2026-02-16 Hall of Fame Pitchers with 2 triples in a game & Hall of Fame position players with 2 doubles & 2 triples in a game

MONDAY  — 16-Feb-2026

Q.  Who is the only right-hander with three consecutive pitching Triple Crown seasons?

Hint: #1  He won at least twenty games for three different National League teams.

Hint: #2  In the National League in the Modern Era, only Christy Mathewson had more seasons of thirty career complete games.

A.  GROVER CLEVELAND “Pete” ALEXANDER  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  No left-hander has ever done it.

1915 – Led NL in W (31), K (214) & ERA (1.22)

1916 – Led NL in W (33), K (241) & ERA (1.55)

1917 – Led NL in W (30), K (167) & ERA (1.83)

-  #1  Alexander won 91 for PHI, 83 for CHC & 34 for STL.

-  #2  In 6 seasons, his CG total was more than 30.  Mathewson did it 7 times.

FCR -  Kerry Osaki, Fountain Valley, California

Incorrect guesses:  Mordecai Brown, Greg Maddux, Albert Spaulding

 

 

TUESDAY  — 17-Feb-2025

Q.  In the famous “Merkle’s Boner” game, as replayed at the end of the season, Christy Mathewson was the losing pitcher.  Who was the winning pitcher?

Hint: #1  Ironically, he was the losing pitcher in Mathewson’s final career victory.            

Hint: #2  A BBTR player, he pitched for two different major league teams in Chicago.

A.  MORDECAI BROWN  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  Game on 08-Oct-1908.  Click here for details.

-  #1  Matty’s last W=04-Sep-1916.  Click for full story.

-  #2  A switch-hitter, he racked up a career total of 206 hits.  He played for the Chicago Cubs 1904-1912 & in 1914, played 33 games for the Federal League’s Chicago Whales.  There he had a record of 17-8 with a 2.09 ERA.  He went back to the Cubs in 1916 where he pitched on the final 12 games of his Hall of Fame career.

FCR -  Chris Betsch, Albany, Indiana

Incorrect guesses:  Fred Tenney

 

 

WEDNESDAY  — 18-Feb-2025

Q.  No one had more Hall of Fame teammates than this guy.  Following the clues, who is he?

Hint: #1  He was known to appear in vaudeville plays and was a mortician during the off season.

Hint: #2  Legendary broadcaster Red Barber called him, “The best of all former athletes who went to microphone, highly intelligent, industrious, great storyteller.”

A.  WAITE HOYT  [Film Bio]

-  Ans.  Hoyt (a Hall  of Famer himself) was a teammate of:

1 Home Run Baker

2 Mickey Cochrane

3 Earle Combs

4 Stan Coveleski

5 Kiki Cuyler

6 Bill Dickey

7 Leo Durocher

8 Jimmie Foxx

9 Lou Gehrig

10  Charlie Gehringer

11  Lefty Gomez

12  Hank Greenberg

13  Burleigh Grimes

14  Lefty Grove

15  Harry Hooper

16  Carl Hubbell

17  Travis Jackson

18  George Kelly

19  Tony Lazzeri

20  Al Lopez

21  Freddie Lindstrom

22  Heinie Manush

23  Mel Ott

24  Herb Pennock

25  Red Ruffing

26  Babe Ruth

27  Al Simmons

28  Bill Terry

29  Jim Thorpe (Football HOF)

30  Pie Traynor

31  Dazzy Vance

32  Arky Vaughan

33  Lloyd Waner

34  Paul Waner

35  Hack Wilson

36  Ross Youngs

Most lists show Burleigh Grimes with an equal in number of HOF teammates.

 

Was also on teams managed by Hall of Fame skippers:

1-    John McGraw

2-    Ed Barrow

3-    Miller Huggins

4-    Connie  Mack

5-    Bill Terry

6-    Pie Traynor

7-    Burleigh Grimes

-  #1  He peaked at $16,000 a year, but his average was around $10K.  He and almost every other major leaguer at the time need to work in the off-season.

-  #2  He was the play-by-play voice of the Cincinnati Reds for 24 seasons,

FCR -  Michael Green, Las Vegas

Incorrect guesses:  Eddie Collins, Lefty Gomez, Phil Rizzuto, Dizzy Dean, Burleigh Grimes

 

 

THURSDAY — 20-Feb-2025

NOTE:  Thursday's is the last of this week's 4-question theme.  The new theme starts on Friday.

Q.  Who is the only left-handed pitcher to suffer twenty or more losses in a season for the Giants?

Hint: #1  He is the last pitcher to earn a win after allowing eight runs in the first two innings of a game.

Hint: #2  As a lad, he was a batboy for Cleveland.

A.  RUBE MARQUARD  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  In 1914 Marquard had a records of 12-22.  No Giants pitcher has lost as many as 20 in a season since then.

-  #1  On 14-May-1913, Marquard was roughed up in he 1^st & 2^nd innings, but stayed on the mound through the 6^th.  He eventually gave up 11 runs, 7 of which were earned.  His teammates came through for him ad he got the W with some help from Red Ames out of the bullpen.

-  #2  As a young teenager, he spent his halcyon summer days at League Park, serving as a batboy for the Cleveland Broncos, who became the Naps when Lajoie joined the team in 1902.

FCR -  Barry Nelson, Guilderland, New York

Incorrect guesses:  Monty Kennedy, Roger Craig, Hooks Wiltse

 

THEME:  Hall of Fame Pitchers with 2 triples in a game

 

Player                   Date

Alexander............. 06-Jun-1917

 

Brown.................. 1910-07-31(1)

 

Hoyt..................... 08-Jun-1925

 

Marquard............. 24-Jul-1911

 

First Correct Respondent identifying theme – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Incorrect theme guesses:

Thur     -  Deadball Era starting pitchers

-   Hall of Fame pitchers who had at least 2 seasons with 20 wins and had a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.50 or better in a World Series

-   Hall of Fame pitchers who had at least 2 seasons with 20 wins and had a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.50 or better and at least one complete game in a World Series before 1930.  They also played on separate time periods for a team in the same city.

 

 

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

 

2^nd half-week theme begins here

 

FRIDAY  — 20-Feb-2025

Q.  Who is the most recent batter to drive in at least a hundred runs in a season but strikeout fewer than ten times?

Hint: #1  He is the only twentieth-century American League batter with five extra-base hits in one game.

Hint: #2  He captained his high school basketball team to the state championship game three times, winning once.

Hint #3  In college, he led both the basketball and baseball teams to championships of the Big Ten Conference.

A.  LOU BOUDREAU  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  In 1948, Boudreau’s MVP season, he had 106 RBI & struck out 9 X.

-  #1  Four doubles & a HR makes for a fine day’s offensive output.  Six ALers have done it in the 21^st century.  Only 3 NL players did it in the 20^th century.

-  #2  Thornton Township HS in Harvey, Illinois, is where he led the "Flying Clouds" to 3 consecutive Illinois high school championship games, winning in 1933, finishing as runner up in 1934 & 1935.

-  #3  Boudreau attended the University of Illinois.  During the 1936-37 basketball & baseball seasons, he led each Fighting Illini team to a Big Ten Conference title & was named a NCAA Men's Basketball All-American.

FCR -  Dave Williams, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Incorrect guesses:  Joe Sewell, Nick Kurtz, Mark Whiten, Charlie Gehringer, Tommy Holmes, Frank Howard, George Kell, Tony Gwynn

 

IN MEMORIAM  — 21-Feb-2025

Q.  Who turned more career double plays than any other second baseman in major league history?

Hint: #1  He once said, “Over seventeen years, saving thousands of runs is like driving in thousands of runs.”

Hint: #2  He was the first player in his franchise to have a 163-games-played season.

Hint: #3  He was not as well-known for his offensive skills, but his first two career home runs were hit while he was still a teenager.

Hint: #4  A legendary broadcaster came to refer to him simply as “The Glove”.

Hint: #5  His fielding counterpart in the postseason one year beat him out of one prestigious award.

Hint: #6  He was succeeded in his position on the team by another Hall of Fame player.

Hint: #7  He received high praise for his fielding from the media & a fellow Gold Glove-winning teammate.

Hint: #8  Few athletes ever enjoyed a more joyous on-field celebration.

A.  BILL MAZEROSKI  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  Maz was involved in 1,706 double plays well ahead of Nellie Fox’s 2^nd-place 1,619.

-  #1  Mazeroski was the premier defensive second baseman of his era.  With great hands, quick feet, a sure arm & great range, he turned the double play into an art form.

-  #2  He played in every game on the Pirates’ 1967 schedule, a record he held alone until Bobby Bonilla tied it in 1989.

-  #3  Mazeroski’s 20^th birthday was 05-Sep-1956.  The first 2 of his 138 career home run came on    16-Aug-1956 (off Robin Roberts no less!) & 19-Aug-1956(1).

-  #4  Ford Frick award-winning, long-time Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince coined the apt nickname.

-  #5  NYYs’ 2^nd baseman Bobby Richardson had 11 hits, 8 runs & 12 RBI in the 1960 WS.  He was selected as The Sporting News 1960 World Series MVP, the only player to win that honor playing on a losing WS team.  Mazeroski was honored with the Babe Ruth Award.

-  #6  Mazeroski was the Pirates’ team captain from 1963 until his retirement after the 1972 season.  Formidable slugger Willie Stargell was then named team captain & served in that honored role from 1973 through 1982

-  #7  Bill Virdon (1962 GG winner), marveled at Maz, ”Nobody ever played second base like he did, and I've been in the game 50 years.  The impressive thing about Maz was that he did everything perfectly.  I backed him up for 10 years and never got a ball.”  Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Jim Murray observed in a 1966 column, “A half-century ago, a second base combination made something like nine double plays in a season and a poet (Franklin P. Adams) immortalized them with a poem, ‘Tinker to Evers to Chance'… Mazeroski makes 161 and they abbreviate his name in the box score.”

-  #8  On 13-Oct-1960, at 3:36 PM Eastern Time, Mazeroski hit the only walk-off home run in a World Series Game Seven, when he smacked his epic bottom-of-the-ninth homer to decide the 1960 World Series.  The attendance was 36,683, many of whom were at home plate ecstatically awaiting Mazeroski.

FCR -  John Michael Pierobon, Fort Lauderdale

Incorrect guesses:  Ozzie Smith

 

 

SATURDAY  — 21-Feb-2025

Q.  Who hit the fiftieth home run in modern World Series history?

Hint: #1  He played for six different minor league teams, not including semipro leagues, but when he reached the majors, he wore the uniform of that team for the next nineteen years.

Hint: #2  He is the first major leaguer to have a season of six hundred at-bats without a single stolen base.

A.  BILL TERRY  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  On 04-Oct-1924, still in his rookie season, Terry hit a Walter Johnson fastball over the left field wall in the 1^st game of the World Series.  Terry was the batter that Johnson said he least liked to face.

-  #1  Terry played for NYG for 14 seasons & managed them for 10.  For five seasons, 1932-1936, he did both.

-  #2  In 1934 he was caught attempting a stolen base with Dizzy Dean pitching. That was the only time that year he even tried.  50+ major leaguers have matched it since.

FCR -  Dave Williams, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Incorrect guesses:  Willie Stargell, Ray Schalk, George Sisler, Cal Ripken

 

 

WEEKEND BONUS

Q.  Who is the only player to play on all four Boston Red Sox World Series championship teams in the twentieth century?

Hint: #1  He was the first player to lead off both games of a double header with a home run.

Hint: #2  He was one of the multiple future Hall of Famers on a team that famously finished last.

A.  HARRY HOOPER  [SABR Bio]

-  Ans.  Hooper was part of all the postseason action in:

1912 (Boston def. the Giants 4-3);

1915 (def. the Phillies 4-1);

1916 (def. Brooklyn 4-1);

1918 (def. the Cubs 4-2);

Heinie Wagner also played on these 4 teams but only played in the 1912 WS/.

The Boston Red Sox won 4 World Series.  The Boston Americans won 1.

Same franchise, but that wasn't the question.

-  #1  HR games=30-May-1913(1), 30-May-1913(2).  It had since been accomplished by Rickey Henderson (05-Jul-1993),

Brady Anderson (21-Aug-1999) &

Ronald Acuna Jr. (13-Aug-2018)

-  #2  On the White Sox in 1924 were players:

Hooper,

2B Eddie Collins,

P Ted Lyons,

P Red Faber,

C Ray Schalk

& managers in succession

Johnny Evers

 Ed Walsh &

Collins.

(That would be Ed², Red, Ted & Ev.)

FCR -  Phil Koss, Elkhorn, Wisconsin

Incorrect guesses:  Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Collins, Johnny Damon

 

 

SUNDAY  — 22-Feb-2025

Q.  Who was the first native of Alabama to appear in an All-Star game?

Hint: #1  He once had an impressive hitting streak that mimicked the season it was done in.

Hint: #2  Five of his seven siblings also played professional baseball, but only he made the majors.

A.  HEINIE MANUSH  [Ala. Bio]

-  Ans.  Manush was the starting left fielder All-Star in the second-ever game, 1934.

-  #1  Playing for WSH in 1933, he had a 33-consecutive-game hitting streak.

-  #2  Manush was the youngest of 8 in his German-American family.

FCR – Dennis Walls, Orrington, Maine

Incorrect guesses:  Rudy York, Joe Sewell, Dixie Walker

 

 

THEME:  Hall of Fame position players with 2 doubles & 2 triples in a game

 

Player                   Date

Boudreau.............. 26-Apr-1948

 

Hooper................. 05-Sep-1919 &

 

                              28-Sep-1924

 

Manush................ 24-May-1929 &

 

                              23-Jul-1932

 

Terry.................... 13-Sep-1931(2)

 

 

First Correct Respondent identifying theme – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Incorrect theme guesses:

Fri        -  Player managers who won a world series 

 

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