MONDAY — 07-Oct
Q. Which
pitcher’s major league career strikeout record lasted for more than sixty (60!)
seasons?
Hint: #1
He was pictured signing to play for a Federal League team on the cover
of Baseball Magazine.
Hint: #2
He holds the all-time career record for pitching complete-game shutouts.
-
Ans. Johnson took over the record
from Cy Young in 1921 and increased it to 3,509 playing only for WSH. That number wasn’t passed until 1983 when
Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton & Nolan Ryan all went past the once-venerated mark. Ryan stands alone w/5,714 K, career.
-
#1 Johnson was intending to sign
and play for any of several teams in the startup Federal League for a huge pay
increase from $7K to $25K year, but his loyalty to his team, his city & the
Senators’ team own in addition to strong personal persuasion from PIT’s well-respected
player/manager Fred Clarke. Adding an
interesting side note, this was following Johnson’s 1913 year which many
baseball historians hold to be the greatest season ever pitched.
-
#2 He amazing 110 SHO total may never be reached..
FCR - Paul
Nielsen, Bowie, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Christie Mathewson, Rube Waddell, Old Hoss
Radbourn, Pete Alexander, Eddie Plank, Lefty Grove
TUESDAY
— 08-Oct
Q. Who was the first manager of the team that is
now the New Yok Yankees?
Hint:
#1 He led the National League in ERA in
the penultimate season when they had twelve teams then led the American League
in win/loss percent in the premiere AL season.
Hint:
#2 He once gave up a home run to the
only batter he faced all season.
A. CLARK GRIFFITH [SABR Bio]
- Ans.
NYY began in 1903 & Griffith was their player/manager through
1907. In 1908, he was their manager for
the 1st 57 G, but didn’t play.
- #1
Griffith’s 1.88 in 1898 led the NL (the only major
league a the time) pitching for CHC. Then he went across town &, pitching for
the AL CHW’s in their 1st season, led both leagues in W-L% = .774.
- #2 On
the last day of the 1912 season,
Griffith, Washington’s player/manager, inserted himself into the G to pitch to
the dangerous Hal Chase w/2 me on. Chase
chased Griffith with an inside-the-park home run.
FCR
- Kevin Baker, New York City
Incorrect
guesses: John McGraw
IN
MEMORIAM — 80-Oct
Q. Who is the only native of Cuba to be the
starting pitcher in the All-Star Game?
Hint: #1
He is the only pitcher in the Expansion Era with two consecutive-inning-scoreless
streaks of at least forty innings.
Hint: #2
There was some confusion about his age, possibly due to…
Hint: #3
…the fact that his father had the same name and was also a great
baseball player.
Hint: #4
The fans were not booing him even though it might have sounded like that
at first.
Hint: #5
A sportswriter wrote that he looked like “Pancho Villa after a tough
week of looting and burning.”
Hint: #6
He was beloved not only by the fans, but by his mates. One teammate, a future Hall of Famer,
actually wept upon hearing that this teammate was to be leaving the team.
Hint: #7
Forty per cent of the home runs he hit were off one pitcher.
A.
LUIS TIANT [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Tiant started the 1968 ASG in the summer of “The
Year of the Pitcher”. He surrendered an
unearned run which was the only one of the game. It was the first of 3 ASG for him.
-
#1 In 1968, his scoreless innings
streak was 40 innings & included 4 shutouts. In 1972,
it was 41 innings, but no shutouts.
-
#2 His listed date of birth was
always 23-Nov-1940, but he looked older and seemed older.
- #3 His father Luis Tiant pitched in the West
Indies as well as in the major Negro Leagues in the U.S.
- #4 Thousands of his devoted would chant “Loo-ee!”
when he took the mound in Fenway Park.
- #5 Red Smith is the source of the quote.
- #6 Carl Yastrzemski admitted he cried when he
heard the news: “They (Red Sox management) tore out our heart and soul.”
-
#7 Tiant hit 5 HR in the major. Two were off NYY’s Kim Bouton.
FCR
- Matt Dicker, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Camilo Pascu, Orlando Hernandez
WEDNESDAY — 09-Oct
Q. Who has the highest lifetime WAR rating of
any left-handed pitcher?
Hint:
#1 No one won more season ERA titles
than he did.
Hint:
#2 He is the most recent lefty to win
thirty games in a season.
A. LEFTY GROVE [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. His 106.8 is 26th
overall among all players. Randy Johnson
at 101.1 is the next highest lefty
pitcher.
-
#1 Grove won AL ERA crowns for
PHA in 1926 (2.51), 1929 (2.81), 1930 (2.54), 1931
(2.06) and 1932 (2.84). He
did it for BOS in 1935 (2.79), 1936 (2.81), 1938 (3.08)
& 1939 (2.54).
-
#2 Grove’s W total of 31
in 1931 for the A’s hasn’t been equaled by a left-handed thrower since then.
FCR – Greg Gits, Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax
THURSDAY — 10-Oct
Q. Who was the first National League pitcher to
top the 3,000-strikeout mark?
Hint:
#1 He later coached the Braves, Mets and
Cardinals.
Hint:
#2 His seven consecutive victories in
World Series games is an all-time pitching record.
A.
BOB GIBSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. On 17-Jul-1974,
Gibson’s struck out CIN’s OF Cesar Geronimo in the 2nd inning. It was the 1st of his 4 K that
day, but it was also the 3,000th K of his career. He would finish his playing career the
following season with 3,117 K. That
total today is 4th in the NL, 16th overall.
- #1 Coaching
record here. ATL – NYM – STL.
-
#2 Gibson won games in the World
Series in 1964 (2) +WS MVP, 1967 (3) +WS MVP & 1968 (2). That's not just 7 consecutive victories but 7
consecutive complete game victories. He
started 9 WS games & completed all 9 of them.
FCR
- Jerry Miller, Liberty Hill, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Steve Carlton, John Smoltz,
Warren Spahn
FRIDAY — 11-Oct
Q. Who was the first Hall of Famer to die
outside the United States?
Hint:
#1 At the time of his retirement, he was
the career leader in hitting batters with pitches.
Hint: #2
He was the first Cy Young Award winner to have a teammate win the award
the following season.
A. DON DRYSDALE [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Drysdale passed away in
Montreal where he was to broadcast a game on 02-Jul-1993.
His body was found in his hotel room, victim of a heart attack.
- #1 Drysdale
left the game in 1969 having HBP 154 batters.
- #2 Drysdale
was CYA in 1962 & his teammate
Sandy Koufax was the 1963 (& 1965 & 1966) winner.
FCR
- Jack Sullivan, Louisville
Incorrect
guesses:
SATURDAY — 12-Oct
Q. Whose
record for most balks in a season did Dave Stewart break?
Hint: #1
He was the first twentieth-century pitcher to strike out more than
eighteen batters in a nine-inning game.
Hint:
#2 He started more games than any other
left-hander in mlb history.
A. STEVE CARLTON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Stewart’s 16 balks in 1988
broke Steve Carlton’s otherwise unthreatened 15 in 1979. 1988 was the year of the Balk. MLB told umpires to be stricter in calling
balks, but it got a bit out of hand. Here
is a good article on the subject.
- #1 On 15-Sep-1969,
Carlton K’d 19 Mets. Despite that, his
team lost the game.
- #2 Carlton
started 707 G in the majors, 6th place overall. Tommy John (700),
Tom Glavine (682), Warren Spahn (665) & Jamie Moyer (638) round out the top
5 lefties.
FCR
- George Alfano, Redlands, California
Incorrect
guesses: Warren Spahn, Eddie Plank
SUNDAY — 13-Oct-Sep
Q. Which
BRTR, one-time White Sox pitcher surrendered the first of Ted Williams’ home
runs when Williams hit two in consecutive games on the same day?
Hint: #1
After losing four toes on his left foot in a mining accident, he ( not
Williams) switched from the outfield to pitching.
Hint:
#2 No Yankee pitcher has ever pitched more
complete games.
A. RED RUFFING [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Ted’s 1st HR = 30-May-1939(1)… off Ruffing; the 2nd
= 30-May-1939(2)… off Monte Pearson. The were the 7th & 8th
HR of Williams’ career. Ruffing batter
right and threw right. His last season
in the majors was 1947 w/CHW.
-
#1 He quit school at 13 to work
for his father in the coal mines of central Illinois, earning $3 a day. His left foot was crushed between 2 coal cars
when he was 15. The foot was saved, but
4 toes weren’t.
- #2 Ruffing
had 261 CG for NYY with Lefty Gomez a distant 2nd at 173.
FCR
- Lee Dembart, Hollywood, California
Incorrect
guesses: Lefty Gomez
WEEK’S THEME – Hall of
Fame pitchers who hit grand slams
Pitcher GS Date Career W-L ERA WAR
Carlton................... 16-May-1984.......... 324-244.......... 3.22....................................... 90.2
Drysdale................. 09-Aug-1961......... 209-0166......... 2.95....................................... 67.1
Gibson................... 29-Sep-1965.......... 251-174.......... 2.91....................................... 89.2
Gibson................... 26-Jul-1973(1)
Griffith.................... 27-Jun-1891........... 237-146.......... 3.31........................................ 3.8
Grove..................... 27-Jul-1935(1).......... 300-141.......... 3.06...................................... 106.8
Johnson................. 21-Jun-1914........... 417-279.......... 2.17...................................... 166.9
Ruffing.................... 14-Apr-1933........... 273-225.......... 3.80....................................... 68.6
It is a stretch, but
fun, to think that Madison Bumgarner (11-Apr-2014; 13-Jul-2014) could one day join
this group. Wes Ferrell should (12-Aug-36(1)) if for a different
reason. Babe Ruth hit 16 GS, but
never on a day he was pitching.
First Correct Respondent identifying theme – Nary a soul. Not even a reasonable guess.
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Mon - Fullerton
(California) High School alumni
Fri - Hall of Fame power pitchers
-
With 20+ SHO
Sat - NL
All-Star pitchers in the Year of the Pitcher
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