MONDAY — 17-Jul
Q. Which
future Hall of Famer’s debut was one game at third base for the Dodgers before two
years of military service?
Hint: #1
He once led the league in strikeouts, but never reached triple digits in
strikeouts in any of his eighteen seasons.
Hint: #2
He is the only player to win a Gold Glove award for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
- Ans. Hodges
had a decent day: 1 BB, 1 SB, 2E &
started a DP.
- #1 Struck
out 99 X in 1951 while leading MLB in G at 158. [ …tied
with teammate Carl Furillo and3 ALers.]
- #2 Won
the 1957 NL GG at 1st base, the 1st ever awarded at that
position in either league. He won it again
in 1958.
FCR - Tom
Veal, Spanaway, Washington
Incorrect guesses: Billy Cox, Dolph Camilli, Duke Snider, Jim
Gilliam, Pee Wee Reese, Carl Furillo,
Roy Campanella, Dazzy Vance
TUESDAY — 18-Jul
Q. Who was the first
second baseman to homer twice in one inning?
Hint: #1 When he retired, his career fielding
average at second base was the highest in MLB history.
Hint: #2 His wife once
complimented the immortal Nap Lajoie on being named the best second sacker of
all-time. Lajoie humbly replied: “The
greatest second baseman was your husband.”
A. BOBBY LOWE [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Those 2 HR were matched by 2 more in the game. Lowe is the first ever to hit 4 HR in a major
league G. All 4 were over the fence.
- #1 He retired in 1907 with a career fielding average of .951 at
second base.
- #2 Lowe’s wife Harriet was no doubt pleased to
hear it from such a source.
FCR - DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Eddie
Collins, Rogers Hornsby, Charlie Gehringer, Bill Regan, Ron Cey
WEDNESDAY — 19-Jul
Q. Who was the first
player to be named League Championship Series Most Valuable Player?
Hint: #1 He is
reputed to be the co-inventor of the “high five” greeting.
Hint: #2 He was the
last batter of Nolan Ryan’s fifth no-hitter.
- Ans. He had a 1.295 OPS in the 1977 NLCS.
- #1 Baker & Glenn Burke are said to have
invented the gesture simultaneously and
spontaneously on 02-Oct-1977. The
American League did not begin naming an MVP for its LCS until 1980.
- #2 Baker succumbed to Ryan’s heater 26-Sep-1981 when he grounded out
for the 27th out.
FCR - Dan Greder, Ames, Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Mike
Marshall
THURSDAY — 20-Jul
Q. Who
won a National League batting title with an average of .440?
Hint: #1
His first manager, unimpressed with this guy‘s height, snorted, “We
already have a bat boy.”
Hint: #2
He is the all-time Players League record holder for plate appearances, at
bats and runs scored.
A. HUGH DUFFY [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Several factors contributed
to his outstanding hitting in 1894. 4
additional players finished with averages above .400 & the next 5 were .371
& above!
-
#1 His manager, Cap Anson, soon
came to realize the talent Duffy had, his 5'7" stature
notwithstanding.
-
#2 The Players League lasted only
one season, 1890. Duffy dominated in
plate appearances (657), at bats (596); &
runs (161). He also led
the Players league in G played (137) & hits (191)
FCR - John
Rickert, Terre Haute, Indiana
Incorrect guesses: Hugh
Kelly, Nap Lajoie, Wee Willie
Keeler, Tip O’Neill, John Montgomery Ward, Hugh Jennings
FRIDAY— 21-Jul
Q. Whose
reputations for speed and sobriety are the salient reasons his time in the
majors outlasted his mediocre performance?
Hint: #1
His favorite drink in public was sarsaparilla?
Hint: #2
In the days before radio, [he]
was the most successful evangelist America had ever known.
-
Ans. His Hall of Fame manager,
Cap Anson was enamored of those two of Sunday’s traits. He was not a terrible player. Thrice he had double-digits in doubles. Still, his 8 seasons in the majors produced
only a 3.0 WAR.
-
#1 In his autobiography he wrote: “I never drank much. I was never drunk but four times in my life. I never drank whisky or beer; I never liked
either. I drank wine.” When he went “to the saloons” with his
teammates, “I would take lemonade or sarsaparilla.”
-
#2 Players & fans alike were
attracted to him & felt he had been called to preach the word of God. The reference is his SABR biography.
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect guesses: Branch Ricky
SATURDAY — 22-Jul
Q. Who was the first major leaguer to hit
three home runs in a single game?
Hint: #1
Until passed by the mid-1970s
Dodgers, he was a part of the infield that played together the longest.
Hint: #2
A teammate of his, a
well-known Hall of Famer, once tabbed
him as the all-time best third baseman.
A. ED [Ned] WILLIAMSON [Wiki Bio]
-
Ans. Williamson stroked his trio
of round trippers on 30-May-1884. Check out the rare ancient film footage of
his feat here. (A new shorter fence was quite helpful.
-
#1 The Chicago White
Stockings of 1883 started out with Mgr. Cap Anson at 1B, Fred Pfeffer at 2B, Tom Burns at SS & Williamson at 3B. In 1886 Burns shifted to 3B & Williamson to
SS, keeping their quartet intact.
-
#2 Williamson & Cap Anson
were teammates for 11 seasons on the Chicago White Stockings. The Hall of Famer hit .343 with 67 HR &
1,001 RBI over that period. Williamson
went .260, 61, 622. Cap hailed Ned, a
more than competent fielder, as “the greatest all-around ball player the
country ever saw.” [Very difficult to
disprove.]
FCR - Rick
Tharp, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Pie Traynor, Frank Baker, Jimmy Colins, Harry
Steinfeldt, John McGraw, Eddie Mathews, Fred Lindstrom, Ross Barnes, Ed Williamson
WEEKEND BONUS — 22-Jul
Q. Who is the only member of the Hall of
Fame with a career pitching Win-Loss percentage of .000 (minimum 5
decisions)?
Hint: #1
His claim to be the developer of a game strategy has been disputed.
Hint: #2
He was once involved in the first and third outs of a triple play.
A. TOMMY McCARTHY [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. McCarthy split the early part of his major league time between
the mound & outfield. His 0-8 pitching
W-L record is the worst among the 8 Hall
of Famers who pitched and got
decisions but without winning a single game.
Of those not in the Hall but with similar credentials, 70 qualify.
-
#1 John Montgomery Ward contended that he & teammate Hugh
Duffy were the first to innovate the hit-and-run play, which they used to great
advantage with Duffy batting behind the mercurial McCarthy. John McGraw claimed that the play was first
used in Baltimore, before McCarthy/Duffy. Cap Anson joined the debate, saying that the
stratagem had been pioneered by his White Stockings, well before the time
asserted by McCarthy/Duffy. (One senses
apathy rising among researchers.)
-
#2 He started the TP on 15-Aug-1894 with a purposeful non-catch
in center field, threw to the infield to complete a more traditional DP, then
sprinted home to cover the vacant plate & there made the 3rd out
by tagging the runner coming in from second.
FCR - Eric
Harrington, Suffield, Connecticut
Incorrect guesses: Cap Anson, Casey Stengel, Tommy Lasorda, Jim
O'Rourke, Albert Spaulding, Tris Speaker
SUNDAY — 23-Jul
Q. About
which Baltimore Oriole was Casey Stengel speaking when he tossed a barb at Brooks Robinson,
saying, “You’re the second greatest third baseman of all time!”?
Hint:
#1 His hitting was seldom in the headlines, but he and a couple
of Pittsburgh Pirate teammates made home run history one afternoon.
Hint:
#2 He was from a large family and came
home before his first tryout was finished because he said he was lonely and
homesick.
- Ans. I’d
like to think Stengel meant chronologically.
(He didn’t.) Cox’s last season in
the majors was in 1955 w/BAL. That
was Brooks Robinson’s first year there.
Their combined WAR was -0.1 & together they didn’t play as many games
as Wayne Causey, the teams regular 3rd baseman that year.
- #1 On 16-Aug-1947, for 1st time in baseball history, 3 teammates
each hit multiple home runs in the same G. Ralph Kiner had 3, Hank Greenberg 2 & Cox
had a brace of them that day & hit 15 for the year, his career high for one
season.
- #2 Cox
was part of a family of 9, including 2 brothers & 4 sisters.
FCR - Mark DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Pie Traynor, John McGraw, Clete
Boyer, George Kell, Ken Boyer
SUNDAY
EXTRA — 23-Jul
Q. Which player is credited with the idea of
having more than one umpire work major league games?
Hint:
#1 His book was one of the earliest
available to the public on how the game is played.
Hint:
#2 He was called the mortar of baseball’s “Stonewall Infield”.
A. FRED
PFEFFER
[Wiki
Bio]
- Ans. It
seems to have caught on.
- #1 As Pfeffer explained, his “Scientific Ball” was "written for those who would play base ball to win, and for
those who would fully enjoy winning play."
- #2 The
Chicago White Stockings’ famed infield of the 1880s had Cap Anson at
1st base, Pfeffer at 2nd, Tommy Burns at SS & Ed
Williamson at 3rd. It was the
most celebrated quartet of its day, an unbeatable combination for the Chicago NL
pennant winners of 1885 & 1886.
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, Ontario
Incorrect
guesses: Cap Anson, Tom Burns, Johnny
Evers, Henry Chadwick
WEEK’S
FINALE
— 23-Jul
Q. Who
came to regret his antics after hitting a walk-off grand slam off of a future
Hall of Famer?
Hint:
#1 He may very well have stolen more
strikes than any catcher of his era.
Hint:
#2 Norman Rockwell included him in “The
Rookie”.
A. SAMMY
WHITE
[SABR Bio]
- Ans. Turning
a 2-run deficit into a walk-off on 11-June-1952
with his 9th inning slam over the Green Monster off of Satchel
Paige, rookie White took it too far by crawling halfway home from 3rd
base & planting a kiss on home plate. White explains, “I was struggling like a dog
to make the club and I was mighty thrilled with the home run. I remember that by the time I got to third the
tension was too much. But that’s still
no excuse for crawling home.”
- #1 White’s
ability to frame pitches to induce strike call was a well-honed art. It was said, “[White] could catch a ball with
his palm, heel down, no more than two inches off the ground. Umpires might call it a strike calculating
that no ball that low could be caught that way.”
- #2 Rockwell was a fan and
baseball was a frequent
theme in his art. In the March 2,
1957 cover of The Saturday Evening Post (The original
sold at auction for $22.5M in 2014.), White can be seen in the foreground
seated at far left, wearing his catcher's mitt.
FCR - Bill
Henry, East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Incorrect
guesses: Pie Traynor, Freddy Leach, Gabby
Hartnett
WEEK’S THEME – Each of
these 10 players had 3 plate appearances in 1 MLB inning. [There are an additional 17 who are not mentioned
here.]
Player Date Inning Result WAR
Baker.................... 20-Sep-1972.............. 2nd............ 2B, HR, G6 ......................... 37.0
Cox....................... 21-May-1952.............. 1st............. G5, H, HBP ......................... 10.1
Duffy..................... 18-Jun-1894.............. 1st............. HBB, HR, BB ...................... 43.1
Hodges.................. 21-May-1952.............. 1st............. BB, BB,F5 ........................ . 43.8
Lowe..................... 18-Jun-1894.............. 1st............. 1B, HBP, 1B ............................ 20.3
McCarthy............... 18-Jun-1884.............. 1st............ 2B, BB, FC .............................. 14.6
Pfeffer.................. 06-Sep-1883.............. 7th............. 1B, HBP, 1B.............................. 26.6
Sunday.................. 06-Sep-1883.............. 1st............. B, HBP, 1B ............................... 3.0
White.................... 18-Jun-1953.............. 7th............. 1B, HBP, 1B ............................... 1.8
Williamson............ 06-Sep-1883.............. 7th............. 2B,
1B, 1B ............................... 35.7
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme – Joe Cohen, Holden, Massachusetts
(After Baker)
Incorrect theme guesses:
Mon - Seven youngest players to hit exactly four home runs in a game
Tues - Players with 17 or more total bases in a game
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