Note: Questions, answers and theme this week were
submitted by long-time reader Barry Sparks of York, Pennsylvania.
Q. Who was Reggie Jackson discussing when he said, "There
hasn't been a player like him since Reggie Jackson."?
Hint: He's the only player to hit a ball that reached the Camden
Yards warehouse on the fly.
Hint: He had four consecutive seasons of 130 or more RBI each.
Hint: He received the highest percentage of votes to date for
Hall of Fame enshrinement in Cooperstown.
A. KEN GRIFFEY, Jr. [SABR
Bio]
- RBI in 1996 = 140;
in 1997 = 147; in 1998 = 143; in 1999 = 134.
- Got 99.3 % in 2016.
FCR - Bill Helm,
Cottonwood, Arizona
[I apologize to author Barry. He has more than one spark!]
Incorrect guesses: Eddie
Murray, Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Barry Bonds, Chipper Jones
MONDAY, MONDAY
Q. Who did Joe
Nathan say was "the nicest man in the world."?
Hint: More than 48% of
his plate appearances resulted in either a walk, strikeout or home run.
Hint: He slugged 99
homers or more for 4 different teams.
Hint: In 2003, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper fan poll named him the most
popular athlete in Cleveland sports history.
- Nathan
and Thome
were teammates on the 2011
Twins.
- 1,747 BB + 2,548 K +
612 HR = 4,907. 4,907/10,131 PA = 48.4%. (Doesn’t even take into account the 69 times
he was HBP!)
- [Poll no doubt taken just before basketball season.]
FCR - Mike Mattsey, Robinson, Illinois
Incorrect guesses: Travis Haefner, Rocky Colavito, Ken Harrelson
TUESDAY
Q. What teammate
of Robin Ventura had hit 30 or more home runs in a season for five different
teams?
Hint: He became the
first player to lead each league in homers since the Dead Ball Era.
Hint: He tied a Yankee
Hall of Famer for career home runs.
Hint: He hit SkyDome’s first home run.
A. FRED
McGRIFF [SABR Bio]
- 36 to lead AL for TOR in 1989 and 35
to lead AL for SDP in 1992. Sam Crawford
had led NL w/16 for CIN in
1901 and w/7 for DET in 1908.
- Tied Lou
Gehrig
w/493 career HR
- 1st HR in SkyDome 05-Jun-1989 off MIL’s Don August
FCR - Mike Sparks (no relation), Sarasota
Incorrect guesses: Gary Sheffield, Julio
Franco, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who did Hal
McRae describe as “Tony Gwynn with power.”?
Hint: Early in the 21st century, he
became the first 30/30 player in the history of his 110+ -year-old franchise.
Hint: For 14 consecutive years, he played an
average of more than 150 G per season.
Hint: He hit the first home run at Citizens Bank
Park.
A. BOBBY
ABREU [Bio]
- In 2001, he hit 31 HR and had 36 SB for PHI, a franchise whose
first year of NL play was 1883. He
repeated for them in 2004 with 30/40. Teammate Jimmy Rollins joined that small club
in 2007 with 30/41.
- Averaged 155.5 G from 1999 to 2012.
- Philadelphia’s CBP HR 14-Apr-2004, off the Reds’ Paul
Wilson.
FCR - Tom Lee, Nashville
Incorrect
guesses: Carlos Beltran, Mike Schmidt,
Jimmy Rollins, Eric Davis, Ken Griffey, Jr., Andrew McCutcheon,
Albert Pujols, Dave Winfield
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Which player
was named Rookie of the Year despite compiling fewer than 50 RBI and a 0.5 WAR
in more than 100 games played?
Hint: In his only
All-Star Game appearance, he was 0-for-1
as a pinch-hitter.
Hint: He was the hitting
coach for four teams that won World Series Championships.
Hint: His first name is more often heard as a
woman’s first name.
Hint: The end result of
one of his home run was that major league baseball changed the rules to allow
an umpire to award any base to a runner or batter who can't reach it due to
fans rushing the field.
A. CHRIS CHAMBLISS [SABR Bio]
- 1976
ASG
- Full name:
Carroll
Christopher Chambliss.
FCR - Madison
McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: Chris Sabo, Pat Listach, Ken
Hubbs, Jackie Robinson, Robin Ventura, Al Bumbry, Chase Utley
THURSDAY
Q. Who was booed
when he was introduced at the 1996 All-Star Game?
Hint: He drove in 100
runs or more for 3 different teams in 3 consecutive years.
Hint: He hit two home
runs in one inning against a team he later played for.
Hint: He was inducted
into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, but didn’t make it to the 2nd
ballot for Cooperstown.
A. JOE
CARTER [SABR Bio]
- 1996
ASG
played in Philadelphia
- 105 RBI for CLE in 1989, 115 for SDP in 1990; 15 for TOR in 1991
- HR X 2 => TOR vs. BAL 03-Oct-1993, 2nd inning
both off Ben
McDonald
- CHOF in 2003; Eligible for Cooperstown same
year, but only received 3.8% of the vote and did not appear on subsequent
ballots
FCR - Adam Foldes, New York City
Incorrect
guesses: Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker,
Mark McGwire, Roberto Alomar, Cito Gaston, Alex Rodriguez
FRIDAY
Q. Who, according
to Bill James, "… had by far the best outfield arm of the 1980s."?
Hint: One season, he had
the rare combination of 20 or more homers, stolen bases and outfield assists.
Hint: The following year, he won his league’s
home run crown.
Hint: He finished his
career with the Giants.
- He threw out 162
runners in a 12-year career.
- In 1985: 27 HR, 22 SB & 22 outfield assists. Only 6 other outfielders in history reached
the totals in the same year.
- Played in Japan for the Yomiuri
Giants in 1993.
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses: Tony Armas, Dave Parker, Kevin
Mitchell, Dave Winfield, Dwight Evans, Ellis Valentine, Vlad Guerrero
SATURDAY
Q. Who was once described as “the John
McEnroe of baseball”?
Hint: He led the
National League in errors at his position four times but no one at his position
has ever hit more career home runs.
Hint: Only once did he finish in the top 5 in MVP
voting.
Hint: He was a
contestant on the 25th season of Survivor.
- Probably not meant as a compliment.
- Ended with 194 E @ 2nd, but 377 HR
- On Survivor, but voted off fairly
early on.
FCR - Sam Gazdziak, Johns Creek, Georgia
Incorrect
guesses: Mike Piazza, John Rocker
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Speaking of
whom did Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst say that when it came to arm strength,
it was a tough call between this player and Roberto Clemente?
Hint: He was also known
for his hard hitting.
Hint: He broke out of a
month-long home run slump in a most historic way.
Hint: Mike Blowers, Miguel Tejada and Mike Neill
remember his for an entirely different reason.
A. MARK
WHITEN [SABR Bio]
- At one point he was judged the strongest
right-field arm in the majors.
- His nickname was “Hard-Hittin’ Mark Whiten”
[pronounced “Whitt’n”]
- On 07-Sep-1993, Whiten hit 4 HR and
drove in 12. His previous HR had come 11-Aug, 4 weeks earlier.
- Pitching for CLE in a lop-sided loss to OAK on
31-Jul-1998, Whiten came in to
relieve Steve Karsay in the 9th.
Although he gave up a run in his solitary inning of work, he got all 3 outs via Ks; Blowers and Tejada
swinging and Mike Neill looking, ending the inning.
FCR - Pat Ray, Paradise Valley, Arizona
Incorrect
guesses: Carl Furillo, Andy Van Slyke,
Dave Parker, Ollie Brown, Rocky Colavito, Vlad Guererro, Larry Walker,
Kevin Mitchell, Raul Mondesi
SUNDAY
Q. What 3rd
baseman/outfielder had a great year, leading the majors in homers, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and walks yet finished third
in his league’s MVP voting?
Hint: He enjoyed his
breakout season while playing for his fifth different team when he slugged 41 more
homers than the previous year and broke his franchise’s single-season record
for home runs by seven (7!).
Hint: He threw out runners at first base from
right field in consecutive games.
- Stats from 2011 = 43 HR, .608 SLG, 1.056 OPS, 182
OPS+, 132 BB (plus led the AL w/34 IBB!); Finished behind winner Justin Verlander
and then Jacoby Ellsbury, although Jose got 5 first-place votes to Ellsbury’s
4. 115 G @ RF, 25 G @ 3rd, 9
@ DH.
- In 2010 he hit 54 HR (Only one other player in
the majors even hit more than 40 and that was Albert Pujols w/42.) He broke George Bell’s Blue Jays record of 47
after he had played for BAL, TBD, KCR and PIT.
- Threw out Billy Butler in the 9th
on 29-May-14. Watch it: here.
He caught Omar Infante napping the next night.
FCR - Bill Deane, Cooperstown
Incorrect
guesses: Dave Kingman, Brady Anderson, Jeff
Burroughs
WEEK’S FINALE
Q. Who was Kerry Wood’s 20th strikeout
victim in the fateful game of 06-May-1998?
Hint: He had played in
two Little League World Series and a World Series in the majors, the only one ever
to do that.
Hint: He became a Killer.
Hint: Before being called up to the majors, The
Sporting News had named him “Minor League Player of the Year”.
A. DEREK BELL
- Cubs’ pitcher Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters
in nine-inning, one-hit, no-walk performance in what some
claim is the greatest major league game ever pitched. Bell just happened to be the last K, the 20th
one. His swinging strikeout ended the game
and made history for Wood.
- In 1980 and 1981 Bell
played for Belmont Heights Little League in Tampa, Florida, winning
the US championship and losing to Taiwan in the world championship game both
years. He is also the only player to appear in the LLWS twice and
later in the big-league World Series.
- In the mid-1980s Houston’s Killer B’s were
Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Derek Bell, the feared part of the Houston
lineup that won the NL Central in 1998. Those 3 plus Moises Alou were the Astros’ top
4 performers in that line-up.
FCR - Kellen Nielson, Blanding, Utah
Incorrect guesses: Lance Berkman
WEEKLY
THEME – Players traded away by Hall of Fame General Manager Pat
Gillick
Pat Gillick as Blue
Jays GM
· 05-Dec-1979 traded Chris Chambliss to ATL for Joey
McLaughlin, Barry Bonnell & Pat Rockett.
· 30-Apr-1989 traded Jesse Barfield to NYY for Al Leiter.
▪
05-Dec-1990 traded Fred McGriff & Tony Fernandez to SDP for Joe Carter & Roberto Alomar.
· 27-Jul-1991 traded Mark Whiten, Glenallen Hill & Denis Boucher to CLE for Tom Candiotti & Turner Ward
· 27-Aug-1992 traded Jeff Kent & Ryan Thompson to NYM for David Cone
· 30-Mar-1993 traded Derek Bell & Stoney Briggs to SDP for Darrin Jackson]
Pat Gillick as Orioles GM
· 29-Jul-1997 traded Jose Bautista to CHW for Harold Baines
· 23-Jul-1998 traded Joe Carter to SFG for Darin Blood
Pat Gillick as Mariners GM
· 10-Feb-2000 traded Ken
Griffey, Jr. to CIN for Brett Tomko, Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer
Pat Gillick as Phillies GM
· 25-Nov-2005 traded Jim Thome to the Chicago White Sox for Aaron Rowand, Gio Gonzalez and Daniel
Haigwood
· 30-Jul-2006 traded Bobby Abreu to NYY for Matt Smith, C.J. Henry, Jesus Sanchez and Carlos
Monasterios
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - First-ballot
Hall of Famers
- Members
of the 500 home run club who never won a World Series
- Most
career HRs in the Hall
- Most
home runs hit without winning a World Series
- 600
HR Club
- Hall
of Famers who had more than 1750 strikeouts
- Home
run leaders by decade
Tuesday - Power hitters who played in the PED era but are universally
believed to be clean
Sat - Something to do with Blue Jays' 1992-3 clubs
-
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