Q. Who was the
first catcher elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association
of America?
Hint: In college
he boxed and played football and the saxophone.
Hint: He was the
first American League catcher with a season batting average over .350.
Hint: He was the first
Hall of Famer to homer in his final at-bat.
- Elected in 1947. (The Hall's Veterans Committee had
elected Buck Ewing in 1939 and Roger Bresnahan and Wilbert Robinson in 1945. Connie Mack
went in earlier and was a catcher, but his 6.9 WAR accumulated over 11 playing
seasons is hardly why he is a legend and in the Hall.)
- He hit .357 in
1930. (…and followed up with .349 the next year.)
- HR 25-May-1937;
Beaned by Pitcher Bump Hadley in his next plate appearance ending Cochrane’s
playing career.
FCR - Leonard Epstein,
Dallas
Incorrect guesses:
Buck Ewing, Bill Dickey, Roger Bresnahan, Gabby Hartnett
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the
first player in either league to be named League Championship Series Most
Valuable Player?
Hint: He was named
the Manager of the Year after his first MLB managing assignment.
Hint: He is
believed to be a pioneer in the usage of the high five as a celebration.
- There are
many origin stories of the high five, but the two
most documented candidates are Baker and Glenn
Burke of LAD on 02-Oct-1977 following Burke’s
HR in the 6th inning.
FCR - Matt Clairmont, New Minas, Nova Scotia
Incorrect guesses: Walt Weiss Paul Molitor, Frank Robinson,
Davey Johnson, Dave Roberts
WEDNESDAY
Q. What former Trojan played for four
months on the same major league team with his brother?
Hint: He and his brother have each hit two home
runs in the first inning of a game in the same season.
Hint: His best postseason home run was not in the
World Series.
- He and brother Bret Boone played together for CIN April through July on
CIN in 1997. Aaron attended USC.
- Hit the ALCS series-winning HR vs. BOS 2003. He was
the only batter in the bottom of the 11th that day. He had entered the game as a pinch runner.
FCR - Mark DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Bret Boone, Adam LaRoche, Joe
Torre, Devon White, J.D. Drew, Melvin Upton
THURSDAY
Q. Who finished first, second, third and
fourth on umpire Ron Luciano's list of the five most difficult managers he had
to deal with?
Hint: The team he managed won more MLB games than
any other for the first fourteen plus years that he ran them.
Hint: He managed the team that won the first game
in the first American League Championship Series.
- BAL mgr 1968-1979 with a record of 1,354-921
over than time. He went on to win an
additional 126 Gs.
FCR - Stephen Wright, Naperville, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Sparky Anderson, Bobby Cox,
Billy Martin
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the first manager of the AAA Denver
Bears?
Hint: In addition to managing himself that year,
he also managed 24 future major leaguers including six future All-Stars, two
World Series MVP-winning pitchers and a Hall of Famer.
- Bears began in 1955 w/Mgr Houk.
- The ’55 Bears of the American Association boasted future MLB
players Johnny Blanchard, Mike Blyzka, Wally Burnette, Al Cicotte, Rip Coleman, Jim Fridley, Billy Hunter*, Woody Held, Whitey Herzog**, Darrell Johnson, Steve Kraly, Tony Kubek*, Johnny Kucab, Don Larsen, Jim McDonald, Johnny Pesky*, Herb Plews, Bobby Richardson*, Lou Skizas, Marlin Stuart, Ralph Terry*, Dick Tettlebach, Marv Throneberry and Jack Urban.
*MLB All-Star
**Hall of Famer (as a
mgr.)
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses: Gene Mauch (See note below.),
Bill Rigney, Charlie Dresden, Dick Williams, Jack Hendricks,
Leo Durocher, Paul Richards
NOTE: The original version of this question
contained hints that did not belong to Houk but to Mauch. They have been removed here. The guilty have been excoriated.
SATURDAY
Q. Who managed the Red Sox to their highest
win total ever for a season?
Hint: They won 24 fewer games the following
season.
Hint: As a player, he once had an eighteen-pitch
at-bat that drew praise from Vin Scully.
Hint: The last pitch resulted in a home run.
- Long AB = 12-May-2004. Paul Swydan in an article in Hardball
Times cites 6 ABs of at least 18 pitches over this pitch-count record era
period. Readers may enjoy learning that
Brandon Belt’s 21-pitch
AB on 22-Apr-2018 is the longest since
these types of records have been officially kept. The exact number of pitches in MLB’s very
longest AB ever may never be known, but Luke Appling claimed (probably
anecdotally) that in a 1940s contest he once fouled
off twenty-four (24!) consecutive pitches before walking. His AB was thus a
minimum of 28 pitches and could have been as many as 30!
FCR - Patrick Roth, Chicago
Incorrect guesses: Terry Francona, Darrell Johnson, Don Zimmer,
Joey Cory, Dick Williams
SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL
Q. Which Hall of Famer was a bat boy for a
team in the College World Series?
Hint: Of four large adjoining states he is the
only native Hall of Famer.
Hint: He was nicknamed for a Barrie character.
- Bat boy for the 1948 USC team. Was later offered a partial scholarship to
play for the Rod Dedeaux-led Trojans, but accepted an offer from the
Dodgers instead.
- Nicknamed “Captain Hook” for his tendency to
relieve pitchers at the first sign of trouble.
Sir James Matthew Barrie penned “Peter Pan” in which Captain Hook is the
chief antagonist.
- In the cluster of states containing Montana,
Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, only SDak can claim a Hall of Famer
born there: Anderson.
FCR - Ken Jorgenson, Petaluma, California
Incorrect
guesses: Pee Wee Reese, Ralph Kiner,
Sparky Anderson
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Which Hall of Famer was originally
nicknamed "Husk" when he debuted in the majors at catcher?
Hint: Unusual for his position, he twice led the majors
in stolen bases.
Hint: He is the most recent Hall of Famer to be joined
by having another Hall of Famer as alumnus of his same high school.
- In his rookie season of 1898, he played only 3
G at 1B, 17 in the OF, but 33 at C. He
was dubbed “Husk” because of his husky (for his era) physical stature of
6'0" tall while weighing in at a solid 190 lbs.
- Led MLB in SB w/67 in 1903 & 57 in 1906
while playing 1B. The more familiar
names of Wagner, Cobb & Collins took over the SB leads after that. In the modern era, the only other first
basemen to lead the MLB in SBs were Frank Isbell (1901), George Sisler (1922)
and Jackie Robinson (1947).
- Attended Fresno HS in California which
graduated Tom Seaver some 70 years later.
N.B.: A more recent pair
of Hall of Famers were high school teammates are Eddie Murray and Ozzie
Smith. They actually WERE teammates at Locke
HS in Compton and they post-date Seaver.
FCR - Mike Mattsey, Robinson, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Simmons, Roger Bresnahan,
Don Zimmer, Craig Biggio
MLK DAY EVE BONUS
Q. Who was the first member of the Kansas
City Royals franchise to have his uniform number retired?
Hint: He gave the advice to the undecided one-time
Yankee and Brave Deion Sanders to go to college.
Hint: He had multiple stints at the helm of the
Yankees during George Steinbrener's tenure as owner.
- Uni retired 03-Jul-1987
FCR - James Cook, Warrensburg, Missouri
Incorrect
guesses: Lou Piniella, Billy Martin, Bob
Lemon
SUNDAY
Q. What star outfielder’s MOTHER was
named for Mickey Mantle?
Hint: His nickname is geographically based.
Hint: In his senior year in high school, he
received an offer to play for UCLA on a volleyball scholarship.
Hint: He wanted to attend an Ivy League school
and eventually did get to play for Princeton.
- His mother’s name is Michelle and according to
the Rhode Island Monthly , October 2009, she was named for
Mickey Mantle.
- He was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and
has been called “The Woonsocket Rocket”
- Wikipedia says Rocco was an all-state athlete
in four sports as he also excelled at indoor track in HS. He received 50 scholarship offers from
various colleges after impressing observers at the 1999 East Coast Showcase in
Wilmington, North Carolina.
FCR - John Sullivan, Louisville
Incorrect
guesses: Chris Young, Will Venable, Carl
Crawford
WEEKLY THEME – Rookie
managers who won 100 games in their first full year managing.
Mgr. Team Year Record End Result
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Patrick Ray, Paradise Valley,
Arizona (After Baker!)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Managers
who lost seven-game World Series after being up 3-2
-
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