Q. Whose hold
on the major league career strikeout record by a batter was wrested from him by
Willie Stargell?
Hint: He was proud
of the car he drove with OK license plate #77-7777.
Hint: Jane played
him creditably for Crystal.
- Just as Mantle had
taken the top honor in Ks from Babe Ruth in 1964, Stargell topped everybody
from 1978-81, when Reggie Jackson, today still unthroned, took the lead.
FCR - Oron Strauss,
Arlington, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: Roger
Maris, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Bonds
TUESDAY
Q. What
one-time Cardinal outfielder has 85 postseason hits, none of them with St.
Louis?
Hint: He credits
his thirst for perfection to being the youngest of six vying for his
father’s attention.
Hint: He is
related to Clemens but not that one.
Hint: He never
played for the Warriors even though his owner thought he was one.
- Was a Cardinal when he played at Otterbein
College
in Westerville, Ohio. Played in 6 WS: CIN 1990, NYY 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 & 2001—on
the winning side each time save the last.
- George Steinbrenner nicknamed O’Neill “The
Warrior”.
FCR - David Krassin, Los Angeles
Incorrect guesses: Lance Berkman, Tino Martínez, Bill Virdon
TUESDAY TWICE
Q. Who is the only Red Sox* catcher to
record 150 assists in a season, helping his team to the World Series for the
first time?
Hint: In fact, he was the first Red Sox* catcher
to record 100 assists in a season.
Hint: As a batter, he once had ten triples in a
season where his hit total was fewer than 75.
*Red Sox is what we call them today. They’ve were the Boston Americans in the
early days of the American League. There
is scant evidence that they were ever officially called the Pilgrims, but one
still sees that name used for them from time to time.
- 156 A in 1903 when BOS won the first modern WS
- 117 A in 1902 before the modern WS existed
- 1903 = 61 H, 10 3B
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, ON
Incorrect guesses: Jason Varitek, Bill Carrigan, Chick Stahl
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was reported to have hit a home run
in his first major league at bat for the Texas Rangers, but light research
showed it to be his second?
Hint: In his sophomore season he hit a midseason walk-off
home run so dramatic that his teammates carried him off the field on their shoulders.
Hint: Two years later he had a midsummer week so
productive (12 H, 8 R, 3 HR, .600 BA & 25 TB) that he was selected as the
American League Player of the Week.
Hint: Like most of us, his public appearances of
late are restricted to Zoom.
- He actually homered as the lead-off batter in
the 2nd inning 16-May-1994 which might have led to his 1st
home run’s being mis-recorded.
- Stats accumulated Monday, June 9–Sunday, June
15, 1997
- Click here <https://youtu.be/2G11zRokFO0> for an interview on
23-Apr-2020 by Dallas Morning News Rangers beat writer, Evan Grant w/Greer with teammates Ivan Rodriguez & Mark McLemore.
FCR - Karen Hermele, Denver
Incorrect
guesses: Joey Gallo, Jeff Burroughs, Rafael
Palmeiro, Ruben Sierra, Josh Hamilton, Sammy Sosa, Will Clark, Dave Nelson
THURSDAY
Q. Who threw the first pitch in the first
game ever played in the National League?
Hint: He was the first recorded player to hit for
a “natural” cycle, meaning he got his hits in the order of total bases: first
the single, then a double, then the triple and finally the home run.
Hint: His cycle was the second ever recorded in
the history of the majors.
Hint: He once took to the water in a dinghy in
pursuit of a dinger.
- Pitching for the original National League Philadelphia Athletics (not a typo), Knight hurled the first-ever pitch to
future Hall of Famer George Wright of the Boston Red Stockings (also not a typo) 22-Apr-1876.
- Cycle = 30-Jul-1883; 1st cycle was by Curry
Foley
25-May-1882. ERRATUM: The good folks at Retrosheet (A/K/A Mark Pankin) provided us with information showing
that Knight’s cycle was actually the 3rd one and that Foley was next
with George Hall as the first baseball cyclist accomplished
on Flag Day in the Centennial Year! See
-https://www.retrosheet.org/cycles_chron.htm
- Knight was playing right field in a game at Riverside Park in East Albany, NY
when a ball clobbered by 4X 19th century HR champ Lipman Pike sailed over the fence
and landed in the Hudson River. The park
had no rules then about what happened after a ball went over the fence, so it
wasn’t automatically a home run. Our
hero Lon, ever the determined player, jumped into a nearby boat and paddled out
into the river in pursuit of the ball! His
throw in was ...alas, late.
FCR - Matt Scribbins, Scottsdale
Incorrect guesses: Joe Borden, Jim O’Rourke, Albert Spalding, Eppa
Rixey, George Zettlein, Joe McGinnity, Curry Foley
FRIDAY
Q. When a certain player was suspended for
the season five weeks after winning the MVP of the All-Star Game, who replaced
him?
Hint: He had been rated the best defensive
outfielder in a minor league where he played at the time.
Hint: He once made it all the way to third base
on a dropped third strike.
Hint: He retired just before spring training this
year to take a job w/MLB.
- Melky Cabrera was having a career ear in 2012,
including the ASG, but was found to violating MLB’s substance abuse policy and so
was suspended for 50 games on 15-Aug. Blanco
had signed with SFG that spring and were able to move him into left where he became
an important contributor in their WS win that year.
- Baseball America had given him
that defensive title while he was playing for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the
Carolina League in 2004.
- On 23-May-2015, as the lead-off batter playing for ARI
and facing starter Jordan Lyles of COL
by striking
out but made it all the way to 3rd when the pitch got away from C Nick Hundley, whose throw ended up
in RF while trying to get Blanco at 1st.
FCR - Steve Berman, Bergenfield, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Melky Cabrera, Dee Gordon, Dee Gordon,
Curtis Granderson, Hunter Pence, Carl Crawford, Angel Pagan
SATURDAY
Q. What speedy outfielder once fooled an
umpiring crew that he had caught a foul pop-up by pounding his fist into his
glove and immediately high-fiving his teammate?
Hint: He played for the Toronto Blue Jays on
three separate occasions, none memorable.
Hint: He signed with the White Sox as a free
agent on three separate occasions.
Hint: He pitched for both the White Sox and the
Yankees and retired with a perfect 0.00 ERA.
- On 26-Jun-2012 playing for NYY, he tumbled into the LF
stands at New Yankee Stadium to catch a pop-up off the bat of the CLE's Jack Hannahan. He was helped out of the stands and
immediately ran to the dugout, as if he had just made the 3rd out,
fooling umpire Mike DiMuro. Replays showed that Wise had dropped and not
even recovered the ball, he just pumped his fist into his empty glove as if he
had made the catch and then high-fived teammate Derek Jeter.
- # 13-Dec-1999: Drafted by TOR from CIN in the
1999 rule 5 draft.
## 06-Apr-2011: Signed as a Free Agent with TOR.
### 26-Aug-2011: Selected off waivers by TOR from FLA.
- # 05-Mar-2008: Signed as a Free Agent with
CHW.
## 03-Aug-2012: Signed as a Free Agent with CHW.
### 21-Nov-2012: Signed as a Free Agent with CHW.
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Scott Podsednik, Tony Phillips
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who holds the Chicago White Sox record
for most runs scored in a season?
Hint: He ironically avoided a tarnished
reputation as a player by being replaced at the end of the season by one of
baseball’s elites.
Hint: He is reputed to be the only centerfielder
to catch a foul ball during a game.
Hint: He attempted suicide when he was discovered
having an affair with a teammate’s wife.
- 135 R in 1925
- After 10 G in the majors at the very end of
the 1918 regular season serving as an emergency fill-in for HOF 2B Eddie
Collins (who had joined the USMC in mid-August), Mostil was dropped from CHW’s
infamous WS roster when Collins was allowed to return to play in the WS 6 weeks
later. Mostil played minor-league in Milwaukee
of the American Association over the succeeding two years as the “Black Sox”
scandal erupted around the parent club.
- The CF foul ball catch in question reportedly
occurred during a 1925 spring-training game at Nashville. According to numerous
accounts, Mostil actually beat LF Bibb Falk to the ball. (Hey—numerous accounts!) No telling of the story has been
substantiated.
FCR - Rich Wolfe, Scottsdale
Incorrect
guesses: Frank Thomas, Jimmy Piersall, Jim
Rivera, Jim Busby
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first player with six hits
in a nine-inning game this decade?
Hint: Twice his major league team gave up on him
for setting a bad example with his lackadaisical play.
Hint: He hit for the cycle on his third major
league team. They cut him loose too.
Hint: Fourth time was the charm.
- 6-6 including a 3B on 09-Jul-2013 for CHW vs. DET. Scored once; had 2 RBI; 2 SB. Was pulled in 9th for defensive
reasons.
- In a stunning move, TOR placed him on
waivers on 10-Aug-2009, even though he was their starting RF
and had a large amount of money remaining on his contract. He wasn't hitting
badly at the time: .264/.314/.427 w/25 2B and 14 HR in 108 G, but the Jays had
become tired of his approach to the game.
- Was on the KCR when
they won the WS in 2015. They released him
3 days later.
FCR - Randall Chandler, Germantown, Tennessee
Incorrect guesses: Jose Reyes, Jean Segura, Damion Easley, Paul
Lo Duca, Damion Easley, Nomar Garciaparra, Hanley Ramirez
WEEKLY THEME – Players
whose great defense helped keep perfect games intact.
Player Pitcher Date Play details
Criger....... Cy Young................... 05-May-1904..... Nearly fell over the Boston bench
grabbing a foul pop.
Knight....... Lee Richmond............ 12-Jun-1880...... A
would-be single into RF in the 5th inning that Knight turned into a
9-3 putout.
Mantle...... Don Larsen................ 08-Oct-1956...... Running catch of a Gil Hodges WS fly
ball.
Mostil........ Charlie Robertson...... 30-Apr-1922...... Made a spectacular diving
catch on a liner to left by Bobby Veach in
the 2nd inning
O’Neill...... David Cone................ 18-Jul-1999....... Made a diving catch in the first
inning.
Rios.......... Phillip Humber........... 21-Apr-2012...... Dustin Ackley hit a
4th-inning line drive over the Rios’ head in RF but Ríos made a leaping catch on
the warning track.
Wise......... Mark Buehrle............. 23-Jul-2009....... Leaping, falling,
juggling grab at the fence.
First Correct
Respondent to Identify Theme – Steve Schwartz, Chico, California (After O’Neill)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - HoF
players from Oklahoma
- MVPs
from Oklahoma
- Yankees
batting title winners
- February
birthdays
- Players
who were on the winning side of a perfect game and at least two other
no-hitters
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