MONDAY — 17-Feb-2025
Q. Who
was the first Texas native to be voted Rookie of the Year unanimously?
Hint: #1
He was the first player with one hundred twenty runs-batted-in in a
season in each league.
Hint: #2
Over seventeen seasons, he managed five major league teams, not once
reaching the postseason.
-
Ans. In the first ever unanimous
ROY vote in either league, Robinson was the NL choice in 1956. His 6.5 WAR that
year was 8th in the majors, 4th in the NL. He was also an All-Star starter & he placed 7th
in NL MVP voting.
-
#1 RBI w/CIN = 125 (1959), 124
(1961) & w/BAL 122 (1966).
-
#2 Robinson managed 5 teams, four
franchises: CLE 1975-77; SFG 1981-84 BAL
1988-091; MON 2002-04; WSN 2005-06.
FCR - John
Haeussler, Hancock, Michigan
Incorrect guesses: Rogers Hornsby, Alvin Dark, Colton Cowser
TUESDAY — 18-Feb-2025
Q. Whose
total of two hundred twenty-five hits in a season are the most by a forty-year-old?
Hint: #1
Only he and Ty Cobb can claim careers that include 500 stolen bases, 600
doubles, 1,000 bases on balls and a .300 career batting average.
Hint: #2
During his major league career, his alma mater high school baseball team
won nine state championships, none before he attended and only two since he
retired.
A. PAUL MOLITOR [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Molitor rapped out 225
H for MIN in 1996, many of them following his 40th birthday on 22-Aug.
-
#1 Click here for only Cobb &
Molitor.
-
#2 Molitor attended Cretin HS (now Cretin-Derham Hall HS). State baseball titles in 1981, 1982, 1986,
1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1997 & 1998, then added 1 each in 2001 & 2007. HOF Joe Mauer is also an alum.
FCR - Dan
Greder, Ames, Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Pete Rose, Nap Lajoie
WEDNESDAY
— 19-Feb-2025
Q. Which
five-hundred-home-run club member had Joe DiMaggio as a hitting coach?
Hint: #1
He appeared in the pilot of a television sitcom focusing on his baseball
career.
Hint: #2
He played football at a D-1 college.
A. REGGIE JACKSON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. DiMaggio was the hitting coach for OAK 1968-69., Jackson’s 2nd
& 3rd years on the team. Jackson’s
career HR total = 563
-
#1 The show, titled Mr. October,
was never picked up.
-
#2 While at Arizona State
University, Jackson
played football before committing to baseball.
FCR - Jake
Rinloan, Chico, California
Incorrect guesses: Dick Williams, Bob Kennedy, Feank Thomas,
MIDWEEK BONUS — 19-Feb-2025
Q. Which
three-time All-Star led the American League in WAR in his first full season?
Hint: #1
He was with World-Series-winning teams in consecutive seasons in
opposite leagues.
Hint: #2
He plays himself in a movie released before his World Series successes.
A. BEN ZOBRIST [B-R
Bio]
-
Ans. Had a WAR of 8.6 in 152
games in 2009 w/TBR. He had played 52, 31 & 62 G in each of
his 1st 3 seasons.
-
#1 Zobrist helped KCR (AL) win a WS title in 2015 for the 1st
time in 30 years. In 2016, he helped CHC (NL) win
a WS title for the 1st
time in 108 years.
-
#2 Zobrist is Zobrist in “Ring the Bell” released in 2013.
FCR - Josh
Murphy, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Bill Skowron, Shohei Ohtani
THURSDAY — 20-Feb-2025
Q. Who
is the only pitcher to work more than nine innings in the seventh
game of the World Series?
Hint: #1
Five times he finished in the Top Five in Cy Young Award voting, but
never higher than third.
Hint: #2
In one decade, he amassed more pitching victories than any other pitcher
in either league.
A. JACK MORRIS [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. In 1991, 7th G of
the WS, Morris let it be known that he was not relinquishing the ball or his
position on the mound.
-
#1 Received CYA votes in 1981 (3rd),
1983 (3rd), 1984 (7th), 1986 (5th), 1987 (9th),
1991 (4th) & 1992 (5th).
-
#2 From 1980 through 1989 Morris claimed
162 wins, 22 more than runner-up, TOR’s Dave Stieb.
FCR - Ab
Garber, Dallas
Incorrect guesses: Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn
FRIDAY — 21-Feb-2025
Q. Which
former Braves player was the first to have ten home runs and ten doubles by the
end of April?
Hint: #1
When his team visited the White House in Washington, DC following their
World Series victory, he presented the president with a team jacket (though it
likely would have been more appreciated by the next president).
Hint: #2
He hit a home run in his first major league at bat.
A. JERMAINE DYE [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. In his 1st 25 G
in 2000 for KCR, Dye had 11 HR & 12
2B. Dye had played for ATL in
his 1st year, 1996.
-
#1 Dye’s CHW was won the 2005
WS and visited the White House on 13-Feb-2006. President Bush accepted the gift, but it’s President Obama who is the avid White
Sox fan.
-
#2 Debut HR = 17-May-1996, 5th inning
off CIN’s Marcus Moore.
FCR - ¯
Dan Greder, Ames, Iowa
Incorrect guesses: Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones, Freddie Freeman,
Chuck Tanner
T.G.I.F.SPECIAL — 21-Feb-2025
Q. Which
one-time St. Louis Cardinal first baseman graduated from Morehouse College then
earned a law degree from Duquesne University?
Hint: #1
With his law degree, he then worked as general counsel for the
Interstate Audit Corp.
Hint: #2
He was the first New York Mets player to drive in seven runs in one
game.
A. DONN CLENDENON [SABR Bio]
-
Ans. Graduated from Morehouse in
1956. & received his law degree from Duquesne in 1978. His last stop in the majors was with STL in 1972.
- #1 According
to Clendenon’s NY Times obituary, IAC operated out of Sioux Falls, South
Dakota.
-
#2 On 28-Jul-1970, ,Clendenon tallied 7
RBI vs. SFG.
FCR - Wesley
Story, Richmond, Texas
Incorrect guesses: Tom Alston, Johnny Lewis ,Keith Hernandez
SATURDAY — 22-Feb-2025
Q. Which
All-Star and Gold Glove winner had his arm broken during his best season?
Hint: #1
He coached for the Mariners after his playing days.
Hint: #2
He returned to his alma mater college as the Athletic Director.
Hint: #3
Although only drafted in the 20th round by a team that hadn’t
won a playoff game in more than a decade, he became a starter on a
World-Series-winning team.
A. SCOTT BROSIUS [Wiki Bio]
-
Ans. On 04-May-1996, in the 4th
inning, the Royals’ P Mark Gubicza put a 7-week dent in
Brosius’ terrific season by putting a dent in his forearm. Brosius was an AL All-Star in 1998 & won a Gold Glove
for his fielding prowess at 3rd
base in 1999.
-
#1 Brosius was the third base coach for SEA in 2018.
-
#2 He attended NCAA III Linfield University in Portland,
Oregon. After having and returned to oversee their
athletics in this past May.
-
#3 Brosius was an important part
of the Yankees dynastic run from 1998-2001.
Drafted by the Oakland
Athletics in the 20th round of the 1987 amateur
draft” to the answer.
FCR - Steve
Berman, Wanaque, New Jersey
Incorrect guesses: Ray Fosse, Dave Dravecky, Stan Williams,
Jamie Moyer, Steve Yeager
WEEKEND EXTRA — 22-Feb-2025
Q. Which
former Houston Astro is the only player to hit two walk-off grand slams in a
single week?
Hint: #1
He is only the second to play for all five team in the American League
East. (Not in the same year. That would be a record.)
Hint: #2
When the Twins drafted him in the 45th round, he opted for
school. When Pirates later drafted him
in the 8th round, he signed and began his professional career.
Hint: #3
He averaged fewer than twenty home runs per season, but on one day
against his old team, the Yankees, he homered three times, once off a Hall of
Fame pitcher.
A. STEVE PEARCE [B-R
Bio]
-
Ans. He hit walkoff grand slams
for TOR on 27-Jul- & 30-Jul-2017, both in Toronto, both
off West Coast AL teams. Only Cy
Williams & Jim Presley, in 1926 & 1986, are the only others to hit 2
walk-off grand slams in the same season!
Pearce played 21 G for HOU in 2012.
-
#1 Played for NYY 2012; BAL 2012-16; TBR 2016; TOR 2017-18; & BOS 2018-19. The 1st to play for all 5 was Kelly Johnson, 2012-14.
-
#2 MIN drafted Pearce #1,341 overall in 2003. PIT signed him after
drafting him at #241 in 2005. Additionally, he was drafted to no avail, by BOS at #305 in 2004.
-
#3 3 HR vs. NYY = 02-Aug-2018 for TOR. Homered off CC Sabathia in the 3rd, Jonathan
Holder in the 4th & Luis Cessa in the 6th.
FCR - Jeremy
Frank, New York City
Incorrect guesses:
SUNDAY —
23-Feb-2025
Q. Who
has hit more major league home runs in a season than anyone else born in Cuba?
Hint: #1
In doing so, he shattered his franchise’s season record for home runs by
thirty-eight percent over a record that had just been established just two
years earlier.
Hint: #2
He has played twice for World Series-winning teams.
A. JORGE SOLER [B-R
Bio]
-
Ans. Soler’s 48 in 2019 passed Rafael Palmeiro’s 47, which he did twice, 1999 & 2001.
-
#1 Soler hit 48 HR for KCR in 2019. Mike Moustakas had set the KCR franchise
mark when he hit 38 in 2017.
Salvatore Perez hit 48 in 2021 to lead the majors and tie
Soler.
-
#2 Soler helped the Cubs overcome
their “curse” in 2016 and was stellar with
ATL in 2021.
FCR - Barry
Nelson, Guilderland, New York
Incorrect guesses: Jose Canseco, Jose Abreu, Orlando Cepeda,
Tony Perez, Rafael Palmeiro
WEEK’S THEME
– Won a World Series MVP in first year with the team
WS MVP Year Team Yrs/Days Oldest* WAR
Brosius........... 1998.... Yankees.......... 31, 85......... 48th........ 15.7
Clendenon...... 1969.... Mets................ 33, 117....... 58th........ 20.0
Dye................. 2005.... White Sox........ 31, 284....... 45th........ 20.3
Jackson.......... 1977.... Yankees.......... 31, 174....... 44th........ 74.0
Molitor........... 1993.... Blue Jays......... 37, 79......... 67th........ 75.6
Morris............ 1991.... Twins.............. 36, 177....... 66th........ 43.5
Pearce............ 2018.... Red Sox........... 35, 10......... 61st.......... 9.9
Robinson........ 1966.... Orioles............ 31, 69......... 42nd..... 107.2
Soler............... 2021.... Braves............. 29, 256....... 34th.......... 7.0
Zobrist............ 2016.... Cubs............... 35, 167....... 65th........ 44.5
First Correct Respondent identifying theme – Quentin Wittrock, Coon Rapids, Minnesota (After Morris)
*There was much
discussion this week about the ages of the WS MVPs. This chart shows their age & where they
rank among all WS MVPs. Youngest ever = Bret Saberhagen in 1985 at 21 years 208 days. The oldest?
Willie Stargell in 1979 at 39 years 248 days.
Incorrect theme guesses:
Tues - First-year
ballot HOFers who were full-time DH’s at least one season
-
World
Series MVPs who played on multiple WS teams
-
Back-to-back
World Series
-
Players
who played in the World Series before their 30th birthday and after their 30th
birthday with different teams
-
Played
in a World Series for at least two different franchises
-
World
Series MVPs for the second team for which they played in the WS
-
Players
who have won consecutive WS but with 2 different teams
-
World
Series MVP with their second team
- WS MVPs who won WS MVP after age 30 for second team for whom they played in WS
Fri - Players
who were World Series MVP in their thirties (age)
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