Sunday, January 6, 2013 Answer Notes

SUNDAY

Q.         Who was traded three times before winning the Rookie of the Year Award?

Hint:     He is the last player to drive in eight runs in a game that his team lost.

Hint:     All eight RBIs came off the same pitcher.

Hint:     A wild pitch probably prevented him from driving in a ninth run that day.

Twint:    He replaced Manny.

A.         Jason Bay

FCR -    Mark DeLodovico, Rockville, MD

Notes on JASON BAY

Jason Bay was drafted by the Expos in June 2000, traded to the Mets for Lou Collier in March 2002 then sent to the Padres in a five player deal four months later.  After getting into 3 games with the Padres in early 2003 he was traded to the Pirates with Oliver Perez for Brian Giles at the end of August and was Pittsburgh’s regular left fielder for the rest of the season.  He won the Rookie of the Year award the following year.

Players have driven in eight or more runs in a game 130 times since 1919, including Texas’ Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton in 2012.  In only four of those games was it done for the losing side: Lou Gehrig on 09-Sep-1932 (G1) in a 14-13 loss to Detroit; Lee Thomas of the Angels in a 13-12 loss to the As on 05-Sep-1961 (G2); Washington’s Mike Epstein on 19-Jun-1970 (G1) in a 12-10 loss to Baltimore; and Bay, on 19‑Sep‑2003 (G1) in the 21^st game of his career, a 10-9 loss to the Cubs.  Interesting that three of these four came during double-headers.

Bay had another eight RBI game the next year, also in a double header on 02‑Jul‑2004 (G2) against the Brewers, making him one of only 11 players with multiple eight-RBI games.

Carlos Zambrano, who pitched 4.2 innings for the Cubs, surrendered all of the Pirates runs in a 10-9 Cubs’ victory.  Bay’s big day started with a second inning grand slam to erase a 3-0 deficit, but Pirates pitchers couldn’t hold the lead and the Cubs scored six in the next half inning to take a 9-4 lead.  Bay cut the deficit to 9-6 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning and he tied the score with a two-run double in the fifth that knocked Zambrano out of the box.  The Cubs retook the lead in the sixth inning and shut down the Pirates the rest of the way, including striking Bay out to end the seventh.  Bay came to the plate in the fifth inning with two out and the bases loaded.  On a 2-1 count Zambrano uncorked a wild pitch that allowed a run to score and moved the others runners up a base then Bay lined the next pitch for a two run double.  Rob Mackowiak was the runner who moved from first to second on the wild pitch.  He stole six bases and hit four triples in 193 plate appearance that year and had 13 steals and six triples as a regular the next season so he had the speed to potentially score from first on the double.

While this was one of the 130 games in which a player had at least eight RBI, the wild pitch may have prevented Bay from becoming one of only 33 players with at least nine RBI in a game.

On 31-Jul-2008 Bay was part of a 3-team deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers and several players to Pittsburgh.  He played left field for the Red Sox the next day and missed only three games the rest of the season.  This article reviews the trade in detail:  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3513383

SUNDAY X 2

Q.         Who was the first player after Walt Dropo in 1950 to have a season with at least 120 games played and more than one RBI per game?

Hint:     He was also the second to do so, and missed by three RBI doing it for three consecutive seasons.

Hint:     He won two MVP awards despite only having the league’s 44^th and 26^th highest Wins Above Replacement totals in those respective seasons.

Twint:    He was the brother-in-law of someone else in this week’s quiz.

Twint:    He took his nickname from professional wrestling, not the horror movies.

A.         Juan Gonzalez

FCR -    Damian Begley, New York, NY

Notes on JUAN GONZALEZ

Juan Gonzalez had 144 RBI in 134 games played in 1996. George Brett (118 RBI in 117 games in 1980), Jeff Bagwell (116 RBI in 110 games in 1994) and Kirby Puckett (112 RBI in 108 games in 1994) accomplished this while playing in fewer than 120 games before Gonzalez did it. Also in 1996 Ken Griffey, Jr. matched but didn’t exceed his games played with 140 RBI in 140 games.

Gonzalez had 157 RBI in 154 games in 1998 and fell just short in 1997 with 131 RBI in 133 games.  Manny Ramirez is the only other player to do this since 1950, accumulating 165 RBI in 147 games in 1999.  Sammy Sosa (160 RBI in 160 games in 2001) and Gonzalez again in 2001 (140 RBI in 140 games) are the only others to have their RBI totals match their games played while appearing in over 120 contests since Walt Dropo’s big year in 1950.

In 1996 Gonzalez had a WAR of 3.5, a total that was exceeded by 29 position players and 14 pitchers.  Griffey (9.5), Alex Rodriguez (9.2), Chuck Knoblauch (8.4), Pat Hentgen (8.2), Roger Clemens (7.4) and Jim Thome (7.2) each had WAR figures that were more than double Gonzalez’.  He was also beaten in WAR by his Texas Rangers teammates Ken Hill (6.3), Ivan Rodriguez (5.8), Rusty Greer (5.1) and Mark McLemore (4.0).  Nevertheless, here are the results of the 1996 AL MVP vote.  (Note that some players who did not receive any votes, and therefore are not on this list, had higher WAR totals than Gonzalez. Examples include Edgar Martinez (6.3), Hill and Greer.

In 1998 Gonzalez improved his WAR to 4.6 but was still beaten by 18 position players and 7 pitchers, including teammate Ivan Rodriguez (6.1). Here is the 1996 MVP vote.

Gonzalez’s best season in this category was in1993, when he ranked seventh among position players and twelfth overall in Wins Above Replacement.  Despite his gaudy offensive numbers Gonzalez’s career WAR of 35.1 puts him tied for 534^th all time.  Here is a list of the top 1,000 WAR totals through 2012.

Gonzalez was briefly married to volleyball star Elaine Lopez, sister of Javy Lopez.  More information about Gonzalez’s marriages can be found in this article, with a reference to his marriage to Lopez appearing about half way into the article:  http://www.juangone.com/articles.php?articleid=2

When Gonzalez was a child he liked wrestling, especially Igor the Magnificent, and as a nine-year-old he decided his friends should call him Igor.  The second paragraph in the “Page 1: The Cover” section of this article mentions this:  http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15563

SUNDAY X 3

Q.         Who was left stranded on second base, representing the tying run, at the conclusion of Canada’s 6-5 loss to the USA at the 2009 World Baseball Classic?

Hint:     He was the highest drafted Canadian-born position player.

Hint:     His sister was the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year.

Hint:     One Canadian-born General Manager acquired him from another Canadian GM.

Twint:    He joined another player from this list the first time the Toronto Blue Jays had two Canadian-born position players in the same starting line up.

A.         Brett Lawrie

FCR -    Bob Wilbur, Spokane, WA

Notes on BRETT LAWRIE

On 07-Mar-2009, Team Canada was down by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth.  After Adam Stern grounded out, Russell Martin and Joey Votto hit back-to-back doubles off J.J. Putz, cutting the USA’s lead to a single run.  Justin Morneau then grounded out to short and manager Ernie Whitt sent 19-year-old Lawrie in to pinch run for Votto.  Jason Bay ended the game with a fly ball to right field.  Here is the play-by-play of the game:  http://sports.yahoo.com/wbc/boxscore?gid=290307108&page=plays.  And this is the box score:  http://sports.yahoo.com/wbc/boxscore;_ylt=Av9nDMOhLwPtDwep6HwJO2navrYF?gid=290307108

Lawrie didn’t play in Canada’s next game, a 6-2 loss to Italy that eliminated them from the tournament.

Lawrie was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Brewers.  This is the fourth highest a Canadian has ever been drafted, following pitchers Adam Loewen and Jeff Francis [4^th and 9^th in 2002], and Phillippe Aumont [11^th in 2007] and it’s the highest ever for a Canadian position player.  This article lists the top Canadian-born draft picks and amateur free agents going back to Ryan Dempster in 1995:  http://jaysjournal.com/2011/01/26/oh-canada-canucks-becoming-sought-after-baseball-players/

Danielle Lawrie won the awards while playing for the University of Washington.  This article about the 2010 award mentions her win in 2009:  http://voices.yahoo.com/danielle-lawrie-wins-2010-softball-player-year-6145108.html

This story reviews Brett and Danielle’s development in their respective sports:  http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/7572546/espnw-danielle-brett-lawrie-take-sibling-rivalry-new-level

Alex Anthopoulos (born in Montréal, Quebec) of the Blue Jays acquired Lawrie from Milwaukee’s Doug Melvin (Chatham, Ontario) on 06-Dec-2010.  Here are more details on that transaction:  http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101206&content_id=16263712&vkey=news_tor&c_id=tor

On 07-Sep-2011 Jose Bautista was given a rest and moved to DH with Loewen subbing for him in right field.  With Lawrie in his usual position at third base the Jays had two Canadian-born players in the lineup for the first time in their history.  Lawrie batted sixth and went 2 for 2 with a walk and a hit by pitch, scoring two runs and stealing a base. Loewen followed him in the order and went one for three, his first major league hit, was hit by a pitch and scored a run.

Saturday, January 5, 2013 Answer Notes

SATURDAY

Q.         Who has the highest career home run total for a player who never hit a triple?

Hint:     He was traded to bring Broadway to New York.

Hint:     He caught a perfect game the first time he and the pitcher were teamed up as battery mates.

Hint:     But there was no enduring magic because the next time they hooked up the pitcher surrendered 12 hits and 7 earned runs in 4.1 innings.

Twint:    Reports of his Blue Jays’ career were wildly exaggerated.

A.         Ramon Castro

FCR -    No one

Notes on RAMON CASTRO

Ramon Castro retired after the 2011 season with 67 home runs and no triples, breaking the old record of 53 home runs without a triple held by Mark Parent since 1998.  Only 12 players have hit as many as 30 career home runs without hitting a triple and the active leader is Justin Smoak with 47 home runs.

The New York Mets traded Castro, along with cash considerations to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Lance Broadway in May of 2009.  It was a good deal for the Chisox since Castro was their backup catcher for the next two years whereas Broadway got into only 8 games for the Mets, pitching 14.2 innings with a 6.75 ERA and a WHIP of 1.705 before he became a free agent after the season ended.  Here is an article about the trade:  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4216808

Castro became A.J. Pierzynski’s backup after the trade to Chicago, starting ten games through 19-Jul.  Jose Contreras was the starting pitcher in seven of those games with Clayton Richard, Bartolo Colon and Gavin Floyd starting the others.  On 23-Jul, Castro caught Mark Buehrle for the first time and Buehrle threw a perfect game.  This game account confirms that this was the first time Castro caught Buehrle:  http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6022722&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws

Based on Buehrle’s game log on Baseball-Reference.com, Pierzynski caught his first start after the perfecto on 29-Jul then Castro caught the following game on 02-Aug.

On 14-Dec- 2009 it was reported that Castro had signed a 1-year contract with the Blue Jays . This article points out that it seemed like a curious move since the Jays had already signed John Buck as a starter and Raul Chavez as the backup.:  http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/toronto-signs-ramon-castro.html

On 30-Dec-2009 it was then confirmed that this was in error and Castro was still a free agent:  http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/ramon-castro-remains-a-free-agent.html

On January 12, 2010 reports came in that Castro had resigned with the White Sox. These reports turned out to be true:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100112&content_id=7906980

Castro then got into 37 games with the Sox in 2010, hitting .278 with 8 home runs and 21 RBIs.  His .832 OPS was the third best of his career and in the top 10 that year among all players who caught at least 25 games.

SATURDAY X 2

Q.         Who was the first American League third baseman to have a season with 25 home runs, 25 steals, 100 runs scored and 100 RBIs?

Hint:     He replaced the 2002 Rookie of the Year in his team’s line up.

Hint:     He was later replaced by the 2002 World Series MVP.

Hint:     His bobblehead promotion had to be cancelled after he was traded.

Twint:    Reed Johnson’s bobblehead pinch hit for him.

A.         Corey Koskie

FCR -    Scott Crawford, St. Mary’s, ON

Notes on COREY KOSKIE

This feat has been accomplished 58 times through 2012 by 37 different players.  Barry Bonds is the record holder with seven 25/25, 100/100 seasons.  It has been done six times by third basemen including 2001 by the Twins’ Corey Koskie.  That year he hit 26 home runs, stole 27 bases, scored 100 runs and drove in 103.  This had been done previously by National League third basemen Howard Johnson (1989 and 1991), Jeff Bagwell (1997 and 1999) and Chipper Jones (1999).  Alex Rodriguez became the second American League third baseman to do this in 2004 (after doing it as a shortstop in 1998) and David Wright did it for the Mets in 2007.

Koskie was the Toronto Blue Jays’ starting third baseman at the beginning of 2005 after Eric Hinske (American League Rookie of the Year in 2002) filled that role in 2002 through 2004.  Hinske played first base and DH in 2005.  Koskie only played 76 games at third base in 2005 due to injuries and DH duties but nobody else spent more time there than he did.  Shea Hillenbrand played 52 games at third, Aaron Hill 35 and Frank Menechino 9.  The 2005 Blue Jays’ fielding stats can be found here:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2005.shtml

In 2006 former World Series MVP Troy Glaus played 146 games at third for the Jays after Koskie had been traded.  The 2006 Blue Jays’ fielding stats can be found here:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2006.shtml

Koskie’s bobblehead was offered as an offseason promotion for buying 2006 Flex Packs of Blue Jays tickets.  The Jays were forced to stop distributing the bobbleheads after Koskie’s trade to Milwaukee on 06-Jan-2006.

After Koskie was traded ticket purchasers were given a Reed Johnson bobblehead instead. Here is more information about the bobbleheads:  http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/corey-koskie-toronto-blue-jays-2006-91582395

SATURDAY X 3

Q.         Who is the current baseball coach at the University of Houston–Victoria?

Hint:     Five of his first thirteen home runs were hit off pitches who each eventually won 300 games.

Hint:     He and Dave Concepcion were the only 1978 National League All Stars not born in the USA.

Hint:     It was the only time he was an All Star and …

Twint:    Sadly, he didn’t get into the game.

A.         Terry Puhl

FCR -    Bill Carle, Lee’s Summit, MO

Notes on TERRY PUHL

Puhl has been the coach at UHV since January 2007. Here is the team’s website:  http://www.uhvjaguars.com/coach/0/1.php

Puhl homered off Tom Seaver (Puhl’s first), Gaylord Perry (twice), Phil Niekro and Don Sutton, all of whom eventually won 300 games and made it into the Hall of Fame.  This is Puhl’s home run log.

Puhl is from Melville, Saskatchewan and Concepcion was born in Venezuela.  American League All Star Rod Carew, from Panama, was the only other non-American at the 1978 All Star game.  This is the box score and play-by-play of the 1978 All Star game.

Johnny Bench, Jeff Burroughs and Puhl were the only National League position players named to the 1978 All Star team who didn’t play.

Friday, January 4, 2013 Answer Notes

FRIDAY

Q.         Who was the 50^th major leaguer to homer in his first at bat?

Hint:     He also homered in his last major league game.

Hint:     He co-authored a fitness book with an admitted steroid user.

Hint:     He spent over a quarter century working for the same manager.

Twint:    He was the Toronto Blue Jays’ first third baseman.

A.         Dave McKay

FCR -    Mark Hayne, Dumfries, VA

Notes DAVE McKAY

On 22-Aug-1975, against Vern Ruhle and the Tigers, Minnesota’s Dave McKay led off the bottom of the third inning with a home run in his first career at bat.  This was the first of 21 homers he would hit in over 2,000 plate appearance over eight major league seasons.

There are several sources listing players who hit a home run in their first at bat.  Most include players who may have walked or were hit by a pitch in their first plate appearance then homered in their first official at bat.  The following three sources all show McKay as number 50.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_with_a_home_run_in_their_first_major_league_at_bat

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/rare_feats/index.jsp?feature=hr_first_ab

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats5.shtml

McKay hit a second inning home run on 03-Oct-1982 for Oakland over Kansas City.  Unfortunately for the symmetry of his career this was not his last at bat.  He went 0-3 after the big fly.

Take a look at the cover of the book McKay co-authored with Jose Canseco:  Strength Training for Baseball.  :  Years later Canseco wrote another book called Juiced about his own steroid usage and how prevalent the drugs were in the 1980’s.

McKay was a coach with the Oakland A’s from 1984 to 1995. From 1986 through 1995 he served under A’s manager Tony LaRussa.  When LaRussa moved to St. Louis for the 1996 season McKay went with him and stayed a Cardinals coach until LaRussa’s retirement following the 2011 season.  In 2012 McKay joined the Cubs as their first base coach.  This link includes a summary of his coaching career:  http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/team/coach_staff_bio.jsp?c_id=stl&coachorstaffid=118763

McKay was selected off the Twins’ roster in the 1976 American League Expansion draft and started at third base, batting eighth, in the Blue Jays’ first game on 07-Apr-1977.  He stayed in the starting lineup at that position for their first 30 games until the Blue Jays acquired Roy Howell from Texas on 09-May.  Howell was immediately made the new third baseman, McKay was installed at second base and Pedro Garcia, the original second baseman, was released.

FRIDAY X 2

Q.         Who is the only outfielder to accumulate 1,000 career plate appearances and not hit a triple?

Hint:     But he did hit a major league inside-the-park home run.

Hint:     …and he hit a triple in a World Baseball Classic.

Hint:     He introduced The Tragically Hip to Tokyo.

Twint:    He was the second native of British Columbia, after Larry Walker, to hit at least 10 home runs in a season.

A.         Aaron Guiel

FCR -    Bob Elliott, Mississauga, ON

Notes on AARON GUIEL

Guiel (Vancouver) hit 15 home runs in 2003 to join Larry Walker (Maple Ridge) as the second British Columbian to have a double-digit home run season.  Walker had the first of his 15 seasons of 10 or more home runs in 1990.  Two others joined the group in 2004: Jason Bay (Trail) hit 26 homers, the first of his seven seasons with at least 10, and Justin Morneau (New Westminster) hit 19, which was the first of his eight seasons of 10 or more home runs.  Michael Saunders (Victoria) became the fifth player on the list in 2010 and had his second 10+ homer season in 2012.  Brett Lawrie (Langley) is the newest member of this club, hitting 11 home runs in 2012.

Through the 2012 season, 13 players have come to the plate at least 1,000 times in their careers without hitting a triple.  Most people on the list are pitchers and catchers.  Guiel is the only one who played the majority of his games in the outfield.  He got into 15 games at first base in his last season and he appeared in another 50 games as either a pinch hitter or DH but exactly 1,000 of his 1,099 career plate appearances were while he was in the game as an outfielder. (31 were as a first baseman, 30 as a pinch hitter and 38 as a DH). Guiel’s career statistics can be found here:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guielaa01.shtml.  His batting splits, including plate appearance by defensive position, can be found here:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=guielaa01&year=Career&t=b

Earl Averill (fils) was predominately a catcher but did play 73 games in the outfield, including 49 games with the Angels in 1962.  He is the only player on this exclusive list other that Guiel to have appeared in the outfield.

Other players have had streaks of 1,000 plate appearances without a triple but they did manage to hit at least one at some point in their career.  A notable example is Rod Barajas, who through 2012 has gone over 3,000 plate appearances since his lone triple on June 6, 2004.  Outfielder Shelly Duncan is getting close to Guiel, having come to the plate 933 times through 2012 while still awaiting the arrival of his first triple

Other non-triplers include third baseman Craig Worthington (1,423 plate appearances), first baseman Justin Smoak (1,421 PA through 2012 and still active), pitchers Gaylord Perry (1,220 PA), Whitey Ford (1,207), Tommy John (1,030) and Lefty Gomez (1,024), and catchers Johnny Estrada (2,244), Ramon Castro (1,603), Jason Phillips (1,537), Mark Parent (1,428), Sal Fasano (1,245) and Earl Averill (1,217). Kelly Shoppach was on this list until he hit his first career triple, in his 1,526^th plate appearance, for the Red Sox on 07-May-2012.  He then hit a second one on 30-Jul.

Guiel hit 49 triples in over 7,000 plate appearances in the minors and Japan so his lack of a three base hit in the majors seems strange.  Worthington, on the other hand, hit only 4 triples in the minor leagues in over 4,000 plate appearances and never had more than 1 in a season.  Castro only hit 1 triple in over 2,700 minor league plate appearances and Perry (329 minor league plate appearances) and Ford (221) didn’t hit any in the minors either.

Guiel hit an inside the park home run on 03-Aug-2003 versus Tampa. Based on the ESPN game recap it seems like the ball took an unusual bounce and eluded the outfielder long enough to allow Guiel to round the bases: “…Guiel made it 2-0 with one out in the third when his line drive hit the wall in the right-field corner and skipped past [Damian] Rolls.  By the time Rolls tracked the ball down, Guiel was rounding third.” Here is the game recap:  http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=230803107

None of the other players on the 1,000 plate appearance /0 triple list managed to hit an inside the parker, nor have Barajas or Duncan.

On 08-Mar-2006, Team Canada upset the USA 8 to 6 in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.  Canada’s hitting star was Adam Stern, who had a single, triple, inside the park home run and four RBIs.  Guiel joined Stern and second baseman Stubby Clapp as one of three Canadians to hit a triple off US starter Dontrell Willis.

Guiel played in Japan from 2007 through 2011.  His walk up music with the Yakult Swallows, who are based in Tokyo, was New Orleans is Sinking by The Tragically Hip.  More information about this can be found here:  http://www.torontomike.com/2007/07/aaron_guiel_spreads_hip_love_i.html

FRIDAY X 3

Q.         Who is the only major leaguer with a batting average over .300, an on base percentage over .400 and a slugging percentage over .500 in each of the last four seasons, minimum one (1) at bat per year?

Hint:     One season he led the major leagues in on base percentage despite needing to have 27 hitless at bats added to his totals to qualify for the title.

Hint:     He was the first first baseman in his franchise’s history to walk over 100 times in a season, and it’s an old franchise.

Hint:     It was also the highest single season walk total for a Canadian-born player, breaking a record that had stood since 1919.

Twint:    He went to the same high school as did the Prime Minister of Canada.

A.         Joey Votto

FCR -    Dan Silverberg, Aventura, FL

Notes on JOEY VOTTO

Votto’s 2012 averages were .337/.474/.567 in 475 plate appearances and he easily exceeded .300/.400/.500 in each season from 2009 to 2011.

Quite a few players have done this once in the last four years, many of them pitchers with a single hit in only one or two at bats.  If the minimum number of plate appearance is reset to 502 Votto didn’t qualify in 2012 but he did meet the standards in each of the previous three years.  Only two other players had two such seasons: Albert Pujols (2009, 2010) and Miguel Cabrera (2010, 2011). Hanley Ramirez, Joe Mauer and Kevin Youkilis (2009), Josh Hamilton (2010), Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista and Lance Berkman (2011), and Prince Fielder, Andrew McCutchen and Buster Posey (2012) each did it once.

Reducing the criteria to 250 plate appearances per season gives Youkilis a second year on the list (2010) and adds Carlos Beltran (2009), Justin Morneau (2010), Mike Napoli (2011) and David Ortiz (2012).  This is still quite an exclusive club.

Fielder just missed having two more .300/.400/.500 seasons (2009 and 2011) because of a .299 batting average each year.  Cabrera missed in 2009 and 2012 with on base percentages of .396 and .393 respectively and Ryan Braun missed in 2011 and 2012 with OBPs of .397 and .391.  Mike Trout (.399 OBP in 2012), Ortiz (.398 OBP in 2011), Matt Kemp (.399 OBP in 2011) and Ben Zobrist (.297 batting average in 2009) were also near misses.

If we reduce the criteria to just one plate appearance per year, Votto is still the only “four‑peat”.  The only other player with three similar seasons in the last four years is Rangers’ pitcher Alexi Ogando.  He went 1 or 1 in 2010 and 1 for 2 in each of the last two seasons.

The only players who were active in 2012 and who have the .300/.400/.500 line for their careers are Chipper Jones, Todd Helton, Albert Pujols and Votto (minimum 1,000 career plate appearances).  All time, only 23 players have achieved this over a career of at least 1,000 plate appearances.  The Hall of Famers who accomplished this are Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Tris Speaker, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Harry Heilmann, Ed Delahanty, Dan Brouthers and Hank Greenberg.  In addition to the active players noted above, the Non-Hall of Famers to do this are Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Edgar Martinez, Larry Walker, Joe Jackson and Lefty O’Doul.  (Reasonably elite club, I’d venture.)

Votto’s 2012 averages were .337/.474/.567 however he only had 475 plate appearances, 27 short of the minimum to qualify for the league titles.  But, according to rule 10.22(a), “…any player with fewer than the required number of plate appearances whose average would be the highest, if he were charged with the required number of plate appearances shall be awarded the batting, slugging or on-base percentage championship, as the case may be.”  Adding 27 hitless at bats to Votto’s totals brought his averages down to .314/.448/.529.  These lower averages put him fifth in batting average and sixth in slugging percentage in the National League and the reduced on base percentage was still high enough to allow Votto to lead the National League for a third consecutive season.  Buster Posey was the runner up with an OBP of .408 and Joe Mauer lead the American League at .416.

Here is more information about the rule and Votto’s league leadership:  http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120921&content_id=38781290&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb; http://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2012/10/were-giancarlo-stanton-joey-votto-the-nl-slugging-and-on-base-champs-this-year/

Votto walked 110 times in 2011, breaking the Cincinnati Reds’ team record for first basemen of 93 walks set by Dan Driessen in 1980.  Votto’s 2012 total of 94 walks is the second highest for Reds’ first basemen.  The Reds have been in existence since 1871.

Only second baseman Joe Morgan (six times) and outfielder Adam Dunn (four times) have had higher single season walk totals for the Reds.  It should be noted that Dunn played 44 games at first base in 2002 (128 walks), 10 games in 2004 (108 walks), 33 games in 2005 (114 walks) and 2 games in 2006 (112 walks) but his primary position was in left field.  Joe Morgan never took the field as a first baseman.  Johnny Bench walked 100 times in 1972, a season in which he played seven games at first base.  No other Red player appeared in even a single game at first in a season in which he walked 100 times.  Other than six games in left field in 2007 Votto has never played any position other than first base.

Votto, born in Toronto, broke the previous record for a Canadian of 105 walks, set by the Indians’ Jack Graney (St. Thomas, Ontario) in 1919.  That broke Graney’s own record of 102 from 1916.  George Selkirk of Huntsville, Ontario (103 in 1939) and Jason Bay of Trail, BC (102 in 2006) are the only other Canadians to crack 100 walks in a season.

Votto attended Richview Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.  In addition to current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper other alumni include NHL veteran Scott Mellanby and Bollywood actress Lisa Ray.  Here is an article about Votto that mentions fellow alumnus Stephen Harper:  http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/article/873401--joey-votto-the-reason-richview-roots-for-red

Thursday, January 3, 2013 Answer Notes

THURSDAY

Q.         Who holds the major league record for the most home runs in a season by a catcher?

Hint:     He is one of only two players to have as many as 75 extra base hits in a season when his primary position was catcher.

Hint:     He was the last player to have an OPS over 1.000 in a season in which he caught at least 120 games.

Hint:     He received only one Hall of Fame vote despite having a higher career Wins Above Replacement total than four HOF catchers.

Twint:    He was a National League Championship Series MVP, leading his team back from a 3-1 games deficit by hitting .542 with a 1.607 OPS.

A.         Javy Lopez

FCR -    J.J. McCoy, Washington, DC

Notes on JAVY LOPEZ

Lopez hit 43 home runs in 2003, one coming as a pinch hitter and 42 as a catcher. Johnny Bench hit 45 homers in1970 but only 38 came when he was in the lineup as a catcher, the others came when he was in the game as an outfielder or at first base.

The previous record was the 41 homers hit by Todd Hundley in 1996.  All 41 were hit while he was in the game as a catcher . Mike Piazza (40, all as a catcher, in both 1997 and 1999) and Roy Campanella (40 as a catcher and 1 as a pinch hitter in 1953) are the only other catchers to break 40 in a season. In Bench’s other 40-home run season in 1972 only 34 of his 40 homers came while he was in the game as the Reds’ catcher.

This was found with the Baseball-Reference Play Index sorting by Home Runs by players catching at east 50% of their games.  Each player’s Game Log was then reviewed to see home many of the homers were hit as a catcher.

Lopez had 29 doubles, 3 triples and 43 home runs in 2003 while catching 120 games.  Bench had 84 extra base hits (35 doubles, 4 triples and 45 home runs) in 1970 while catching 139 games.  The only other player to have 75 extra base hits in a season in which he caught even one game was Jimmie Foxx, with 76 in 1935, a season in which we was behind the plate for 26 of his 147 games.  This was found with the Baseball-Reference Play Index sorting by extra base hits by players catching a minimum of 1 game.

Lopez caught in 120 of his 129 games played in 2003 and had an OPS of 1.065.  Piazza (1997 and 2000), Chris Hoiles (1993) and Hall of Famers Campanella (1953) and Gabby Hartnett (1930) are the only other catchers to accomplish this.  Note that in 2009 Joe Mauer had an OPS of 1.031 but he only caught 109 games.  He was either the DH or a pinch hitter in his other 29 games.  This was found with the Baseball-Reference Play Index sorting by OPS by players catching a minimum of 120 games.

Lopez has a career WAR total of 27.2, more than HOF catchers Rick Farrell (26.3), Ray Schalk (25.0), Al Lopez (14.5) and Wilbert Robinson (11.5), although these last two were almost certainly enshrined for their managerial prowess.  Found with Baseball-Reference Play Index sorting by WAR for Hall of Famers.

Here are the box scores and statistics from the 1996 National League Championship Series.

THURSDAY X 2

Q.         Who replaced Barry Larkin as the Cincinnati Reds’ starting shortstop?

Hint:     He was certainly Larkin-like that season.

Hint:     He and a teammate are the only National League duet to each hit switch-hit home runs in the same game.

Hint:     Normally a position player, he once pitched with his team locked in a 0-0 tie.

Twint:    He switched teams in mid-season in each of his last four campaigns, and in five of his last six years.

A.         Felipe Lopez

FCR -    Darrell Hanson, Altoona, IA

Notes on FELIPE LOPEZ

Barry Larkin retired after the 2004 season having playing in 111 games at shortstop that year. Lopez had been a backup for the Reds in 2003 (50 games at short including 42 starts) and in 2004 (51 games at short, 42 starts).  He then played 140 games at short in 2005, starting in 133 of them. Lopez’s career statistics can be seen here:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lopezfe01.shtml

In his first season as a regular Lopez had a slash line of 291/352/486 with 23 home runs, 85 RBI, 97 runs scored, an All-Star appearance and a Silver Slugger Award—by far his best season.

06-Apr-2009 Lopez and Tony Clark accomplished this for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada also did it for the Yankees on 23-Apr-2000. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats20.shtml

Lopez did this in his first and third at bats as a Diamondback and they were two of the six home runs he hit in 394 plate appearances over 85 games before he was traded to Milwaukee in July of that year.

On 17-Apr-2010 the Mets and the Cardinals played a 20-inning game that was tied 0-0 going into the 18^th inning.  Lopez had started the game at shortstop for the Cards then he moved to third base in the eighth inning as part of a double switch.  After 17 innings, manager Tony LaRussa had used seven relievers for a total of 10 innings and was forced to start sending position players to the mound.

Lopez started the 18th by getting Henry Blanco to pop up before pitcher Raul Valdes singled.  Fortunately for Lopez’ ERA, Valdes was gunned down trying to stretch the hit into a double.  Lopez followed this by walking Angel Pagan before ending a scoreless inning by getting Mike Jacobs to fly out to right.

Lopez would have been the winning pitcher if the Cards had scored in the bottom of the 18^th, but they didn’t. Lopez moved back to third base for the 19^th inning and Joe Mather moved from third base to the mound.  Mather surrendered a run but the Cards answered in the bottom of the inning.  Mather then gave up another run in the 20^th inning and the Mets won the game when the Cards were held scoreless in the bottom of the inning.

And this is a recap of the game:  http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300417124

Lopez travelled a lot in his career.  He came up through the Blue Jays’ system and played parts of 2001 and 2002 in Toronto.  After 2002 he moved to the Reds as part of a four-team transaction and spent the next three seasons in Cincinnati before he started to move around. Here are his stops during the rest of his career:

2006 – Cincinnati (85 games) and Washington (71)

2007 – Washington (154)

2008 – Washington (100) and St. Louis (43)

2009 – Arizona (85) and Milwaukee (66)

2010 – St. Louis (109) and Boston (4)

2011 – Tampa (32) and Milwaukee (16)

THURSDAY X 3

Q.         Who, until 2012, had been the only player ever to hit home runs off two pitchers who threw perfect games that same season?

Hint:     He won the 2008 All Star Game Home Run derby at Yankee stadium.

Hint:     In the next day’s All Star Game he scored the winning run in an extra inning, walk-off victory.

Hint:     He was the last major leaguer to play in more than 162 games in a season.

Twint:    He won a league MVP award despite only leading his league at his position  in two categories:  sacrifice flies and assists.

Twint:    He switched his uniform number to have the same one as his boyhood hero, who played another sport.

A.         Justin Morneau

FCR -    Derek Norin, Arlington, VA

Notes on JUSTIN MORNEAU

In 2010, Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay each threw perfect games, on 09-May and 29‑May respectively.  Morneau homered off Braden on 04‑Jun and off Halladay on 20-Jun.  Amazingly, this feat was repeated twice in 2012—and by teammates no less:  Philip Humber tossed history’s (now) most hidden perfecto on 21-Apr.  Felix Hernandez duplicated the feat in the same ballpark on 15‑Aug.  Hitting home run in the same season off each of these hurlers were Angels Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.  They both went deep on Humber on 03-Aug and then went long individually on Hernandez on 26‑May and 10‑Aug.

Josh Hamilton set a Home Run Derby record in 2008 with 28 home runs in the first round but Morneau outdueled him in the final 5 to 3.  Summary of the derby:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Major_League_Baseball_Home_Run_Derby

Morneau entered the 2008 AS game in the sixth inning, replacing starter Kevin Youkilis and he played the rest of the game at first base.  He led off the bottom of the fifteenth inning with a single, went to second on Dioner Navarro’s one-out single, to third on J.D. Drew’s walk and scored on Michael Young’s sacrifice fly.

Morneau played in 163 games in 2008, including a one game playoff with Chicago for the AL Central championship.

Since expansion extended the season from 154 to 162 games there have been 33 instances of a player appearing in 163 or more games in a season.  Some are because of a playoff (Tommy Davis, Maury Wills and Jose Pagan in 1962), a team having a tie game (Hideki Matsui with the Yankees in 2003) or a player changing teams mid-season and joining one that had played fewer games than the team he left (Todd Zeile in 1996).  This is becoming rarer: it happened 17 times in the 1960’s, 5 times in the 70’s and 6 times in the 80’s but only 5 times since 1990.

In 2006 Morneau lead the American League with 11 sacrifice flies and 111 assists at first base.  He also had top 5 finishes in total bases (5^th), RBI (2^nd), putouts (3^rd) games at first base (2^nd).  He won a very close MVP race over Derek Jeter.  Here are the results of the 2006 American League MVP voting:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2006.shtml#ALmvp

Morneau wore 27 in his first three years then changed to 33 after the Twins traded J.C. Romero to the Angels at the end of 2005.  33 was the number worn by Patrick Roy, Hall of Fame goalie for the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche.  In addition to being a baseball player Morneau was a goaltender for his hockey teams, including being the third string goalie for the 1998 Memorial Cup champions Portland Winter Hawks.  His number switch is reviewed in the third paragraph of this article:  http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=2718457

This Wikipedia page reviews the 1998 Memorial Cup and shows 17-year-old Morneau on Portland’s roster:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Memorial_Cup