MONDAY — 20-Oct-2025
Q. Who was the first pitcher to
strike out three hundred batters in a season in both leagues?
Hint: #1 Pitching for the New York
Yankees, he once surrendered four home runs in a single inning.
Hint: #2 He is the franchise
career pitching leader in ERA, shutouts and strikeouts per nine innings pitched
in one of the teams he pitched for.
A.
RANDY JOHNSON [SABR
Bio]
- Ans. In 1993, Johnson had 308 K for SEA in the
AL. Pitching for ARI, he exceeded 300 Ks
4 years in a row: 1999-2002.
- #1 4 HR/inning: 4th inning of 21-Aug-2005. White Sox batters Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand,
Paul Konerko & Chris Widger all homered with 1 out. Johnson finished the game and took the loss.
- #2 Career stat leader in categories for SEA.
FCR - Terry Gans, Carlos,
California
Incorrect guesses: Rube Waddell,
Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan
TUESDAY — 21-Oct-2025
Q. Who was the first National
League pitcher in the Modern Era to strike out more than three hundred batters
in a season?
Hint: #1 He and a teammate were the
first teammates to win Cy Young Awards in back-to-back seasons.
Hint: #2 He ended his career with
more strikeouts than innings pitched.
A.
SANDY KOUFAX [SABR
Bio]
-
Ans. In 1963, Koufax struck out 306
then broke his own record in 1965 with 382 which is still the most by a National
Leaguer or a lefty.
- #1 Don Drysdale won the CYA in 1962. Koufax won the 1st of his 3 in 1963. Koufax also won in 1965 & 1966,
all 3 unanimous. Beginning in 1967 a CYA was awarded to a
pitcher in each league.
- #2 Retired w/2,396 K in 2,324⅓ IP.
FCR - Richard Zamoff, Washington.
DC
Incorrect guesses: Curt Schilling,
Justin Verlander, Bob Gibson
WEDNESDAY — 22-Oct-2025
Q. Which major league pitcher claims
the most consecutive seasons of at least two hundred strikeout each year?
Hint: #1 In the decade of the
1970s, he had the lowest qualifying ERA for one season in the National League.
Hint: #2 His father was a member
of the United States Walker Cup golf team.
A.
TOM SEAVER [SABR
Bio]
- Ans. From 1968 through 1976, Seaver struck out
205, 208, 283, 289, 249, 251, 201, 243 & 235
all with NYM.
- #1 Seaver’s 1.76 in 1971 was the
best in the NL in any year 1970-1979. He
also won NL ERA titles in 1970 (2.82) & 1973 (2.08).
- #2 Charles Seaver was on the
Walker Cup Team for the U.S. in 1932.
FCR - Dave Rickard, Tigard, Oregon
Incorrect guesses: Bob Gibson,
Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Ferguson Jenkins, Phil Niekro
THURSDAY — 23-Oct-2025
Q. Only one person has won the
Most Valuable Player Award for his performance in an American League Championship
Series and for his performance in an NLCS.
Who was this one-time San Francisco Giant?
Hint: #1 He has been a
Double-Unique since he arrived in the majors more than forty years ago.
Hint: #2 He did not attend, as one
might think, Gonzaga, James Madison or Mississippi State Universities.
A.
OREL HERSHISER
[SABR
Bio]
- Ans. Hershiser pitched in 4 games, including a
shutout in game 7 helping the Dodgers fend off Dwight Gooden & the
Mets to win the 1988 NLCS. Then, in 1995 he helped CLE reach the World
Series for the first time in since 1954.
He pitched & won 2 of CLE’s 4 ALCS wins that
year. Hershiser pitched for SFG in 1998.
- #1 Complete Double-Unique list.
- #2 Those schools, in addition to Yale, Georgia,
Fresno State & Drake, among others have a bulldog for the school’s
mascot. Hershiser attended Bowling Green
U. LAD manager
Tommy Lasorda
told Hershiser that he was too timid on the mound, giving hitters too much
respect. He gave him the nickname
"Bulldog" so that he would have a tougher attitude in games. It seemed to work.
FCR - Jason Winston, Riverside, California
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Edmonds, Madison Bumgarner,
Dusty Baker. Justin Verlander
FRIDAY — 24-Oct-2025
Q. Which one-time Houston Astros
pitcher tied a major league record when he allowed ten (10!) extra-base hits in
one game?
Hint: #1 He won a World Series
game for three different major league franchises.
Hint: #2 He was voted MVP of the
first postseason series he ever played in.
A.
CURT SCHILLING [SABR
Bio]
- Ans. On 10-Aug-2006 in
Kauffman Stadium, Schilling, playing for BOS, gave up…
XBH
to David DeJesus, 2 doubles 2
to Mark Grudzielanek, 1 double 1
to Emil Brown HR + 1
double 2
to Reggie Sanders 3 doubles 3
to John Buck 1 double 1
to Doug Mientkiewicz 1 double 1
10
-
#1 Schilling won WS games for PHI—a shutout of TOR in game 6 in 1993;
ARI—a 3-hit win over NYY in game 1 in 2001;
BOS—a win over STL in game 2 in 2004;
&
BOS—a win over COL in game 2 in 2007.
- #2 Voted MVP of 1993 NLCS, a series
win over ATL. Although he was not the
pitcher of record in any game of the series, he threw 8 innings each for the PHI
wins in games 1& 5.
FCR - Marc Kell, Columbia,
Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Nolan Ryan, Roger
Clemens, Randy Johnson, Dwight Gooden
SATURDAY — 25-Oct-2025
Q. Which pitcher’s perfect World
Series ERA was slightly marred by a future World Series Most Valuable Player?
Hint: #1 He is the only pitcher to
homer twice in an Opening Day game.
Hint: #2 He used an alias outside
of baseball to keep from being recognized.
A.
MADISON BUMGARNER [B-R Bio]
- Ans. When Sal Perez homered off Bumgarner in the 7th
inning of game 1 of the
2014 WS, few suspected that would be the only WS run ever scored on Bumgarner. (It was also the only run KCR scored that
day.) Perez was WS MVP the very next
year in the 2025 WS when the
Royals beat the Mets.
- #1 He hit 2 HR 02-Apr-2017.
- #2 His wife called him Mason Saunders, until his
cover was blown when he was participating in a rodeo.
FCR - Lincoln Mitchell, New York
City
Incorrect guesses:
SUNDAY — 26-Oct-2025
Q. What former pitcher taught
Frank Viola a changeup that transformed him from an 11-25 record over his first
two seasons into a Cy Young Award winner?
Hint: #1 He was the first pitcher
to throw a shutout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Hint: #2 Yes, he finally played
for San Diego.
A.
JOHNNY PODRES [SABR
Bio]
- Ans. Podres was the pitching coach for MIN 1981-85. Viola became the World Series MVP in 1987 & won
a CYA in 1988.
- #1 On 04-Jun-1958, Podres
blanked CIN on 3 hits.
- #2 Podres was one of the Padres. He pitched for SDP in 1969, his last
stop in the majors as a player.
FCR - Art Mugalian, Minneapolis
Incorrect guesses: Don Newcombe,
Gaylord Perry, Ruben Gomez, Stan Williams, Carl Erskine
WEEK’S THEME – Pitchers who were
honored by Sports Illustrated magazine as “Sportsmen of the Year”
Year Honoree Notes WAR Yr WAR
1955... Podres............ WS
MVP, 1957 NL ERA title........... 1.0.................. 29.8
................................... Led
BRO to only WS championship
1965... Koufax........... HOF;
WS MVP 1963, 1965; 4 no-hitters; CYA 3X;...... 8.1.................. 48.9
................................... Perfect
game, 3 WS rings
1969... Seaver........... HOF;
No-hitter Etc............ 7.2.................. 109.9
1988... Hershiser...... CYA,
WS MVP, ........... 7.2.................. 56.0
2001... Johnson........ HOF;
CYA X6 K titles X9; ........... 10.1................ 101.1
2001... Schilling........ WS
MVP, Etc............ 8.8.................. 79.5
2014... Bumgarner.... WS
MVP, Etc............ 3.7.................. 37.2
Also technically qualifying:
Pedro Martinez, Mike Tomlin,
Byung-Hyun Kim, Derek Lowe, Keith Foulke, et al, since the whole 2004 Boston Red Sox team received this honor.
First Correct Respondent identifying
theme – Jerry Miller, Liberty Hill, Texas
Incorrect theme guesses:
Tues - Strikeout record firsts
- Left handed
pitchers who threw perfect games
Wed - Most games with 15 or more strikeouts by a pitcher all-time
- Hall of
Famers with lowest career ERA
Thu - All won the Cy Young for NL teams the same year they won the World
Series
Sun - Pitchers who won World Series clinchers
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