Sunday, September 22, 2013

September 16-22, 2013 St. Louis Brown players with 40 doubles in season

MONDAY
Q.         Who was the last American Leaguer to hit .420 in a season?
Hint:     He was the last first baseman to steal 50 bases in a season.
Hint:     His career batting average beats Lou Gehrig’s by a hair, .34015 to .34008.
Twint:    He appeared on a U.S. postage stamp in 2000.
Twint:    He also appeared on a postage stamp for Ajman, one of the United Arab Emirates, in 1969.
A.         George Sisler (.420 in 1920, 51 SB in 1922, U.S. Stamp; Ajman stamp)
FCR -    Walt Cherniak, Woodbine, MD

MONDAY BONUS
Q.         Whose .378 batting average prevented Babe Ruth from winning the American League Triple Crown in 1926?
Hint:     He was the first native of Alabama to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Hint:     He had one brother who played in the majors and three other brothers who played in the minors.
Twint:    He was also the first native of Alabama to be selected to an All-Star team.
A.         Heinie Manush (Ruth led in HR w/47 & RBI w/150, but hit “only” .372; HOF 1964; AS 1934; Brother Frank, brothers George, Earl & Harry)
FCR -    Makoto Ozawa, Scarsdale, NY

TUESDAY
Q.         Who is the only man to play in all nineteen World Series games of the Washington Senators?
Hint:     He set the major league record when he hit into four double plays in one game.
Hint:     He also had three errors in that game.
Hint:     He was the first hitter to hit a home run off Bob Feller; the only one Feller gave up in his rookie season.
Twint:    He is a native of Mike Trout’s home state.
A.         Goose Goslin (WSH WS 1924, 25, 33; 4 GIDP, 3 E 28‑Apr‑1934; Feller HR 18‑Sep‑1936; b. Salem, NJ 16‑Oct‑1900)
FCR -    Paul Hirsch, San Diego, CA

TUESDAY BONUS
Q.         Who was the first third baseman to hit thirty home runs in a season?
Hint:     In doing that he broke his own record for homers in a season by a third baseman.
Hint:     That record wasn’t broken until Al Rosen hit 37 in 1950.
Hint:     He was a player/manager for his hometown team in Yakima, Washington after retirement.
Twint:    He made the All-Star team only once in his twelve-year major league career.
Twint:    His career in the Bigs was shortened by a serious case of the mumps.
A.         Harlond Clift (29 HR in 1936; 34 in 1937; AS in 1937; Mgr of Yakima Stars in 1947)
FCR -    Richard Tharp, Gaithersburg, MD

WEDNESDAY
Q.         Which Columbia native led the American League in fielding percent at shortstop in 1929 and 1938?
Hint:     A versatile player, in 1934 he played left and right fields and appeared at first, second, third and short for the Washington Senators.
Hint:     As a Maple Leaf, he once played a nine inning game at nine different positions.
Twint:    While playing against the 1935 Montreal Royals, he pitched 8.1 innings of no-hit ball, but lost 1-0 in the ninth on a hit, walk and error.
A.         Red Kress (Fld% 1929 .946, 1938 .965; Fielding stats BR.com; Minor league feats from Wikipedia)
FCR -    Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI
WEDNESDAY BONUS
Q.         Who lost the 1935 American League batting title to Buddy Myer by .0006 points?
Hint      That same year, he led his league in hits, doubles and triples.
Hint:     He was the leadoff hitter for the All Star Game the same year—the only year he was selected.
Twint:    A Cleveland, OH native, he was signed by Cleveland General Manager Billy Evans whose wife, as legend has it, suggested he take “the good looking blond boy”.
A.         Joe Vosmik (Myer BA .3490, Vosmik .3484; 1935 216 H, 47 2B, 20 3B; 1935 ASG Played the entire game in RF and scored the final run of the game in the 5th inning on a Jimmie Foxx RBI; Legend of Evans wife’s comment: Cleveland Press, July 17, 1931)
FCR -    Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.         In 1941 at Griffith stadium, which player was hit squarely in the left temple during fielding practice by an errant throw from teammate Joe Kuhel?
Hint:     The blow was such that it fractured his skull and over the next few years he went totally blind.
Hint:     He was not eligible for the newly created major-league player’s pension plan, but rather than being bitter, he simply stated “Rules are rules.”
Twint:    He spent much of his post-baseball life working with and inspiring others afflicted with blindness.
Twint:    In order to defray costs of his attendance at games, both leagues presented him with a lifetime pass to all Major League games.
A.         Moose Solters (Kuhel)
FCR -    Richard Tharp, Gaithersburg, MD

THURSDAY
Q.         In 1941, whom did Manager Joe McCarthy promote to second base to play along with the also-newly-promoted shortstop Phil Rizzuto?
Hint:     He and Rizzuto had been paired as a double play combination in the minors for the three years prior.
Hint:     Bill James wrote an entire chapter about him in his book “The Politics of Glory” concluding he was one of the greatest defensive players of all time with “essentially the same skills as Mazeroski and Bolling”.
Twint:    He was the inspiration to a barefoot eleven-year-old Maury Wills, who once told him, “Hey, kid.  You’ve got a chance to be a good baseball player one day.  Where’s your shoes?”
A.         Jerry Priddy (Rizzuto/Priddy 1938-40 minors both with Norfolk Tars and Kansas City Blues; Politics of Glory; Wills looked down to see he wasn’t wearing any shoes and later commented
FCR -    Jack Carlson, Beaver Creek, OH

IN MEMORIAM
Q.         Who was the first person outside of North American to have controlling interesting in a major league team?
Hint:     His 1992 purchase of the Mariners helped keep them in Seattle.
Hint:     He got involved as a favor to the Seattle area, which was home to his Redmond, WA‑based Nintendo of America.
Hint:     He passed day-to-day control of the ball club in 2004 to Nintendo of America, led by Howard Lincoln, who is chairman & chief executive officer of the Mariners.
Hint:     He had stayed on as an adviser at Nintendo since 2002.
Twint:    He ran Nintendo from 1949 to 2002, turning it from a playing-card company into an international video-game giant.
Twint:    Our own Scott Brandon sat in on a meeting he conducted and reports that the level of deference was like none he’d ever witnessed.
A.         Hiroshi Yamauchi
FCR -    Andy Milner, Bryn Mawr, PA

FRIDAY
Q.         Who, in 1935, was called “The $17,500 lemon” and sent down to the minors?
Hint:     He came back with a vengeance in 1936 hitting .344 and in 1937 he led the league with 218 hits and 51 doubles.
Hint:     He was selected for the 1937 All Star Game, but did not play as all three starting outfielders played the entire game.
Twint:    As coach, he led the 1951 Texas A&M team to the Southwest Conference championship and College World Series.
A.         Beau Bell (Sent down to Class A San Antonio Missions after batting .250 with SLB; 1937 ASG box DiMaggio, Averill and West went all 9; Aggie coach;
FCR -    Richard Tharp, Gaithersburg, MD

FRIDAY FREEBIE
Q.         Whose nickname was earned when he hit a first‑pitch lead‑off home run just after the ballpark band had just finished playing “Oh, You Beautiful Doll!”?
Hint:     He claims a lady sitting behind home plate jumped up after his swat and shouted out, “You must be that beautiful doll!”
Hint:     He once set a major league record of 488 putouts in a season by an outfielder.
Twint:    He was the last player to hold the putout record before Taylor Douthit established the current mark of 547 in 1928.
A.         Baby Doll Jacobsen (Nickname acquired with Mobile in 1912, song; 488 PO 1924.  Douthit’s record still stands 85 years later)
FCR -    Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI

END-OF-THE-WORKWEEK BONUS
Q.         Who leads all District of Columbia natives in career runs scored?
Hint:     Ty Cobb chose him to start at first base in Cobb’s first year managing the Detroit Tigers.
Hint:     He led all infielders on that team in virtually every offensive category except sacrifice hits.
Hint:     After announcing to Tiger management he would never play for the Tigers again, he was traded–along with Heinie Manush—to the St. Louis Browns.
Twint:    In an exhibition fund-raising game, batting right-handed, he hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to tie the game.
Twint:    He then hit another grand slam in the tenth, from the left side, to win the game.
A.         Lu Blue (1,151 R; 1921 Tigers; Trade 13-Dec-1927; 2 GS 1917)
FCR -    Barry Nelson, Guilderland, NY

SATURDAY
Q.         Who was the only St. Louis Brown to hit a World Series home run?
Hint:     It was the winning difference in one of only two World Series games the Browns ever won.
Hint:     He had the highest batting average of that Series for players with more than four at bats.
Hint:     He also had more runs-batted-in that postseason than any other player on either team.
Twint:    In his only other Fall Classic, he was the starting Yankee first baseman in the 1947 World Series.
A.         George McQuinn (HR Game 1 1944 WS, 2-1 victory over STL; BA .438 with 16AB led both teams; 7R also led both teams; 1B start 6 of 7 games)
FCR -    Chuck Hilty, Reston, VA

SATURDAY SUPPLEMENTAL
Q.         Who holds the Detroit Tigers season record for putouts at third base?
Hint:     He managed the Red Sox for two seasons, taking over an eighth place team and lifting them all the way to seventh.
Hint:     He’s the only third baseman player/manager the Red Sox ever had.
Twint:    With a mere 23, he led the American League in stolen bases in 1930.
A.         Marty McManus (206 PO in 1929 [Oops!  Not so.  Turns out Ossie Vitt had two more than that for Detroit in 1916.]; Player/Mgr for BOS 1932-33)
FCR -    Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI

WEEKEND BONUS
Q.         What native of Cambridge, MA played first base in the majors and was affectionately known as “Slug”?
Hint:     He was managed by a Reindeer, a Rajah and Black Mike.
Twint:    He only played on one team that bettered a .500 record.
Twint:    He managed for ten seasons in the minors in two countries after his major league playing career.
Twint:    On four of those teams he was a player manager.
Twint:    His son Bob coached baseball in high school for over thirty years.
Twint:    Every year that school award a baseball honor named after him.
A.         Jack Burns (Player page; SLB managers 1930-33 “Reindeer” Bill Killefer, 1934-37 Rogers “The Rajah” Hornsby and 1936 DET manager Mickey “Black Mike” Cochrane; DET 1936 83-71 2nd in AL, 19.5 G behind NYY; Minor league managing record)
FCR -    Ray Luurs, Blaine, MN

SUNDAY
Q.         Who was the Senators’ leading batter in their last World Series?
Hint:     That same year, he led all outfielders in the majors with 433 putouts.
Hint:     In his debut season, he hit his first career home run off Walter Johnson, his second off Waite Hoyt.
Twint:    He was once involved in a trade that sent him to the Senators with Goose Goslin and Lefty Stewart, a move that certainly helped get the Senators to the 1933 World Series.
A.         Fred Schulte (1933WS 4-1 loss to the NYG; Yearly league PO by OF; HR off Johnson 04‑Jun‑1927, off Hoyt 16‑Jun‑1927; traded SLB to WSH, 14-Dec-1932)
FCR -    Dave Serota, Kalamazoo, MI

WEEK’S GRAND FINALE
Q.         Who is the only outfielder to lead the league in fielding three times during the 1940s?
Hint:     Although he missed out on a World Series ring during his service in WWII, he earned one as a backup after his return.
Hint:     He received MVP votes in two of his first three seasons in the majors.
Hint:     Bowie Kuhn lists him among his favorite players because, as a young scoreboard operator for the Senators, he first received a game ball from this star outfielder.
Hint:     One scout advised the Yankees to pass on Padres outfielder Ted Williams due to "limitations," recommending this slugging outfielder in his place.
Twint:    He ranks in the top 100 in career fielding among centerfielders and all outfielders.
Twint:    He was the first major leaguer from the high school that later produced Gus Triandos and Dave Hengel.
Twint:    He led his team in home runs in 1939, 40, 42, 46, 51, 52 and 54.
A.         Wally Judnich (Fielding % .989 in 1940, .991 in 1942 & .995 in 1946; Missed 1944 WS, earned ring w- CLE in 1948; MVP votes in 1940 & 42; OF ranking: 54th and 91st respectively; Mission San Jose HS, Fremont, CA; HRs: 1939 Newark Bears [21], 1954 Portland Beavers [18]; also 1940 Browns & 1951-52 Seattle Rainiers (1940, 42 & 46) in-between)
FCR -    Rod Nelson, Detroit, MI


WEEKLY THEME – St. Louis Brown players with 40 doubles in season

Player          Year        Doubles
Bell              1936        40
                    1937        51
Blue             1929        40
Burns           1933        43
Clift              1936        40
Goslin          1931        42
Jacobson     1924        41
Judnich        1941        40
Kress           1930        43
                    1931        46
Manush        1928        47
                    1929        45
McManus     1925        44
McQuinn       1938        42
Priddy          1948        40
Schulte         1928        44
Sisler           1920        49
                    1922        42
Solters         1936        45
Vosmik        1937        47



First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Joe Ullian, Santa Barbara, CA (after the Vosmik Q.)


Horsehide Trivia blog has the questions and answers from this week as well as from previous weeks:  http://horsehidetrivia.blogspot.com/





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