MONDAY - 29-Jun
Q. Which Hall
of Famer pitched complete games and won both ends of three (3!) doubleheaders
in the span of one calendar month?
Hint: He pitched
for the Baltimore Orioles in the National League and then for the Baltimore
Orioles in the American League.
Hint: His nickname
is derived from his previous occupation, not, as believed, his performance as a
player.
- In 1899 he was on BLN for their last year of
existence then when the American League
included Baltimore (BLA), as one of the
original franchises McGinnity pitched for them in 1901-02, the only years of
their existence.
- Worked in an
Oklahoman iron foundry during his off-seasons.
Serendipitously self-coined his enduring nickname during an newspaper
interview in which he detailed his winter time employment as, “I am an iron
man.”
FCR - David Johnson,
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Hoss
Radbourn, Monte Ward, Mordecai Brown, Pud Galvin, Frank Foreman
MONDAY BONUS -
29-Jun
Q. What young
pitcher was barraged with farm animal sounds by the opposing Detroit Tigers as
he warmed up for his first major league game?
Hint: All taunting
stopped after the first pitch.
Hint: He had more
career wins against the Detroit Tigers than against any other team.
- He had been
pitching in the low minors in Idaho, so the Tigers’ bench jockeys imitated a
cow mooing and shouted, “Get your pitchfork ready, Coach, he’s headed back…”
- Cobb described his
first at-bat against Johnson like this, “I watched him take that easy
wind-up—and then something went past me that made me flinch. The ball came in so fast that I wondered if he
had concealed a gun on his person. I
hardly saw the pitch, but I heard it.
The thing just hissed with danger.” Despite the
jeering, Johnson fared well in his debut—but as frequently happened pitching
for the usually hapless Senators—he dropped a close one. Cobb hit .366 in
his career off Johnson (120-for-328)—quite amazing considering Cobb's average
against all pitchers was a career .366. Unlike most batters, Cobb could hit Johnson’s
fastball.
- Johnson had 66 win
vs. DET.
FCR - Patrick Roth,
Chicago
Incorrect guesses: Rich
Gossage, Bob Feller, Ted Lyons, Mark Fidrych Lefty Gomez, Jim McDonald
TUESDAY -
30-Jun
Q. Which Hall
of Famer’s nicknames seem to be polar opposites?
Hint: He is still
the last National League batter to win the Triple Crown.
Hint: He was once
taken out of a World Series game by the Commissioner.
- Nicknames “Muscles”
and “Ducky”. While playing for the
A-level Houston Buffaloes, Medwick acquired the nickname Ducky. Some say it was because he waddled like a duck
when he walked. His teammates picked up
on it and started calling him Ducky or even worse Ducky Wucky. Joe detested the name, but it caught on and
for years sportswriters routinely referred to him as Ducky. Medwick much preferred to be called Muscles
and induced some of his teammates to use that appellation.
- In 1937, Medwick
had 31 HR, 154 RBI & hit .374.
- In the 6th
inning of G 7 of the 1934
WS, Medwick tripled off
the CF fence, sliding into third
spikes high. Whether he deliberately spiked DET 3B Marv Owen
is up for debate. Medwick claimed Owen
stomped on his leg. Still on the ground,
Medwick began kicking at Owen and fisticuffs erupted. Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem
broke up the tussle with neither player ejected, but Owen ignored Medwick’s
handshake offer. In the B6, Medwick
jogged out to his position in LF and was met by a salvo of fruit and soda bottles from the Detroit fans who were already in a foul mood
because the Tigers were getting beat 8-0. This is when Commissioner Landis
stepped in and had Medwick
removed for A) his own safety and B) so the final 3 innings of a blow-out game
could resume. STL won in a walk, 11-0. It was otherwise a great Fall Classic with
multiple Hall of Fame players on each side.
FCR - Lincoln
Mitchell, New York City
Incorrect guesses: Chuck
Klein, Frank Robinson, Jim Bottomley
TUESDAY BONUS -
30-Jun
Q. Who most
often gets credit for switching Babe Ruth from a starting pitcher to an
everyday outfielder?
Hint: He was born
on a hemp plantation in Illinois on a stopover during his family’s move from
Ohio to Nebraska via covered wagon.
Hint: Hall of
Famers Fred Clarke and Honus Wagner were two of the players he found while
working as a scout for the team that became the Pirates.
- Barrow was the GM of the 1918 Red Sox and
liked the advice of one of his star players Harry Hooper to switch The Babe to
the outfield so he could get his potent bat into the lineup more often. Ruth gradually reduced his mound appearances
during 1918 and 1919 (still posting a glittering 22-12 W-L with a 2.55 ERA and
30 CG in 34 GS during those seasons), but for all extents and purposes Ruth’s
assault on the pitching record books was over and his dominance of the offensive
record books was underway. It was Barrow
who masterminded this historical transition.
- The infant Barrow completed the family’s
arduous 2-year trek west to Nebraska, but the harsh farming conditions they
encountered there prompted them to leave Nebraska after 6 years and relocate to
Iowa.
- Barrow was Clarke’s boss at an Iowa newspaper
and, legend has it, discovered Wagner as the youth was tossing rocks and lumps
of coal prodigious distances near some railroad tracks.
FCR - Tom Bowen, Dallas
Incorrect guesses: Miller Huggins, Harry Hooper
WEDNESDAY -
01-Jul
Q. When Eric Karros set the Los Angeles
Dodgers career home run record, what former Cougar’s mark did he surpass?
Hint: He was the Chicago Cub’s team RBI leader on
the only Cubs team that went to the postseason between 1946 and 1988.
Hint: He joined the same college fraternity that
Lou Gehrig had joined.
Hint: Bobo gave him his nickname.
- Karros had 270 as an L.A. Dodger, his 229th
passed Cey’s 228 and is still the most by an L.A. Dodger. Cey had played for Washington State
University.
- According to Cey
himself, his
nickname “The Penguin” was bestowed on him by his college coach, Chuck
"Bobo" Brayton, the 4th winningest baseball coach in NCAA
history when he retired.
FCR - Dave Serota, Kalamazoo
Incorrect
guesses: Andre Dawson, Steve
Garvey, Bill Buckner, Ryne Sandberg
CANADA DAY SPECIAL -
01-Jul
Q. Who was the first player to lead two
leagues in a season in home runs with more than twenty homers each time?
Hint: He led four different major league teams in
home runs for at least one season apiece, for a total of eight seasons as his
team’s HR leader.
Hint: He currently works in the front office for
one the team he played for as Special Assistant.
- Hit 36 HR for AL’s TOR in 1989. Hit 35 for NL’s SDP in 1992. [HOF Sam Crawford had led the NL (CIN)
& AL (DET) in HRs in 1901 & 1908 w/ 16 & 7
respectively. (Yes. – 7!)]
- Led TOR (1988, 89, 90); SDP (1991, 92); ATL
(1994, 95); TBD (1998)
- Works for ATL as Special
Assistant, Amateur Scouting.
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto (Where else?!)
Incorrect
guesses: Reggie Jackson, Dave Kingman
THURSDAY -
02-Jul
Q. Who is the only qualifying player with a
batting average better than Ted Williams’ the year after Williams won his first
MVP?
Hint: The way he won his batting title hadn’t
been done before.
Hint: His uncle had been a reserve
outfielder/pinch-hitter for the St. Louis Browns back
before they cracked the highly-coveted .600 winning percentage plateau
for the first time in franchise history.
- Walker won the 947
NL batting title playing for two National League teams.
10 G for the WS Champ STL then the rest of the
season (130 G) for the 7th-place PHI (out of 8 teams). In the AL, this had been done by Dale Alexander in
1932. In the NL, Walker's feat was
nearly reproduced in 1982 by Willie McGee
whom the Cardinals decided had outlived his usefulness when they traded him
to the Oakland A's. His AL BAs didn't
figure in and he won the NL title.
- Uncle Ernie Walker
played for SLB 1913-15—a stretch during which
they went 191-269, posting an unimpressive .415 winning percentage. 7 years after Ernie had moved on, the Browns
went over .600 in a season in 1922 (finishing a mere 1 G back of Babe Ruth’s Yankees).
FCR - David Gordon, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Mickey Vernon, George Kell, Lou
Boudreau, Phil Cavarretta, Stan Musial, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Debs Garms
FRIDAY -
03-Jul
Q. Who overcommitted to the fans in two
ballparks?
Hint: He led his high school teams to two
basketball state championships as well as two state baseball
championships.
Hint: He was so beloved as a stadium announcer
for more than 23 years that the day he passed away the game he normally worked
was played without a public address announcer.
Hint: He once pitched a no-hitter against his
team’s bitter and most passionately-hated rival.
- As the Public Address announcer for the
Orioles, whether at their home stadium Memorial Stadium or their current one, OPACY, Barney would exclaim,
“Give that fan a CONtract !” every time (and I mean every time!)
a fan caught a foul ball or home run, sometimes even if they missed.
- Attended Creighton Prep, a Catholic school for
boys in Omaha and won those four Nebraska state championships while he was
there.
- The Orioles commemorated Barney’s passing with
a three-minute ceremony led by Orioles voice Chuck Thompson, a moment of silence
and the flying of flags at half-staff. For
the entire game the public-address
microphone was shut off, and Oriole and Athletics batters walked to the plate
unannounced, welcomed only by the crowd.
- No-no for BRO vs. NYG 09-Sep-1948. It was the only no-hitter thrown by a Dodger
pitcher against a Giants team in the Polo Grounds. 8 years later Carl Erskine no-hit the Giants,
but that was in the safe confines of the Dodgers home venue, Ebbets Field.
FCR - Adam Balutis, Arlington, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses:
SATURDAY -
04-Jul
Q. Which Georgian Hall of Famer did Walt
Alston replace?
Hint: He was the only player to lead his league
with more than fifty home runs while striking out fewer than fifty times that
same season.
Hint: He was the third National Leaguer to hit
fifty home runs in a season.
- In the final G of his rookie season, 27-Sep-1936, in the top of the 7th,
Mize had a difference of opinion with umpire Ziggy Sears about the location of
the strike zone and was ejected. Frankie
Frisch replaced him at bat. However, at
first base in the top of the 8th, Alston replaced Mize at 1st
base for the only 2 innings of his major league playing
career. Alston made an error in the field and at bat
he struck out for the final out of the Cardinals’ season. Managing was clearly his
strength. Amusing that ⅔ of the umpire
crew were Ziggy and Quigley… and that Ziggy also tossed Buzzy
and Jolly Cholly.
- 51 HR with just 42 K in 1947.
- Ralph Kiner beat Mize by 2 days for 2nd
NLer to hit 50 in a season. Mize reached
that plateau 20-Sep-1947. Kiner had hit his 50th that year
on 18-Sep-1947.
FCR: Jeffrey Fink, Howell, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Ralph Kiner, George Foster, Chuck
Dressen, Mel Ott
FIREWORKS EXTRA -
04-Jul
Q. What NSW/SEC product ended with the
Angels?
Hint: He was the first native of his country in more
than a century to make it to the majors.
Hint: He has worked for the Diamondbacks since
2012.
- Shipley was born in Parramatta, New South Wales,
Australia and played baseball for the University of Alabama which is in the Southeastern
Conference.
- Before Shipley’s MLB debut on 22-Jun-1986, the
last (and first) Australian-born player to break into the majors was Joe Quinn who debuted
26-Apr-1884! Quinn enjoyed a 17-year
career, playing for 8 teams in 4 leagues.
- In 2012, Shipley was hired by ARI as an
assistant to GM Kevin Towers. As of
2018, he is still part of the Diamondbacks front office, assisting the Baseball
Operations Department in international and special assignment scouting,
evaluating the D-backs' farm system and serving as an advisor to the GM.
FCR - Mark DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Cesar Geronimo, Dave Nilsson
SUNDAY - 05-Jul
Q. Which Maryland native, pitching in his
major league debut, beat the winningest pitcher that state has ever produced?
Hint: A notorious partyer, he was once found “conducting”
a swing band at a nightclub at 4:00 A.M. on the morning he was scheduled to be
the starting pitcher in a game beginning at 12:30 P.M.
Hint: Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain
Landis banned him from organized baseball.
Hint: He successfully filed for unemployment
insurance. Sort of...
- Hurling 1-run ball over 6.2 innings of relief
in his first ML appearance on 11-Jun-1937 the Williamsport, MD
native Poffenberger bested Lonaconing, MD’s favorite son and eventual 300-game
winner Lefty
Grove.
- Despite begging to be left alone to “sleep it
off”, DET manager Mickey Cochrane gave Boots some tough love and had him start
that sweltering-hot
day’s game
anyway. He gutted it out until the B3, when CHW exploded for 4 runs before he
was yanked and mercifully sent to the showers.
- In 1939, the continuous hard-drinking,
late-night carousing and frequent vanishing acts finally exhausted the patience
of his last major league manager, Leo Durocher. After missing curfew for the umpteenth time, The Lip fined, suspended and
demoted Poffenberger to the Dodgers’ Montreal farm team. Despite promising the team four times that
he’d report to Montreal, Boots actually never reached La Belle Province. Poffenberger said he made it as far as New
York, stopped off to enjoy a few beers, and then turned back around and just
headed home to Williamsport. That’s when Commissioner Landis lowered the boom on
Boots.
- After Landis’ decree and when all of the forms
had been completed for his unemployment claim, the State of Maryland couldn’t
give Poffenberger his money because they were unable to locate him. Boots had gone missing yet again.
FCR - Brad Clark, Madison, Wisconsin
Incorrect
guesses: Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams,
Lefty Grove
WEEK’S FINALE
- 05-Jul
Q. Which player was a PTBNL nearly sixty
years after his major league playing career ended?
Hint: In the tenth and final game of one season’s
final championship series, he started and was knocked out of his series-winning
team’s resounding 18-7 ... loss
Hint: In that losing effort, he did at least
salvage some dignity by getting two hits against a pitcher who won over 30
games the following season.
- Arm injuries forced Titcomb to retire from MLB
at the age of 23 after the 1890 season. Always known by just his unique first
name Ledell during his playing days, his 1950 obituary mysteriously referred to
him as the possessor of the previously unused and unexplained nickname of
“Cannonball”. This 60 year gap as a Player To Be Named Later is
believed to be the longest in baseball history.
- After the 1888 season, an end-of-the-year
professional baseball season championship playoff series was held between the NL
winner New
York Giants
and the AA’s St. Louis Browns. Although the Giants prevailed by winning 6 of
the 1st 8 G, the final 2 G were nevertheless played as scheduled. Titcomb, perhaps understandably pitching
without his heart in it, started the last one and was shelled. He possibly didn’t enjoy hoisting the Hall Cup which was awarded to
his victorious Giants, but was happy to accept his share from the series winner’s
pool: $328.00.
- Owner of a ghastly .098 career batting
average, Titcomb hit a pair of hits versus Elton “Ice Box”
Chamberlain
(winner of 32 in 1889).
FCR - Ken Kirk, Corning, New York
Incorrect
guesses:
WEEKLY THEME – Players
whose names call to mind well-known Monopoly tokens.
*Originally signed to play for the Georgia Bulldogs.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Larry Hayes, San Francisco
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