MONDAY —19-Jul
Q. Who has won the
Silver Slugger Award the most times?
Hint: #1 He was
only three years old when the first time he was in a major league clubhouse.
Hint: #2 He
has won more Gold Gloves than any other National League outfielder with five
hundred career stolen base.
A. BARRY BONDS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Bonds
won the SS 12 times, the most of any player at any position.
- #1 Visited
with the SFG clubhouse in Candlestick Park when he dad Bobby had already formed
a friendship with teammate Willie Mays.
- #2 Has
514 SB and 8 GG.
FCR - Morris
Buenemann, Florissant, Missouri
Incorrect guesses: Ken
Griffey, Jr., Tony Gwynn
TUESDAY —20-Jul
Q. Who hit the most home runs of anyone born in
the Dominican Republic?
Hint: #1 He became the fourth member of a very elite
group, joining Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez.
Hint: #2 He was voted MVP of the Midwest League the
season he played there.
A. ALBERT PUJOLS [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Has
675 career HR as of 20-Jul-2021. Pujols
had 620 HR when he stroked his 3,000th hit on 4-May-2018.
- #1 All
4 players have at least 600 career HR and 3,000 hits.
- #2 MVP
in the Class A Midwest League playing for the 2000
Peoria Chiefs.
FCR - Steven Coleman, Belleville, Illinois
Incorrect guesses: Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Alfonso
Soriano, Orlando Cepeda, Miguel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Rafael Palmeiro,
Carlos Delgado
WEDNESDAY —12-Jul
Q. Who was elected to the Hall of Fame by the
thinnest possible margin?
Hint: #1 He was the King’s penultimate victim.
Hint: #2 He and a teammate each scored twice in a single
World Series inning.
Hint: #3 In his second full season, he was edged out
for league MVP by player who had barely a third of his WAR that year.
A. AL SIMMONS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Was
included on 75.38% of the ballots in 1953, the lowest of all players voted in
by the BBWAA. The next lowest percentages belonged to Ferguson Jenkins (75.4%),
Ralph Kiner (75.41) and Willie Keeler (75.55).
- #1 In
the 1934 All-Star game, “King” Carl Hubbell struck out 5 batters in a row, all of whom
would be elected to the Hall of Fame. Babe
Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Simmons & Joe Cronin.
- #2 In
the 7th inning of G 4 in the 1929 WS, Simmons homered off Cubs’ ace
Charlie Root to open the onslaught. Foxx
singled and scored when 2 successive teammates singled. After 2 pitching changes & only 1 out, Simmons
& Foxx singled in succession and each scored when Jimmy Dykes doubles. 2 K’s closed out the inning but not before the
A’s had racked up a WS-record 10 R in the inning, wiping out an 8-run CHC lead.
- # Simmons’
hefty WAR of 6.6 plus major-league-leading 253 H & 392 TB still left him 4
voting points behind WSH’s SS Roger Peckinpaugh
(124 H, 160 TB, 2.7 WAR) in the AL in 1925.
FCR - Matt Dicker, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Nellie Fox, Larry Walker, Al
Kaline, Joe Medwick
MIDWEEK BONUS —21-Jul
Q. Who won back-to-back MVPs for a team that
finished in the second division each year?
Hint: #1 The same pitcher surrendered both Willie
Mays’s and his 400th career home runs.
Hint: #2 He didn’t play baseball in high school.
A. ERNIE BANKS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. MVP
in 1958 & 1959, finishing ahead of 8
eventual Hall of Famers each time. The
NL had 8 teams before 1962 and Banks’s CHC finished 5th, i.e., in
the 2nd half of the teams, or “second division” in the baseball
parlance of the day.
- #1 Simmons (Not Al) allowed the
400th to Mays on 27-Aug-1963 and on 02-Sep-1965 to Banks.
- #2 His
high school, Booker T. Washington HS
in Dallas,
didn’t have a baseball team when he attended.
FCR - Richard Lerner, Silver Spring Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Hal Newhouser, Dale Murphy, Steve
Carlton, Sandy Koufax
THURSDAY —22-Jul
Q. Whose record for the most hits in his first
five full years in the majors did Ichiro break?
Hint: #1 In his MVP year, he led the majors in hits
and doubles, but led his league in an additional ten offensive
categories.
Hint: #2 He was an all-state football player in high
school and Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne had made arrangements for him play
football for them.
A. JOE MEDWICK [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Medwick
had 1,064 H 1933-37; Ichiro had 1,130 2001-05. Ichiro had the 40 more G (770 for Joe; 810 for
Suzuki), but still beat Medwick over his 1st 770 games with 1,093 H.
- In 1937, Medwick led MLB in H (237)
& 2b (56). He led or
tied the NL in G (156), AB (633), R (111), HR (31),
TBI (154), BA (.374), SLG (.641), OPS (1.056), OPS+
(182) & TB (406).
- #2 Medwick
chose baseball over football when he signed with the Cards at age 17.
FCR - Michael Temple, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Ty Cobb, Chuck Klein, Rogers
Hornsby, George Sisler, Lou Gehrig, Paul Waner, Al Simmons, Willie
Wilson
FRIDAY —23-Jul
Q. Who was the last batter to hit six home runs
off the same pitcher in a single season?
Hint: #1 The year he led the majors in home runs and
runs batted in, he was only nineteen points from taking his league batting
title and therefore the Triple Crown.
Hint: #2 He has ten letters in his last name and hit forty
home runs in a season. Only five other
players can claim that distinction.
A. TED KLUSZEWSKI [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Max Surkont surrendered HRs to Klu
on 27-Apr (twice), 25-Jun (twice), 24‑Jul & 27‑Aug-1954. Kluszewski’s slugging percentage against
Surkont in ’54 was 1.130. 2 other
MLB batters have dominated a pitcher w/6 HR in the same year: George
“Highpockets” Kelly of 1923 NYG vs. Vic Aldridge* of CHC’s & Ted Williams of
1941 BOS vs. CHW’s Johnny Rigney.
[NOTE: Bryant,
Arkansas’ Madison McEntire confirmed that Jim
Thome has passed Kluszewski, Aldridge & Williams
because in the 2002 season, 7 of his 52 HR that year were off MIN’s righty
starter Rick
Reed: 10-Apr,
21-Apr,
04-Jun
(X2), 17-Jul
& 25-Sep-2002
(X2), 2 in Cleveland & 5 in Minnesota.]
- #1 In
1954 Klu led MLB in HR (49) & RBI (141) but his
.326 BA was only good for 5th best in the NL behind Willie Mays’s
only career batting title. He also finished
2nd behind Mays in NL MVP voting.
- #2 Big
Klu did it thrice as did C. Yastrzemski.
C. Granderson and E. Encarnacion (twice ea.), R. Campanella and R. Petrocelli
(once ea.) are the others.
*Aldridge only gave up 17 HR in 1923, more
than ⅓ of which were off the HOF bat of Kelly.
Rigney’s luck against Williams wasn’t anything to brag about at 29%, but
very few moundsmen got the better of Teddy Ballgame in ’41.
FCR - Michael McCroskey, Sugar Land, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Thome, Carl Yastrzemski, Roy
Campanella, Rico Petrocelli
SATURDAY —24-Jul
Q. Who hit the grand slam that helped his team win
its first title in more than eighty-five years?
Hint: #1 At the beginning of the following season, he
was made team captain.
Hint: #2 He presented a sitting U.S. president with a
jersey from his team with the president’s name on the back.
Hint: #3 He was ranked the #1 catcher in the nation
during his senior year in high school.
Hint: #4 He was taken right before and right after
Yellow Jackets.
A. PAUL KONERKO [B-R Bio]
- Ans. GS
was hit in G 2 of the 2005 WS. CHW
hadn’t won WS since 1917
- #1 He
was made team captain for the 2006 season and held that title through the end
of his career in 2014.
- #2 The
2005 WS champ CHW were invited to the White House where Konerko presented
President George W. Bush with a White Sox jersey.
- #3 Didn’t
play a single G at C in the majors.
- #4 Was
chosen 13th overall in the 1994 Draft. Georgia Tech alumni Nomar Garciaparra and
Jason Varitek were taken at #12 & #14.
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Scott Podsednik, Jason Varitek,
Johnny Damon, Anthony Rizzo, Jason Varitek, Bill Mazeroski, A.J. Pierzynski,
David Ross, Carlton Fisk, Johnny Damon, Kent Hrbek
SUNDAY —25-Jul
Q. Who holds the record for most doubles in a season
by a catcher?
Hint: #1 He played for nine major league franchises.
Hint: #2 He was the first catcher to win the Fielding
Bible Award following the last time of Yadier Molina’s string of wins.
A. JONATHAN LUCROY [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Lucroy
hit 53 2B in 2014. No other catcher has
ever even hit 50.
- #1 Lucroy
has suited up in MLB for MIL, TEX, COL, OAK, LAA, CHC, BOS, WSN & is still
active, playing for ATL.
- #2 Molina
was awarded the FBA
6 times, his last in 2013. Lucroy was
the honoree in 2014.
FCR - Evan Wologodzew, New Milford, Connecticut
Incorrect
guesses: Ivan Rodriguez, J.T. Realmuto
WEEK’S FINALE —25-Jul
Q. Who was the first catcher in the Expansion Era
to be the throwing half of three “strike‑‘im‑out‑throw-‘im-out” double plays in
one game?
Hint: #1 He was the National League record-tying ninth
player on his squad to collect 100 hits in the same season.
Hint: #2 He was the first player to get a hit in an
All-Star game in a park which shared his last name.
A. DAMIAN
MILLER [SABR
Bio]
- Ans. Catching
Randy
Johnson on 25-Ma-1999
at the
BOB, Miller threw out would-be base stealers on The Big Unit’s 1st,
5th & 8th Ks in the 1st, 4th
& 7th innings respectively.
- #1 In
their WS championship season of 2001, ARI
had 9 w/100 H, from Luis Gonzalez w/198 to Miller who got his 100th
with just 4 G to play in the regular season.
- #2 [See
week’s summary below.]
FCR -
Incorrect guesses: Dale Murphy, Ed Bailey, Gary Carter
WEEKLY THEME – Players with two doubles in a single All-Star
game.
Player Date Venue (Career) WAR
Banks................... 7-Jul-1959(1)................ Forbes Field............... 67.7
Bonds.................... 13-Jul-1993................ OPACY..................... 162.7
Kluszewski............ 10-Jul-1956................ Griffith Stadium.......... 31.5
Konerko................. 9-Jul-2002*................. Miller Park.................. 28.1
Lucroy................... 15-Jul-2014................ Target Field................ 17.7
Medwick................. 7-Jul-1937................. Griffith Stadium.......... 54.6
Miller...................... 9-Jul-2002*................. Miller Park.................... 8.9
Pujols.................... 13-Jul-2004................ Minute Maid Park....... 99.6
Simmons............... 10-Jul-1934................ Polo Grounds............. 68.1
* Game ended in a
tie. Broadcasters Buck and McCarver
stated that if the NL won, Miller would be named MVP. If the AL won, Konerko would be named.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Warren Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
(after Simmons)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Players
with the most home runs after age 40
Wed - The
nine players with at least 12 seasons of 100+ runs batted in
-
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