MONDAY — 19-Oct-2026
Q. Who
is the only Hall of Famer with a better career on-base percentage than Babe Ruth?
Hint: #1
His annual on-base percentage was .490 or above in eleven of his nineteen
seasons in the majors.
Hint: #2
He once posted an OPS+ for the season that led the majors at age thirty-eight.
A.
TED WILLIAMS [SABR
Bio]
-
Ans. Williams finished with an
amazing career OBP of .482. Ruth’s is .474 (also quite amazing). The most common incorrect guess was Barry
Bonds whose .444 is good for 7th, career.
-
#1 He led the AL in OBP 12 times
with10 of those seasons also leading the majors: 1941, 1942, 1946–1949,
1952–1955 & 1957. Two were
abbreviated seasons: 6 sole games in
1952 & only 37 in 1953.
-
#2 In 1957, The Kid’s OPS+ was 233. The average major leaguer’s OPS+ is 100. That nickname stuck even when he was clearly
no longer a “kid”.
FCR - Mark
Kozlevcar, El Segundo, California
Incorrect guesses: Rogers Hornsby. Barry Bonds, Ichiro Suzuki,
Ty Cobb
TUESDAY — 20-Oct-2026
Q. Who was the inaugural member of the
Thirty/Thirty Club?
Hint:
#1 He never reached thirty in either category
again in his fourteen seasons in the majors.
Hint:
#2 In that same magical year, he became
the first player in the Modern Era to hit two home runs in one inning.
A. KEN WILLIAMS [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1922 Williams hit 39 HR and stole 37 bases. A 30
+HR / 30+ SB major league season has been accomplished 82 times by 53
different players including 3 in 2026 & 7 in 2025! 19 have accomplished it more than once. Bobby Bonds & son share the record with 5
apiece.
- #1 His
next-highest HR season was the next year when he hit 29 HR. He stole 20 bases in each of 1921 & 1924..
- #2 On 07-Aug-1922, in the 6th
inning, Williams,, the inning’s 2nd batter, homered off Washington’s
George Mogridge. Nine Browns PAs
later, Williams went deep again, this time off Eric Erickson. Each HR cleared the fence & each was with
a man on. Coincidentally, those 2 were
his 29th & 30th of the season.
FCR - Brandon Boysen, Yukon, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Tommy Harper, Fernando Tatís, Bobby
Bonds
WEDNESDAY
— 21-Oct-2026
Q. Who was the first Cincinnati Reds player to
hit forty home runs and drive in at least one hundred runs for a season?
Hint:
#1 He was a star playing football at Indiana
University.
Hint:
#2 In his best major league season, he
had two thirds of a Triple Crown, leading the league (and majors) in home runs
and runs batted in. However, the only
man finishing ahead of him in the Most Valuable Player vote had the third leg.
A. TED KLUSZEWSKI [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1953, Ted Kluszewski was good for 40 HR, 108 RBI. He was coincidentally, also the 1st
Cincinnati Redlegs player to do so.
- #1 Klu was a star end and
kicker for the Hoosiers, helping them win the 1945 Big Ten football
championship, their first outright conference championship, finishing with a
record of 9–0–1.
- #2 In
1954 Big Klu hit 49 HR & had 141 RBI & batted
.326. Alas, young Willie Mays hit .345
& won his 1st MVP.
FCR - Alan Goldhammer, Bethesda, Maryland
Incorrect
guesses: Gus Bell
THURSDAY — 22-Oct-2026
Q. Which New York native, playing for Boston,
led the majors one season in home runs, hits, doubles , total bases and led his
league in slugging, OPS, OPS+ and WAR, but could only come up with a distant
second place in MVP voting?
Hint:
#1 His eighth-inning single off a Hall
of Fame pitcher gave his team (that hadn’t played in a championship series
in more than thirty years) a 1-0 home field win in the opening game of that
year’s World Series.
Hint:
#2 He replaced his Hall of Fame manager
midseason then was himself replaced the following year as manager mid-season.
A. TOMMY HOLMES [SABR Bio]
- Ans. In
1945, playing for the 6th-place Braves, Holmes hit 28
HR, 47 2B, 224 H, .577 SLG, .997 OPS,
175 OPS+ & 8.3 WAR. In
NL MVP voting however, the top spot went to the Cubs’ Phil Cavarretta, 15.0 1st-place
votes to 3.0.
- #1 In game 1 of the 1948 WS, Bob Feller had held
the Braves to 1 hit. Holmes’s was the
only other hit off Feller that day, but it was enough to score pinch runner
Phil Masi & seal the win.
- #2 Holmes
replaced Billy Southworth as the Braves’ manager in 1951after Southworth had
led the team to a 28-31-1. Homes took
the reins for the last half of the season but also played. He was replaced by veteran manager Charlie
Grimm after 35 games in 1952.
FCR - John Rickert, Terre Haute, Indiana
Incorrect
guesses: Johnny Pesky, Eddie Mathews, Bob
Elliott
FRIDAY — 23-Oct-2026
Q. When Sammy Sosa hit three home runs in a game
in Colorado on 10-Aug-2002, whose record did he
tie for most times hitting three home runs in a game?
Hint:
#1 He is the oldest person to hit his
first World Series home run.
Hint:
#2 One season, he led the league in
triples but had nary a single stolen base that year (on zero attempts).
A. JOHNNY MIZE
[SABR Bio]
- Ans. It
was the 6th time with 3 HR in a game. Mize’s 6th was on 15-Sep-1950*, more than 12 years
since he did it the first time. Mookie
Betts has since joined this elite club.
- #1 When
Mize homered for NYY off Preacher Roe on 03-Oct in game 3 of the 1952 WS,
he became the oldest player to do it for the 1st time at 39 years,
269 days. He played in the WS in 5
straight seasons & had a total of 47 plate appearances in the Fall Classic,
but only in 1952 did he go deep and he did it 3 times.
- #2 In
his 3rd year in the majors, 1938, Mize hit 16 triples and led
the NL.
*Only 1
time in 6 games did Mize’s team prevail, 20-Jul-1938(2). They did, however, once tie. In Cincinnati on
13-May-1940. The field flooded and the game was stopped
after the 14th inning.
FCR - Tom Howell, Reno, Nevada
Incorrect
guesses: Harmon Killebrew, Barry Bonds,
Enos Slaughter, Goose Goslin,. Joe DiMaggio
SATURDAY
— 24-Oct-2026
Q. Who was the first player to hit fifty doubles
in a season for the Yankees?
Hint:
#1 He married a Chicago socialite at the
height of his career.
Hint:
#2 The next, season, as a married man,
he put up a Triple Crown, the elite version where his stats were the best in both
the American or National leagues.
A. LOU GEHRIG
[SABR Bio]
- Ans. Gehrig
hit 52 2B in 1927 for NYY, breaking his own record of 47 set just the season
before. The 1927 mark stood until Don
Mattingly hit 53 in 1986.
- #1 Gehrig & Twitchell were wed in Chicago
29-Sep-1933. She soon became the “First Lady of the Yankees” traveling the country
with the team, the extrovert paired with introvert Lou.
- #2 In
1934 , he hit .363, 49 HR & had 166
RBI. Recent adjustments have added the Negro
Leagues’ Buddy Burbage’s impressive .427,
to the major leagues’ stats of 1934. Interesting
irony: Gehrig finished fifth in the 1934
AL MVP voting despite winning the
Triple Crown.
FCR - Cliff Beiser, Kissimmee, Florida
Incorrect
guesses: Joe DiMaggio, Alex, Rodriguez, Don Mattingly
SUNDAY — 25-Oct-2026
Q. Who played in every month of the baseball
season, but was literally the best of May?
Hint:
#1 He played every game of each of the
ten World Series he played in.
Hint:
#2 He signed his first professional
contract after impressing onlookers with his playing ability at shortstop.
A. JOE DiMAGGIO [SABR Bio]
- Ans. The
Italian words “di maggio” translate into “of May” in English. Joe was the best of the brothers who reached the
majors.
- #1 Played
every game in the WS of: 1936, 1937*, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1949, 1950 & 1951 & never missed a
game.
- #2 The
San Francisco Seals of the PCL needed a SS for games ending the 1932
season.
*The batter
depicted on the front cover is clearly DiMaggio. Joe played in the final three games of the
season, then including his subsequent winter-league performances & was
signed to a contract in 1933 for $225 a month
FCR - Terry Walters, Wabasha, Minnesota
Incorrect guesses: Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Babe Ruth
THEME: Players who led their league in HRs with
fewer K than HR. It's happened ten
times, but Gehrig, DiMaggio & Mize each did it twice.
Player Year Lg HR K
DiMaggio.................... 1937...... AL...... 46....... 37
................................... 1948...... AL...... 39....... 30
Gehrig........................ 1934...... AL...... 49....... 31
................................... 1936...... AL...... 49....... 46
Holmes...................... 1945...... NL..... 28......... 9
Mize........................... 1947...... NL..... 51....... 42
................................... 1948...... NL..... 40....... 37
Kluszewski............... 1954...... NL..... 49....... 35
K
Williams................. 1922...... AL...... 39....... 31
T
Williams................. 1941...... AL...... 37....... 27
Theme guess
FCR: Joe Haardt, Bethany Beach, Delaware
(after Kluszewski)
Incorrect
theme guesses:
Tues - Players
named "Williams"
-
Williamses
with the most career HR
-
Williamses
with the highest WAR
-
Has
to do with players named Williams
Wed - Players
who hit over 30 homers and struck out less than 30 times in a season
-
All
had a season where they hit 30 or more home runs while striking out fewer than
40 times
-
More
HR than SO in a season in multiple seasons
-
Players
with at least 30 homers in a season that had more homers than strikeouts
-
Players
who hit 30+ homers in a season with fewer than 40 strikeouts
-
More
home runs than strikeouts in a season
Thur - More
home runs than strikeouts in a season while hitting at least 25 home runs
-
More
than 20 homers and less strikeouts than homers
-
Players
who hit 30 or more homers in a season and who had more home runs than
strikeouts in that season
Fri - Left-handed
batters who hit more home runs than strikeouts in a season while hitting at
least 25 home runs
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