1 college

               -  MLB players who were college quarterbacks

 

Wed        -  Phils who never played in the post season

               -  Guys named Phil

               -  Phils who played in Philadelphia

 

Sat          -  Players named "Phil" (or with "Phil" in their names), who played in Philadelphia.

               -  Phils not from Philly

               -  Players with the name Phil or Phillip in i

 

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