MONDAY 12—Apr
Q. Who has hit
more doubles in a single season for the New York Metropolitans than any other
player?
Hint: #1 That
same season, he landed in their all-time single-season Top Tens in RBI, Total
Bases and Extra-Base Hits and OPS as well as leading the team in WAR.
Hint: #2 After
Red Schoendienst in 1945, he was the next Cardinals rookie to start in left
field on Opening Day.
A. BERNARD GILKEY [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Hit 44 2B in 1996, passing Howard Johnson’s 41
hit in 1989. [For
the sake of our many 19th-century team buffs, please know that the
single-season doubles record for the American Association’s NY Metropolitans of
the mid 1880s was the 32 hit by Dave Orr in 1884.]
- #1 In 1996 for 4th-place NYM, he had 117 RBI, 321 TB & 73 XBH with a Slg% of .562 &
an OPS of .955. His 8.1 WAR was, by
almost twice, the highest of any season of his 12-year career.
- #2 Started in LF for STL on OD 1991.
FCR - Kevin Decker, Hillsborough,
New Jersey
Incorrect guesses: Keith
Hernandez, Ken Boyer, Ray Lankford, David Wright, Vince Coleman, Joe Torre, Hank
O'Day, Billy Meyer, King Kelly, Val Picinich
Q. Which one-time Boston catcher was the
best player on the worst team?
Hint: #1 He was on the losing side twice in perfect
games thrown by future Hall of Famers.
Hint: #2 He twice umpired major league games that his
team was playing in, one of them behind home plate.
A. OSSEE SCHRECONGOST [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Schrecongost
caught for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders before he and most of
the good players on the team were “transferred” to the St. Louis Perfectos, also of the National
League also owned by the same group. The
Spiders, once a legitimate big league team was reduced to 2nd and 3rd
string players and finished with a record of 20-134, 8 of the 20 coming before
the forced migration. His WAR in
Cleveland tied teammate Chief Zimmer. In
1901 Schrek played 86 G as the 1st-team C for the new AL club in Boston.
- #1 He
was on PHA when BOS’s Cy Young pitched the first perfect game of the 20th
century 05-May-1904 and then on CHW when
CLE’s Addie Joss pitched the 2nd perfecto of baseball’s Modern Era 02-Oct-1908.
- #2 Umpired
games on 02-May & 22-Jul in 1903.
FCR - Jason Hammon, Arlington, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Hank Gowdy
WEDNESDAY 14—Apr
Q. Which switch-hitting lefty, drafted in
the first round by an American League team, led the majors in ERA playing for a
National League club in just his third season in the Bigs?
Hint: #1 He’s one of very few players who might
regret having made the All-Star team.
Hint: #2 People familiar with his first name might be
students of 20th-century British politics.
A. ATLEE HAMMAKER [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Drafter
#21 overall by KCR in 1979, he was traded to SFG for Vida Blue after
his rookie year in the majors.
- #1 In
his only All-Star appearance, Hammaker became the only pitcher in All-Star
history to surrender a grand slam. It
was Fred Lynn who hit it in the 1983 Midsummer Classic.
- #2 Clement Atlee was Britain’s Prime
Minister 1945 to 1951.
FCR - Mark Pattison, Washington, DC
Incorrect
guesses: Dizzy Dean, Vida Blue, Madison
Bumgarner, Dwight Gooden, Rube Marquard, Dock Ellis
THURSDAY 15—Apr
Q. Who is the only pitcher to hit three
triples in one game?
Hint: #1 He issued history’s first recorded
intentional walk.
Hint: #2 His pitching speed was cited as the main
reason for a rule change made over 100 years ago.
Hint: #3 He was born in same locale as was a certain
Hall of Fame second baseman.
A. JOUETT MEEKIN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Meekin
hit 3 triples on 04-Jul-1894 in a game that saw his Giants defeat the Cleveland
Spider 21-11.
- #1 This
strategy was first used with two outs and the tying run at 2nd base
in the 9th inning of a 1896 contest when NYG field captain Kid Gleason
instructed teammate Meekin to give slugger Jimmy Ryan (.308 career BA) four
wide ones to face the weaker-hitting George Decker instead. Meekin promptly fanned Decker to end the game.
This strategy has been utilized over
1,000 times a season on average since IBBs started being officially tabulated
In 1955.
- #2 The
reason for the increase in the 1892 pitching distance from 50' to 60'6"
was that pitchers like Cy Young, Amos Rusie and Meekin threw too fast at the
shorter distance. Offensive production
shot up
in the wake of that change. To help
restore the historical balance between the pitcher and hitter, MLB is currently
studying moving the mound back even farther.
In fact, the Atlantic League will move their mounds back 12" for the final
60 games of their season n 2021.
- #3 Billy
Herman and Meekin were both born in New Albany, Indiana, an across-the-Ohio-River
suburb of Louisville, Kentucky.
FCR - Chris Betsch, New Albany, Indiana (really!)
Incorrect
guesses: Cy Young, Amos Rusie, Abner
Dalrymple, Walter Johnson, Dave Brain
FRIDAY 16—Apr
Q. To whom did the Dodgers give a five-year
contract worth $25 million and then play him all of twenty-two major league
games over the life of that contract?
Hint: #1 All those games were in the first year of
the contract.
Hint: #2 His repeated unpaid suspensions from the
Dodgers were announced by the Giants manager.
A. ERISBEL ARRUEBARUENA [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Arruebarrena
was reported, quite vaguely, not to have been in “compliance with the terms of
his contract.”
- #1 22 G in 2014
- #2 SFG
Manager Gabe Kapler worked as LAD’s director of player
development
at the time.
FCR - Steve Weinberg, Mundelein, Illinois
Incorrect
guesses: Darren Dreifort, Steve Howe, Yasiel
Puig, Darryl Strawberry
T.G.I.F. BONUS 16—Apr
Q. Who pinch-hit twice for Stan Musial?
Hint: #1 He was reasonably good getting hits; he was
maximally good at not getting hit.
Hint: #2 His brother was a batting champion, but broke
one of baseball’s most sacred rules.
A. COAKER TRIPLETT [B-R Bio]
- Ans. Triplett
pinch-hit for The Man on 08-May-1942 (popped out to 1B)
& 17-Sep-1942. (Singled but was
picked off and replaced before he could play in the field). Pete Whisenant also pinch-hit for Musial on 30-Aug-1955 but, alas, only did it
once.
- #1 Triplett’s
.250 BA during the WWII years, 1942-1945, indicates that he was a reasonable
batsman. His ability to avoid getting
hit by pitches shows a career HBP total of zero! He was one of a mere five men with 1,000 PAs during
those war years with nary a HBP, including one from New Albany, Indiana.
- #2 On
11-Aug-1946, Floyd
Hooper Triplett,
Coaker’s younger brother, playing for the minor-league (A) Columbus Cardinals was banished from
baseball for life for betting $20 on the Columbia (SC) Reds on 3-Aug-1946. Hooper had won the South Atlantic League’s
batting crown in 1940 with a .369 average.
FCR - Ken Kirk, Corning, New York
Incorrect
guesses: Harry Walker, Dal Maxvill,
Dixie Walker, Frank Torre, Wally Shannon
SATURDAY 17—Apr
Q. Which former Tigers pitcher explained a
mid-season disappearance by claiming he was kidnapped by a group of men and
forced to drink a large quantity of alcohol?
Hint: #1 The first pitch he ever threw to Babe Ruth
was hit for a home run.
Hint: #2 He spent his entire twelve-season major
league career pitching for National League teams.
A. FLINT RHEM [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Nobody
believed it, given his history with alcohol.
He had played for the Clemson Tigers in college.
- #1 Faced
Ruth in the 1st on 06-Oct-1926, the 4th G
of the WS. Ruth also smacked the 1st
pitch of his very next AB against Rhem for another HR on his way to a record-setting
three HRs
in a single WS game (since thrice tied).
- #2 Had
3 separate stints for STL: 1924-32, 1934 & 1936. Also pitched 2 years each for PHI & BSN.
FCR - Alex Swingle, New York City
Incorrect guesses: Bugs Raymond, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rube Waddell
SATURDAY EXTRA 17—Apr
Q. Which BLTR infielder was a late season
call-up for the Red Sox because he had played so well in the minors, leading
his team to the Little World Series?
Hint: #1 The following spring, the media felt he had
the best chance of making the team because he was clearly favored by team
manager Joe Cronin.
Hint: #2 He was born and died in the same hamlet
where a former U.S. president lives.
A. STRICK SHOFNER [SABR Bio]
- Ans. His
team, the Louisville Colonels lost in the 1946 minor-league
Little World Series to Jackie Robinson’s Montreal Royals. Shofner led his Louisville team in BA and
RBI.
- #1 In
March of 1947, long-time Boston Globe sportswriter Hy Hurwitz
summed it up in this headline: “Shofner captures Cronin’s Fancy; Leads Scrap
for Hot Corner Job.”
- #2 Crawford, Texas is not only where
Shofner was born, raised and died, it is also where George W. & Laura
Bush
make their home.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, ON
Incorrect
guesses: Bobby Doerr, Dalton Jones,
WEEKEND BONUS 18—Apr
Q. Whom did Moe Berg call, “The finest
prospect I’ve seen in a long time.”?
Hint: #1 In his third big league season he had seven
future Hall of Fame teammates.
Hint: #2 He was the coach of the baseball team of one
of the the first Ivy League schools to go to the NCAA College World Series.
Hint: #3 He is an alum of one the ten oldest
institutions of higher learning in the U.S.
A. EMERSON DICKMAN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Berg
was a catcher with BOS and warmed up young Dickman on his first day with the
team, 16-Jun-1936.
- #1 With
him on BOS in 1946 were Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove &
Ted Williams as well as coaches Herb Pennock and Hugh Duffy.
- #2 Dickman
coached Princeton
University
from 1949 to 1951, leading the school to the College World Series in 1951.
- #3 Attended
Washington and Lee
University,
established in 1749, is a private liberal arts university located in Lexington,
Virginia. Its first major benefactor was
George Washington, who endowed the academy with $20,000 in 1796, at the time
the largest gift ever given to an educational institution in the US. The school’s name is a combination of its
early benefactor and General Robert E. Lee, who was president of the university
from 1865 until his death in 1870.
FCR - Michael Shea, Dublin, IRELAND
Incorrect
guesses: Red Rolfe, Ethan Allen, Ted Williams,
Tony Lupien, Smoky Joe Wood, Frankie Frisch
WEEKLY THEME – Players
who would no longer qualify as Double-Uniques if they had gone by their first names.
D-U player WAR Because we also have
Barbaro Erisbel
Arruebarrena........ -0.4........ B. Garbey,
Canizares
George Emerson Dickman.............. 0.1........ G. Foster,
Davis,
et al
Otis Bernard Gilkey....................... 21.6........ O. Nixon, Clymer,
et al
Charlton Atlee Hammaker............... 9.5........ C. Jimerson
George Jouett Meekin................... 25.7........ G. Sisler,
Springer,
et al
Charles Flint Rhem.......................... 5.6........ C. Johnson,
Nagy,
et al
Freeman Osee
Schrecongost....... 12.3........ F. Brown
Frank Strickland
Shofner................ -0.1........ F. Robinson,
Catalanotto,
et al
Herman Coaker
Triplett................... 1.1........ H.
Long,
Franks,
et al
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – No one hit the nail right on the head, but coming very, very close was Warren Kent, Whitehall Michigan (after Arruebarrena).
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Monday - Appeared
in a movie as a baseball player
- Players
who played (debuted?) for an MLB team located in their home town.
Tuesday - Double
Uniques
Wed - Double
unique names who played for the Cardinals
-Double uniques who go by their
middle name
- MLB'ers
who went by their middle name
- Real
first names are also last names of other big leaguers
Sat - Their
baseball first name is actually their middle name and their given first names
have been used as a first and last name by other players
- Double
uniques who had a name that sounded the same as another player
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