Q. Whose best career
season was overshadowed by a young celebrated phenom?
Hint: #1 He was the
bright spot for his team when they lost the World Series.
Hint: #2 He is the last
player to win his league’s home run title and have fewer strikeouts than home
runs the same year.
A. TED KLUSZEWSKI [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In 1954 for CIN, Klu hit 49 HR,
drove in 141 , both leading the majors, in addition to hitting
.326 with an OPS of 1.049 & OPS+ of 167.
However, young Willie Mays, recently returned from army service &
still with the glow of his 1951 ROY season, led the league in triples, OPS
& OPS+ and led the majors in average & slugging. Here are the MVP voting
results.
- #1 In the 1959 WS, LAD beat CHW in 6
G. Kluszewski, however, hit 3 of his
team’s 4 HR in that Series.
- #2 In his signature season of 1954, he homered 49
times but struck out only 35 times.
FCR - John Romps,
Dover, New Hampshire
Incorrect guesses: Barry
Bonds, Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Holmes, Monte Irvin, Johnny Mize
TUESDAY — 18-Jun
Q. Who is the only
player to have walk-off hits against both Dennis Eckersley and Mariano Rivera?
Hint: #1 He hit the
most career grand slams among players born outside the United States.
Hint: #2 No other
player has hit more home runs in the postseason.
A. MANNY RAMIREZ [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Here are Eckersley's 18 walk-offs & Rivera's 24 walk-offs. Only Ramirez is on both: 16‑Jul‑1995 vs. Eckersley on OAK;
then April 3‑Apr‑2001 vs. Rivera on NYY.
- #1 With 21 grand slams, Manny trails only Alex
Rodriguez with 25 & Lou Gehrig at 23.
- #2 Ramirez leads the field with 29 postseason
home runs. However, only 2 behind him is
active player Jose Altuve.
FCR - Bob Heckman,
Alexandria, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: David
Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez
WEDNESDAY — 19-Jun
Q. Who played in the
most postseason games in the majors in the 1960s?
Hint: #1 No other
player won more World Series rings or took home more MVPs than he did in that
period.
Hint: #2 With all his
other accolades, he won a league MVP that is too often overlooked or forgotten.
A. ROGER MARIS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Maris played in 41 WS G 1960-1968: 1960-64; 1967-68.
- #1 He is the only player who was on 3 WS winners,
1961, 1962 & 1967.
- #2 Maybe it just seems like few fans remember
that Maris was the AL MVP in 1960. He was the reigning MVP when he broke
Ruth’s HR record and earned a second MVP.
FCR - Michael
Schneider, Wilmington, Delaware
Incorrect guesses: Yogi
Berra, Elston Howard, Frank Robinson, Maury Wills, Mickey Mantle
MIDWEEK BONUS
— 19-Jun
Q. Which
cousin of Reggie Jackson played in the majors at the same time he did?
Hint: #1
He (not Jackson) holds the record for the highest career World Series
slugging mark.
Hint: #2
In retirement from baseball, he is now an avid cyclist and appears, a
mere few weeks from entering his seventh decade, to be in the best shape of his
life.
A. BARRY BONDS [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Bonds debuted w/PIT in 1986. Jackson’s MLB career wasn’t over until the
end of 1987. They were both in the
majors, albeit in different leagues, for two seasons.
-
#1 In the 2002 WS, Bonds’s
slugging percentage was an otherworldly 1.294 on 30 PA.
-
#2 Read about Bonds the
cyclist.
FCR - John
Rickert, Terr Haute, Indiana
IN MEMORIAM — 19-Jun
Q. Who
is the only player to win four home run titles and four stolen base titles?
Hint: #1
He was indirectly named for the U.S.’s largest president.
Hint: #2
He once held the record for winning MVP awards with the most years between.
Hint: #3
He led the National League in WAR ten times.
Hint: #4
He led the majors in WAR eight of those times.
Hint: #5
He appeared and played in twenty-four All-Star games.
Hint: #6
Ted Williams believed that the All-Star Game existed because of him.
Hint: #7
His career All-Star Game records include most games, most at-bats, most
plate appearances, most runs scored, hits, total bases, triples, singles
and stolen bases.
Hint: #8
He is tied for the single-game All-Star records for stolen bases.
Hint: #9
He was the first player to be a two-time All-Star Game MVP award winner.
Hint: #10
He played in four MLB World Series, winning once.
Hint: #11
He twice played in tie-breaking, season-ending three-game series,
winning both.
Hint: #12 He twice played in an NLCS, each time
for a different team, winning once.
Hint: #13
He is the only player to have triples three times in a game and homered
four times in another.
Hint: #14
He once led he league in oWAR and dWAR in the same season.
Hint: #15
Only he has hit twenty-two home runs in extra innings.
Hint: #16
He is unmatched by hitting at least one home run each in innings one
through sixteen.
Hint: #17
He was the first player in his franchise’s history to win a league
Rookie of the Year Award.
Hint: #18
He and a teammate homered in the same game sixty-eight times.
Hint: #19 He and a different teammate homered fifty
times in the same game.
Hint: #20
He was the first player with back-to-back 30/30 seasons.
Hint: #21
He was the founding member of the 300/300 club.
Hint: #22
It was his fly ball that led Mickey Mantle to famously give chase and
step on an exposed sprinkler head, tearing up his knee.
Hint: #23
He was professional at age seventeen when he helped his team win a championship.
Hint: #24
A three-time MVP says of him “There's absolutely no comparisons to me or
anyone else to (him). (He), he's the
greatest baseball player of all time.”
A. WILLIE MAYS [SABR Bio] [NYT
Obit]
-
Ans. Mays led the NL in HR in 1954,
1962, 1964 & 1965. He led the NL in
SB in 1956, 1957,1958 & 1959.
-
#1 Willie, a junior to his father
“Willie Howard Mays”, whose name was a tribute to then President William Howard Taft.
-
#2 Voted MVP in 1954 then in 1965.
- #3 Annual NL WAR best in 1954 (10.5),
‘55 (9.2), ’57 (8.3), ’58 (10.2), ’60 (9.5),
’62 (10.5), 63 (10.6), ’64 (11.0),
’65 (11.2) & ’66 (9.0).
- #4 See #3.
- #5 ASG 1954-73, + an extra played in each of
1959-62.
- #6 Williams quote was, “They invented the
All-Star Game for Willie Mays.”
- #7 See ASG records here.
- #8 Tied with Kelly Gruber, Roberto Alomar, Kenny
Lofton & Starlin Castro w/2 SB in an ASG.
-
#9 Was named ASG MVP in 1963 & 1968.
- #10 Was in the WS in 1951, 1954, 1962 & 1973. He also played in the 1948 Negro
League WS.
- #11 Played in 1951 3 extra G vs Bro (was on deck when Thompson homered)
and the 1962 3 extra G vs. LAD where his 9th-inning single in G 3 began
the series winning rally.
- #12 Played in 1971 NLCS for SFG & 1973 NLCS for NYM.
- #13 Hit 3 3B on 15-Sep-1960. Hit 4 HR on 30-Apr-1961.
- #14 Mays’s offensive WAR of 8.4 in
1954 led MLB. His defensive WAR of 2.0,
led the NL the same season.
- #15 Here’s the list.
- #16 Check here.
- #17 Named 1951 NL ROY.
- #18 Homered 68 X w/Willie McCovey.
- #19 Homered 50 X w/Orlando Cepeda.
- #20 In 1956 & 1957, Mays had 36 HR + 40
SB & 35 HR & 38 SB respectively.
- #21 Mays combined his 660 HR with his 339 SB like
no one else every had. Seven other players have now reached the
300/300 level.
- #22 Played for the 1948 Birmingham
Black Barons who won the NAL
Championship Series over the Kansas City Monarchs (4-3-1), but lost to the Homestead
Grays in the
subsequent WS.
- #23 1948 BBB of the Negro American
League.
- #24 Quote is from Alex Rodriguez.
THURSDAY — 20-Jun
Q. Who
was the first native Canadian player to hit twenty doubles, twenty triples and
twenty home runs in the same season?
Hint: #1
In his major league debut, his teammate, the starting pitcher, set a new
all-time record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in one game.
Hint: #2
In his first season (124 games) as a professional, he (not the pitcher) had
208 hits, 187 RBI, 14 triples, 47 doubles, hit .383 and,
not that he would brag, but also stole seventeen bases.
A. JEFF HEATH [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. In 1941, most people were
focused on the amazing feats of DiMaggio & Williams, but Heath did all
right himself playing for CLE. He hit 32
2B, 20, 3B & 24 HR, the1st AL player with that combination of stats. For good measure, he added 123 RBI, stole 18
bases & had a .340 BA. He made the
AL All-Star & finished 8th in the MVP voting. In the AL, only George Brett & Curtis
Granderson have matched that output.
-
#1 On 13-Sep-1936, 21-year-old Heath took
his place in LF and became a major leaguer. During the G, he was witness to Bob Feller’s
17 K of the A’s.
-
#2 Those stats were playing in
1936 for the C level Zanesville
Greys, but his final 12 G were in the majors with CLE.
FCR - Mark
DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Larry Walker, Tip O’Neill, George Selkirk
FRIDAY —
21-Jun
Q. Which
St. Louis Cardinal speedster won three consecutive National League triples titles?
Hint: #1
Satchel Paige once remarked that he resembled a young version of his
Negro Leagues veteran father.
Hint: #2
His peregrinations as a child paralleled those of Hall of Famers Frank Robinson,
Eddie Mathews, Biz Mackey and Joe Morgan.
A. GARRY TEMPLETON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Templeton hit 18,
13 & 19 3B for STL in 1977, 78 & 79 respectively
-
#1 Templeton's father, Spiavia
Templeton, is listed in some sources as a Negro Leagues infielder but is not
included in The
Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. He may have played in a lesser league or after
1950, in the last days of the leagues.
His brother & son both played in the
minors.
-
#2 As are the players mentioned,
Templeton is a native of Texas, but matured in California.
FCR - Joe
Schubert, Springboro, Ohio
Incorrect guesses: Lou Brock, Kurt Flood, Ozzie Smith, Willie
McGee, Vince Coleman
SATURDAY — 22-Jun
Q. Who
is the only outfielder to homer twice in an inning and do it twice in a career?
Hint: #1
Hit exactly one (1) triple playing for the Red Sox.
Hint: #2
What was once the Urban Invitational now bears his name.
A. ANDRE DAWSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. 22 + 22
= 30-Jul-1978, 3rd inning
+ 24-Sep-1985, 5th inning. Career HRs #36, 37, 202, 203
-
#1 Played for BOS 1993, 1994. 3B = 22-Jun-1993.
-
#2 The Andre Dawson
Classic is the annual, round-robin collegiate baseball tournament
designed by MLB to highlight HBCUs & their baseball
programs.
FCR - Jesse
Asbury, Norman, Oklahoma
Incorrect guesses: Jeff King, Edwin Encarnacion, Joe Carter
SUNDAY — 23-Jun
Q. Who
is the last player to qualify for this week’s theme?
Hint: #1
After returning from the service, he became a major league umpire.
Hint: #2
He was a backup catcher for the last World Series-winning Cincinnati
Reds team before they became the “Big Red Machine”.
A. BILL BAKER [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. See below.
-
#1 Baker was an NL regular season
umpire for the 1957 season.
-
#2 Baker backed up veteran Jimmie Wilson on the CIN team that beat DET in the 1940 WS. The Reds weren’t again in the WS until 1970.
FCR - Terry
Walters, Wabasha, Minnesota
Incorrect guesses: Jimmie Wilson, Johnny Edwards
WEEK’S THEME – Players
who were walked intentionally at least four times in a game https://stathead.com/tiny/Vg1A
Player 4 IBB Date Opp Mgr
Baker.......... 1943-09-28(2)......... Leo Durocher
Bonds.......... 23-Apr-2004.......... Jim
Tracy
.................... 01-May-2004......... Jack
McKeon
.................... 2004-Jun-12(2)...... Lee
Mazzilli
.................... 22-Sep-2004.......... Phil Garner
Dawson........ 22-May-1990*....... Lou Piniella
Heath........... 14-Jul-1941........... Joe Cronin
Klu.............. 07-Sep-1951.......... Phil Cavarretta
Maris........... 22-May-1962......... Bill Rigney
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69940893/514906636.0.jpg){kind=link}
Ramirez....... 05-Jun-2001........... Phil Garner
Templeton... 05-Jul-1985........... Chuck Tanner
*Received 5 IBB that day.
First Correct Respondent identifying theme – Warren Kent, Whitehall, Michigan (after Maris)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tues - Highest OPS, BA, or something similar for eligible players not in the Hall
- Players you forgot were on the White Sox
If you know
someone who would enjoy receiving daily Horsehide Trivia questions, they need
only drop an email message to horsehidetrivi@aol.com.
Click here => FULL WEEK to see this week’s quiz, compete with
questions, answers and even the incorrect guesses.
Scroll back to see previous
Horsehide Trivia posts as far back as 2010.
Quizzes before that may also be available upon request.
Horsehide Trivia
encourages independent research. ⚾️
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tues - Highest
OPS, BA, or something similar for eligible players not in the Hall
- Players you
forgot were on the White Sox?
If you know
someone who would enjoy receiving daily Horsehide Trivia questions, they need
only drop an email message to horsehidetrivi@aol.com.
Click here => FULL WEEK to see this week’s quiz, compete with
questions, answers and even the incorrect guesses.
Scroll back to see previous
Horsehide Trivia posts as far back as 2010.
Quizzes before that may also be available upon request.
Horsehide Trivia
encourages independent research. ⚾️