Wednesday, July 3, 2019

2019-06-24 Players who debuted with a team in the last season before it moved to another city


Q.        Who is the only player to play for the same franchise in three different cities?
Hint:     He is the batter pictured on the first ever issue of Sport Illustrated.
Hint:     He and one of his teammates hit more home runs than any other pair of major league teammates.
A.         EDDIE MATHEWS  [SABR Bio]
-  BSN 1952; MLN 1953-65; ATL 1966
-  S.I. 1st issue 16-Aug-1954
-  His HR 421 + Aaron’s 442 = 863 (4 more than Ruth & Gehrig)
FCR -  Bill Chuck, Sleepy Hollow, New York
Incorrect guesses:  Henry Aaron, Joe Adcock, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams, Vern Stephens

TUESDAY
Q.        Who had just tied Hector Lopez for the longest hitting streak by a Kansas City A’s player when he was forthwith traded for Roger Maris?
Hint:     He was the first player to win a Gold Glove at first base for multiple teams.
Hint:     He once hit a leadoff and a walk-off home run in the same game.
A.         VIC POWER  [SABR Bio]
-  22 G straight, from 28-May to 15-Jun-1958; Traded w/Woodie Held to CLE by KCA in exchange for Roger Maris, Dick Tomanek and Preston Ward.
-  Actually won GGs while toiling for 4 different teams.  He split the 1958 season between KCA & CLE and won a GG.  Won 3 more w/CLE in 1959-61.  Won twice again for MIN in 1962-63 and won it for a final time 1964, splitting that season with MIN & LAA.
-  HRs 07-May-1957
FCR -  Jess Forrest, Chicago
Incorrect guesses:  Norm Siebern 

WEDNESDAY
Q.        Who is the only catcher to win three World Series championships with the Dodgers?
Hint:     Pitchers like to work with him because he was good taking at-bats was getting better at taking bats.
Hint:     He even passed Hall of Fame Dodger legend, Roy Campanella in number of games caught for the franchise.
A.         JOHN ROSEBORO  [B-R page]
-  WS 1959, 1963, 1965
-  Famous dust-up fending off a bat-wielding Juan Marichal.  The elite Dodgers of his time preferred him because of his knowledge of the game, his skill at calling strikes, his mastery of ‘framing’ borderline pitches in favor of his pitcher, but maybe stronger. than any other asset was his control of the defense, of the game.  Pitchers who worked with both say he was the equal of Campanella, except on offense.
-  Played 1,220 G @ C for BRO/LAD
FCR -  Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect guesses:  Steve Yeager

MIDWEEK BONUS
Q.        Who is the only Minnesota Twin batter to hit a home run in his first World Series at-bat?
Hint:     He is the only player to hit more than fifteen home runs for the Seattle Pilots.
Hint:     Who is the only player to play for both Senators teams, the Twins and the Rangers?
A.         DON MINCHER  [SABR Bio]
-  WS HR G 1 off Don Drysdale
-  25 HR for SEP
-  1960 WSH; 1961-66 MIN; 1971 WSA; 1972 TEX
FCR -  Barry Nelson, Guilderland, New York
Incorrect guesses:  Bob Allison, Jimmy Hall

THURSDAY
Q.        Who was served divorce papers the same day he pitched the game of his life?
Hint:     He is the only pitcher to suffer 20 losses in a season for the Baltimore Orioles.
Hint:     He came one out (one pitch, really) from winning his third World Series ring.
A.         DON LARSEN  [SABR Bio]
-  1956 WS, 1958 WS, 1962 WS (7th G lost 1-0)
FCR -  Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect guesses: 

THURSDAY BONUS
Q.        Who is the only Bahamian to play a decade in The Bigs?
Hint:     He recorded the last putout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Hint:     He replaced Ernie Banks at shortstop.
A.         ANDRE RODGERS  [MLB]
-  Last putout 20-Sep-1961, covering 1st on a groundout to the P
-  SS for CHC 1961-1964.  Banks stopped playing SS in 1961 and played at 1B for good 1962-1971
FCR -  Lawrence Creeden, Boulder City, Nevada
Incorrect guesses:  Don Kessinger, Jerry Kendall

FRIDAY
Q.        Who was six feet tall at age eleven and wisely carried his birth certificate with him so skeptical coaches would accept his age eligibility?
Hint:     In spite of his baseball prowess at an early age, his Norse father constantly harped on him, saying, “In Norway young men worked hard learning to be shipbuilders or fishermen or engineers and didn’t waste time fooling with bats and balls.”
Hint:     In his first game in his first season with the team where he won three rings, his teammate threw a perfect game.
Hint:     He had Hall of Fame teammates on every team he played for in his sixteen-year major league career.
A.         JOE RUDI  [SABR Bio]
-  His father got converted to the game when one of Joe’s minor league stops was his own hometown (Modesto, CA) and Dad got to see Joe play.
-  Perfect G by Catfish Hunter 08-May-1968. 
-  HOF teammates included Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Nolan Ryan, Luke Appling (Mgr.), Rod Carew, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley, Dick Williams (Mgr) & Rickey Henderson.
FCR -  Kevin Mix, Chicago
Incorrect guesses:  Jimmy Wiggs, Dave Kingman, David Wells, Frank Howard, Irv Noren, Matty McIntyre

SABR 49 BONUS
Q.        What USC alumnus got a law degree, but eventually went on to a prosperous career in pharmacology.
Hint:     He once even bounced a knife-wielding would-be robber from his pharmacy.
Hint:     His last name is the same as the most famous person’s who is native to his parents’ home country.
Hint:     He was the leadoff hitter for the Tigers the first time they won the American League pennant.
Hint:     He caught the last fly ball out before the start of World War I.
Hint:     He doesn’t really have a famous locker and was never in the original synthetic boy band.
A.         DAVY JONES  [SABR Bio]
-  Of Welch descent with the name Jones, it’s not hard to bring to mind native of Wales, heartthrob Tom Jones with his powerful vocals.
-  Led off for DET in 1907.
-  After a 3-year hiatus, he returned for one game w/DET at the end of the 1918 season, shortened because of the onset of the U.S.’s entry into the war in Europe.
-  Davy Jones’s Locker” is a metaphor used by sailors to represent the bottom of the sea, a place where career sea men should never be.
-  A man of the same name was a principal on the group The Monkees.
FCR -  Sarah Grynpas, Toronto
Incorrect guesses:  Scott Brosius

SATURDAY
Q.        What former Padre was Chicken?
Hint:     He was the last-active member of an ill-fated expansion team.
Hint:     He stole the very last base ever for that expansion club.
A.         FRED STANLEY  [SABR Bio]
-  Nickname was “Chicken”; played for SDP in 1972.  Unfortunate to be around friars if you’re a pullet, eh?
-  Played for the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and was in the majors w/OAK in 1982.
-  SB 01-Oct-1969 (There weren’t any the next day.)
FCR -  Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect guesses:  Wade Boggs, George Theodore

WEEKEND BONUS
Q.        What player, who played for the Senators and Mariners, did Gary Carter throw out three times on what would become Jackie Robinson Day?
Hint:     He successfully attacked his manager for replacing him in the line-up, meaning the attack was successful, not the lineup change.
Hint:     His replacement played 157 games at his position that same year.
Hint:     That attack really blew his chance to be remembered for anything else in his twelve-year major league career.  [Or did it?]
A.         LENNY RANDLE  [SABR Bio]
-  3 CS 15-Apr-1978
-  Randle attacked his TEX Manager Frank Lucchesi in the last of spring training, 28-Mar-1977, in Orlando.  Lucchesi was hospitalized and later sued Randle for $200,000.  The case was settled out of court.
-  His replacement on TEX was Bump Wills, son of Maury, who finished 3rd in ROY voting for the 1977 season.
-  On 27-May-1981, playing 3B, Mariner Randle dropped to his hands and knees seeing that an Amos Otis tapper was going to roll fair, and BLEW the ball foul before it reached 3B.  [No.  It’s not allowed.]
FCR -  J.P. Wanamaker, Binghamton, New York
Incorrect guesses:  Gary Templeton, Oscar Gamble, Jeff Burroughs, Tommy Harper, Bump Wills, Bryce Harper

SUNDAY
Q.        Which Georgetown alum was the last Canadian born major leaguer to play for both Montreal and Toronto during his career?
Hint:     He was drafted by and played for the Padres.
Hint:     Though difficult to achieve so precisely, his seven years in the majors produced a WAR of exactly 0.0.
Hint:     He was on the Canadian national baseball team in the 2004 Olympics.
Hint:     On 09-Apr-2007, the Washington Post reported, “…there's no question (he) has been the Washington Nationals’ best starting pitcher.”
A.         SHAWN HILL
-  Attended Georgetown District HS (Georgetown, Ontario); Played for MON in 2004; Played for TOR 2010, 2012.
-  Although drafted by SDP in the 33rd round of the 1999 amateur draft, he did not sign, but started 3 G for them 2009 after signing on with them as a free agent.
-  The Canadian team finished 4th, just out of the medals at the 2004 Olympics.
-  Post article
FCR -  Dennis Bartel, La Verne, California
Incorrect guesses:  Dave Tomlin


WEEKLY THEME – Select 20th century players who debuted with a team in the last season before it moved to another city.  Thanks to Rick Tharp of Gaithersburg, Maryland for this theme idea.

Jones          1901 MLA 
Mathews     1952 BSN
Larsen         1953 SLB
Power         1954 PHA
Rodgers      1957 NYG
Mincher       1960 WSH
Rudi            1967 KCA
Stanley       1969 SEP
Randle        1971 WSA
Hill              2004 MON

Note:  The 1965 MLN had not a single player who debuted in the majors with them that year.

First Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Steve Klitzner, North Miami Beach (After

Incorrect theme guesses:

Monday  -  Batter whose HR was followed by 3 consecutive HRs by teammates—so that there were a total of 4 HR in a row.  Matthews did it with Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and the first Frank Thomas circa 1961

Tuesday -  Players who were active the longest after their team moved to another city

Thurs      -  Players who played in at least 4 cities, first two of which were for the same franchise that moved.

Friday     -  Last active members of the last teams to change cities before 1961 expansion
               -  Finished their careers in cities unrelated to their franchise's move

Sunday   -  Played for team in LAST year in a particular city before moving.
               -  Played for at least one expansion team












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