MONDAY —19-Sep
Q. Who
has the most career total bases in the history of the game?
Hint: #1
In each of fifteen of his major league seasons, he racked up more than
300 total bases.
Hint: #2
He had an additional five years with more than 200 each.
Hint: #3
Four times he led the majors in total bases and in an additional four
seasons, he led his league.
Hint: #4
He never had fewer than 100 total bases in any of his twenty-five seasons
in professional baseball.
- Ans. Had
6,856
TB.
- #1 9
straight years he had over 300 TB.
-
#2 See career stats.
- #3 ~
- #4 ~
FCR - Chip
Bird, Abingdon, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: Barry Bonds, Stan Musial, Pete Rose, Ted
Williams, Ty Cobb, Rickey Henderson
MONDAY II —19-Sep
Q. Who stole home
and homered, in a single game, six times?
Hint: #1 He had four
seasons with at least 210 hits and 100 walks.
Hint: #2 He was the
first twentieth century player to hit four hoe runs in a game.
- Ans. SB+HR/G = 29-Jun-1927; 30-Jul-1927(1); 19-Jul-1929; 07-Jun-1930; 15-Apr-1931; & 12‑Apr‑1932.
- #1 Had 215+H and 100+BB = 1927, 1930, 1931 &
1934
- #2 4 HR = 04-Jun-1932.
FCR - John Salvino,
Denver
Incorrect guesses: Ichiro
Suzuki, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Tony Lazzeri, Ty Cobb, Chuck Klein,
Stan Musial, Babe Ruth, Jim Bottomley
TUESDAY —20-Sep
Q. Who was the first
shortstop to win more than one American League MVP?
Hint: #1 He drove
the pace car for the Daytona 500 the year that Kevin Harvick won that race for
the first time.
Hint: #2 He broke a
career record on offense that had been held by Hank Aaron but he was then
himself passed by Albert Pujols.
A. CAL RIPKEN [SABR Bio]
- #1 Race was on 18-Feb-2007
- #2 Cal retired with the most double-plays
grounded into, 350. Pujols is the current
record holder adding to his total as recently as Saturday.
FCR - Dan Greder, Ames,
Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Ozzie
Smith, Lou Boudreau, Alex Rodriguez, Ernie Banks, Robin Yount
TUESDAY II —20-Sep
Q. Who is still the
youngest player to reach the combination century mark of one hundred home runs and
one hundred stolen bases?
Hint: #1 For years,
he was considered the best player in the majors.
Hint: #2 If the
second half of his career matched the first half, it would only take the slightest
of increases to land him second all-time in career WAR, trailing only Babe Ruth.
A. MIKE TROUT [Wiki Bio]
- Ans. Trout had already
amassed 104 career SB on 17-Apr-2015 when he hit his 100th
HR run at age 23 years, 257 days. The
record for that dual achievement had been Alex Rodriguez whose 100/100 mark was
reached at age 23 years, 309 days.
- #1 Remarkable considering that 2 of his 3 MVPs
were won playing for 3rd- & 4th-place teams.
- #2 Using the most rudimentary of projections,… If
you doubled Trout’s current career WAR, it wouldn’t take much of an increase to
imagine him topping Walter Johnson’s 164.9, considering how much time Trout has
missed while totaling up the 81.5 he had as of last night.
FCR - Frank
Stephenson, Rome, Georgia
Incorrect guesses: Rickey
Henderson, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez,
Cesar Cedeno, Ty Cobb, Albert Pujols, Mickey Mantle, Willie Keeler, Eric
Davis
IN MEMORIAM —20-Sep
Q. Who
was the first player ever to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in the
same game for a major league team domiciled on the Pacific Coast?
Hint: #1
He was the first player to win a Gold Glove and a National League MVP in
the same season.
Hint: #2
His son enjoyed six seasons on major league rosters.
Hint: #3
He was the first player that the Topps baseball card company didn't sign
to a contract who later made it to the majors.
Hint: #4
He was a mystery guest on “What's My Line”.
Hint: #5
He participated in a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of one of his old
managers.
Hint: #6
He led his league in stolen bases for six years straight, half of those seasons
leading the majors.
Hint: #7
In one of those seasons he became the first player in the modern era to
steal one hundred bases in a single year.
Hint: #8
He was the first player to make a plate appearance for a major league
team based outside the United States.
Hint: #8
There are many who believe he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
A. MAURY WILLS [SABR Bio; MLB
obit]
-
Ans. On 30-May-1962(1) in the Polo Grounds, Wills, playing for
LAD, hit a solo, inside-the-park home run off the Mets’ righty Bob Moorhead in the 5th
inning. Wills then went over the
fence off lefty Vinegar Bend
Mizell in the 9th, scoring LAD’s 13th and
final R.
-
#1 Was NL MVP in 1962 & NL SS GG in 1961 & 1962.
- #2 Son Elliott Taylor “Bump” Wills played for TEX & CHC.
- #3 Wills’s earliest card. Read the Topps/Wills story here.
-
#4 TV appearance was 23-Jan-1966. It was the 800th episode of the
show.
-
#5 Wills helped roast Leo Durocher in 1973. Wills is the first speaker.
-
#6 He had seasons of 50, 35,
104, 40, 53 & 94 1960-1965.
-
#7 Ty Cobb, with his 96
in 1915, was the only other player who had passed 90. [Stolen bases in the 19th century
were calculated differently.]
-
#8 Drafted by the MON in the
expansion draft of 1969 he led off their 1st
G 08-Apr-1969.
- #9 Although his peak was spectacular, his
dominant numbers were there over the long haul and en finished with a career
WAR of 39.6. Most of those in the Hall
put up WAR ratings of 50 an above.
FCR - Doug
Christy, Sarasota
Incorrect guesses:
WEDNESDAY —21-Sep
Q. Who
leads all Cleveland Guardians/Indians in career home runs, strikeouts and bases
on balls?
Hint: #1
He tied Cal Ripken on the career home run list on Opening Day one year.
Hint: #2
He finished second on the career strikeout list for batters.
-
Ans. Thome played for 6 teams in
his MLB career, but his 337 HR, 1,400 K & 1,008 BB are all franchise highs.
-
#1 Cal retired with 431 HR. Thome hit his 431st on Opening Day
2006.
-
#2 Ever since Reggie Jackson
sailed past Willie Stargell on the career strikeout list in 1982 and continued
to add to his total year after year, ending at a monumental 2,597. Very few thought Jackson’s could ever even be
approached However, Thome’s career K # of
2,548 was set for good on 03‑Oct‑2012, just 49 short. He retired for good, gracefully accepting the
silver medal.
FCR - Jason
Winston, Riverside, California
Incorrect guesses:
WEDNESDAY II —1-Sep
Q. Who
was the first major league player depicted on a U.S. postage stamp?
Hint: #1
He was the first player to win the Rookie of the Year Award at one
position, then the Most Valuable Player Award at another.
Hint: #2
He was a competitive swimmer in college.
A. JACKIE ROBINSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Robinson’s stamp was issued on 02-Aug-1982. He has been on U.S. stamps more than any
other player: 1999, 2000
-
#1 Was ROY (the 1st
ever) following the 1947 season for his play at
first base. He was the NL MVP in 1949 as a second baseman.
-
#2 Jackson was briefly on the
UCLA swim team.
FCR - Quentin
Wittrock, Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Incorrect guesses: Mickey Mantle
THURSDAY —22-Sep
Q. Which
one-time Oakland A’s designated hitter, hit more than a fifth of his fourteen
career grand slams in a single month?
Hint: #1
As a teenager, he received personal instruction in his backyard batting
cage from none other than Ted Williams.
Hint: #2
His wife had been the Playboy “Playmate of the Month.
A. MIKE PIAZZA [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Piazza hit 3 GS in April
1998: 09-Apr-1998 (off Jeff Suppan
former NLCS MVP); 10‑Apr‑1998; & 24-Apr-1998 (off Kerry Wood who
would strike out 20 in a game less than 2 weeks later).
-
#1 Piazza’s father, Vince Piazza, was a man of
considerable means and was able to arrange many opportunities for his son that
he’d never had. Mike was 16 when
Williams schooled him. Listen here, starting at about the
4:50 minute mark.
-
#2 Alicia
Rickter Piazza is an American model and actress. She appeared as “Laura” in the comedy Buying
the Cow and on the TV series Baywatch and The Young and the Restless. She posed nude for Playboy magazine as
Miss October 1 995.
FCR - Andy
McCue, Riverside, California
Incorrect guesses: Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas, Deron Johnson, Jason
Giambi, Mark McGwire, Reggie Jackson, Jim Northrup, Tommy Davis, Jose Canseco, Dave
Kingman
FRIDAY —23-Sep
Q. Which
former Pittsburgh Pirates player signed five times for five separate stints with
the major league team that originally drafted him?
Hint: #1
He won a World Series ring and a full postseason share with a third team
even though his contribution there was a single plate appearance.
Hint: #2
He was named MVP in his first ever postseason series.
A. KIRK GIBSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Taken 12th
overall by DET in the 1978 June Amateur Draft, Gibson was signed by DET 4 X as
a free agent in his 17-year MLB
career.
-
#1 His single plate appearance
for LAD in the 1988 World Series resulted in one of the most (deservedly) famous home runs in the history of
baseball.
-
#2 MVP of the 1984 ALCS.
FCR - Warren
Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
Incorrect guesses: Billy Martin
SATURDAY —24-Sep
Q. Which
Gold Glover played in more World Series games in the 1960s than any other
player?
Hint: #1
He went three for five in his debut MLB game then hit an extra-inning
grand slam to help his team to victory in
the very next game.
Hint: #2
Two Hall of Famers grew up in the same small town in Saint Louis County
where he was born.
Hint: #3
His team never retired his number 3 uniform.
A. ROGER MARIS [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Won a GG in 1960. Played in 41 WS G 1960-1968 = 28 w/NYY + 13
w/STL. Won rings in 61, 62 & 67.
-
#1 Debuted 16-Apr-1957. 11th inning GS 18-Apr-1957.
-
#2 Born in Hibbing, MN, also the
birthplace of Kevin McHale. Robert
Zimmerman (a/k/a Bob Dylan) not born in Hibbing, but gr up there. They have been inducted, respectively, into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass &
the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
- #3 Maris wore #3 while playing for the Kansas
City A’s in 1959.
FCR - Bill
Deane, Cooperstown, New York
Incorrect guesses: Mickey Mantle, Willie Davis, Clete Boyer, Yogi
Berra, Bobby Richardson, Mike Shannon, Elston Howard
SATURDAY II —24-Sep
Q. Which
eighteen-year-old Rock is said to have homered on the first pitch he saw with
his new team in just his sixth professional baseball game?
Hint: #1
He is the only Glaswegian to play more than ten seasons in the majors.
Hint: #2
He once said, “Sometimes it’s like that ball never came down.”
A. BOBBY THOMSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Thomson homered for the
Class D 1942 Rocky Mount Rocks, located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He had debuted professionally 5 G earlier with
the Bristol Twins in Bristol, Virginia.
-
#1 Glaswegians are those from Glasgow, Scotland where Thomson was
born.
-
#2 Thomson’s 03-Oct-1951, home run ranked
number one on The Sporting News’s “Greatest Baseball Moments”. The “Shot Heard ’Round The World” would
forever, in his words, define his career and life.
FCR - Chip
Bird, Abingdon, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: Rocky Colavito
SUNDAY —25-Sep
Q. Whose fastball
helped one team overcome a supposedly long-time curse?
Hint: #1 He proudly
displayed a notable on-field accomplishment on his Ohio vanity tags.
Hint: #2 He defected
in the Netherlands to set up residency in Andorra.
A. AROLDIS CHAPMAN [B-R
Bio]
- Ans. Chapman appeared for CHC in 5 of the 7 G when
they won the WS in 2016, overcoming a 71-year curse. It was only the
franchise’s 3rd such championship in the modern era, the other 2
being in 1907 & 1908.
- #1 A Chapman pitch was once certified at 106 MPH. He chose to honor that on the license plates
of the cars he owned in multiple states:
Ohio, Kentucky & Florida.
- #2 He and a teammate left the Cuban national
team playing in Rotterdam and from Andorra petitioned MLB for
free agent status.
FCR - Mischa Gelman,
Pittsburgh
Incorrect guesses: Curt
Schilling, Bert Blyleven,
WEEK’S FINALE —25-Sep
Q. Which
middle infielder was chosen 1,158th in the MLB June Amateur Draft
yet became a major league All-Star?
Hint: #1
His choice to attend college at that point turned out to be very
fortunate.
Hint: #2
People have often mistaken his fiancée to be his daughter.
A. DANSBY
SWANSON [B-R
Bio]
-
Ans. When COL selected him the 10th
pick of the 38th
Round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft, he decided to accept a scholarship and play ball for Vanderbilt University. He was on the NL’s 2022 AS team. Chosen #1 of Round #1 by ARI in 2015. An additional two Commodore teammates (Carson Fulmer & Walker Buehler) were also taken in the 1st Round.
-
#1 In 2014, Vanderbilt won the
D-1 NCAA College World Series where Swanson was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
-
#2 Swanson proposed to professional soccer
player Mallory Pugh following the ATL’s WS
victory.
FCR - Evan
Thompson, Mesa
Incorrect guesses:
WEEKLY THEME – Players featured on MLB TV's
Promo filler played between innings of games aired on the "Extra
Innings" broadcast package. It's
played in lieu of showing the local tv spots that appear organically with the
feed from the station of the home team.
First 20 or so times? Not bad.
Next 200? Criminy!!
I cannot find a way to show you the clip, but
those of you who know whereof I speak, surely share my ennui.
They appear in this order:
Gehrig*....................... “Luckiest man”
speech in 1939............................... 113.6
Robinson*................... Making headlines in 1947......................................... 63.8
Thomson..................... In 1951, hitting…
well, you know.............................. 33.8
Maris........................... Going deep
with #61 in 1961.................................... 38.2
Aaron*........................ Rounding 3rd
with #715 in 1974.............................. 143.0
Gibson........................ Limping off
Eckersley, 1988 WS............................... 38.4
Ripken*....................... Passing Gehrig in
1995............................................. 95.9
Piazza*........................ Being great................................................................ 59.5
Thome*....................... Hitting #600 in 2011.................................................. 73.1
Chapman..................... Throwing a pitch at
106 MPH................................... 19.1
Trout........................... Great catch................................................................ 81.3
Swanson...................... 2021 WS win
celebration.......................................... 13.8
*Hall
of Famer
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme –
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Mon - Former
Negro League players with 1,500 or more hits
- Players
named "Henry Louis"
- Hall
of Famers who played a game at Municipal Stadium, home of the Savannah Bananas
Tues - Most
Career grand slams
- MVPs
who have held the active streak for consecutive games played
- Players
who played 2000 games in a 13 year period
Sat - Players
who hit famous home runs
Sun - Protagonists
of the 10 greatest moments in baseball history
- Players
highlighted in 10 most memorable moments in baseball history
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