MONDAY
Q. Whose .426 batting average for a single season is still the highest in the history of the modern era of major league baseball?
Hint: It was his 6th season in the majors, but in his first season in a different league, notwithstanding he was playing for the same city.
Hint: No right-handed player has ever hit more career doubles.
Hint: Once, protesting a dirty game ball, he threw the ball out of the stadium. The umpire called the game on the spot, giving his team an automatic loss.
- .426 in 1901. (For over 50 years his BA was listed as lower because of a math error.)
- Played for the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies 1896-1900; played for the Philadelphia Athletics of the brand-new American League in 1901.
- 657 career doubles in the majors NOTE: In his last season, Craig Biggio passed Lajoie for this honor 24-Jun-2007.
- From Retrosheet: “08-Aug-1903 - DET at CLE - AL - In the bottom of the 11th inning, Tigers ahead 6-5 when they threw an old dirty ball into play. The Naps protested to Hall of Fame umpire Tommy Connolly to no avail. Lajoie then picked the ball up and threw it over the grand stand. The umpire awarded the game to Detroit. Fans surged around the umpire but no violence occurred. - New York Times, 09-Aug-1903, p 14 (Detroit) - In his autobiography, Ty Cobb, My Life in Baseball, p 84, Cobb describes this game as if he was there, but he did not start his career until 1905).”
FCR - Mark Linneman, Sacramento
Incorrect answers: Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Bill Terry, Hugh Duffy, Ted Williams, Willie Keeler
TUESDAY
Q. Aside from Nap Lajoie, what Hall of Famer has had the pronunciation of his name corrected more in recent years?
Hint: He was the first batting champion to play in that year's World Series.
Hint: Subsequently, he was also the first batting champion to play for that year’s World Series champion.
Hint: He hit .300 or better for 15 consecutive season.
Hint: No other right-handed hitter owns more batting titles.
- Traditional = “Hoe-Nuss”; Studied and corrected = “Haw-Ness”. A diminutive of Johann or Johannes, the German equivalents of John.
- Won NL batting title eight (8!) times
FCR - Bob Gallo, Sellersville, PA
Incorrect answers: Mickey Cochrane, Rogers Hornsby, Johnny Evers
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who managed the Cleveland Indians to their first World Series championship?
Hint: His status as a double-unique is not likely to be challenged any time soon.
Hint: He holds the record for throwing out base-runners from the outfield.
Hint: He had an avian nickname.
- No other major leaguer has been called Tris , nor has there ever been another Speaker.
- “The Gray Eagle”
FCR - Len Levin, Providence, Rhode Island
Incorrect answers: Lou Boudreau, Birdie Tebbetts, Rogers Hornsby
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. What Hall-of-Famer-to-be couldn’t wait to be noticed when he was still 17 years old and in the minors and solved it by writing dozens of anonymous letters to a local sportswriter, a sportswriter who became as famous as the player?
Hint: He was diagnosed with glaucoma and wore sunglasses most of the time for the last few years of his career.
Hint: Starting in the early 1910s and for the rest of his life, he signed his name exclusively in green ink.
Hint: He is the only one with four 5-hit games in the same season.
Hint: Three months before he died, he tossed out the ceremonial first pitch for the first major league game ever played at Wrigley Field.
FCR - Tom Headley, Silver Spring, MD
Incorrect answers: Cap Anson, Casey Stengel, Chick Hafey, George Sisler
THURSDAY
Q. What future New York Yankee hit .401 for the San Francisco Seals in 1925?
Hint: He was the only base runner in Jim Tobin's no-hitter, coaxing two bases-on-balls out of Tobin, one to lead off the game and the other with two out in the 9th inning?
Hint: His brother made it to the Hall of Fame.
Hint: His number was retired more than 40 years after his death.
Hint: He was not born in the United States.
- Number 11 retired 21-Jul-2007; Died
- Born in the Oklahoma Territory 16-Apr-1903, over 4 years before Oklahoma was granted statehood 16-Nov-1907.
FCR - Scott Matteson, Shawnee, Kansas
Incorrect answers: Lefty O’Doul, Tony Lazzeri, Vince DiMaggio, Dom DiMaggio, Joe DiMaggio, Lefty O'Doul
THURSDAY BONUS
Q. Who has the second-most career home runs among major league Hall of Famers born on November 21st in Donora, Pennsylvania?
Hint: Not surprising since he never led the league in home runs.
Hint: He has first-place standing, however, as The Man.
Hint: Still, he did all right for himself. He led the National League in batting average 7 times (including the last time at age 36); in hits and slugging 6 times; in runs scored 5 times.
Hint: In the 20th century, nobody won more league MVP’s than he did.
- MVP’s in 1943, 1946 & 1948. Barry Bonds is the only player to win the MVP more than 3 times, his 4th coming in 2001.
FCR - Morris Buenemann, Florissant, Missouri
Incorrect answers: Ken Griffey, Jr.
FRIDAY
Q. Who is the only player with 2 grand slams after the age of 40?
Hint: In spite of a season with 223 hits, a .355 BA, a .636 slugging %, an OPS of 1.037, an OPS+ of 182 and 400 total bases (yes--400!), he only finish 3rd in the MVP voting behind two infielders, one of which was a teammate.
Hint: Did I mention he also played in two All-Star games and won a Gold Glove that same year?
Hint: He was called “bad”, but that was only true in the Michael Jackson definition of the word.
- Turned 40 05-Feb-1974; Hit grand slams 26-Apr-1974 & 04-Jun-1974. NOTE: Eagle-eyed readers called our attention to the fact eight (8!) additional players have hit two grand slams after turning 40. Here are four of them:
- “Bad Henry” was a sobriquet he picked up in his rookie season, reportedly from National League pitchers.
FCR - Alex Remington, Washington, DC
Incorrect answers: Ernie Banks, Ken Griffey, Sr., Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Craig Biggio, Willie Mays, Lloyd Waner, Willie McCovey
SATURDAY
Q. What enthusiastic rookie left his own wedding reception to attend a local sports banquet?
Hint: He had met his wife-to-be earlier at another sporting event.
Hint: Official reports contradict teammates’ anecdotal lore of his off-field demeanor.
Hint: Not even Derek Jeter, Nellie Fox nor Donie Bush led the league in plate appearances more times than he did.
- In July he met Karolyn Engelhardt at the River Downs racetrack in Cincinnati, and the two were married. Rose left his own wedding reception in order to attend the Parade of Stars dinner put on by Cincinnati’s baseball writers.
- John Dowd, Washington, DC lawyer, engaged by MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti to look into Rose’s moral eligibility to remain in baseball’s good graces, wrote in his report that Rose never dined once with a teammate, so disconnected was he from them. On the other hand, his SABR Bio states that “[Rose] was also unselfish—he always picked up the check, routinely invited teammates to live with him and willingly changed positions several times during his career, all for the benefit of his team or teammates.”
- Rose led the league in PA’s 7 times, 2 times more than anyone else in major league history.
FCR - Gary Hoffman, Moon Township, PA
Incorrect answers: Rickey Henderson
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. What batter has made the most outs in the history of American League play?
Hint: He held, for a brief time the all-time record for the most major league games ever played.
Hint: Fourteen month later, he was passed by a player who holds it still.
Hint: He went west from Hampton to Bend.
- With his 11th game of his final season, 24-Apr-1983, he surpassed Aaron’s career total of 3,298, set 7 years earlier.
- That record fell the very next year when Rose played in his 3,209th game on 29-Jun. Rose built the lead to 3,562 and has put it out of reach for most mortals. Only one MLB player who will suit up in 2017 has more than 2,500 games played, Adrian Beltre, whose 2,720 place him 29th on the all-time list. Yaz is still a strong 2nd and will be for years to come.
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect answers: Luke Appling, Mickey Vernon
SUNDAY
Q. Who said, "A woman will be elected President before Wade Boggs is called out on strikes. I guarantee that."?
Hint: He (not Boggs) is tied for 2nd place for number of doubles in an All-Star game.
Hint: He is tied for 2nd place for number of triples in an All-Star game.
Hint: He is 2nd three other times on his way to the majors.
Hint: He’s the final player to fit in this week’s theme.
- Delicious hyperbole, nothing more
- 1 All-Star double, tied with 30+ other players (He did it twice.)
- 1 triple, tied with 30+ other players
- A. Alumnus of El 2nd-o High School;
B. Was the 2nd member of his family into the majors; &
C. Was chosen in the 2nd round in the 1971 draft
FCR - Frank DiPrima, Morristown, NJ
Incorrect answers: Tony Gwynn
THEME FOR THE WEEK - First 10 players to amass 600 career doubles.
Chronological Rank
|
Player
|
Career Totals
|
Date of 600th
|
1
|
657
|
30-Jun-1912
| |
2
|
643
| ||
3
|
792
| ||
4
|
724
| ||
5
|
605
| ||
6
|
725
| ||
7
|
624
| ||
8
|
746
| ||
9
|
646
| ||
10
|
665
| ||
Others w/600
| |||
11
|
Paul Molitor
|
605
| |
12
|
Cal Ripken
|
603
| |
13
|
Craig Biggio
|
668
| |
14
|
Barry Bonds
|
601
| |
15
|
David Ortiz
|
632
| |
16
|
Albert Pujols
|
602
|
First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Jack Sullivan, Louisville (after Brett)
Incorrect theme guesses:
Wed - The first electees to the Hall of Fame, or, perhaps to some of those persons present for the famous 1939 picture of the earliest electees (minus the belated Ty Cobb) taken on HOF opening day in Cooperstown in 1939.
- First players to get 3,000 hits
- Original Hall of Fame inductees
- First class at the Hall of Fame opening for the 1939 "centennial"?
Thu - Select players from the Strat-o-Matic hall of fame "A" teams.
- The best baseball players who ever lived!
Sat - Players with the most hits in MLB history.
Sun - All time games played leader
Questions archived here: http://horsehidetriviA. blogspot.com/
Horsehide Trivia home page: https://sites.google.com/site/tnfotobbpics/home/horsehide-trivia
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