MONDAY — 13-Jul-2026
Q. Whose
career 1.82 ERA is the best all-time?
Hint: #1
The season he threw 464 innings, he led the league in WAR.
Hint: #2
The year his team won their first World Series, he was tied for third on
the team for home runs hit.
-
Ans. Walsh pitched for 17 seasons,
all of them in the Deadball Era. His ERA
of 1.816
is probably safe for a while.
-
#1 Walsh’s 464 innings
pitched in 1908 is the most ever in a season in the Modern Era (1900- ). His pitching WAR that year was 10.3,
best in the AL. [NYG’s Mathewson posted a
11.8 pitching WAR the same season.]
-
#2 The 1906 White Sox, “The Hitless Wonders”, beat the talented cross-town Cubs 4—2 in the 1st WS for both teams. Howsomever,
evidence shows that Walsh, who homered in both 1907 & 1908 tried to push
one of those round-trippers BACK into the 1906 stats to make it look like he
had done it in a WS-winning year.
AHA… Ed we caught ya!
FCR – Cliff Beiser, Kissimmee, Florida
Incorrect guesses: Walter Johnson, Addie Joss, Babe Ruth, Old
Hoss Radbourne, Christy Matthewson
TUESDAY — 14-Jul-2026
Q. Which former Angels slugger is the last player
to lead the majors in runs-batted-in for three straight seasons?
Hint:
#1 He was a two-time California
all-state baseball player but he also made all-state teams in football and
basketball.
Hint:
#2 Descriptions of him by press writers
varied among “ovate”, “pyknic”, “orotund” & “endomorphic” but also “colossal”,
“towering” & “dominant”.
Hint:
#3 His grandson was signed by the
Brewers in July 2024.
A. CECIL FIELDER [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1990, 1991 & 1992, Fielder had 132, 133 & 124
RBI respectively. The last player to do
it before him was Babe Ruth in 1919-1921.
He played for ANA in 1998.
- #1 Attending
Nogales HS (La Puente,
CA), Fielder
obviously had choices to make but chose baseball and signed with KCR.
- #2 Even
if occasionally oxymoronic, all seem to fit.
- #3 Fielder’s
grandson, Jadyn Fielder, Prince Fielder's son, was signed by
the MIL as an undrafted free
agent in July 2024 after being bypassed in the 2024
amateur draft.
FCR - Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Kluszewski, Don Baylor, Reggie
Jackson, Dave Winfield, George Foster
WEDNESDAY — 15-Jul-2026
Q. Among Hall of Famers born in Maryland who
played the most seasons for only one team?
Hint:
#1 He was the first post-WWII American
League player to hit two home runs in one inning.
Hint:
#2 It’s a shame he never pitched in the
majors… he would have been a great part of any battery.
- Ans. Kaline
was born in Baltimore and spent all 22 of his major league seasons with the
Tigers.
- #1 On 17-Apr-1955, Kaline went deep in
the 6th inning off 2 Bobs, Spicer & Trice. Because he had homered earlier in the 3rd
inning, he became on the 5th Tiger
ever
with 3 HRs in one game.
- #2 Get
it? [Certified today as a non-Dad joke by reader
Jay Herdson of Ellicott City, Maryland.]
FCR - Bill Rudolph, Collingswood, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Cal Ripken, Jimmie Foxx, Brooks
Robinson
THURSDAY — 16-Jul-2026
Q. Who was the first player to homer from each
side of the plate in consecutive games?
Hint:
#1 Immediately after winning the Rookie
of the Year Award, he received Most
Valuable Player votes in each of the next eight consecutive seasons.
Hint:
#2 Of his taciturn approach to the
media, one writer penned, “[his] bronze bust in Cooperstown will chatter only
slightly less than the man himself. The first
line of text on the monument should read:
He spoke rarely & carried a mighty bat.”
A. EDDIE MURRAY [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Murray
switch-hit HRs on 08-, 09-May-1987, off White Sox
pitchers Jose DeLeon (RHP), Ray Searage (LHP), Joel McKeon (LHP) & Bob James (RHP).
- #1 AL ROY
in 1977. Got some MVP votes 1978-1985, including five
Top 5 finishes.
- #2 The
quote is from Baltimore sportswriter David Ginsburg. Those closest to Murray, notably Cal Ripken
Jr. claimed to know a whole other personality.
FCR - John McCleod, Marysville, Michigan
Incorrect
guesses: Johnny Bench, Mickey Mantle,
Chipper Jones
FRIDAY — 17-Jul-2026
Q. Who was the last player with one hundred
twenty-five runs batted in while hitting fewer than ten home runs that same
season?
Hint:
#1 He is the only American League shortstop
with a qualifying batting average above .375 for any season.
Hint:
#2 When referring to him, A & P
meant more than where he got his groceries.
A. LUKE APPLING [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Although
it had been done 20 times before he did it, no
one has done it since. Appling posted exactly
6 HR in 1936 w/CHW & had 128 RBI.
- #1 He
hit .388 in 1936 to lead the AL.
That figure would be italicized had Josh Gibson not hit .396
for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the Negro National League that year.
- #2 Appling’s
best-known nickname was “Old Aches & Pains”. SABR claims that he was arguably the greatest
hypochondriac ever to play the game. Backaches,
headaches, bad knees & eye problems would torment him. Notwithstanding, he’d have a game with 3 hits without
waiting to be pain-free. A & P was the nation’s largest grocery store
chain at the time.
FCR - Steven Krevisky, Middletown, Connecticut
Incorrect
guesses:
IN
MEMORIAM — 18-Jul-2026
Q. Who was the first Met to receive an MVP vote?
Hint:
#1 He wore a thick rubber girdle under
his uniform.
Hint: #2 In the Modern Era, nobody was ever hit-by-pitch
more times in a single year.
Hint: #3 He led the National League in being hit by pitches
more seasons than any other player.
Hint: #4 Teammate Bobby Bonds once joked after seeing
a giant black bruise on this player’s back.
Hint: #5 Owning his place in the history of the game,
he said, “Some people give their bodies to science; I gave mine to baseball.”
- Ans. Got
1 MVP vote in 1964. He received 2 more MVP votes in his career, 1969 & 1973, but let’s not use
that as a measure of his importance to the game.
- #1 He
claimed it helped “a little”.
- #2 Hunt
was plunked fifty (50!)
times in 1971, his1st year with the Expos in just their 3rd
year of operation.
- #3 He
led the NL in HBP 7 times: 1968-1974.
Playing for SFG, MON LAD.
- #4 The
senior Bonds advised “Believe me, there's no advantage in turning my color.”
- #5 On his controversial talent, he confessed,
"I worked and practiced in full uniform in a mirror to make sure it was
perfect. I'd stand right on top of the
plate. An inside pitch had to be right
on the corner, or it would hit me. The
umpires never called me for getting hit on purpose." Someone once said, “He gets good flesh on the
ball.”
FCR - Firefighter Barry Nelson, Guilderland New
York
Incorrect
guesses: Craig Biggio
SATURDAY — 18-Jul-2026
Q. Which former Kanas City A’s player was six
feet tall at age eleven and carried his birth certificate with him to show to
doubting adults, particularly coaches of young baseball teams?
Hint:
#1 The first time he was an All-Star, his
team won their first World Series in more than forty years.
Hint:
#2 He also led the team in WAR that
season, a team that could itself claim four future Hall of Famers.
- Ans. Rudi
eventually topped out at 6'2", watching many of his classmates catch up to
him.
- #1 His
A’s won their first of 3 straight WS in 1972, the
first time the franchise had taken the top spot since the Hall-of-Fame laden
squad of 1930 when Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx
& Al Simmons were on the payroll.
- #2 The
1972 A’s had Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter & Orlando
Cepeda (who only played 3 games for them in July).
FCR - Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Incorrect
guesses: Eric Hosmer, John Mayberry
SUNDAY — 19-Jul-2026
Q. Who was the first Rookie of the Year to lead
his league in runs, doubles and batting average and to lead the majors in hits
and total bases, all in his rookie season?
Hint:
#1 It would be another twenty-two years
before another native of his country would win another Rookie of the Year Award.
Hint:
#2 He was denied becoming the first unanimous
American League Rookie of the Year by a single first-place vote cast for a nineteen-year-old
nineteen-game winning pitcher.
A. TONY
OLIVA [SABR Bio]
- Ans. Oliva’s
monster rookie season included 109 runs, 217 hits, 43
doubles, .323 batting average & 374 total bases.
- #1 The
next Cuban to be ROY in either league was Jose Canseco in 1986. Since then Jose Fernandez (2013),
Jose Abreu (2014*),
Yordan Alvarez (2019*)
& Randy Arozarena (2021)
have been the ROY in their league.
- #2 First-place
votes for AL ROY in 1964: Oliva 19, BAL’s Wally Bunker 1.
*Unanimous
FCR - David Kaiser, Watertown, Massachusetts
Incorrect
guesses: Orlando Cepeda
THEME: American League MVP candidates who were runners-up twice
and never won the award. Theme
suggestion and research done by Bill Deane, Cooperstown
Player
Club (LEA.) YEAR MVP Winner Club WAR
2. Appling CHI (AL) 1936 Lou
Gehrig NYY 77.4
1943 Spud Chandler NYY
7. Fielder DET (AL) 1990 Rickey
Henderson OAK 17.2
1991 Cal Ripken BAL
3. Kaline DET (AL) 1955 Yogi
Berra NYY 92.8
1963 Elston Howard NYY
6. Murray BAL (AL) 1982 Robin
Yount MIL 68.7
1983 Cal Ripken BAL
4. Oliva
MIN (AL) 1965 Zoilo Versalles MIN 43.0
1970 Boog Powell BAL
5. Rudi
OAK (AL) 1972 Dick Allen CHW 25.5
1974 Jeff Burroughs TEX
1. Walsh CHI (AL) 1911 Ty Cobb DET 66.5
1912 Tris Speaker BOS
First
Correct Respondent identifying theme – Rick Fink, Edison, New Jersey
Incorrect
theme guesses:
Tues - Fathers
& sons who played for same franchise
Wed - Players
who had a son play for the same MLB team as they did
Fri - Hall
of Famers who led the league in WAR but never won MVP
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