MONDAY MOANIN’ —12-Jul
Q. Who is the only
third baseman to win multiple MVP awards in the twentieth century?
Hint: #1 Besides
the years he won, he received MVP votes in an amazing nine additional seasons.
Hint: #2 Announcers
often referred to him by his whole given name.
A. MIKE SCHMIDT [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Won
MVPs in 1980, 1981 & 1986.
- #1 Got
MVP votes in 1974, 75, 76, 77, 79, 82, 83, 84 & 87.
- #2 “Michael Jack Schmidt” did give a ring of
serious authenticity.
FCR - Russ Walsh, Morrisville,
Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Brooks
Robinson, Michael John Schmidt, George Brett
MONDAY —12-Jul
Q. Whose record for
the highest qualified batting average in the expansion era did Tony Gwynn
break in 1994?
Hint: #1 The
year he led the league in total bases was not his MVP season, even though the
total bases total was identical.
Hint: #2 He
was the first player to appear in twenty-five career ALCS games.
A. GEORGE BRETT [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Brett hit .390 in 1980. Gwynn hit .394 14 years later.
- #1 Had 298 TB in 1976 & repeated in 1980
although that total was only good for 8th place in the AL then. His career high in TB was in 1979 when he had
363.
- #2 Played in 27 ALCS G, all with KCR.
FCR - Frank Prisuk, Gaithersburg,
Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Rod
Carew, Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Norm Cash, Joe DiMaggio
MONDAY GLOAMIN’ —12-Jul
Q. Whose
consecutive-game hitting streak became a daily national media sensation?
Hint: #1 He
is the only player over the age of 38 to have at least 210 hits in a season.
Hint: #2 No
other member of his original team’s expansion franchise has ever had more runs,
triples or a higher batting average in a single season.
A. PAUL MOLITOR [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Molitor had a hit in 39 straight G in 1987,
4th-best all-time for an AL’er.
Once his skein hit 30 G, it began to be the lead story in local
newscasts nationwide and not just in the sports segment. Many heard his nickname “Polly Molly” for the
first time as we were encouraged to join in the “Molly Watch”.
- #1 In 1996, Molitor’s 39-year-old season, he had
225 H and turned 40 during the year, on 22-Aug.
- #2 Molitor’s 136 R in 1982 are the
Brewers’ standard as are his 16 triples in 1979. Even more impressive, however, might be his 1987
BA of .353
FCR - Matt Dicker,
Chicago
Incorrect guesses: Pete
Rose, Ichiro Suzuki, Joe DiMaggio, Tony Gwynn
TUESDAY —13-Jul
Q. Who was the first batter since WWII to win an
American League batting championship while playing for a last-place team?
Hint: #1 He was the first player to knock in seven
teammates in a postseason game.
Hint: #2 His career home run total was matched by the
contestants in last night’s MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby in Denver.
A. EDGAR MARTINEZ [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Hit .343 in 1992 for SEA.
- #1 7
RBI = 1995 ALDS, G 4.
Note: Actually, only 5 of the RBI
were teammates. 2 were himself!
- #2 Martinez’
309 lifetime homers were matched in just a few hours at Coors Field by Pete Alonso (74), Trey Mancini (59), Juan Soto (46),
Trevor Story (32), Salvador Perez (28), Shohei Ohtani (28), Matt Olsen (23) and
Joey Gallo (19).
FCR - Michael Temple, Chicago
Incorrect guesses: Ferris Fain, Mickey Vernon, George Kell, Carney
Lansford, Miguel Cabrera, Tony Gwynn
TWO’S-DAY —13-Jul
Q. Who is the only batter with at least 525
career home runs who never had a sacrifice bunt in his career?
Hint: #1 He did have, however, more than fifty career
sacrifice flies, including once leading the league.
Hint: #2 His college team sometime gets votes for the
Yotes.
A. HARMON KILLEBREW [SABR Bio]
- Ans. 573
career HR; 0 SH
- #1 Had
77 SF. Led the AL w/8 in 1967.
- #2 Attended
the Albertson College of Idaho (Now College of Idaho) whose mascot is a coyotes, shortened
on their jerseys to “Yotes”.
FCR - Nels Johnston, St. Thomas, Ontario
Incorrect guesses: Jim Thome, Barry Bonds, Eddie Mathews, Willie
Mays, Hank Aaron
WEDNESDAY —14-Jul
Q. Who is the only American League shortstop to
lead the majors in hits and total bases in the same season?
Hint: #1 He the only player to collect four hits in a
World Series game twice in the same Series.
Hint: #2 Born in Illinois, he attended a high school
named after the same U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice who gave Willie Mays his
name.
A. ROBIN YOUNT [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1982 Yount led MLB w/210 H & 367 TB. He also led in doubles (46),
slugging (.578), OPS (.957) & OPS+ (166),
all of which led quite naturally to his being voted MVP,1 vote shy of unanimous. He also led his team to their 1st pennant.
- #1 In
the 1982 WS, Yount had 4 H in each of G 1 & G 5.
- #2 B.
in Danville, Illinois. Family moved to
SoCal when he was yet an infant.
Attended William Howard Taft HS in Woodland Hills, California. Mays’s father (& as a result Mays) was
named Willie Howard Mays in deference to the then president.
FCR - Madison McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: A-Rod, Lo, Boudreau, Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra, Bobby Richardson,
Tom Tresh
ESPYs
BONUS —14-Jul
Q. Who was the first
player to DH in back-to-back MVP seasons?
Hint: #1 He
was the first player to hit a home run off the catwalk at Tropicana Field.
Hint: #2 He
once set a record by taking Randy Johnson deep because it was the first major
league regular season home run ever hit in the month of March.
A. FRANK THOMAS [B-R
Bio]
- #1 Inside moonshot = 04-Apr-1998. It was his 1st HR that year. In just the 5th major league game
ever played at Tropicana Field, Thomas crushed a ball high into its domed
canopy. The drive struck the “B” ring of
the catwalk in fair territory and descended into foul territory, causing
confusion on the field. Tropicana
Field’s ground rules at the time stated that any ball that hit a catwalk in
fair territory but caromed into foul territory was a foul ball, but the
umpire, Jim McKean, incorrectly ruled it to be a home run. McKean’s reasoning for the home run call was
simple: “If you hit a ball that far, you
deserve a home run, rules be damned.” McKean advised Tampa Bay Manager Larry
Rothschild, who vehemently complained and played the game under protest, “OK, why
don’t you walk over there and tell Frank Thomas that ball he hit is not
a home run?”
- #2 1st March HR = 31-Mar-1996
*Unanimous
FCR - Jeffrey Fink, Howell,
New Jersey
Incorrect guesses: Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, Manny
Ramirez, Edgar Martinez, Albert Pujols
THURSDAY —15-Jul
Q. Who holds the record for Gold Glove awards won
by a second baseman in the most consecutive seasons?
Hint: #1 He is the most recent second baseman to win
a home run title.
Hint: #2 He was the first second baseman to win the
Home Run Derby, hitting 60% of all the HR hit in the contest.
Hint: #3 His high school’s baseball team now plays on
a field named in his honor.
A. RYNE SANDBERG [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Won
9 consecutive GG, 1983-91.
- #1 Led
the NL w/40 HR in 1990.
- #2 Won
the HRD in 1990, besting a quartet of combatants from the AL composed of Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey, Jr., Jose Canseco &
Cecil Fielder
in his home stadium, Wrigley Field.
Sandberg had 3 HR. Rules for HRD
have evolved.
- #3 The
baseball diamond at North Central High School in
Spokane, Washington was named "Ryne Sandberg Field" in 1985.
FCR - Madison McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: Robinson Cano, Bobby Grich, Jeff
Kent, Alfonso Soriano
THOROUGHSDAY —15-Jul
Q. Who became only the second member of the 400
home run 300 stolen base “club”?
Hint: #1 He was the first player with 340 total bases
for a National League expansion team.
Hint: #2 The year he had that total was the second
time he finished runner-up in the National League MVP voting.
A. ANDRE DAWSON [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Dawson
joined Willie Mays when he hit his 400th HR 15-Apr-1993. They
have since been joined by Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez & Carlos
Beltran.
- #1 Led
the NL w/341 TB for MON in 1983.
- #2 Was
2nd in MVP voting to Mike Schmidt in 1981 and 2nd to Dale Murphy in 1983.
FCR - Willis Kern, Bloomington, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Joe Morgan, Dave Winfield,
Moises Alou, Bobby Bonds, Reggie Sanders, Ken Griffey, Jr.
FRIDAY —16-Jul
Q. Who is the only batter in either league to
have a qualifying season’s batting average above .385 between 1958 and 1979?
Hint: #1 His Rookie of the Year counterpart in the
other league won his 300th game on the same day that our guy
recorded his 3,000th hit.
Hint: #2 The record for his career in the majors over
the first twelve years is liberally sprinkled with black ink, not to mention black ink. He was then traded to a team in a different
market and for the last seven seasons of his career, never again led the league
in any category.
- Ans. Ted
Williams hit 388 in 1958 and George Brett hit .390 in 1980, but the highest
average chronologically between those 2 was Carew’s .388 in 1977.
- #1 Carew
won AL ROY in 1967.
Tom Seaver won NL ROY in 1967.
Seaver got his 300th win 04-Aug-1985 in Yankee Stadium. Carew’s 3,000th H was the same
day, but 3,000 miles away in Anaheim against his former team MIN.
- #2 Played for MIN 1967-1978; & CAL 1979-1985. Although he was productive with the Angels,
regularly finishing in the team’s top 5 in WAR, he put up no league-leading numbers
during those 7 seasons.
FCR - Steven Harmon, Sacramento
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski
FRIDAY #2 —16-Jul
Q. Which one-time Florida Marlin became the first
player since Ty Cobb to have a season with seventy steals and seventy RBI?
Hint: #1 He was the last player to wear a batting helmet
without ear flaps.
Hint: #2 He was the first player to have two
teammates follow his home run with homers of their own, in succession, in the
postseason.
A. TIM RAINES [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1983, Raines stole a career-high 90 bases and had a career-high 71 RBI. Rickey Henderson & Eric Davis
reached those levels subsequently. Cobb,
in 1915, was the last to do it before Raines.
FLA was Raines’s final MLB team. He played 98 G with them in 2002.
- #1 Even
though the 1st baseball helmets were developed and worn during the
early 1900's, MLB batters were not required to wear them until 1971, veterans excepted.
The last MLB player to bat without a
helmet was BOS C Bob Montgomery in 1979 (although he wore one while catching).
MLB batters were required to wear a
helmet with a single ear flap while at bat as of 1983, veterans again excused. Helmets for them, yes, but they had the option
to wear them w/o the ear flaps. In 2002,
Raines was the last player to wear a batting helmet without ear flaps.
- #2 Successive
HR by Raines, Derek Jeter & Paul O'Neill were hit in G 1, 6th inning, 1997 ALDS.
FCR - Preston Salisbury, Starkville, Mississippi
Incorrect
guesses: Gary Gaetti, Juan Pierre, Jose
Reyes, Luis Castillo, Eric Davis, Rickey Henderson, Dee Gordon, Marquis
Grissom
SATURDAY —17-Jul
Q. Which Hall of Famer not only holds one of the
least desirable records in baseball—he’s in second place on the same list?
Hint: #1 He also shares eighth place on the same
list.
Hint: #2 He was the last player in the twentieth
century to hit fifteen triples in consecutive seasons.
Hint: #3 The first time he led the majors in triples,
he led in homers the same year.
- Ans. Rice
grounded into 36 double plays in 1984 then had 35 GIDP in 1985.
- #1 5
others have matched the 31 GIDP he had in 1983
- #2 He
hit exactly 15 3b in each of 1977 & 1978, the latter total leading the
majors.
- #3 In 1978,
his MLB-leading 15 3B & 46 HR went a long way
to his being voted AL MVP that season. Also
leading the Bigs in G (163), PA (746), AB (677),
H (213), RBI (139), SLG (.600) &
TB (406) as well as leading the AL in OPS (.970) &
OPS+ (157) couldn’t have hurt.
-FCR - Dave Wise, Hyde Park, New York
Incorrect
guesses: Jeff Bagwell, Paul Waner, Ty
Cobb
WEEKEND BONUS —XX-Mmm
Q. Who posted a sparkling 1.018 OPS and 189 OPS+
in only his second full season in the majors?
Hint: #1 A Philly boy who moved to the desert,
baseball was not his first love.
Hint: #2 One year, he received a single first-place
vote to prevent another player from being a unanimous MVP choice.
A. REGGIE JACKSON [SABR Bio]
- Ans. A
more important portent is that he also led in strikeouts in 1969.
- #1 Born
in the Philadelphia of suburb of Abington, he went to Arizona State University
to play football.IN the 1982 AL MVP vote, Jackson’s performance with the Angels
earned him exactly one vote.
- #2 While
Robin Yount was the clear winner of the 1982 AL MVP vote, Jackson’s performance
with the CAL earned him exactly
one first-place vote from Jim Golla of the Toronto Globe &
Mail. He said he felt, “Jackson deserved
the honor because of his ability to carry a team the entire season and to lift
himself up to the occasion in the stretch, making the other players around him
that much better as well.” [And Yount
didn’t?!]
FCR - Lou DeScioli, Porter, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Mike Trout, Mike Piazza, Jeff
Bagwell
SUNDAY
—18-Jul
Q. Who was the first catcher to be unanimously elected
Rookie of the Year?
Hint: #1 He went to college in Durham on a basketball
scholarship.
Hint: #2 No other Hall of Famer comes from his native
state.
Hint: #3 After debuting in the majors, he missed five
and half seasons due to injuries.
A. CARLTON
FISK [SABR Bio]
- Ans. AL ROY in 1972 as a C for BOS. Also
the 1st AL ROY elected unanimously.
- #1 Played
for the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH.
- #2 Born
in Bellows
Falls, Vermont,
but never lived there. Grew up in New
Hampshire. Both states claim him.
- #3 Total
playing time lost in the majors according to Fisk in his HOF acceptance speech,
equals the equivalent of 5½ seasons.
FCR - Kyle Sammin, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Earl Williams, Ray Fosse, Sandy
Alomar, Jr.
WEEKLY THEME – Hall of
Fame batters struck out by Nolan Ryan at least 10 times each
#K Batter Career WAR
18 - Brett........................ 88.6
29 - Carew...................... 81.2
25 - Dawson................... 64.8
24 - Fisk......................... 68.4
22 - Jackson.................... 73.9
11 - Killebrew................. 60.4
10 - Martinez.................. 68.4
12 - Molitor.................... 75.7
18 - Raines..................... 69.4
19 - Rice......................... 47.7
11 - Sandberg................. 67.9
15 - Schmidt................. 106.9
11 - Thomas................... 73.8
16 - Yount...................... 77.3
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Nope.
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Players
to win regular season MVP and World Series MVP in same season
- Hall
of Famers who were born in Ohio
- Hall
of Famers drafted in the first two rounds of the amateur draft
- Players
drafted in 1971
- Third
basemen with More than 70 WAR
- Third
basemen of the expansion era with multiple All-Star game starts
- MVP
winners who faced off in the ‘80 Series
- Players
who played themselves on sitcoms
- 3rd basemen
HOFers who won a World Series title
- Third
basemen with the highest lifetime WAR
- HoF
3B who spent their entire career with the same team
- Third
baseman in the World Series starting in 1980
- Hall
of Famers drafted in the first two rounds of the amateur draft plus Pete Rose
- 3b
with 800 career ops
- Third
basemen in the Hall of Fame
Tuesday - Post-WW2
third basemen who have been inducted into Cooperstown
- Hall
of Famers whose primary position was 3B
- Hall
of Famers who played at least 10 seasons at 3rd base
- 3B
who led the league in a category other than home runs
- HOFers
who had most of their games in the field at 3B
Thursday- Hall of Fame infielders who began their MLB
careers in the expansion era
- Longtime
teammates
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