MONDAY – Apr 27
Q. What former
Yellowjacket was the last twentieth-century player to hit fifteen triples in
consecutive seasons?
Hint: No one has
ever grounded into more major league double plays in a season.
Hint: He is the
only player since Willie Mays to lead the majors in home runs and triples in
the same season.
Hint: That same
year he also had more at bats, more hits, more RBI, more total bases and a
higher slugging percentage than anyone else in the majors.
- Exactly 15 3B in
1977 & 15 in 1978.
Attended T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina. Their mascot is the Yellowjacket.
- 36 GIDP in 1984.
- Rice hit 15
3B & 46 HR in 1978. Mays
in 1955: (13 3B & 51 HR). In fact, the only other player ever to
do it was Harry Stovey
in 1880 for the Worcester Ruby Legs: (14
3B & 6 HR).
- In ’78 Rice had 677
AB, 213 H, 139 RBI, 406 TB and a .600
SLG %. Rice’s dominant offensive
exploits earned him the AL’s MVP by an overwhelming vote despite being
substantially out-WARed (9.6 to 7.6) by Ron Guidry (25-3,
1.74 ERA).
FCR - Thomas
Hablitzel, Hudson, Ohio
Incorrect guesses: Nomar
Garciaparra, Stan Musial, Jason Varitek, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira,
Sammy Sosa, Frank Robinson
MONDAY-MONDAY
Q. What Canadian
BLTR first baseman is the Cincinnati Reds’ all-time on-base percentage leader?
Hint: He has
thrice led the majors in on-base percentage and bases-on-balls, but only once
did he do it in the same year.
Hint: No less than
three of his nicknames found their way into Baseball-Reference.com.
- On-Base % = .421.
- Led the majors in OBP in 2010, 2012 &
2017. Led in BB in 2013, 2015 &
2017.
- Call him “Votto-matic”, “JoVo” or “Tokki
2”. The first 2 seem straightforward
enough, but the third is explained in this interview.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario
Incorrect guesses: James Bottomley, Sean Casey
TUESDAY – Apr 28
Q. Which multi-time All-Star pitcher has
accumulated a win-loss percentage in the American League of an impressive .602
but in the National League an eye-popping .846?
Hint: He is the third left-handed pitcher to rack
up 3,000 strikeouts.
Hint: He was a star multi-sport athlete in high
school.
- His AL statistics were built during 3,298
innings over 19 seasons with CLE & NYY.
His NL numbers he got in 2008 pitching for MIL. Where he led them to a postseason berth.
- 3K K lefties who preceded him are Steve
Carlton (4,136 – 4th all-time]) and Randy Johnson (4,875 – 2nd
all-time). Sabathia has 3,447.2 Ks and
is currently 16th on the all-time strikeout list.
- His Vallejo High School basketball team made
it to the state semifinals in 1998 where they lost in the Final Four. Brandon Armstrong, the Houston Rockets’
first-round draft pick in 2001 was a teammate. The 6’ 6” CC was also a star tight end in
football and recruited by the likes of UCLA and University of Hawaii.
FCR - Bill Chuirazzi, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Incorrect guesses: Sam McDowell, Randy Johnson
TUESDAY YET AGAIN
Q. Who is the youngest athlete to garner
Most Valuable Player consideration in MLB?
Hint: His impressive rookie win-loss percentage
of .792 while it led the majors, was not noticed early enough to get him any
All-Star consideration.
Hint: In spite of all his early acclaim, he was
never on an All-Star team in any of his nine seasons in the majors.
Hint: He grew up in Seattle, just 8 miles from
where the Pacific Coast League Seattle Rainiers played their home games.
- Bunker’s age at announcement of 1964 AL MVP
voting results: 19 years, 8 months, 27 days.
He received 23 voting points for an 8% share putting him squarely at 12th
in the 1964 AL MVP vote tally.
- Bunker made a late rush for ASG consideration,
finishing off his first half with a 1-H shutout on 03-July-1964. Even this gem, bringing his W-L to 8-2 (with
an ERA of 3.12), wasn’t enough to impress AL ASG skipper Al Lopez, who was perhaps hamstrung by the then limited
25-man ASG roster sizes.
- Not only was his birthplace near Sicks Stadium in Seattle future home of MLB’s Seattle Pilots, but when he was seven
years old, his family moved to San Bruno, CA — located just 10 miles from the
future site of [ugh] Candlestick Park.
FCR - Frank Ittner, Alpharetta, Georgia
Incorrect guesses: Tim Lincecum, Mark Fidrych, Vida Blue, Wayne
Simpson
WEDNESDAY – Apr 29
Q. Who was the first former New York Met to
win an MVP?
Hint: In his MVP season, he led the majors
in home runs, runs batted in, slugging, OPS, OPS+, total bases and intentional
bases-on-balls.
Hint: He played for teams in Canada and Mexico in
successive seasons.
Hint: He is the other Giants’ outfielder credited
with having “The Catch”.
- 1989 stats:
47 HR, 125 RBI, SLG .635, OPS 1.023,
OPS+ 192, 345 TB & 32 IBB.
- Played for the AAA PCL’s Edmonton Trappers in 1998; played for the Tabasco Ganaderos (Cattlemen) in Villahermosa, Mexico in 1999.
- In the 1st
inning of a G
in STL on 26-Apr-1989, Mitchell overran a foul ball hit by Ozzie
Smith and quickly compensated by reaching up with his bare, non-glove hand to
make the catch and record the inning’s 2nd out. Given, Mitchell’s snag was dramatic, even unprecedented,
no one denies that it was even in the same class of the degree of difficulty or
the stage of Mays’s 1954
WS beauty.
FCR - Jerry Kahn, New York City
Incorrect
guesses: Willie Mays, Gary Carter,
George Foster, Jeff Kent
THURSDAY – Apr 30
Q. Who is the only switch-hitter to homer
for both American League and National League teams in World Series play?
Hint: His was the only hit given up by J.R.
Richard in Richard's one-hitter?
Hint: His was the middle home run hit the only
time a team hit three home runs in an inning in a World Series game.
FCR - Jay Kriegel, Oklahoma City
Incorrect
guesses: Carlos Baerga, Eddie Murray,
Willie McGee, Darryl Strawberry
FRIDAY – May 01
Q. Whom did Wade Boggs strike out three
days after he (Boggs) had his 3,000th major league hit?
Hint: His son bumped him off the Double-Unique
list with both his first name and last name.
Hint: He’d been on the list for exactly… a
generation!
Hint: He signed a letter of intent to play
basketball for a D-1 university that had won the NCAA tournament two years
earlier.
- Was headed to Villanova before signing with the Expos in 1987. The Wildcats had won their first title in 1985.
FCR - Frank Ittner, Alpharetta, Georgia
Incorrect
guesses: Todd Greene, Vladimir Guerrero,
Bump Wills
T.G.I.M. (Thank Goodness It’s May !)
Q. Which BBTR player signed his first
contract with the Pirates in Roberto Clemente’s home after Clemente’s son urged
a visiting scout to give him a look?
Hint: In the majors one year he was his team’s
offensive leader on a squad that included fellow Puerto Ricans Carlos Delgado,
Jose Cruz, Benito Santiago, Ruben Sierra and Felipe Crespo.
Hint: His son, who played baseball and football
at Missouri State, is Bill Virdon’s great-grandson.
Hint: Although not really a basketball player, he
did play for Kobe one year.
- Roberto Clemente’s son Luis and he went into
the minors together but Luis’ career in professional baseball only lasted one
year.
- ,He played for TOR in 1997 with a WAR of 2.5, alongside Puerto Rican standouts
whose WAR ratings ranged from -0.1 to 1.9 that season. (TOR’s overall WAR leader that season was one
Roger Clemens whose posted 11.9 is the highest pitcher WAR since 1972 and the 6th
highest in the modern era.
- In 2000, Merced played for the Orix Blue Wave of the Japan Pacific
League, Ichiro’s old team. The Blue Wave calls the city of Kobe home
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Tony Fernandez, Roberto Alomar
SATURDAY – May 02
Q. What young Canadian righty was scheduled
to be the Braves Opening Day pitcher this year?
Hint: Last year, in his first full year in the
majors, he was on the National League All-Star team and pitched a perfect
inning in the All-Star Game in Cleveland.
Hint: He even managed to get some attention from
the Cy Young Award voters.
- Still could be… who knows?
- NL ASG. Pitched the bottom of the 6th
inning and dispatched Whit Merrifield, Carlos Santana and Daniel Vogelbach with
a fly out, groundout, and fly out
on with a total of 9 pitches.
FCR - Steven Harmon, Sacramento
Incorrect
guesses: Max Fried
SATURDAY NIGHT EXTRA
Q. What young hurler for the White Sox
finished ahead of Zack Greinke in Rookie-of-the-Year voting?
Hint: In Japan, his nickname was “Mr. Zero”.
Hint: In Japan, he surrendered Hideki Matsui’s
first home run.
Hint: He amassed three hundred saves counting
those in MLP and NPB.
- Mr. 0 because he has not given up a single run
in 11 Japan Series championship games.
FCR - Elliott Frankfother, Rock Falls, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses:
SUNDAY CRACK O’ DAWN BONUS
Q. Who holds the rookie record for most at-bats
in a season?
Hint: It was the second-highest all-time when he
set it.
Hint: Even though he was the Orioles’ manager for
just a third of a season, he did manage to get himself thrown out twice,
keeping the spirit of Earl Weaver alive.
Hint: His triples total in his rookie season was
tops in the majors and the most by a rookie since 1926, more than half a
century earlier.
- 701 AB in 1984.
- He was just behind Willie Wilson’s 705 set in
1980. Jimmie Rollins is the current
record holder. He had 716 AB in his NL
MVP year of 2007.
- An interim Mgr for the 2010 BAL for 51 G, his
squad gave him a record of 17-34.
- He hit 19 3B in 1984. Previous rookie with that many was
FCR - Adam Balutis, Arlington Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Frank Robinson, Ichiro Suzuki,
Billy Ripken, Al Bumbry
SUNDAY – May 03
Q. Who was the first third baseman ever to
win a Gold Glove?
Hint: He won the award twice again, was eight
times an All-Star and received votes his for his league’s MVP award four times.
Hint: In his rookie season, he tied an American
League record for a third baseman with ten assists in a single game.
- Won in 1957.
Only one per position in the majors.
They began separating later and awarded one to players at each position
in each league. He shared the stage that
year with the likes of Willie Mays, Al Kaline, Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso &
Bobby Shantz.
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses: Al Rosen, Kazuhiro Sasaki,
George Kell, Brooks Robinson
SUNDAY DON’T-GO-TO-MEETIN’ SPECIAL
Q. Which Rookie-of-the-Year runner up was
traded within three months of the balloting?
Hint: And ... he was swapped for a future Most
Valuable Player.
Hint: He played six years on his high
school baseball team.
- Umphlett finished behind Harvey Kuenn in the 1953 AL ROY voting in October. Then on 08-Dec-1953, the Red Sox dealt him
and journeyman pitcher Mickey McDermott to the Senators for Jackie Jensen who won the AL MVP in 1958 for BOS.
- In a place and during an era of apparent
nonchalance with eligibility stipulations, Umphlett took 5 years to graduate
from Ahoskie (NC) HS and was also allowed to play for them beginning in 8th
grade.
FCR - Nary a soul
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Sizemore
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Q. Whose step-father was a mentor to the 15-year
old Roy Campanella?
Hint: His college “big brother” was a future
Nobel Laureate.
Hint: Although he did not even play an inning in
his team’s LCS sweep, he was the World Series MVP two weeks later.
- -Clendenon’s step-father Nish Williams was a standout Negro
League catcher who tutored the teenaged Campy while they were teammates on the 1937 Washington Elite Giants. [Pronounced “EE-light”]
- A graduate of prestigious Morehouse College, Clendenon was
mentored by fellow MC alum Martin Luther King, Jr., who in 1964 became
the youngest man to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1969 Mets Manager Gil Hodges had implemented a
platoon system using LHB Ed Kranepool vs. most RHPs, so when
the ATL started three righties in the first-ever NLCS, the right-handed hitting
Clendenon never even got off the bench. Donn’s
PT (and his fortunes) changed when the Baltimore Orioles trotted out four
southpaw SPs in the WS. He clouted 3 HR
and batted .357 while helping the Mets claim their first World Championship.
FCR - John Wills, San Francisco
Incorrect
guesses: Biz Mackey, Al Weis, Billy
Hatcher, Frank Viola, Steve Yeager, Johnny Bench, Lou Piniella, Bert
Blyleven, Fred Patek
SUNDAY – VESPERS EDITION
Q. What BRTR Sooner was named The Sporting
News Rookie of the Year over Thurman Munson?
Hint: He also was named to the Topps Rookie
All-Star team even though the team he actually played for finished fifth in a
six team division.
Hint: After his second season in the majors, he
was traded. However, before his third
season began, he was traded back to his original team.
- Topps Rookie AS Team as shown on his Topps and O-Pee-Chee cards #107. Born in Oklahoma. Throws Right, Bats Right.
- 02-Dec-1971: Traded by CLE with Rich Hand, Mike Paul and Ken Suarez to TEX for Gary Jones, Terry Ley, Denny Riddleberger and Del Unser.
THEN… on 03-Apr-1972, he was traded back by TEX with Tommy McCraw to CLE for Ted Ford.
FCR - Mark Kanter, Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses:
WEEKLY THEME – Players
whose single vote prevented a unanimous Rookie‑of‑the‑Year vote.
Yr 1-vote League Winner
1Only received ½ vote.
*Hall of Fame (Several
on this list are shoo-ins for the Hall as soon as they become eligible, i.e.,
Ichiro, Votto & Sabathia. There is
some light at the end of the tunnel for a few others, among them Oliva, Munson
& Lynn.)
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Steve Klitzner, North Miami Beach (after Sabathia!)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - MVPs
on teams that didn’t make the playoffs
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