This week’s theme and
questions were submitted by reader John Michael Pierobon from Fort Lauderdale.
MONDAY
Q. Whose
wife, Carole, disappeared in 1982 after leaving the couple's home in the
Chicago suburb of Wheaton?
Hint: He
made his major league debut with the Baltimore Orioles.
Hint: In
his career, he hit 20 home runs as a pitcher.
Hint: He
twice lead the American League in wild pitches thrown.
Hint: BRTR
A. MILT PAPPAS
- Debut
- 10-Aug-1957 (He pitched two scoreless innings vs. NYY.)
- HR log, including a game where he went deep
twice while throwing a complete-game shutout – 27-Aug-1961
- Led
the AL in WP in 1959 & 1960 w/14 & 10 respectively, the former
also leading the majors.
- Batted
Right; Threw Right
FCR - Eric Stone, Los Gatos,
California
Incorrect answers: Hoyt Wilhelm, Joe Altobelli,, Early Wynn,
Chuck Estrada, Bob Turley, Ralph Terry
TUESDAY
Q. Who
holds the Baltimore Orioles franchise record for career pitching wins?
Hint: He
became the youngest pitcher to win a complete World Series game.
Hint: Of
the 303 home runs he surrendered in his 19-year, one-team career, not one was a
grand slam.
Hint: He
still provides cogent, trenchant commentary behind the mic.
A. JIM PALMER
- G 2, 1966 WS at Dodger Stadium, becoming the
youngest pitcher (20 years, 11 months) to win a complete WS G, defeating LAD
6-0.
- Color
man for BAL broadcasts on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN)
FCR - Naftali
Greenwood, Kiryat, Arba, Israel
Incorrect answers:
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who pitched consecutive shutouts for
his first two games in the majors the same month that Stark Trek debuted on
NBC?
Hint: The
bad news? He didn’t get a single for the BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award. The
good news? He did win the Sporting News Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award for
his league the following year.
Hint: He
was also credited with a win in a shutout performance in the World Series.
Hint: He
has a solar surname.
A. TOM PHOEBUS Bio
- Debut
G: 15-Sep-1966; 2nd G 20-Sep-1966.
Star Trek’s first episode was "The Man Trap", airing at 8:30 PM on 08-Sep-1966.
- He
was given the 1967 Sporting_News_Rookie_of_the_Year_Award
- Phoebus
is a Greek sobriquet for Apollo, god of the sun. [Why NASA’s moonshot
was called “Apollo” still baffles me. ~ dbb]
FCR - Bill
Deane, Cooperstown
Incorrect answers: Fernando Valenzuela, Sonny Siebert, Jim
Palmer, Wally Bunker
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who
is the only major leaguer with a Cy-Young-Award-winning big brother?
Hint: He
made his major league debut with a team that won the pennant that season, but
he was not placed on the postseason roster, even though his rookie baseball
card had been issued that same season.
Hint: He
is mentioned in the hit song “Talkin' Baseball”.
Hint: He
hit his first career home run within minutes of Apollo 11 landing on the moon,
as foretold by the oracle.
- Brother: Jim Perry 1970 AL CYA, 3 years older. Gaylord had 2 CYA’s of his own.
- Terry Cashman’s 1981 hit “Talkin’ Baseball”
- An urban baseball legend boldly
states that his first manager, Alvin Dark, holding forth on Perry’s offensive
skills, pronounced, “There’ll be a man on the moon before he hits a homer in
the majors.” Perry’s first home run came
7 years into his 22-year career on 20-Jul-1969, not long after the stadium announcer
had told the crowd that Neil Armstrong had taken his historic step.
The story is so good that it practically doesn’t matter whether it’s true.
FCR - Larry
Hayes, San Francisco
Incorrect answers: Phil Niekro, Jim Perry, Greg Maddux, Bret Saberhagen, Vance
Law, Blue Moon Odom, Joe Niekro
IN MEMORIAM
Q. Who
was the architect of the Yankee dynasty that operated un Joe Torre?
Hint: He
was the third “M” the only time Yankees batters hit home runs back‑to‑back‑to‑back
by players whose last names began with M.
Hint: He
had the privilege (sic) of managing the Yankees when George Steinbrenner owned
the team. Twice!
Hint: His
nickname was derived from his slender frame and certainly not by anything he
did with his bat.
Hint: These
are some of the draft picks he was responsible for: Derek Jeter, Fred McGriff, Mike Lowell, Mike
Pagliarulo, among many others.
Hint: These
are some of the players he successfully obtained in trade: Charlie Hayes, Jim Abbott, Paul O’Neill,
David Cone, among many others.
Hint: Here
are some of the free agents he signed:
Bob Watson, Dave Winfield, Jimmy Key and Pettitte, among many others.
Hint: In
his playing days, he was a known master of the hidden ball trick.
- GM
of NYY 1980–81, 1991–95
- Batting
behind Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson, Michael hit the 3rd-in-a-row home
run off Lew Krause of the Oakland A’s to open the bottom
of the 6th inning on 10-Aug-1969.
It was Munson’s first career HR and the only one he hit that year. Michael had 2, but none as famous as this
one.
- NYY
Mgr under “The Boss” for the 1st 56 G of the 1st
½ of 1981 the 1st 26 G of the 2nd ½ of 1981 and the
middle 86 G of 1982.
- Just enough meat on those bones.
Official programs listed him at 6’3” and 183 lbs.
FCR - Jim
Lovelace, Kent, Ohio
Incorrect answers: Billy Martin, Gil McDougald
THURSDAY
Q. Who
changed a certain impertinent foul pole into a pesky one just by renaming it?
Hint: He
is listed at least 17 times in the top pitching statistical categories for his
franchise.
Hint: He
never played for any other team in the majors, but did manage for that
franchise in the minors at three different levels.
Hint: The
year he led the majors in win and compete games and led his league in ERA,
innings pitched and batters faced, he didn’t receive a single Cy Young Award
vote, although it got him on his first All-Star team.
Hint: He
too is mentioned in the hit song “Talkin' Baseball”.
A. MEL PARNELL
- Parnell’s
managerial record (scroll down)
- Had
his best year 1949. Cy Young Award first
awarded in 1956.
FCR - John Burbridge, Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania
Incorrect answers: Johnny Pesky, Boo Ferris, Bob Feller, Dizzy Dean,
Terry
Cashman
FRIDAY
Q. Which
former Cal pitcher was the first to throw a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium?
Hint: He
won exactly 100 regular-season major league games in his career.
Hint: He
was also 4-0 in postseason play.
Hint: He
surrendered Mel Ott’s 400th career home run.
- No-no
27-Aug-1938.
Attended the University of California in
Berkeley 1926-28.
- Ott’s 400th 01-Jun-1941
FCR - Bob Flynn, Chandler, Arizona
Incorrect answers: Walter Johnson, George
Mogridge, Eddie Lopat, Tex Carleton, Allie Reynolds, Bob Feller
SATURDAY
Q. Who
struck out Honus Wagner twice in a game while still in high school, Wagner being
a 7-year National League veteran coming off a pennant season?
Hint: He
was the starting tackle on a University of Illinois team that went 10-2-1.
Hint: Seven
(7!) additional players from that Illini football team later played major
league baseball.
Hint: He
once struck out 29 Negro Leaguers in a 15-inning barnstorming affair, which got
him kicked out of college paving the way for his major league career.
Hint: Although
he was a righty, his nickname describes one of his physical characteristics.
Hint: He
was traded away from a team whose dynastic run began the very next season while
he joined a staff with four (4!) 20-game losers the year before, the only such
team in major league history*. When he
later rejoined his old team, they had begun to slip.
Hint: He
later played briefly for the Tigers.
- K of Wagner was following the
1903 season.
- Impressive
football season was 1902 , incredibly
finishing only 4th in the Western Conference.
- The additional major leaguers were
Jake
Stahl (tackle),
Ray
Demmitt (guard).
- “Big”
Jeff is listed as being 6’1”, 185 lbs.
- Traded
from CHC in December 1905.
- The
woeful 1905 Boston Beaneaters
set a high watermark for futility and execrable field management.
- Their
overworked 1905 staff included
Irv Young 20-21,
Vic Willis 12-29,
*Pfeffer
(13-22) helped them repeat that unwanted record in the ’06 season, joining
teammates Young 16-25, Vive
Lindaman 12-23 & league leader Gus Dorner 8-25.
- Pfeffer
rejoined CHC at the end of 1910
and posted a meager 1-0 record with a little more than 40 innings pitched. Improbably, that Cubs team had another player
who name began with “Pf…”, former NL ERA leader, Jack ‘The Giant Killer’ Pfiester,
only 6-3 himself that season.
- Player/manager for the Class C Pawtucket Tigers
of the Colonial League,
although there are researchers’ differences as to which Pfeffer this was.
FCR - Rick
Fink, Edison, New Jersey
Incorrect answers:
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. What
pitcher threw a modern record 44 innings in one World Series?
Hint: He
walked three batters and struck out 22 in that Fall Classic.
Hint: Fans
with short baseball memories voted him the greatest right-handed pitcher in the
history of that 125+-year-old franchise.
Hint: SABR
says he earned his nickname “…because of his reticent demeanor, his humility
and the way he lived his life.”
Hint: He
grew up outside the United States.
- 1903 WS
- From
age 3 to 17, he lived near Athol
in the Dakota Territory. It wouldn’t become a state until 1889.
FCR - Phil
Ross, Denver
Incorrect answers: Mariano Rivera, Christy Mathewson, Joe Wood,
Madison Bumgarner,
SUNDAY
Q. What
hurler had an unusual trifecta in his rookie season with the Milwaukee Brewers:
3 wins, 3 losses and a 3.00 ERA?
Hint: In
a four-year span in the heart of his career, he pitched more innings than any other hurler in his league.
Appearing mainly for second-division teams, he averaged 23 wins & 430
innings pitched per season and completed 98% of the games he started.
Hint: In
his last full year in the majors was
the league leader in hits allowed, runs allowed, home runs allowed, assists as
a pitcher and losses.
Hint: He
became the second pitcher ever to strike out 18 batters in one game.
A. HENRY
PORTER
- 3
X 3 = 1884
- Four
years = 1885-88
- Last
complete season = 1888.
- 18
K = 03-Oct-1884, less than 4 months after the first such feat ever, Dupee Shaw’s
gem on 19-Jul.
FCR - Mark
Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect answers:
WEEKLY THEME – Major league pitchers
whose last name starts with “P” who pitched a complete-game
no-hitter.
Palmer............. 13-Aug-1969......... OAK 0 BAL 8
Pappas............. 02-Sep-1972.......... CHC 8 SDP 0
Parnell............. 14-Jul-1956........... CHW 0 BOS 4
Pearson........... 27-Aug-1938......... CLE 0 NYY 13
Perry............... 17-Sep-1968*......... STL 0 SFG 1
Porter............. 06-Jun-1888......... KCC 4 BAL 0
Pfeffer............. 08-May-1907
...... CIN 0 BSN 6
Phillippe......... 25-May-1899**..... LOU 7 NYG 0
Phoebus.......... 27-Apr-1968.......... BOS 0 BAL 6
* Bob
Gibson was the opposing pitcher.
**Only
his 7th career start.
First Correct Respondent to
Identify Theme – Steve Berman, Bergenfield, New Jersey
(After Perry)
Incorrect theme guesses:
Tuesday - Guys who won 20 games for Orioles in the 1960s
- Orioles
pitching staff
- Orioles
pitchers who pitched an MLB no hitter
- Teenagers who have played with the Orioles
- All-time Orioles win leaders
Wed - Orioles
pitchers with 3 straight complete game shutouts
- Orioles
pitchers who have pitched no hitters.
- Orioles
right-handed rookie pitchers whose last names all begin with P, and who hit a
home run and pitched at least one shutout in their rookie seasons.
- 60s
pitchers who won WS games as teenagers
- Most career wins for Orioles
by players whose last name starts with P
- Baltimore
Oriole pitchers who hit under .200 with exactly 1 home run in their first full
season
- Pitchers who
were involved in no-hitters by the Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns
franchise.
- Authors of
no-hitters in the year of the pitcher, 1968
Fri - Pitchers whose
first names start with P and won 100 or more games
Sun - Pitched a no hitter
and 3 consecutive shutouts
- Pitched
complete game after pitching no hitter
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