MONDAY — 05-Feb
Q. Who was the first
New York Yankee to win Most Valuable Player awards in consecutive seasons?
Hint: #1 He was the
first player to hit a grand slam in a World
Series game that his team lost.
Hint: #2 His uniform
number was retired by his team sixteen days before he was inducted into the
Hall of Fame.
A. YOGI BERRA [SABR Bio]
- Ans. AL MVP in 1954, 1955. He had also won in 1951.
- #1 WS GS = 2nd inning of 2nd
G, 05-Oct-1956. Jose Canseco (1988 — the
Kirk Gibson game) & Adam Duvall (2021) have also hit GS in losing WS
games.
- #2 No 8 retired by NYY on 22-Jul-1972. HOF ceremony 07-Aug-1972.
FCR - Richard
Masson, Lexington, Kentucky
Incorrect guesses: Lou
Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris
TUESDAY — 06-Feb
Q. Whose considerable
skein of consecutive wins was ended when Bob Boone won the first of his Gold
Gloves?
Hint: #1 He was the
first National Leaguer to play at least one hundred games at catcher each
season for thirteen straight seasons.
Hint: #2 He once
nailed three would-be base stealers in the same inning in the minors.
A. JOHNNY BENCH [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Bench won the NL GG at C from 1968 through 1977,
his first 10 full years in the majors. PHI’s
Bob Boone took home the gold (Glove) in 1979 & again in 1979. Boone won 5 more in the AL.
- #1 He caught 100+ G 1968-1980. Bill Dickey had done it in the AL 1929-41. Yadier
Molina is the all-time MLB record holder w/15 straight 100-G caught seasons
(2005-2019).
- #2 As the youngest team member playing for the
Hampton, Virginia Peninsula Grays
of the Class A Carolina League in 1966, Bench quickly demonstrated his mastery
behind the plate. At the plate,
he led the team in HR & RBI. He was
in the majors the following season.
FCR - Barry Gogel,
Baltimore
Incorrect guesses: Gabby
Hartnett, Jerry Grote, Jim Sundberg, Carlton Fisk, Tim McCarver, Ivan Rodriguez,
Gary Carter, Manny Sanguillen
WEDNESDAY — 07-Feb
Q. Who is the first
player to hit more than seventy home runs after he turned forty years old?
Hint: #1 He was the first
American League player to be elected Rookie of the Year unanimously.
Hint: #2 He hit at
least one home run in each of twenty-three consecutive seasons.
A. CARLTON FISK [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Fisk was 40 going into the 1988 season. He played parts of another 5 MLB seasons,
adding 72 HR to bring his career total to 376.
- #1 Unanimous ROY in 1972. Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda & Willie
McCovey had previously done it in the NL.
- #2 Hit 1+ HR 1971-1993. Rickey Henderson is the unlikely record
holder here. He homered at least once in
each of 25 straight seasons.
FCR - David Murphy, Marietta,
Georgia
Incorrect guesses: Albert
Pujols, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Fred Lynn, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds,
Jim Thome, Pudge, Robin Yount
THURSDAY — 08-Feb
Q. Whose
record for most career games played by a National League catcher, did Yadier
Molina break?
Hint: #1
He had offers to play college football from 100+ universities when he
signed his major league contract.
Hint: #2
In back-to-back seasons he won Gold Gloves and a Silver Sluggers.
A. GARY CARTER [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Molina’s 2,184 G is the new
NL standard. Carter finished with 2,056.
-
#1 Carter was the starting
quarterback for his team at Sunny Hills HS in Fullerton, California.
Somewhat of an athletic child prodigy, when he was
seven years old Carter was the national champion for his age group in the NFL's first Punt, Pass and
Kick contest & a finalist 2 years later. PP&K
was discontinued in 2017.
-
#2 GG+SS = 1981, 1982. Carter is the only NL backstop to achieve
these awards in tandem in back-to-back seasons.
FCR - Mark
DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Johnny Bench, Joe Mauer, Bob Boone, Mike
Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez
FRIDAY — 09-Feb
Q. Which
All-Star once worked as a bodyguard for singer Tina Turner?
Hint: #1
He broke Yogi Berra’s record for most career home runs by an American
League catcher.
Hint: #2
No other catcher has ever thrown out more base runners in a single
All-Star game.
A. LANCE PARRISH [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Parrish was (and is) an
imposing figure at 6’3” & 210 lbs. so his agent took a notion for a
small side hustle for Detroit’s
catcher. Parrish himself explains: “I wasn't exactly her 'bodyguard'. My business agent worked down by the studios
& he had a few contacts. Ms. Turner
was filming a 'Hollywood Squares' show & (my agent) called me to see if I'd
like to try that kind of work. I went
down there and all I basically did was follow her from her dressing room to the
set. One day!”
-
#1 Further research has unearthed
the fact that Parrish never did pass Yogi in that department & that Carlton
Fisk is (ignoring the Q./Ans. & Hint #2) would be the correct answer here.
-
#2 Parrish nabbed 3 out of 4
would-be base thefts in the 1982 ASG. It’s an impressive list: Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith & Al Oliver. Parrish had a different battery mate for each
CS.
FCR - Warren
Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
Incorrect guesses: Ivan Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Bill Freehan,
Carlton Fisk
SATURDAY — 10-Feb
Q. Which
one-time San Diego Padre had the highest single season batting average for a five-hundred
at-bat minimum catcher in the Twentieth Century?
Hint: #1
He was the first player to total thirty home runs in one season playing
for three different teams. (Not 30 per
team. That’d be a record!)
Hint: #2
He was the first National Leaguer in the Expansion Era to have an one
hundred RBI season as a rookie.
A. MIKE PIAZZA [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Piazza hit a tidy .362 in
1997 for LAD, the highest for a Dodger at any position since 1930. This century, however, the new catchers’ mark
to shoot for is the .365 that Joe Mauer’s posted in 2009. Piazza played for SDP in 2006, his
penultimate year in The Bigs.
-
#1 In 1998, Piazza hit 9 HR in his
1st 37 G for LAD, none in his 5 G for FLA & 23 in his final 109
G for NYM.
-
#2 His 112 RBI in 1993, his
rookie season, were part of his being elected ROY unanimously. His other offensive stats that year were
equally sparkling.
FCR - Terry
Sloope, Cartersville, Georgia
Incorrect guesses: Benito Santiago
SUNDAY —
11-Feb
Q. Which
one-time Yankee had the honor of serving in the U.S. House of Representatives as
a “Shadow Representative”?
Hint: #1
He and his batterymate formed the starting battery in the All-Star Game
one year.
Hint: #2 Nine times in his twenty-one year career he
finished a season with at least thirty doubles.
A. IVAN RODRIGUEZ [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Rodriguez represented Puerto Rico as a nonvoting representative from 15-Aug-2017 until 20Aug-2018.
-
#1 Rodriguez & TEX teammate Kenny
Rogers teamed up for the 2006 AL AS squad,
giving up 1 R in the 1st 2 innings.
The NL's ASG starting
battery mates in the same G were Brad Penny (LAD) & LoDuca (NYM)
- #2 He hit 32
2B in 1995;
47 in ’96;
34 in ’97;
40 in ’98;
32 in 2002;
36 in ’03;
32 in ’04;
33 in ’05; &
31 I ‘07
No major league catcher ever had more such seasons.
FCR - Mark
DeLodovico, Rockville, Maryland
Incorrect guesses: Bobby Richardson, Jorge Posada
WEEK’S THEME – Catchers
with 300 career home runs https://stathead.com/tiny/eorIs
Catcher HRs 300th Career
WAR
Berra.......................... 358........... 09-Aug-1959(2)............. 59.5
Bench......................... 389............. 26-Jul-1978............... 75.1
Fisk............................ 376............ 05-Sep-1987.............. 68.4
Carter......................... 324............ 11-Aug-1988.............. 70.1
Parrish........................ 324............ 15-Aug-1991.............. 39.5
Piazza........................ 427............. 13-Jul-2001............... 59.5
Rodriguez................... 311............ 17-May-2009.............. 68.7
For purposes of the
questions and theme this week we are not concerned whether all the home runs
hit by these players were only in games they played catcher.
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme – Warren Kent, Whitehall, Michigan
(After Parrish)
[To paraphrase Casey
Stengel, “Can’t anybody (else) here play this game?”]
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tues - Most
World Series games caught by a catcher in a career
Wed - Catchers with the highest career WAR
-
Catchers with over 2000 hits and 300 Home Runs
-
Catchers who were all MVP's in their careers
-
Most games played by HOF catchers
-
Highest WAR catchers
-
Highest Hall of Fame votes, catchers
-
Hall of Fame catchers
Thurs - Catchers
who were All-Stars 10+ times
-
Catchers who have appeared in at least 10 All
Star Games
Fri - Post-WWII
catchers elected to the HOF
-
300 Hrs 300 doubles 1000 rbis by a catcher
-
Catcher career record for runners caught stealing
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