Horsehide Trivia: 2018-02-26 Chicago players who wore #23

aMONDAY

Q. What Hall of Famer was the last second baseman to win a league home run title?

Hint: Before Jeff Kent, who was the last second baseman to be voted the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

Hint: He couldn’t quite manage his old team out of the doldrums.

Hint: Hew would have been credited with the first Wrigley Field night game home run, but…

Hint: Only Roberto Alomar has won more Gold Glove Awards for his play as second base.

A. RYNE SANDBERG

- NL HR crown 1990 w/40

- 1984 NL MVP (Jeff Kent NL MVP in 2000)

- Managed PHI to 5^th place in his only full (2014) year and did no better in his partial seasons, ’13 & ‘15.

- P.M. HR off Kevin Gross, but the G was rained out & the HR erased; Damon Berryhill hit the 1^st “official” Cubs' night HR on 22-Aug-1988.

- 9 GG (Alomar has 10)

FCR - Eric Morrison, Myerstown, Pennsylvania

Incorrect guesses: Rogers Hornsby, Davie Johnson, Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan

TUESDAY

Q. Who is the only player to hit a grand slam in each game of the same doubleheader?

Hint: Roger Clemens surrendered his first home run.

Hint: Ben MacDonald surrendered his first and 1,000^th hits.

Hint: In college, he was voted Baseball America Freshman of the Year and the next season won the Baseball America College Player of the Year.

A. ROBIN VENTURA

- DH GS’s 20-May-1999 (1) & 20-May-1999 (2) They swept.

- Clemens HR 18-Apr-1990

- Ben MacDonald hits: 12-Sep-1989, Ventura’s debut. 1,000^th was a HR 17‑Aug‑1896.

- College awards 1986 & 87. He was College Player of the Decade for the 1980s.

FCR - Jeff Cohen, Wantagh, New York

Incorrect guesses: Phil Nevin, Frank Thomas

WEDNESDAY

Q. Who was the las Chicago Cub to win a betting title before expansion?

Hint: In his first game as a professional, batting for the Reading Red Sox, he hit for the cycle.

Hint: He reached base 5 times in his first major league All-Star Game.

A. PHIL CAVARRETTA [SABR Bio]

- .355 in 1945. It helped get them to the World Series. It was only the Cubs’ 2^nd batting title of the 20^th century.

- He was assigned to the Peoria Tractors in the Class B Central League. In his first professional game, on 15-May 1934, he hit for the cycle and drove in 4. The league folded after Cavarretta had appeared in 23 games and, he was sent to the Reading Red Sox in the Class A New York-Penn League."

- 1944 ASG (3B, 1B, 3 BB)

FCR - Steve Krevisky, Middletown, Connecticut

Incorrect guesses: Hank Sauer, Billy Herman, Bill Madlock, Billy Williams, Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Bottomley

MIDWEEK BONUS

Q. Six pitchers have thrown 2 no-hitters in one season. Who is the only one whose record that year shows fewer than 10 wins AND more than 10 losses?

Hint: He also had a nifty one-hitter a few weeks later that same season.

Hint: He got the St. Louis Browns a victory in their final Opening Day game ever with a 4-hit shutout over the team he had just been traded from.

A. VIRGIL TRUCKS

- Two no-no’s 15-May & 25-Aug-1952. Ended year w/5-19 record

Johnny Vander Meer 1938 15-10

Allie Reynolds 1951 17-8

Nolan Ryan 1973 21-16

Roy Halladay 2010 21-10

Max Scherzer 2015 14-12

- One-hitter 22-Jul-1952. The hit was from the first batter of the game.

- SLB W 14-Apr-1953

FCR - Michael Craig, Gilbert, Arizona

Incorrect guesses: Allie Reynolds, Johnny Vander Meer, Bobo Newsom, Ned Garver, George Mullin, Harry Brecheen, Urban Shocker, Bobby Shantz, Dizzy Trout

THURSDAY

Q. Who hosts the Fresh Start Celebrity Golf Classic?

Hint: He was so impressive helping his team sweep the World Series, he was named Series MVP.

Hint: He was subbed in halfway through his debut major league game and hit a home run his first at-bat.

Hint: He won a Gold Glove and was twice an All-Star.

Hint: The year he had over 40 home runs, he finished in the top 5 in MVP voting, the award going to a Canadian.

A. JERMAINE DYE

- 4^th annual Golf Classic will be held this year

- 2005 WS

- Debut 17-May-1996 ATL 8 CIN 2

- AS 2000 & 2006; GG 2000

- 5^th in AL MVP voting in 2006. Justin Morneau won.

FCR - Joseph Cosgriff, New York City

Incorrect guesses: Kevin Millar, Kevin Youkilis, Scot Brosius

FRIDAY

Q. Who was exempted from military service due to head injuries from being hit by a batted ball?

Hint: He was the first third baseman to win a league MVP award.

Hint: It was his franchise’s last MVP before they moved cities.

Hint: He won that MVP without leading the league in any offensive statistical category.

Hint: His .377 winning percentage was only the fourth worst for that franchise in their years in their new city.

A. BOB ELLIOTT [SABR Bio]

- Missed WWII because of a batted ball to the head in 1943.

- NL MVP 1947 for the Braves

- Next Braves MVP was Hank Aaron in 1957, but they were in Milwaukee then. They didn’t win another until they had moved again.

- Was the manager of KCA in 1960, finishing dead last with a .377 winning %. Few did much better during their run there.

FCR - Scott Matteson, Shawnee, Kansas

Incorrect guesses: Don Zimmer, Eddie Mathews

IN MEMORIAM

Q. Who famously hit one batter in 1967 and never hit another one in the last 61 games of his career?

Hint: He handed the Houston Colt .45’s their first loss in franchise history.

Hint: He hit the second grand slam by a pitcher in Mets history, the only HR of his career.

Hint: The only home run he hit in his 8 years in the majors, was a grand slam.

Hint: Harry Caray once said that he “could throw a strawberry through a brick wall; if only he could hit the wall.”

A. JACK HAMILTON

- Threw a pitch in the 4^th inning on 18-Aug-1967 that struck Tony Conigliaro of the Red Sox, essentially curtailing his young, soaring career.

- HOU loss Friday the 13^th, April 1962

- GS HR 20-May-1967, only the 2^nd GS in Mets’ history by a pitcher and the last one ever hit by a Mets pitcher. The first was by Carlton Willey 15-Jul-1963.

- Thanks to longtime reader Bill Chuck for helping with this question/message.

FCR - Kelly Jefferson, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Incorrect guesses: Al Jackson, Calvin Koonce, Gary Gentry

SATURDAY

Q. Who hit a grand slam off Bob Gibson in Gibson's final major league game?

Hint: His father was Hollywood Squares emcee Peter Marshall.

Hint: The year he was traded from the Cubs to the Royals, he bating average rose 82 points.

Hint: His negative comments about playing baseball in Japan got him benched and released.

Hint: Since his retirement from baseball, he has competed in marathons and triathlons.

A. PETE LaCOCK

- GS off Hoot 03-Sep-1975

- BA w/CHC in 1976: .221. In ’77 w/KCR, he hit .302, helping them get to the postseason.

- Father Peter Marshall, birth name Ralph Pierre LaCock.

- Had a 2-year contract with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales. He performed well enough on the field, but the cultural, language and even baseball differences proved too much and he was released. They paid for his 1982 season, but he never even donned the uniform or returned to Japan.

- Many of his distance races have been to raise funds for the Leukemia Society of America.

FCR - Eric Morrison, Myerstown, Pennsylvania

Incorrect guesses: Champ Summers, Mike Marshall, Keith Moreland

IN MEMORIAM

Q. What former Cavalier pitcher gave Reggie Jackson his final and all‑time‑total‑leading strikeout?

Hint: In his fourth season in the majors, he led the American League in ERA.

Hint: In 12.0 innings of postseason play, he never surrendered a run, earned or otherwise.

Hint: He pitched twice in the World Series, the second time helping his team to the championship.

Hint: A famous photograph shows him, clad in a rain coat and using an umbrella to shield himself from celebratory champagne being poured on him by the World Series MVP.

Hint: In his major league debut, he struck out 9, but 7 of those were consecutive, still a record for a pitcher’s first outing in the Bigs.

A. SAMMY STEWART Baltimore Sun Obit

- Last Reggie K 23-Sep-1987; MLB record K total: 2,597. Stewart was an alum of Montreat College in North Carolina.

- 1981 AL ERA leader with 2.32 in 112.1 innings

- Pitched for BAL in 1979 WS and 1983 postseason.

- Rick Dempsey tries to pour champagne on Stewart

- Debut 01-Sep-1978

FCR - Charlie Riordan, Chevy Chase, Maryland

Incorrect guesses:

WEEK’S END

Q. In place of a final question for this week, we present here a list of few more of the other players who qualify for this week’s theme:

LAMAR JOHNSON