The idea for this week’s theme and the questions were sent to us
by Alan Goldhammer of Bethesda, Maryland. [We edited Alan’s submission to
fit our format. Mistakes made, were
ours, not his.]
MONDAY
Q. Whose career on-base
percentage of .4817 is the best of all time?
Hint: He gave tips on
batting, not tips of the hat.
Hint: Baseball-reference
lists no less than four nicknames for him.
The media had others.
Hint: His SABR biography
begins by claiming that any argument as to the greatest hitter of all time
always involves him.
A. TED WILLIAMS
- Babe Ruth is next at .4739.
- Few failed to listen to any suggestion he had on hitting.
His final career home run was perhaps his most famous, the Fenway
faithful cheered as never before, but we did not come out to acknowledge the
ovation.
- “The Kid”, “Teddy Ballgame”, “Splendid Splinter” & “Thumper”
- It’s a short list, to be sure.
FCR - Will McCracken,
Bradenton, FL
Incorrect answers: Harry
Walker, Barry Bonds, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner
TUESDAY
Q. What Hall of Famer’s*
20th-century record for most
home runs in a season and career did Babe Ruth render
irrelevant?
Hint: He reportedly once hit a ball so
hard that it killed a seagull in flight. That incident resulted in his
unusual nickname.
Hint: His style of play was
incongruous, almost at odds, with the baseball trends of his times, but he had
a very cogent explanation. Quoth he, “There is no advice I can give in batting,
except to hammer the ball. Some players
steal bases with hook slides and speed. I
steal bases with my bat."
Hint: His postseason record in the majors wasn’t overwhelming as he
participated in only one World Series and only hit .125, but his minor league
prowess was widely known.
- [*Cravath is not in the Hall of Fame. Personal opinion slipped through on this one.]
He hit 24 HR in 1915 and had 119 before Ruth overtook him.
- Seagull is “gaviota” in Spanish and Clifford became Gavvy.
- Played with the Angels of the PCL for five seasons winning the
pennant four times.
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto,
ON
Incorrect answers: Hack
Wilson, Roger Connor, Frank Baker, Barry Bonds, Wee Willie Keeler, Ned
Williamson, Ken Williams
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was the only
non-Yankee American League shortstop to win the World Series MVP award before
David Eckstein won in in 2006?
Hint: Two teammates
finished ahead of him in the league MVP voting that same year.
Hint: For two decades, his
franchise’s only action was to re-sign him.
Hint: He actually received
Manager of the Year votes the season he led his squad to .265 winning
percentage. (not a typo)
- WS MVP 1984
- Signed as a free agent with the Tigers in 1992,
93, 94 & 95.
FCR - Bill Gilbert, Lakeway,
TX
Incorrect answers: Marty Marion, Lou Boudreau, Bert
Campaneris, Bobby Richardson, Rod Carew, Walt Weiss, Roger Peckinpaugh
THURSDAY
Q. What switch-hitting
All-Star once broke a scoring record previously held by Hall of Famer Bill
Walton?
Hint: He is the only
American Leaguer to switch-hit home runs in a game 3 times in a season.
Hint: Proving it wasn’t a
fluke, he did it twice the next season.
Hint: He is the only
Detroit Tiger since World War II to drive in more than 100 runs in each of his
first two full seasons.
A. TONY CLARK
- Clark once held records for
career and single-season points for San Diego-area high school basketball; his new
single-season mark broke the previous one held by NBA star-to-be Bill
Walton.
- 117 RBI in 159 G in 1997 & 103 RBI in 157 G in 1998
FCR - Chuck Hilty, Reston,
VA
Incorrect answers: Darrell Evans, Prince Fielder, Al Kaline,
Victor Martinez, Matt Nokes, Mickey Stanley, Mickey Tettleton
FRIDAY
Q. After Darryl
Strawberry, whom did the Mets pick next in the 1st round of the draft that
year?
Hint: Unlike “Straw”, he
would never be an All-Star, see a post-season, capture a Silver Slugger award,
or get a single MVP vote.
Hint: He played in parts of
6 seasons and hit a grand total of 3 home runs—all in one season.
Hint: He finished his
career with the team that would later hire him as general manager—a move that,
arguably, could end up with him being voted into the Hall of Fame.
A. BILLY BEANE
- Played from 1984-89. 3 HR hit 1986.
- His tenure as GM with the Oakland A’s has brought Bill
James and sabermetrics
to the forefront, prompting Rob
Neyer of ESPN to ask Beane if he
thought he was headed to the Hall of Fame, knowing that no GM had ever done so.
FCR - Eric Stone, Los Gatos,
CA
Incorrect answers: Shawn Abner, Clint Hurdle
SATURDAY
Q. Who is the only
National League manager to manage at least 3 years where his team never played
a game in New York?
Hint: Umpires ejected him
11 times over his managing career, but never from a game in or against New
York.
Hint: He was the first
native of the state of Arizona to receive a Hall of Fame vote.
Hint: He once had the only
error in a famous pitching performance that was otherwise perfect.
A. SOLLY HEMUS
- Mgr STL 1959-61
- Managerial ejections recorded on his
Retrosheet page
- Received exactly one (1) Hall of Fame vote in 1966 , tied with Bobby
Adams, Bob
Porterfield, Chico
Carrasquel & Jim
Hearn
- Stan
Musial pitched to only one
batter in his major league career. That batter, Frankie
Baumholtz, reached on an error by
Hemus 28-Sep-1952.
FCR - Rich Klein, Plano, TX
Incorrect answers: Bill Rigney, Walter Alston, John McGraw
SATURDAY SURPRISE
Q. Who stopped Johnny
Bench's 10-year run of National League Gold Glove awards at catcher?
Hint: No defensive player
at any position has a higher career WAR for the Angels.
Hint: Until the appearance
of Salvador Perez, no other Kansas City Royal had ever won a Gold Glove and he
only played for them for one full season.
Hint: He once threw out
Rickey Henderson three times in the same game.
A. BOB BOONE
- Career WAR for CAL 14.5
FCR - Dave Wise, Hyde Park,
NY
Incorrect answers: Bobby Grich, Jim Sundberg, Mike Scioscia,
Mike Piazza, Yadier Molina, Benito Santiago
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who was the first
Japanese-born player to suit up for the Cleveland Indians?
Hint: As his country’s team
lead-off hitter in an international tournament, he
hit .308 and stole four bases, the most in the competition.
Hint: One of his stolen
bases is considered the most important in his franchise’s history.
Hint: He did not surrender
Hank Aaron’s last career hit.
A. DAVE ROBERTS
- B. 31-May-1972 Okinawa, Japan; MLB debut 07-Aug-1999
- His most notable achievement was a 9th-inning stolen base on 17-Oct-2004 in the ALCS that turned the tide for the Red Sox' to break their famous “curse”.
FCR - Rich Klein, Plano, TX
Incorrect answers: Kazuhito Tadano
SUNDAY
Q. What BLTR All-Star
played for two different National League World Series champions, one before and
one after MLB’s first wave of expansion?
Hint: In one steady
stretch, his home run total was 13 for each of three consecutive seasons.
Hint: It could have been 4,
but he went beyond the next year.
Hint: Won the Manager of
the Year Award his first year on the job.
Hint: He managed the AAA
team in a city that was awarded an MLB team. He managed them as well.
A. BOB SKINNER
- 13 HR 1957-59; 15 in 1960
FCR - Bob Flynn, Chandler,
AZ
Incorrect answers: Red
Schoendienst
THEME FOR THE WEEK - San Diego County high
school alumni who made it into management in the major leagues.
Alum High School MLB MLB
Management
Beane Mount Carmel 1984-89 A’s GM Oct 1997 —
Clark Christian 1995-2009 Exec.
Dir. MLBPA 2013 —
Cravath Escondido 1908-09, 12-20 Mgr PHI 1919-20
Skinner La Jolla 1954, 56-66 Mgr PHI 1968-69, SDP 1977*
Williams Herbert Hoover 1939-42, 46-60 Mgr WSA 1969-71; TEX 1972
*Roberts and Skinner each managed their hometown Padres for
exactly one game.
First Correct Respondent
to Identify Theme – Joe Ullian, Santa Barbara, CA (after Trammell)
Comments from Alan
Goldhammer: I graduated from Point Loma High School in
1965, the same school that Don Larsen and David Wells pitched for. We
made it to the county finals my junior year where we lost to Crawford High
School and Bob Boone was the opposing pitcher that day. My senior year we
were eliminated in the semifinals by San Diego High School who had Brent Strom
on the mound. We had one player in my class who made it to the big
leagues. Mike Adamson pitched a couple of games for the Orioles after
attending USC but then had arm trouble and that was his career. I don’t
know what type of arm problems he had and perhaps had he been born 10 years
later new surgical techniques could have helped him.
Incorrect theme guesses:
Monday -
Players who led the league in batting and homers but not RBI in a single
season.
- Players
who led the league on either side of military service (just a wild guess).
Tuesday -
Players who hit .340, led the league in homeruns and rbi - but did not win the
triple crown.
- Williamses with the
most career HR's
- All-California All
Star team
- players from San Diego
who finished second in an MVP vote
Friday -
Players who went to San Diego area High Schools and were elected to Breitbard
(San Diego Sports) Hall of Fame
- Players who went to high school
in the San Diego area and went on to become MLB managers.
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