MONDAY — 03-Aug-2026
Q. Who
was the first player since Johnny Podres to win a league Most Valuable Player
Award, an All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award and a World Series Most
Valuable Player Award?
Hint: #1
He had more at-bats in the 1960s than any other player.
Hint: #2
The player he replaced and he were inducted into the Baseball Hall of
Fame on the same day.
A. BROOKS ROBINSON [SABR
Bio]
-
Ans. Brooks was AL MVP in 1964; was the MVP of the 1966 ASG; & the MVP of the 1970 WS.
-
#1 Robinson came up to bat an amazing
6,093 times for BAL 1960-1969. Hank
Aaron was 2nd with 5,912. (We're
just measuring from 1955 when Podres won the 1st WS MVP. It was MEANT to be a bit confusing, a
diversion for a way too easy a Monday question.)
-
#2 George Kell had anchored third base for the Orioles in 1955 &
1956, his final years as a big leaguer, playing 3rd base 97 & 80
games respectively. Brooks took over at
3rd in 1958 and only once in the following 19 seasons did he play
fewer than 144 games in any season. Both
of these sons of Arkansas became Hall of Famers in
Cooperstown on 31-Jul-1983, Brooks on his 1st ballot, Kell by the Veterans
Committee in his 15th year on the ballot.
FCR - Andrew
Milner, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Incorrect guesses: Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson,
Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell
TUESDAY — 04-Aug-2026
Q. Who was the second player since Johnny Podres
(…won the first World Series MVP) to win a league Most Valuable Player Award,
an All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award and a World Series Most Valuable
Player Award?
Hint:
#1 He was the first black manager of the
National League.
Hint:
#2 The year he won the Triple Crown
marked the only season he led in any of the three categories.
A. FRANK ROBINSON [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Frank
was the NL MVP in 1961 w/CIN & the AL MVP in 1966 when he won the league’s
Triple Crown; was the MVP of the 1971 ASG (controversially over Reggie Jackson & his light-tower
HR); & the MVP of the 1966 WS.
- #1 In
1981, Robinson became the 1st black manager
in the NL
when he signed on as the manager of the San Francisco Giants. He had been the 1st black manager
of the AL and therefore all of the majors in 1975.
- #2 Frank’s
49 HR, 122 RBI & .316 BA in 1966, all bested
the AL & the only time he had led either league in any of the categories. N.B.
He also led the AL that year in WAR (7.7), OBP (.410),
SLG (.637), OPS (1.047). OPS+ (198)
and TB (367).
FCR - Daniel Wilson, St. Paul
Incorrect
guesses:
WEDNESDAY — 05-Aug-2026
Q. Who was the first player to amass 300 career home
runs for the Orioles?
Hint:
#1 He was also the first Oriole to have
100 walks and 100 RBI in the same year.
Hint
#2 He set the record for most home runs
by an Orioles’ left fielder.
Hint: #3 There’s a museum with his name on it in Green
River, Utah.
A. BOOG POWELL [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Powell
hit his 300th Oriole HR on 13-Sep-1974(1). Only Cal Ripken & Eddie Murray have more.
- #1 In
1970, Powell walked 104 times & had 114 RBI. Ken Singleton (1979), Eddie Murray (1984)
& Albert Belle 1999) had the same stat combo later.
- #2 Before
moving permanently to 1st base in 1966, Powell was the team’s regular
left fielder, playing there 123 games in 1964.
That year he hit 39 HR, 2nd behind the AL & MLB leader,
Harmon Killebrew, who hit 49. Powell’s single-season BAL-LF-HR record still
stands among those who played at least 100 games there.
- #3 Boog’s
full name, John Wesley Powell, is identical to that of the man known as America’s
first geologist.
FCR - John Gustafsson, Staten Island
Incorrect
guesses: Eddie Murray, BJ Surhoff, Jim
Gentile, Ken Singleton, Brady Anderson
THURSDAY 07-Aug-2026
Q. Which Hall of Famer was the twenty-first
strikeout?
Hint:
#1 He played first base, second base,
third base, left field, center field, right field for the A’s.
Hint:
#2 He once lost his manager’s job at the
request of his All-Star outfielder.
A. DICK WILLIAMS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
the game on 12-Sep-1962, in Baltimore, Senators
journeyman pitcher Tom Cheney pitched all 16-innings, allowed only one run, got
the win and oh, yeah… He struck out 21 Oriole batters. The last batter of the game, Williams, who
had entered the game in the bottom of the 16th & with 2 outs,
took strike 3, ending the game and establishing Cheney’s record. {Thanks to Jim Casey of Savannah for this
one.}
- #1 In
two seasons with the Kansas City A’s, 1959 & 1960, managers Harry Craft
& Bob Elliott had Williams play 66 games at 1st base, 3 at 2nd,
137 at 3rd, 39 in LF, 2 in CF & 8 in RF. In 1960, he was the team’s WAR leader among
fielders w/2.4.
- #2 After
managing the Red Sox to a record of 82-71, owner Tom Yawkey took the advice of
Carl Yastrzemski, letting Williams go. Eddie Popowski managed the remainder of that
1969 season 5-4, 90% of the MLB games he managed.
FCR - Terry Gans, San Carlos, California
Incorrect
guesses: Jimmy Dykes
FRIDAY — 07-Aug-2026
Q. Which Yankee broke Babe Ruth’s most cherished
record in 1961?
Hint:
#1 He holds the record for most career
World Series pitching wins and for World Series losses.
Hint:
#2 Each of his first nine career
decisions was a victory.
A. WHITEY FORD [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Ford
ended 1961 with 32 innings even. He retired
5 batters to begin Game 1 of the 1962 World Series to cap his WS scoreless
streak at 33⅔ innings. Ruth’s
consecutive scoreless WS innings record had been 29⅔.
“I had thought he was a
lousy pitcher who they made into a hitter,” Ford told reporters in 1961. “I
looked at the Baseball Encyclopedia one day and was stunned at what I
found out.” Ruth himself opined that one
day his home run records would fall, but he thought this one would last forever.
- #1 Ford
racked up10 career individual WS games accompanied by 8 losses. In his 16-year MLB career (1950, 1953-1967),
he pitched in 11 separate World Series with his NYY team winning 6 of them.
- #2 In
his rookie season, 1950, he didn’t take a regular-season loss until his 10th
decision, ending 9-1.
FCR - Dave Williams, Glastonbury, Connecticut
Incorrect
guesses: Roger Maris
SATURDAY— 08-Aug-2026
Q. Who was the only Milwaukee, Wisconsin native
to play for the Milwaukee Braves?
Hint:
#1 He later played elsewhere for the
same franchise.
Hint:
#2 He led the league in passed balls one
year, his last year in the majors.
A. BOB UECKER
[SABR Bio]
- Ans. Born.
26-Jan-1934 in Milwaukee. Played there
for MLN 1962 & 1963. There are more than 10 place names in the
U.S. with a name that is some variation of “Milwaukee”. The Wisconsin version has hosted 4 major league teams:
1878
– The Milwaukee
Grays joined the NL for
one season and were expelled after a 15-45 year.
1901
– The Milwaukee
Brewers, an original AL team , left after one season (1901) with to
become the St. Louis Browns who
themselves have been the Baltimore
Orioles since 1954.
1953-1965
– The NL Milwaukee Braves came from Boston.
1970-1997
– The AL Milwaukee Brewers born as the Seattle Pilots
1998-present
– The Milwaukee Brewers moved to the NL.
Reader Peter Graber from Greendale,
Wisconsin updated this information:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin had two more Major
League teams:
1884 Milwaukee
Brewers a.k.a. Cream City's were a late season entry to the major league
Union Association
1891 Milwaukee
Brewers a.k.a. Cream City's were a late season entry to the major league
American Association
- #1 Uecker
player for the Braves in Atlanta in 1967.
- #2 In
1967, he let 27 pitches elude him. He attributed that number to being that he
was the designate catcher of history’s most famous knuckleballer, Phil Niekro.
FCR - Mark Manuel, Kenai, Alaska
Incorrect
guesses: Phil Roof, Del Crandell
WEEKEND
BONUS
— 09-Aug-2026
Q. Which former star high school football star
admitted, "I’ve
never wanted to do anything but play baseball.”?
Hint:
#1 He holds the record for most career
strikeouts in major-league All-Star competition.
Hint:
#2 He was the first post-expansion
player to hit fifteen home runs in a season where he had fewer than one hundred
seventy-five at-bats.
A. MICKEY MANTLE [SABR Bio]
- Ans. He
only said this later in his career, adding, “Let’s face it, there’s nothing
else I can do but play baseball.”
However, he also said, “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about
the game you’ve been playing all your life.”
- #1 Baseball-Reference
lists Mantle as the ASG K record holder with 17,
including going down against such NL luminary moundsmen as Robin Roberts, Warren
Spahn, Don Drysdale, Fergie Jenkins & Tom Seaver.
- #2 Hit
15 HR in 172 AB in 1963.
FCR - Terry Walters, Wabasha, Minnesota
Incorrect
guesses: Aaron Judge, Dave Kingman, Reggie
Jackson, Todd Helton, Bob Forsch
SUNDAY — 09-Aug-2026
Q. Who took over much of the first-base duty for
Bill Skowron after Skowron broke his arm in a collision with Coot Veal?
Hint:
#1 His brother, although he had a lower career
WAR had one more year of major league service.
Hint:
#2 He was once traded fro the man who
would become the league MVP two years in a row.
A. MARV THRONEBERRY [SABR Bio]
- Ans. On
25-Jul-1959 in the top of the 8th
inning, DET’s Coot Veal hit a grounder to 3rd baseman Hector Lopez,
whose throw pulled Skowron into Veal’s path at 1st base. The collision broke Skowron’s arm in 2 places,
ending his season.. Skowron did not play again
until the following season. Veal stayed
in the game. Throneberry played 1st
base most of the time the rest of ’59.
- #1 Marv’s
brother, Faye Throneberry, played for 3 AL teams
over 8 years in the Bigs, but left with a career WAR of -3.7. Marv played for 4 teams over 7 seasons finishing
with a WAR of 0.3. The brothers’ teams
played each other many times 1958-1961 the 4 overlapping years of their franchises.
- #2 Marv
was traded from NYY to KCA for Roger Maris (AL MVP 1960-1961). The complete transaction was: On Dec-11-1959, Throneberry was traded by NYY w/Hank Bauer, Don Larsen & Norm Siebern to KCA for Joe DeMaestri, Kent Hadley & Maris.
FCR - Donald Ward, Manassas, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Norm Siebern
WEEK’S
FINALE — 09-Aug-2026
Q. Whose run-scoring single was the hit that set
a new record for Most World Series won consecutively?
Hint:
#1 He got two hits in his very first inning
as a major leaguer.
Hint:
#2 As a manager, he became the first to
win division titles with four different teams.
A. BILLY
MARTIN [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Martin’s
single off BRO’s Clem Labine closed out the inning, won the game & won the 1953
Series, the Yankees’ fifth in a frow.
- #1 On 18-Apr-1950,
Martin entered the game on defense in the 6th. Then in his 1st AB in the 8th
he doubled off Mel Parnell, batting in Yogi Berra. Marting came up later in the same inning *
singled, again knocking Berra in to score.
- #2 In
1969, he led the Twins to the
AL East division title.
In 1972, he led the Tigers to the AL
East division title.
In 1976, 1977 & 1978, e led the
Yankees to AL East division titles.
In 1981, his “Billy
Ball” style led the Oakland A’s to the AL West division titles. 1981 was a split season. OAK won the 2nd half of the AL
West.
FCR - Eric Savage, New York City
Incorrect
guesses: Dick Williams
THEME: Major leaguers who appeared in TV Commercials
for Lite Beer from Miller
Player Years Watch here
Ford........................... 1976–84............... With Mantle
Mantle........................ c.1980s................ "
Martin........................ 1976–88............... W/Steinbrenner
Robinson, F.............. 1970s–80s........... Brooks Robinson
Robinson, B.............. 1970s................... "
Powell....................... 1970s................... W/Umpire Jim Honochick; w/Japanese player
Throneberry.............. 1970s–80s........... W/Martin
Williams.................... 1980s .................. W/Whitey Herzog
Uecker....................... 1983–89............... Good seats, huh?; I thought you were a
lefty.
Another
good one included Phil Rizzuto as a tug-o-war umpire
Others?
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme – Judah Kaplan, Teaneck, New Jersey
(After Boog)
Incorrect
theme guesses:
Tues - Orioles
Hall of Famers
Wed - Orioles
with most hits in the WS
-
Starting
lineup last time the Dodgers were swept in the world series
-
Baltimore
Orioles to win an MVP or Cy Young Award and a World Series ring
-
Baltimore
Orioles to win an MVP award in the regular season or All-Star Game or World
Series
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