NOTE: Reader Erik Lundegaard from Seattle composed this week’s questions.
MONDAY — 05-Oct
Q. Who was the
first American League player to hit four home runs in a single game?
Hint: It was the
first time anyone had done in in the modern era.
Hint: Four years earlier,
he had set the modern record for most home runs in a single World Series.
Hint: After he
failed a screen test to play Tarzan, he starred in a movie whose tagline reads “Idol of baseball trades his bat
for a gat!”
A. LOU GEHRIG [SABR Bio]
- Gehrig hit four
homers in the game on 03-Jun-1932. Two players in the 19th century did
it, but Lou was the first in baseball’s modern era (1901- ). It has been tied 15 times since.
- In NYY’s four-game
sweep of STL in the 1928 WS, Gehrig went deep 4 X.
Once each in G 2 & 4 then 2 X in G 3.
His accomplishment was overshadowed
however, when Babe Ruth homered 3 X in the final game to set a WS record
that wasn’t tied until Reggie Jackson did it* in the 1977 WS. For the 1928 Series, Ruth hit .625 with a
2.022 OPS while Gehrig hit .545 with a 2.433 OPS.
- Gehrig’s agent Christy
Walsh pushed hard for Lou to get the role as Tarzan, but despite
definitely looking the
part, another actor was cast. IMDb has the tagline for the movie “Rawhide”
in which Gehrig played himself. ”Gat” was
a popular slang term for a pistol.
*Albert Pujols and Pablo Sandoval have done it since.
FCR - Larry Farin,
Plano, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Babe
Ruth, Mike Cameron, Pat Seerey, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Eddie Collins
TUESDAY — 06-Oct
Q. Who led the league in the slash-line percentage categories—batting average, OBP and slugging percentage—six years in a row?
Hint: He spent six
times as many years as a player-manager than he did as a manager.
Hint: He was imputed
by Hollywood to have insulted Jimmy Dugan.
A. ROGERS
HORNSBY [SABR Bio]
- Hornsby had black
ink in these three categories, as well as OPS of course, from 1920 to 1925. During those years, he also led the league in
hits four times, doubles four times, triples once, homers twice, RBIs four
times, and total bases five times.
- Spent 12 seasons as
a player-manager for the Cards, Giants, Braves, Cubs and Browns, and two
seasons as just a manager for the Browns and Reds.
- In the film “A League of Their Own”, during the “No
crying in baseball” speech, the Rockford Peaches’ manager Jimmy Dugan (played
by Tom Hanks) says, “Rogers Hornsby was my manager, and he called me a
talking pile of pig shit. And that was
when my parents drove all the way down from Michigan to see me play the game! And did I cry? No! And
do you know why? [Awkward pause] Because there's no crying in baseball!”
FCR - Eric Morrison, Myerstown,
Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Jimmie
Foxx, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Tris Speaker, Lou Boudreau, Cap Anson
WEDNESDAY — 07-Oct
Q. Who, with just 39 more hits, would have
become the fourth player to join the 3,000-hit club?
Hint: The last player to come within even half of
one of his career batting records was Roberto Clemente.
Hint: He remembers legendary film producer Darryl
Zanuck as a youngster running around their hometown, but he’s the one that’s forever
associated with that town.
A. SAM CRAWFORD [SABR Bio]
- Crawford retired in 1917 with 2961 hits. In his final season, he was mostly used as a pinch hitter.
He got the final hit of his career on July 17, a double, then appeared in 11
more games, with 13 plate appearances, without a hit. Had he managed to get those additional hits,
he would have joined Cap Anson, Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner in the nascent 3,000-hit
club.
- Crawford’s 309 triples is often in discussions of baseball’s most
unbreakable records. Ty Cobb is second
with 295 and Cobb is the last player to have more than 200. The closest since World War II was Paul
Waner’s 191, then Stan Musial’s 177. Since Clemente’s 166, the most career
triples has been Willie Wilson’s 147—not even halfway there. The current active leader is Dexter Fowler: 82.
- From Lawrence Ritter’s The Glory of Their Times: “I remember when
Darryl Zanuck was a little towheaded kid running around the streets. His mother and father owned the hotel there in
Wahoo, Nebraska.” Other tidbits from
that book’s interview: his favorite writer was Balzac and he thought Honus
Wagner was a better player than teammate Ty Cobb.” Crawford’s distinctive nickname “Wahoo” pays homage to his hometown roots.
FCR - Mark Pattison, Washington, DC
Incorrect guesses: Al Simmons, Sam Rice, Ted Williams
THURSDAY — 08-Oct
Q. Who was the last National Leaguer to
accomplish a feat that’s since been accomplished in the American League six
times?
Hint: He once said, "This was the longest slump of my career. I had gone 0 for 20 before, but never 0 for 20
years."
Hint: No other National Leaguer has ever hit more
doubles in a season.
Hint: He is credited with two nicknames. One he played down. The other he played up.
A. JOE MEDWICK [SABR Bio]
- Medwick hit for the triple crown for the St. Louis
Cardinals in 1937. Since then this rare feat has only been attained by American
Leaguers:
Ted Williams twice for BOS (1942, 1947),
Mickey Mantle for NYY (1956),
Frank Robinson with BAL (1966),
Carl Yastrzemski with BOS (1967) and
Miguel Cabrera with DET (2012).
It had been accomplished 6 times in the NL before Medwick’s.
- Medwick, a lifetime .324 hitter, said this at
his Hall of Fame induction in July 1968. It had been 20 years since he’d retired but
he’d been voted on by the BBWAA only 11 times. Nevertheless, it was his last year of
eligibility. He was the only player
voted in by the BBWAA that year but his class included Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler, elected by the
Veterans Committee.
- Medwick hit 64 doubles in 1936, breaking the
NL record of 62 set by the PIT’s Paul Waner just 4 years earlier. The MLB record is 67, set by Earl Webb
of BOS in 1931. (Webb never even had half that many again
in a season whereas Medwick was consistently among the leaders. His 540 career doubles ties him with Dave
Winfield for 39th all-time.)
- His walking gait led some of his minor league
teammates to start calling him “Ducky” or worse—"Ducky Wucky”. He justifiably resented that nickname, but it stuck. For years afterward, sportswriters regularly
referred to him as “Ducky Medwick”. He
much preferred “Muscles” and talked at least some of his teammates into using
that instead.
FCR - Eric Chalek, York, Maine
Incorrect
guesses: Stan Musial, Tris Speaker, Paul
Waner
FRIDAY — 09-Oct
Q. Who was born, died and is buried in the
same Georgia town that had a population of fewer than 1,000 people when he was
born and just over 1,000 when he died?
Hint: In his first ten seasons in the majors, he
never played in the postseason—in his final five, he won five World Series
rings.
Hint: He has two nicknames, both size-related,
one of which applied equally to a certain five-time National League All-Star.
A. JOHNNY MIZE [SABR Bio]
- Mize is from Demorest, Georgia. A Memorial Bridge in town is named for him.
- The STL went to the WS
9 X 1926-46. They did not, however in the
6 years Mize played for them 1936-41. He played for NYG 1942-49 but missed 3 of those seasons in the
military. NYG went to the WS in ’37 and then
not again until ’51. On 22-Aug-1949, NYY
bought Mize for $40,000. He played with them until ’53 and in every one of those
years NYY won the WS. It’s the longest
string of championships in baseball history.
- Mize was known as “Big Jawn” and “Big Cat.” The latter also became the nickname of Andres
Galarraga.
FCR - R. J. Lesch, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Ty Cobb
IN MEMORIAM — 09-Oct
Q. Which New York Yankee broke Babe Ruth’s
most cherished record in 1961?
Hint: He (not Ruth) owns the career World Series records
for most wins, innings pitched, games started and strikeouts.
Hint: He not only set the record for most consecutive
World Series Game One starts. He then
tied that record six years later.
Hint: His career winning percentage is among the
best ever in major league history.
Hint: He won the Cy Young Award and World Series
MVP in the same season.
Hint: He is the all-time career leader for the
Yankee franchise in wins, shutouts, innings and games started.
Hint: His was the sixth uniform number retired by
the Yankees’ franchise.
Hint: His career ERA is the lowest of any pitcher
since the deadball era. (3,000 IP min.)
Hint: The first nine regular-season decisions of
his career were victories.
Hint: His Hall of Fame manager called him
“Slick”.
A. WHITEY FORD [SABR Bio]
- Ruth had set the record for consecutive
scoreless World Series innings by a pitcher in 1918 with 29⅔. Ford passed him in the 1961 Fall Classic vs. CIN when his
scoreless innings streak reached 30. He
extended it to 33⅔ in 1962 vs. SFG and saw the streak come to an end when Willie Mays scored in the bottom of the 2nd
inning of the 1st G of the 1962 WS. Ruth was known to say that his record of 60 HR in a
season would not stand the test of time.
Nobody remembers any such claims about this WS streak.
- Ford’s career World Series records:
10 pitching victories;
146 innings pitched;
22 games started; and
94 strikeouts.
- He was the team’s G 1 starter in every World
Series 1955-1958, becoming the first pitcher in history to start four
consecutive WS G 1s. He repeated the feat 1961-1964.
- Career W% = .690, 4th all-time. #1 among pitchers with 3,000 IP.
- WS MVP 1961.
CYA 1961, the 1st ALBLTL to win the award.
- Leads all Yankees in career Wins (236), ShO (45),
IP (3,170⅓) & Games started (438 [Tied w/Andy Pettitte]).
- His #16
was retired 03-Aug-1974.
- Career ERA of 2.75 is the best since 1921.
- He posted a tidy 2.06 ERA during his 9-G winning
streak 17-July and 25-Sept-1950.
- Casey Stengel thought he was the slickest of moundsmen.
FCR - Sarah Grynpas, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses:
SATURDAY — 10-Oct
Q. Whose death inspired a New York University
economics professor to drive 75,000 miles around the country and interview
turn-of-the-century baseball players?
Hint: In his final season he lost a point off his
career batting average. Years after his
death, he lost another point.
Hint: Years after retirement he confessed to “LIFE”
magazine that his team had hired a spotter to pick up the opponents’ catcher’s
signs and signal them back to their batters.
- In the preface to The Glory of Their Times, NYU’s Lawrence Ritter wrote, “I first thought of this book
back in 1961, when Ty Cobb died in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of
seventy-four. It seemed to me that
someone should do something, and do it quickly, to record for the future the
remembrances of a sport that has played such a significant role in American
life.”
- Through 1927, Cobb was hitting .368: 4,077
hits in 11,076 at-bats. His final-year .323 average dropped it to .367. Years
later, baseball researchers calculated that Cobb’s hit totals had been double
counted for a 1910 game, among other anomalies, dropping his average to .366. (This also means that Pete Rose passed Cobb’s
hit count earlier than the date when it was celebrated.)
- The “spy” was used during the years when the Tigers’
home field was Bennett Park.
FCR - Tom Galligan, Baton Rouge
Incorrect
guesses: Napoleon Lajoie, Morgan Murphy,
Moonlight Graham
SUNDAY — 11-Oct
Q. Who is the only major league player to
hit forty doubles, twenty triples and thirty home runs in the same season?
Hint: During his final season, he took over as
player-manager from another player-manager who had led the team to a 25-52
record. He promptly led the team to a
21-56 record.
Hint: He began and ended his Hall of Fame career
in the same city but with different teams.
- In 1928, helping STL to their 2nd pennant, Bottomley put
together a statistical season that no one has every matched: 42 2B, 20 3B & 31 HR. His HR & 3B led the NL that year. He tied for 3rd in the league
w/his 43 2B. He won the 1928 NL MVP w/ a
95% voter share.
- Bottomley took over the reins of SLB in 1937 from fellow player-manager Rogers Hornsby.
It was the last MLB playing season for
both men. Bottomley never managed in the
majors again, while Hornsby didn’t manage again until 1952-53 (Browns, Reds). Their combined .299 season is one of the
worst in the modern era.
- The City of St. Louis alpha (STL) and omega (SLB).
Note: This geographical feat has
been matched by HOFers Nap Lajoie, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Willie Mays
and Hank Aaron.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario
Incorrect
guesses: Rogers Hornsby, Chuck Klein, Jimmie
Foxx
WEEKLY THEME – These
seven are the only major league players in the modern era to lead their leagues
in all extra-base-hit categories (doubles, triples, HRs) at various points in
their careers.
|
PLAYER |
DOUBLES |
TRIPLES |
HOMERS |
YEAR |
|
Ty Cobb |
1908,
911, 1917 |
1908,
1911, 1917, 1918 |
1909 |
1909 |
|
Sam Crawford |
1909 |
1902,
1903, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915 |
1901,
1908 |
1909 |
|
Rogers Hornsby |
1920,
1921, 1922, 1924 |
1917,
1921 |
1922,
1925 |
1922 |
|
Jim Bottomley |
1925,
1926 |
1928 |
1928 |
1928 |
|
Lou Gehrig |
1927,
1928 |
1926 |
1931,
1934, 1936 |
1931 |
|
Joe Medwick |
1936,
1937, 1938 |
1934 |
1937 |
1937 |
|
Johnny Mize |
1941 |
1938 |
1939,
1940, 1947, 1948 |
1941 |
Six 19th-century sluggers also qualify:
-
Dan Brouthers—doubles (1886-1888), triples (1883), homers (1881,1886)
-
Ed Delahanty—doubles (1895, 1896, 1899, 1901, 1902),
triples (1892), homers (1893, 1896)
-
Tip O’Neill—doubles (1887), triples (1887), homers (1887)
-
“Big Sam” Thompson—doubles (1890, 1893), triples (1887),
homers (1889, 1895)
-
Harry Stovey—doubles (1883), triples (1880, 1884, 1888,
1891), homers (1880, 1883, 1885, 1889, 1891)
- Harry H. Davis—doubles (1903, 1905, 1907), triples (1897), homers (1904-1907) [Almost qualified for this week, but his 3B lead was just a handful of years too early.]
There are other, more recent players who just
miss making the list:
· Stan Musial: Led the league in 2B 8
X, 3B 5 X, and when he retired, he was 6th
all-time in HR but had never led the league. Came closest in 1948, when his career-high 39 HR placed him one behind
league leaders Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize. Musial may have had a 40th homer
washed out that season.
· Willie Mays: One of five guys to lead the league in
homers and triples in the same season. He
did it in 1955, so all he needed was doubles. Nope. His
career high was 43 in 1959, which was good enough for third in the NL, behind
Vada Pinson (47) and Hank Aaron (46).
· Mickey Mantle: He also led
the league in homers and triples in 1955 but he was never a doubles guy. His career high was 37 in 1952, second in the
AL to Ferris Fain.
· Hank Aaron:
Led the league in 2B 4 X, HR 4 X, but
never 3B. Came close in 1956 when his 14
triples were 2nd in the majors to teammate Bill Bruton’s 15.
· Alex Rodriguez: Led in HR 5 X, 2B 1
X, but 3B?… never. Never hit more than 6
in a season.
· Carl Yastrzemski: Just (“just”) 2B & HR.
· Joe DiMaggio: 3B & HR
· Babe Ruth:
HR. Although he was in the AL’s Top
10 in 2B 5 X and 3B thrice.
There are only 3 active players who’ve led the
league in more than 1 extra-base category. None are likely candidates for the trifecta:
· Miguel Cabrera: HR & 2B each;
hasn’t hit a 3B since 2016
· Albert Pujols: HR 2 X, 2B 1 X, hasn’t
hit a 3B since 2014
· Nolan Arenado: HR 3 X, 2B 1X, his
career-high in 3B was 7 in 2017, which tied for 5th‑best in the NL. In 2019 he had 2 and none this year.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Ed Baranoski, Vienna, Virginia (after
Crawford)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Triple
crown winners who did not win the MVP that year
- Triple
Crown winners
Tuesday - Baseball
players who were portrayed on the silver screen.
Wed - Players
named to baseball's 1969 centennial all-time team
- Players
who for their career have hit 340 or above
- Hall
of Famers who hold franchise records for career triples
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