Sunday, May 26, 2019

2019-05-20 First player born in each decade of the 20th century


Q.        Who was the first Jewish player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Hint:     He received his military discharge 05-Dec-1941.  He reenlisted two days later.
Hint:     No other American League right-hander has ever collected more RBI in a single season.
A.         HANK GREENBERG  [SABR Bio]
-  In 1937, he had 184 RBI and finished 3rd in AL MVP voting.  A player he frequently knocked in won the award.
FCR -  Benjamin Chase, Huron, South Dakota
Incorrect guesses: 

TUESDAY
Q.        Before Tony Gwynn, who was the last National Leaguer to amass four batting titles?
Hint:     His hard slide into second sent a perennial All-Star shortstop home for the rest of the season.
Hint:     He once shared an award with a player with whom he almost shared a name.
A.         BILL MADLOCK  [SABR Bio]
-  Won the NL batting title in 1975, 76, 81 & 83.
-  In the 3rd inning on 24-Sep-1987, attempting to break up a double play, Madlock slid wide into 2nd causing Tony Fernandez to land on his elbow on a wooden Astroturf connector.  Details here:  Fernandez breaks elbow
-  He and the MetsJon Matlack were co-MVPs of the 1975 ASG.
FCR -  Thomas Howell, Reno
Incorrect guesses:  Lip Pike, Stan Musial, Pete Rose, Roberto Clemente

WEDNESDAY
Q.        What former Lion is now the head baseball coach at Pacific?
Hint:     At Stanford, he won the Johnny Bench Award though he never played a single game at catcher in the majors.
Hint:     His home run helped the Indians defeat the Yankees in a postseason series.
A.         RYAN GARKO
-  Played on the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization, but was released in due to injury.  Has been head coach at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento since 2017.
-  Won the Johnny Bench Award in 2003.  Played 1st in 381 of his 393 MLB games.
-  Hit HR in G1 of the 2007 ALDS.
FCR -  Larry Hayes, San Francisco
Incorrect guesses:  Boone, Brian Billings, Jason Castro

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.        What manager guided the St. Louis Browns to their only pennant and to only the second World Series ever played entirely outside of the Eastern Time Zone?
Hint:     He spent 99% of his 20-year major league playing career at catcher.
Hint:     One of his brothers had exactly one at bat in the majors.  His other brother made it to the Hall of Fame.
A.         LUKE SEWELL  [SABR Bio]
-  Mgr of 1944 SLB.  Lost to STL in WS.
-  1906 WS was played in CST.
-  Played in MLB 1921-1939, 1942 w/1,562 of 1,580 C @ C.
-  Brother of Joe Sewell and Tommy Sewell.
FCR -  Tom Kennedy, Houston
Incorrect guesses:  Zack Taylor, Walker Cooper, Billy Southworth

THURSDAY
Q.        What shortstop/third baseman was the fifth player to wear uniform #8 for the Baltimore Orioles?
Hint:     He was discovered by Carl Hubbell who frequented a bar where his father moonlighted.  Hubbell even drove the young prospect to Florida for a tryout.
Hint:     He played on a team in the military where one of his teammates was Eddie Matthews.
Hint:     His cousin pitched for the Giants in the World Series and even got a single off a Hall of Fame pitcher.
A.         FOSTER CASTLEMAN  [SABR Bio]
-  Wore #8 for BAL in 1958.  It had been worn by Dick Kryhoski (1954); Kal Segrist (1955); Jim Pyburn (1955, 56, 57); Buddy Peterson (1957)
-  Attended an NYG tryout in Deland, Florida and signed a minor league contract with them.
-  Cousin Slick Castleman pitched 4 innings of relief in the 6th and finals G of the 1936 WS, hitting a single off Lefty Gomez.
FCR -  David Serota, Kalamazoo
Incorrect guesses:  George Kell, Jerry Adair, Cal Ripken, Ron Hanson, Mark Belanger, Andy Etchebarren, Kal Segrist, Brooks Robinson, Willie Miranda, Luis Aparicio

THURSDAY BONUS
Q.        Who caught the most famous home run ball hit in the expansion era?
Hint:     He shares a nickname with a recent aeronautic hero.
Hint:     In the arcane statistic of Total Zone Runs by a Catcher, he tied with Duke Sims and Elston Howard one season for third place in the American League.
A.         JOHN SULLIVAN  [SABR Bio]
-  Bullpen coach for TOR in 1992 & 93.  Was in the bullpen on 23-Oct-1993 when Joe Carter ended the Series with a long fly ball to left field bullpen and Sullivan was there to snag it.
-  TZR as C = 3 in 1965, a stat published by baseball-reference and derived from Baseball Projection.com’s “Stat Directory”.
FCR -  Frank DiPrima, Morristown, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses:  Sal Durante, Tom House, Jim Pagliaroni, Buck Rodgers, Haywood Sullivan

FRIDAY
Q.        Who won the Most Outstanding Pitcher honor at the 2012 Junior College World Series?
Hint:     He was a Natural.
Hint:     He caused a eleven-year-tenured pitching coach to be fired.
A.         DANIEL STUMPF
-  Played for the 2015 Northwest Arkansas Naturals  
-  Tigers pitching coach Chris Bosio was fired due to a potentially insensitive comment he made referring to Stumpf as “Spider Monkey” due to the faces he makes while lifting weights.  This was overheard and reported.  Stumpf says that, to the best of his knowledge, his nickname was never “Spider Monkey”.
FCR -  Joseph O'Neill, London, Ontario
Incorrect guesses:  Roy Hobbs, Steven Strasburg, Mark Appel, Keaton Steele

SATURDAY
Q.        Who, in his only major league game, pitched 5⅔ inning of a loss for the 1999 Reds?
Hint:     It was, however, the starting pitcher Ron Villone who took the loss despite only throwing ⅓ inning.  (In that ⅓ he did face 8 batters and surrender 4 runs.)
Hint:     This former Tigers was drafted by the Tigers and played for baby Tigers, but never for the Detroit club.
Hint:     He had also been drafted by the Yankees, but since it was only in the 14th round, he chose to wait.
A.         RICK GREENE
-  G on 19-Jun-1999
-  Drafted by DET in the 1st round (16th overall) of the 1992 MLB June Amateur Draft from the LSU Tigers.
-  Drafted by NYY in the 14th round of the 1989 MLB June Amateur Draft.
FCR -  Jesse Asbury, Norman Oklahoma
Incorrect guesses:  John Smoltz

WEEKEND BONUS
Q.        What 33-year-old rookie pitched two scoreless innings of relief in the Cardinals’ 1954 season opener?
Hint:     Five years earlier, for the Indianapolis Indians, he won the final game of the Junior World Series for manager Al Lopez against a team manned by 24 future major leaguers.
Hint:     It was the AAA Indians’ first championship in more than two decades.
Hint:     He spent fifteen years in the minors, three years in the military, and four months in the majors.
A.         ROYCE LINT  [SABR Bio]
-  Tuesday, 13-Apr-1954 drew only 17,027 paying customers at Busch Stadium.
-  The 1949 Indy Indians included people who would be in uniform 50 years later.  They beat the Montreal Royals.
-  The Indians had last won a league championship in 1928 under player/manager Bruno Betzel.
-  3 years in the military opposing the Axis Powers in WWII.
FCR -  Nels Johnston, St. Thomas, Ontario
Incorrect guesses: 

SUNDAY
Q.        What three-year starter at quarterback at a Big Ten school was drafted in succession by the Mets, the A’s and the Red Sox?
Hint:     It was only with Boston that he saw major league action.
Hint:     He attended but didn't make it out of an NFL training camp.  He did, however, play for his local USFL team.
Hint:     He is now the Athletic Director at the college where he was the baseball coach for a decade.
A.         JOHN LEISTER 
-  5-Jun-1979 Drafted by NYM in the 20th round of the amateur draft.  Did not sign.  06-Jun-1983 Drafted by OAK in the 6th round of the amateur draft. Did  not sign.  17-Jan-1984 Drafted by BOS in the 3rd round of the January Secondary amateur draft.  Attended Michigan State.
-  Pitched for BOS in 1987 & 90 for a total of 10 G.
-  Went to camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Played for the USFL's Michigan Panthers.
-  Head baseball coach at Alma College in Michigan from 1997—2007.  Became A.D. in 2007.
FCR -  Nobody
Incorrect guesses: 


WEEKLY THEME – First player born in each decade of the 20th century.

Player......................... D/o/B.................... MLB Debut
Luke Sewell............... 05-Jan-1901......... 30-Jun-1921
Hank Greenberg........ 01-Jan-1911......... 14-Sep-1930
Royce Lint.................. 01-Jan-1921......... 13-Apr-1954
Foster Castleman...... 01-Jan-1931......... 04-Aug-1954
John Sullivan............. 03-Jan-1941......... 20-Sep-1963
Bill Madlock................ 02-Jan-1951*....... 07-Sep-1973
John Leister............... 03-Jan-1961......... 28-May-1987
Rick Greene............... 02-Jan-1971......... 19-Jun-1999
Ryan Garko................ b.02-Jan-1981...... 18-Sep-2005
Daniel Stumpf............ 04-Jan-1991......... 16-Apr-2016

*Same day of birth as Jim Essian and Royle Stillman


First Correct Respondent to Identify ThemeJohn Michael Pierobon, St. Petersburg, FL (after Garko on Wednesday)

Incorrect theme guesses:

Tuesday -  Players who played for the Pirates and won a statistical title elsewhere.

Wed        -  Players with over 400 career hits who were born on Jan 1 or Jan 2.
               -  Select players born in order from January 1, January 2, etc.









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