MONDAY — 14-Apr-2025
Q. Which
former Blue Jay was the only teammate of Barry Bonds to win an MVP?
Hint: #1
He was the first and second National League second baseman with a one
hundred runs-batted-in seasons this century.
Hint: #2
He hit for the cycle in the same game where a batter on the opposing
team had five hits in five at-bats without a single run-batted-in.
-
Ans. Kent was the NL MVP in 2000. Teammate Bonds was
2nd that year behind Kent & had also finished 2nd in 1991. He had been the NL MVP in 1990, 1992 & 1993 then would go on to win that accolade in 2001, 2002*, 2003 & 2004.
-
#1 Had 108 RBI in 2002 for SFG
then 107 in 2004 for HOU.
-
#2 On 03-May-1999, PIT’s C, Jason Kendall went 5 for 5 and neither scored nor did he cause anyone to score. Meanwhile, SFG’s Kent was 5 for five, scored
twice & drove in 5 while hitting for the cycle. Ironically, PIT won 9-8.
*Unanimous
FCR - Jake
Rinloan, Chico, California
Incorrect guesses: Roberto Alomar
TUESDAY — 15-Apr-2025
Q. Who
had the major leagues' single-season highest qualifying batting average in the
1960s?
Hint: #1
He is the only left-handed batter to hit more than forty home runs in a
season in the history of his now 125-year-old franchise.
Hint: #2
He was driving a tractor on his family’s farm by the age of ten.
-
Ans. Cash hit .361
for DET in 1961, a season that focused more on a different stat.
-
#1 His 41 homers in 1961 remain
the most by a left-handed batter in Tigers history.
-
#2 Cash was born in the nadir of the
Great Depression, 10-Nov-1934. His
family owned 250 acres near Justiceburg, Texas, growing mostly cotton.
FCR - Eric
Lundegaard, Seattle
Incorrect guesses: Willie Stargell, Stan Musial, Roberto
Clemente, Carl Yastrzemski, Mickey Mantle
WEDNESDAY — 16-Apr-2025
Q. Who
is the only player to hit exactly twenty-three home runs per season for each of
four consecutive seasons?
Hint: #1
He was the first player to be the Most Valuable Player of a League
Championship Series playing for a team that didn’t win that series.
Hint: #2
He tied Ted Williams for the most career home runs hit in major league
All-Star competition by an American
Leaguer.
-
Ans. Hit 23 HR, no more, no fewer
every year, first as an Angel in 1984, then 1985-87 as a Baltimore Oriole. With remarkable consistency, he hit 21 &
22 in the 2 years before the streak and 25 in 1988, the year after it ended,
for BAL (18) & DET (7).
-
#1 The Angels lost to MIL in 1982,
but the voters recognized his contribution.
Mike Scott (1986 HOU & Jeffrey Leonard (1987 SFG) were the next to
do so.
-
#2 Lynn & Williams each hit 4
ASG HR, 2 behind Musial’s MLB-leading 6.
FCR - Lee
Dembart, Hollywood, California
Incorrect guesses: George Brett
THURSDAY — 17-Apr-2025
Q. Which
one-time Kansas City Royals player is the only non-Yankee switch-hitter ever
voted Most Valuable Player in the American League?
Hint: #1
He helped take down the Big Red Machine.
Hint: #2
He is the first player at his position to start the All-Star Game for
both leagues.
-
Ans. BBTL Blue was AL MVP in 1971. Played for KCR in 1982-83.
-
#1 Blue & his OAK teammates won
the WS in 1972, 4-3 over CIN. The CIN
team dominance in the 1970s earned them the “Big Red Machine” nickname.
-
#2 He was the starting pitcher
for the AL in 1971 & 1975 pitching for OAK.
Playing for SFG, he started for the NL in 1978. The NL won all 3
of his ASG starts.
FCR - Tom
Hannon, Amesbury Massachusetts
Incorrect guesses: Reggie Jackson, George Brett, Carlos Beltran,
Reggie Smith
FRIDAY — 18-Apr-2025
Q. Who
is still the youngest player to
reach seven hundred career bases-on-balls?
Hint: #1
He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting then second in Most Valuable
Player voting just three seasons later.
Hint: #2
He remains the only player in major league history to accumulate one
hundred home runs and four hundred walks before his twenty-fifth birthday.
-
Ans. On 21-Aug-2024, Soto drew his 700th career walk—at age 25.
-
#1 Soto was runner-up to Ronald
Acuna in the 2018 NL ROY vote, then 2nd to former teammate Bryce Harper
in the 2021 NL MVP race. (Those 2nd-place
finished didn’t seem to deter Mets negotiators in December of 2024.)
-
#2 Soto hit his 100th
HR on 12-Apr-2022 at age 23. He had
already drawn over 400 BB. Also
drawn? Comparisons to Ted Williams for
his extraordinary batting eye & discipline.
FCR - Michael
Schneider, Wilmington, Delaware
Incorrect guesses: Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Mathews, Mickey Mantle, Reggie
Jackson, Jim Rice, Mel Ott
SATURDAY — 19-Apr-2025
Q. Which
player retired by removing himself from the roster of the Cibao team in the
Dominican League just after collecting the game-winning bases-loaded hit off of
former Major league teammate Jose Mesa in the penultimate game of the Dominican
League championship?
Hint: #1
He was the first player to win the Jackie Jensen Spirit award.
Hint: #2 He was known for his low, one-leg-out crouch.
-
Ans. Mesa and Pena had an
interesting relationship. On 16-May-1995, veteran Pena slapped batterymate Jose Mesa in the face
w/his mitt during a 9th-inning mound visit, telling the younger Mesa
to pay attention after a wild pitch with NYY batter Luis Polonia at bat. Mesa was not in line for the save & may
not have taken this appearance as seriously as Pena thought he should.
-
#1 Begun in 1990, the Jackie
Jensen Spirit Award was discontinued after the 2019 season.
-
#2 This famous crouch is known to be
imitated by toddlers world-wide. 1, 2,
FCR - Ross
Retterer, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: Manny Sanguillen, Carlos Baerga, Julio
Franco
WEEKEND EXTRA — 19-Apr-2025
Q. Which
curly-haired ginger hit forty home runs—no more, no fewer—in each of four
consecutive seasons?
Hint: #1
He then missed by only two home runs in each of the following two seasons.
Hint: #2
He finished with more major league career home runs than Carl
Yastrzemski, Jeff Bagwell or Vladimir Guerrero.
-
Ans. Dunn hit 40 HR in 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008.
-
#1 Then hit 38 in 2009 &
2010.
-
#2 Dunn’s 462 career HR exceed the
totals of 50+ Hall of Famers known
for their power.
FCR - Jesse
Asbury, Norman, Oklahoma
Incorrect guesses: Rusty Staub, Ted Kluszewski, Boog Powell, Mark
McGwire, Mike Schmidt, Darrell Evans
SUNDAY — 20-Apr-2025
Q. Which
player hit a 10th-inning, game-winning home run with a pink bat with
his mother’s name on it on Mothers’ Day?
Hint: #1
He arranged to retire with the same franchise that had drafted him.
Hint: #2
He once homered when four teammates homered behind him in the same
inning.
- Ans. Mothers’ Day 2006
-
#1 Hall was drafted in the 6th
round in 1998 by MIL, 176th overall.
-
#2 In the 4th inning
on 22-Apr-2006, Hall led off with a HR off CIN’s Brandon Claussen.
That was followed by home runs by MIL teammates Damian Miller, Brady Clark & J.J. Hardy, all
off Claussen, all still in the 4th inning. CIN then brought in Chris Hammond to replace
the beleaguered starter. Hammond brought
CIN some pride as he struck out the next 2 batters. However, the redoubtable Prince Fielder was
up next & he supplied the 5th round-tripper of the frame. Hall then flied out to end the madness.
FCR - Ross
Glatzer, Lancaster, Sluth Carolina
Incorrect guesses:
WEEK’S THEME
– Trim Kurkjian’s 4 X 4 ream, players whose first and last names are four
letters.
Player Pos WAR TK comments
Kent................... 2nd.............. 55.5........... “Should
be in the Hall.”
Cash................... 1st.............. 52.0........... “Never
had a walk-off hit.”
Lynn................... OF.............. 50.2........... “Only ASG grand slam”
Blue..................... P............... 45.1........... “Refused a name change to
“True”.
Soto................... CF.............. 36.7........... “Worth it? Probably”
Pena................... C............... 24.7........... “Most games caught w/o ever
catching a no-hitter”
Dunn.................. DH............. 17.9........... “Big Donkey.
Former quarterback”
Hall.................... SS................ 9.6........... “Did well on Mothers’ Day”
Rounding
out Kurkjian’s starting roster:
Babe
Ruth......... RF............ 182.6........... “Of course”
Pete
Rose.......... 3rd.............. 79.6........... “Sorry he’s gone”
[I
would probably have added Jose Mesa from the “bull penn”. ~ dbb]
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme – Randall Chandler, Germantown,
Tennessee (After Cash)
Incorrect
theme guesses:
Mon - All-stars
with four letters in their first and last names
Thurs - Players
with 40+ career WAR with exactly four letters in each name
- Players with 45+
career WAR with exactly four letters in each name
- Four-letter first
and last name not in the hall of fame
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