06-Apr-2020
MONDAY – 06-Apr
Q. Who was the
first player to lead the majors in runs batted in during the modern era?
Hint: He dropped
out of school at age twelve to work in the coal mines with his father to help
support the family.
Hint: His brother
enjoyed a year in the majors.
- Brother Butts Wagner
played for the Senators & Bridegrooms
in the NL in 1898. No relation of Heinie Wagner.
FCR - Dave Williams, Glastonbury, Connecticut
Incorrect guesses: Ed
Delahanty, Nap Lajoie, Elmer Flick, Sam Crawford, Hack Wilson
IN MEMORIAM (Not connected to the theme this week.)
Q. What
Baltimore native was the first player inducted to the Hall of Fame who had ever
come to bat as a designated hitter?
Hint: In his
second full year as a player, he led the league in total bases, hits, batting
average, the last two of those stats leading the majors.
Hint: That made
him the youngest batting champ in history.
Hint: Only he and
Ty Cobb had 200 hits in a season before turning 21.
Hint: His OPS of
.940 led the league four years later.
Hint: He was the
first-ever right fielder to be honored with a Gold Glove for his defensive
excellence.
Hint: He won ten
Gold Glove Awards overall.
Hint: From 1959 to
1962, he played in seven All-Star games, twice as a starter.
Hint: For his
career he was named an All-Star an amazing eighteen times including his final
season at age thirty-nine.
Hint: Although he
never won an MVP, he finished second twice; in the top five four times; in the
top ten nine times and received at least one MVP vote an astounding fourteen
times.
Hint: He played
more games as a Detroit Tiger than Ty Cobb.
Hint: He had more
home runs, bases-on-balls and sacrifice flies than any Tiger who ever lived.
Hint: Detroit
General Manager Jim Campbell said he would consider trading him to the San
Francisco Giants, but only if the offer included Mays, Marichal AND Cepeda in
return.
Hint: He once
scored twice in a World Series inning.
Hint: He increased
his batting average in each of his four years in high school: from .333 to
.418, to .469 before finishing up his senior year at .488.
Hint: Much of his
approach to the game was based on ten minutes at age 18 when Ted Williams
shared some batting advice fundamentals with him.
- Born in Baltimore 19-Dec-1934, his first AB as
a DH was 05-Apr-1974, exactly 45 years ago yesterday. He managed a walk in 4 AB. Elected to the Hall in 1980.
- Playing for DET, his only team in his 22 MLB
seasons, he .340 in 1955, the same year he had 200
hits and 321 TB.
- His batting title in 1955. When the season ended, he was 20 years, 330
days old. Ty Cobb also won a batting
title at age 20 hitting .350 in 1907, but Cobb was born on December 18, making
him one day older than Kaline when he won.
- Played 2,834 G for DET. Cobb played 2,806. Both had 22 years as Tigers.
- Had 399 HR, 1,277 BB & 104 SF.
FCR - David Gordon, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Incorrect guesses:
Q. Whom did Ty Cobb profess to be the best
second baseman of the 20th century?
Hint: His nickname, which belied his Ivy League
education, was one he didn’t care for.
It was, however, spot-on accurate.
Hint: The fact that he weighed a mere 140 pounds,
may be why John McGraw, who had been aware of his talent, passed on recruiting
him.
- Cobb threw around very few praises, but
Collins was on his short list. Cobb
mentions Collins in his 1961 autobiography.
- “Cocky” Collins had attended Columbia
University in New York City.
- He may have weighed even less then, but he did
weigh, by his own admission, 140 when he played his first major league game 17-Sep-1906 w/PHA.
FCR - David Johnson, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Dummy Hoy, Johnny Evers, Napoleon Lajoie,
Charlie Gehringer, Frankie Frisch, Kitty Bransfield
TWOs-DAY – 07-Apr
Q. Which infielder, born in Muscotah,
Kansas during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration is best remembered as a
soft, cuddly mammal?
Hint: He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame with
ten others—still a record for one year.
Hint: After his playing days in the majors, he
took over as the captain, manager, and team president of a franchise in the
American Association.
Hint: In his second season, his whole staff was
distaff.
- He and sporting-goods manufacturer, Thomas E. Wilson, (Yes, THAT Wilson) purchased the Columbus Senators of the
American Association for $65,000. Tinker
took over multiple positions for the 1917 season. To allow men to become soldiers and fight in
WWI, he hired only women ballpark workers for the 1918 season.
FCR - Tom Lee, Nashville
Incorrect guesses: Rabbit Maranville
WEDNESDAY – 08-Apr
Q. Who was the first player to win a Gold
Glove Award for the Twins?*
Hint: He was also the first player to win a Gold
Glove Award for the Angels.
Hint: He was also the first player to win a Gold
Glove Award for the A’s.
Hint: He was also the first player to win a Gold
Glove Award for the Indians.
Hint: He has won as many Gold Glove awards as
Nolan Arenado.
- *Further research reveals… that while the
hints given here are accurate for Vic Power, Earl Battey in 1961, not
Power in ’62, was the first Minnesota Twin to win a Gold Glove. Jim Kaat also won a Gold Glove in ’62 for
MIN.
FCR - R. D. Lerner, Silver Spring, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Zoilo Versalles, Joe Mauer, Leo Cardenas,
Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Mark Langston, Gary Bell, Jim Kaat, Torii Hunter,
Jose Cardenal, Bob Boone
MIDWEEK BONUS – 08-Apr
Q. Which star player died shortly before he
was scheduled to appear on the nationally broadcast television show “The Toast
of the Town”, known popularly as “The Ed Sullivan Show”?
Hint: He once had a season with more than 500
at-bats, a mere ten strikeouts and a batting average over .350.
Hint: That year he tied in the MVP voting
- Died 05-Dec-1951. His appearance would have been a fortnight
hence.
- In 1919 Jackson had 516 AB, 10 K & hit
.351.
- No MVP or similar award was given in 1919. He tied with everybody!
FCR - Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio
Incorrect
guesses: Joe Sewell, Ted Williams, Lou
Boudreau, Arky Vaughan, Harry Agganis, Roberto Clemente, Ken Hubbs, Ty Cobb,
Nap Lajoie, Joe DiMaggio
THURSDAY – 09-Apr
Q. Whose batting average was the lowest to
win the league crown in the first hundred
and fifteen years of the history of the National League* between 1880 and
1990?
Hint: He is the only batter in major league
history to hit exactly 25 doubles and exactly 25 triples in the same season.
Hint: He was the only member of the Giants team
to total fifty home runs during the Deadball era.
- Led the NL when he hit .320 in 1915. Terry Pendleton was the NL batting champ when
he hit .319 in 1991. 2 since Pendleton
have been lower. Cap Anson led with .317
in 1879.
- 25 2B + 25 3B in 1911.
- Hit 53 HR 1909-16 for NYG, then 10 more for
them 1918-19 = 63
FCR - Eric Morrison, Myerstown, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Matty Alou, Willie Mays, Elmer Flick, Heinie
Groh, Mel Ott, Johnny Mize, High Pockets Kelly
FRIDAY – 10-Apr
Q. Who knocked out the home plate umpire on
a disputed called third-strike the year after he posted the best stats in the
league?
Hint: He had become the first Phillie to win a
batting title in the twentieth century.
Hint: A Philadelphia writer called [him]
"probably the best all-around ball player in the National League.” A Cincinnati reporter added, "To my mind
[he] is one of the best all-around players the game has ever seen."
Hint: He ended his major league career by
pinch-hitting twice during a World Series that he team won.
- Playing for PHI, Magee knocked out umpire Bill Finneran after a disputed
called 3rd strike on 10-Jul-1911.
He was suspended for the remainder of the season, although on appeal the
suspension was shortened to 36 games. In
1910 Magee lad led the NL in R, RBI, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+ & TB. The R & RBI totals led the majors.
- He hit .331 in 1910.
FCR - Howard Johnson Norman, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Ed Delahanty, Chuck Klein,
Gavvy Cravath, Pete Rose, Lefty O’Doul, Dick Allen
T.G.I.F. – 10-Apr
Q. Who accumulated most career triples
among players not in the Hall of Fame?
Hint: He once had hits in ten consecutive at-bats.
Hint: He established a record for most chances
accepted in a single World Series game by a player at his position.
- Has 182 3B
- 10 AB w/H:
28-Jun-, 29-Jun- & 01-Jul-1919, tying a record set in 1899 by Phillie Ed Delahanty. It has been passed since then. It is now a three-way tie: the DET's Walt
Dropo (1952), the BOS's Pinky Higgins (1938) and the CHC's Johnny Kling (1902)
all got hits in 12 straight at-bats.
[Whew!]
FCR - Rich Ottone, Sykesville, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Pete Rose, Steve Finley, Jim
Bottomley, Joe Judge, Bip Roberts, Sam Rice
SATURDAY – 11-Apr
Q. What Cantabrigian was feted with a “Day”
in his honor by his hometown team when he arrived there as a member of the
opposition?
Hint: In fewer than ten seasons in the majors, he
played for six Hall of Fame managers, including three in one season.
Hint: An article in the “Washington Post” about
him began, “[His] chief difficulty in life is to remain quiet. He doesn't succeed very well.”…which explains
his ironic nickname.
Hint: During his tenure in the majors, he played every
position save catcher, including posing a perfect record on the mound.
- A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Barrett
was playing for CHW in 1928 when they arrived in Boston (a well-known
suburb of Cambridge) and BOS held “Bill Barrett Day” at Fenway Park 19-Aug-1928 where, among other extracurricular activities,
Barrett was presented with a watch by Cambridge mayor Edward W. Quinn.
- In his 9 years in the Bigs, he played for Connie Mack, Johnny
Evers, Ed Walsh, Eddie Collins, Ray Schalk and Walter Johnson. Evers, Walsh & Collins all managed him on
CHW in 1924.
- He was called “Whispering Bill”. Whispering is not what anyone ever heard him
do.
- He eventually settled in as a right fielder
with a strong throwing arm.
FCR - Roger Kathmann, Cincinnati
Incorrect
guesses: Doc Gautreau, Joe Kelley
SUNDAY – 12-Apr
Q. Who was the first player to come to bat
in Fenway Park?
Hint: In a five-season career, he played three
discrete major leagues and only once for a team that finished higher than fourth
place.
Hint: He once stole four bases in a single game
with Ty Cobb looking on.
- Played for the Highlanders (Yankees) in the AL 1911-12, the Braves in the NL 1913 and the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League 1914-15, the entire life of that league. They finished 6th, 8th*,
5th, 3rd & 8th* respectively.
*Last
FCR - Len Levin, Providence
Incorrect
guesses: Danny Moeller, Braggo Roth,
Glen Beckert
WEEKLY THEME – Players who
stole home twice in a game in the modern era.
*Also stole 2nd 2 X in that G
**2 of the 3 SB he had in
all of 1958. The other was a steal of 3rd
& was for another team !
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Randall Chandler, Germantown,
Tennessee (after Tinker)
Incorrect theme guesses:
Monday - Initial
Hall of Fame Class
Tues - Easter
-
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