Sunday, September 6, 2015

August 31-September 6, 2015 - NLCS walk-off home runs (plus Ventura)

MONDAY
Q.         Which Hall of Famer was the only player to amass 1,000 RBI during the 1970's?
Hint:     A former teammate of his was the next player closest.
Hint:     He was nicknamed "Hands" by his childhood friends due to his monumental metacarpi.
Hint:     He remains the youngest player to homer in an All-Star game.
Twint:    In spite of a Hall of Fame career, multiple championships and an engaging personality, he will never be the most famous baseball player from his home state.
A.         JOHNNY BENCH
-  1,013 RBI 1970-79
Tony Perez 954 RBI 1970-79
-  Huge hands, hallmark of many great catchers
1969 ASG; 21 Years 228 days
Mickey Mantle was also from Oklahoma
FCR -    Duncan Crowl, San Juan Capistrano, CA
Incorrect answers:  Andruw Jones, Tony Perez, Willie Stargell, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount

TUESDAY
Q.         Who holds the record for most consecutive errorless games by a first baseman in a season?
Hint:     He is the only player to participate in the game Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run and the game Pete Rose got his 4,192nd hit.
Hint:     He is the only player in the modern era to have three consecutive seasons with fewer than 100 runs while collecting 200 hits.
Hint:     And he did it twice!
Twint:    He considered running for public office until he got publicity that he didn’t want.
A.         STEVE GARVEY
-  159 G in 1984
-  HR #715 08-Apr-1974; H# 4,192 11-Sep-1985*
-  ≤ 100 R / ≥ 200 H:  1974-76; 1978-80
-  Let’s just say that some private affairs became public ones.
FCR -    David Krassin, New York, NY
* Although MLB continues to recognize Cobb's final hit total as 4,191, thorough independent, multiple-source research has revealed that 2 of Cobb's hits were counted twice, leaving his final (otherworldly) total at 4,189.  Rose broke that record against Reggie Patterson with a 1b in the 1st inning of a game vs. CHC 08-Sep-1985.  Rose finished with 4,256.
                [That headline might read “Cobb, Cubs, corroboration!”]
Incorrect answers:  Bill Buckner, Kevin Youkilis, Wes Parker, Mike Lum, Joe Torre

WEDNESDAY
Q.         Who was the last Alabama native to score a run in the All-Star game? (Excepting Bo Jackson in 1989)
Hint:     He missed by one year being the first player ever on his franchise to win a Gold Glove.
Hint:     The player who was first is now in the Hall of Fame.
Hint:     He replaced a Hall of Famer in his post-playing career.
Twint:    This in spite of his contralto voice.
A.         OZZIE SMITH
GG for SDP 1980
-  Dave Winfield won GG in 1979 for SDP
-  Became the voice of “This Week in Baseball” replacing legendary announcer Mel Allen
-  OK.  Fair enough.  Perhaps it’s a proper tenor.
FCR -    Doug Greenwald, San Francisco, CA
Incorrect answers:  Tim McCarver, Billy Williams, Craig Biggio, Henry Aaron

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.         What hard-as-nails dude once made the Carolina League look like child’s play?
Hint:     This in spite of only being a 13th-round draft pick.
Hint:     The future A’s GM Billy Beane, after watching him in the minors, said, "(He) is perfectly designed to play baseball… has no concept of failure."
Twint:   The first season he played full-time in the majors, his team won its division by 21.5 games.
A.         LENNY DYKSTRA
-  In 1983 he led the Carolina League in at-bats (525), runs (132), hits (188), triples 13), batting average (.358) and stolen bases (with 105, a league record for 17 years)
1986 Mets, NL East (BTW, that team also won the World Series)
FCR -    Fred Worth, Arkadelphia, AR
Incorrect answers:  Scott Hatteberg, Andy Van Slyke, Don Baylor

THURSDAY
Q.         Who was the only player on the 1992 World Series champion Blue Jays to win a league MVP during his career?
Hint:     In one stretch, he piled up more than 90+ RBI’s in each of nine consecutive seasons.
Hint:     Only one of those was under 100.
Hint:     His Hall of Fame teammates now include Craig and Greg.
Twint:    No other second baseman has more career home runs.
Twint:    …or career RBI’s.
A.         JEFF KENT
-  MVP 1990
-  90+ RBI 1997-2005
-  93 RBI in 2003
-  Biggio and Maddux; Additional HOF teammates:  Dave Winfield, Roberto Alomar, Eddie Murray
-  351 HR while playing 2nd base
-  1,413 RBI
FCR -    Fred Worth, Arkadelphia, AR
Incorrect answers:  Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, Joe Carter, Randy Johnson, Rickey Henderson, Fred McGriff, George Bell

FRIDAY
Q.         What former All-Star can often be seen on “The Housewives of Orange County”?
Hint:     Only three St. Louis Cardinals ever hit more home runs in a season than he did.  They were all first basemen.
Hint:     He hit the last American League Opening Day grand slam of the 20th century.
Hint:     He won more Gold Gloves than Devon White, Kirby Puckett or Carl Yastrzemski.
Twint:    He retired just shy of joining the 400-Home-Run Club.
A.         JIM EDMONDS
-  42 HR in 2000 & 2004; Only Mark McGwire, Albert Pujols & Johnny Mize had more.
-  OD GSHR 02-Apr-1996
-  8 GG; White 7, Puckett 6, Yaz 7
-  393 career HR
FCR -    Bill Carle Lee’s Summit, MO
Incorrect answers:  Jack Clark, Keith Hernandez, Tino Martinez, Albert Pujols

SATURDAY
Q.         Who can claim responsibility for the lowest point and highest point in recent postseason action for the St. Louis Cardinals?
Hint:     He was originally called up to replace the production of a flagging World Series hero.
Hint:     In spite of his slight frame, he was all-league in football for three years in high school.
Twint:    He is the first ever Rainbow to play for the Cardinals.
A.         KOLTON WONG
-  Inserted as a pinch-runner in the 9th inning with his team behind by 2 runs, he was picked off to end Game 4 of the 2013 World Series; He hit an improbable walk-off home run to beat the Giants in Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS
Kapālama High School, Honolulu, HI
FCR -    Neil Bhaerman, Pittsburgh, PA
Incorrect answers:  David Eckstein, Michal Wacha, Matt Carpenter, Pete Kozma, Dane Iorg

SUNDAY
Q.         What former Yankee clinched an NLCS series win with a walk-off homer off a previous NLCS MVP?
Hint:     His first major league hit was off that year’s Cy Young Award winner.
Hint:     Because of a signing bonus of almost $1 million, he became not a beaver, but a volcano, a sun, a scorpion and a defender, among other things.
Twint:    His paternal grandparents were held in an internment camp in Colorado during World War II.
Twint:    He met his wife, a dental assistant, after being hit by a pitch in the face in his first ever game with a high-A team.
A.         TRAVIS ISHIKAWA
-  W/NYY for 1 G 08-Jul-2013; Hit a walk-off HR off Michael Wacha that won the NL pennant for SFG 16-Oct-2014.  He’d only hit 22 HR’s in parts of 7 MLB seasons.
-  First H off Brandon Webb 19-Apr-2006
-  Bonus of $955,000 and so didn’t attend Oregon State; Minor League record
-  1st G w/San Jose in 2004; Wife Rochelle
FCR -    Doug Greenwald, San Francisco, CA
Incorrect answers:  David Justice, Lance Berkman, Jack Clark, Jim Leyritz, Todd Pratt

LABOR DAY WEEKEND BONUS
Q.         What manager has had to be assured that his job is safe despite his team resting only six games under .500?
Hint:     Hardly his fault as he has six players with negative WAR ratings and another at 0.0.
Hint:     As a player, he himself ranks in the top 20 all-time in WAR for the franchise he now heads up.
Hint:     Although nominally avian himself, he never played for an ornithologically-eponymous franchise.
Twint:    Only he and Matt Williams have won a Gold Glove Award in each league as third basemen.
Twint:    The most similar player to him by far, according to the similarity scores method, is Ron Cey.
A.         ROBIN VENTURA
-  Ranks 13th in WAR in CHW history despite playing for them for only 10 of his 16 seasons in the majors.
-  No STL, BAL or TOR on his résumé.
1.       Ron Cey (960)
2.       Todd Zeile (916)
3.       Brian Downing (895)
4.       Bobby Bonilla (894)
5.       George Hendrick (894)
6.       Sal Bando (892)
7.       Ken Boyer (886)
8.       Vinny Castilla (882)
9.       Ken Singleton (879)
10.    Fred Lynn (877)

FCR -    Jason Hoagland, Columbus, OH
Incorrect answers:  Bucky Dent, Lloyd McClendon, Buck Showalter, Jose Cardenal


WEEKLY THEME – Players who have a game-ending hit that was hit fair and over the fence in a National League Championship Series.  All were home runs except Ventura’s, which, because his teammates never allowed him to touch any base but first, was ruled a single.

Player         NLCS   G     Off                         Inning    Result
Bench         1973      1      Tom Seaver                 9th     Won game
Garvey       1984      4      Lee Smith                     9th     Extended series
Smith          1985      5      Tom Niedenfuer           9th     Extended Series
Dykstra       1986      3      Dave Smith                  9th     Won game
Ventura       1999      5      Kevin McGlinchy        15th     Extended Series
Kent            2004      5      Jason Isringhausen    12th     Won game
Edmonds    2004      6      Dan Miceli                   12th     Extended series
Wong          2014      2      Sergio Romo                9th     Won game
Ishikawa     2014      5      Michael Wacha             9th     Won pennant

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Dave Washburn, Marietta, GA

Incorrect theme guesses:

Tuesday   -  Most World Series games played in the 1970s

Wed        -  Hit a walk off home run in a championship series and his team went on to win the World Series
               -  '13' -- each player involved with the number 13

Thursday  -  People who homered in the 1993 World Series

Sunday    -  Asian-American playoff heroes


Questions archived here:  http://horsehidetriviA.  blogspot.com/




1 comment:

  1. I too was at the Ryan-Ventura game, along with all my kids and others! Robin, we're with you in spite of this gaffe!

    ReplyDelete