MONDAY —26-Apr
Q. Which
Hall of Fame first baseman was known as the Big Cat?
Hint: #1 He was a
slugger known for bat control.
Hint: #2 He was
born and died in the same small town.
A. JOHNNY MIZE [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Nickname was based on the graceful way he played his
position… or so he claimed. Check his
SABR Bio for the full story.
- #1 As an example, in 1947, he
hit 51 home runs and he struck out only 42 times.
- #2 Demorest, Georgia, population
1,823 in the 2010 census. Mize was born
there in 1913, and it had fewer than 700 residents in the 1910 census.
FCR - Andrew Distler,
New York City
Incorrect guesses: Andres
Galarraga, Vic Power, Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda
Q. Who tied the major league record set by
Hall of Famer Fred Clarke the
19th century when he collected five hits in his first major league
game?
Hint: #1 He led the American League in hits the same
season Joe DiMaggio compiled a 56-game hitting streak and Ted Williams batted
.406.
Hint: #2 He suffered two frozen toes in the immediate
aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge WWII,
severely hampering his post-war career.
Hint: #3 One of the game’s most astute observers of
batting styles could still identify this guy’s nearly half a century after his
last major league swing.
A. CECIL TRAVIS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. On 16-May-1933, Travis had 5 H
against CLE. Clarke had done it on 30‑Jun‑1894.
- #1 Travis
had 218 H that year, 1941, leading the majors,
compared to 193 for DiMaggio and 185 for Williams. During this historically memorable season,
Travis hit “only” .359 and his longest hitting streak was a “mere” 24 games.
- #2 A
career .327 hitter before trading in his woolen uniform for a government-issued
olive drab one, Travis hit just .241 over his final three seasons before
retiring.
- #3 Ted
Williams, when asked in 1993 if John Olerud’s stroke resembled his, he replied,
“No, but it sure looks like Cecil Travis’.”
FCR - Wesley Story, Richmond, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Hank Bauer, Travis Jackson, Al Simmons, Charlie
Gehringer, Mel Ott, Ted Cox, The player with the pole named after him,
WEDNESDAY —28-Apr
Q. Who is the only player to hit forty
doubles, twenty triples and thirty home run in a single major league season?
Hint: #1 He replaced Rogers Hornsby as manager.
Hint: #2 He broke Wilbert Robinson’s record for the
most RBI in a single game.
A. JIM BOTTOMLEY [SABR Bio]
- Ans. His
1928 season was one for the ages
- #1 He
managed the Browns hallway through the 1937 season after Hornsby had led them to 4+
losing seasons, they replaced him with Bottomley who did little better his only MLB managing stint at 25-56.
- #2 On
10-Jun-1892, Wilbert Robinson had a tremendous G
w/11 RBI for BLN. (He only had 57 all year!). Bottomley had 12 RBI on 16-Sep-1924, a record that has
been once tied, but not ever broken.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Stan Musial, George Sisler, Frankie
Frisch, Jeff Heath, Gabby Hartnett, George Stirnweiss, Bill Terry
MIDWEEK BONUS —28-Apr
Q. Who set a major-league record by homering eight
consecutive games?
Hint: #1 His 21-year professional career as a player included over 1,000 minor
league games and an MVP in the Pacific Coast League.
Hint: #2 He was a pinch-hitter in more than one fifth of the games in his major
league career.
- Ans. Still
the NL record-holder, his 8-G HR streak 19-May through 28-May-1956 when he was with PIT. He has been tied by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993) in the
AL.
- #1 His career included 1,013 games in the majors, 1,247
games in the minors. He was the PCL MVP
with the Hollywood Stars 1953.
- #2 Of
his 1,014 MLB G, 207 (20.41%) were as a pinch-hitter.
FCR - Roy Glasser, Valrico, Florida
Incorrect
guesses: Mark Reynolds, Johnny Mize, Dale
Mitchell, Jerry Lynch
THURSDAY —29-Apr
Q. Which major league manager with two
pennants to his credit, had been the quarterback for the team that became the
Chicago Bears?
Hint: #1 He managed the Oakland Oaks to the Pacific Coast League pennant two years
after Casey Stengel did.
Hint: #2 He was replaced as a manager after demanding
a multi-year contract. The manager who
replaced him was OK with a one-year, renewable contract.
A. CHUCK DRESSEN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Played
for 2 football teams, the Decatur
Staleys
1919–1920 & the Racine
Legion of
the NFL in 1922–1923. The
Decatur team became the Bears; his coach there was George Halas. Won NL flag w/BRO in 1952-53.
- #1 He
managed the Oaks in 1950. Stengel had in 1948. The two then faced each other as managers in the WS in 1952 and 1953.
- #2 Dressen
was replaced by Walter Alston who managed the
Dodgers, one year at a time, for longer than anyone else in the history of that
illustrious franchise: 3,658 G over 23 years.
Alston was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1983.
FCR - Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio
Incorrect
guesses: Burt Shotton, Greasy Neale
FRIDAY — 30-Apr
Q. Which one-time New York Giant was the first
native of Canada to be selected to a National League All-Star team?
Hint: #1 His play was good enough to receive MVP
votes that season.
Hint: #2 He was also named to the Sporting News major league All-Star Team.
Hint: #3 During his career, he was teammates with thirteen
future Hall of Famers and both his major league managers are now in the Hall.
A. GOODY ROSEN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Born
in Toronto in a Yiddish-speaking,
Orthodox Jewish immigrant family from Russia. He was selected to a 1945 NL AS
team. Unfortunately, despite risking
public outrage, the MLB owners collectively decided to cancel the 1945 All-Star
Game due to wartime travel restrictions.
With the cancellation, MLB did not name an official list of All-Stars
for that season. However, sportswriters
from the Associated Press created their own list of standouts for the 1945
season after requesting and receiving nominations from most of the team' ‘managers.
Rosen played for NYG in his final season of
1946.
- #1 Finished
10th in 1945 NL MVP voting, just behind teammate
Dixie Walker.
- #2 This
list of All-Stars aligned very closely
with the team from MLB.
- #3 His
Hall of Fame teammates included Heinie Manush, Waite Hoyt, Leo Durocher,
Kiki Cuyler, Tony Lazzeri, Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner, Johnny Mize, Ernie
Lombardi, Mel Ott, Pee Wee Reese, Joe Medwick & Billy Herman. Mgrs.: Burleigh Grimes, Leo Durocher
FCR - Bob Ellis, Greenwood, Missouri
Incorrect
guesses: George Selkirk, Jeff Heath, Don
Mueller
SATURDAY — 01 May
Q. Who ranks first in home runs among players with a major-league career of six
years or fewer?
Hint: #1 He didn’t play professional baseball until age 23 and didn’t break into
the majors until he was 26.
Hint: #2 His teammates dubbed him El Oso Blanco.
A. EVAN GATTIS [B-R Bio]
- Ans. In his career, 2013-2018 with Atlanta and Houston,
Gattis hit 139 home runs.
- #1 He began w/Danville of the Appalachian League (Rookie) in 2010 and as an MLB rookie in 2013
w/ATL.
- #2 He
got the nickname, meaning The White Bear, playing in the Venezuelan Winter league.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Carlos Delgado
SUNDAY —02 May
Q. Who hit over .400 in two seasons twenty years apart playing for the minor
league team in the city where he was born?
Hint: #1 In the majors, he hit .410 for a pennant-winning team.
Hint: #2 One of his admirers was a young future Hall
of Famer who called him “incredible”.
A. CLIFF BOLTON [Wiki Bio]
- Ans. He hit .403 in 1928 for High Point, NC then hit .417
in 1948 for High Point-Thomasville.
- #1 He hit .410 (16 for 39) for WSN in 1933, primarily
as a pinch hitter. He was 0 for 2 in the
WS.
- #2 In
his biography, Eddie Mathews
describes how he felt as 17-year old minor-leaguer following Bolton’s career. Mathews, who began his professional career at
High Point-Thomasville, devoted a whole paragraph to
his teammate’s career.
FCR - Randall Chandler, Germantown, Tennessee
Incorrect
guesses: Jesse Burkett, Lefty O’Doul,
Oscar Charleston, Rogers Hornsby
WEEKLY THEME – Players
who hit more than 10 triples the same
season they stole 0 bases. Theme and
questions submitted by Campbell Gibson of Alexandria, Virginia.
Player 3B Year
Bolton......... 11....... 1935
Bottomley... 11....... 1936
Dressen..... 11....... 1926
Gattis......... 11....... 2015
Long........... 13....... 1955
Mize........... 16....... 1938
................... 14....... 1939
Rosen........ 11....... 1938
Travis......... 11....... 1940
Campbell elucidates, “In general, these players did not attempt to steal bases very often in their careers. Their career triples ranged from 151 for Bottomley to just 12 for Gattis. Two of these players hit over half of their career triples in just one season: Gattis with 11 of 12, and Bolton with 11 of 18.”
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Patrick Ray, Paradise Valley, Arizona (after Cecil Travis)
Incorrect theme guesses:
Monday - HOF'ers
who lost time to military service
- HOF'ers with
the most top 5 finishes the MVP
race
- Players with 5
or more World Series rings that never played on a losing WS team
- Three home-run
games both leagues
- Hall of gamers
who have hit 50 home runs a
season
- Players who
were with the Cardinals and Yankees
- Players with
animal nicknames
Tuesday - Major
League players enlisted the military
during World War II who played on the Great Lakes Naval Team
- All-Time Georgia-Born All-Star Team, according to SABR.org
- League leaders 1941
who weren’t Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams
- All-Stars born Georgia
Wed - One-record wonders
- Players signed by Branch Rickey
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