Q. Which Hall
of Fame catcher won the Most Valuable Player Award twice in his first five
seasons after winning the Rookie of the Year Award?
Hint: He won Gold
Glove awards each of his first ten qualifying seasons in the majors.
Hint: He’s one of
seven Hall of Famer born in his native state.
- GG 1968-77
inclusive
- Oklahoman
HoFers: Paul Waner (1952); Lloyd Waner
(1967); Mickey Mantle (1974); 1988 Willie Stargell (1988); Bench
(1989); Bullet Rogan (1998); Bobby Cox (2014)
FCR - Michael Campos,
Redmond, Washington
Incorrect guesses:
Roy Campanella
TUESDAY
Q. Who is the
oldest person ever to play for the Baltimore Orioles?
Hint: He caught
major league games in four consecutive decades.
Only a small handful of other catchers in MLB history can make that
claim.
Hint: His Hall of
Fame manager Earl Weaver wrote of the player, “He’s the best throwing catcher
I’ve ever had. He gets rid of the ball
so quick and he’s accurate … also amazing on pickoffs. … I’ve never seen
anybody throw better.”
Hint: His nephew
played in the majors, debuting three years after this guy’s retirement. The nephew played long enough to qualify for
an MLB pension, playing for nine teams.
- Played
1969-1991. Carlton Fisk (1969-93) &
Tim McCarver* (1959-80), Deacon McGuire (1884-1912),
Jack O’Connor (1887-1910) & Jack Ryan (1889‑1913) are
the other 4‑decade Cs.
*Even though McCarver
played in 4 decades, he did not catch a game in his last year in the majors,
1980 . He took the field in only 2
games, both times as a 1st baseman.
FCR - Dan Schoenholz, Walnut Creek, California
Incorrect guesses: Elrod Hendricks, Satchel Paige
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who is the first catcher to be
unanimously elected National League Rookie of the Year?
Hint: He was the last 20th century
National League catcher to throw out the same would-be base stealer thrice in a
single game.
Hint: He and three other MLB catcher all had
multiple-home run games in the same rookie season.
- Caught Eric Young 3 X 01-May-1993 (12 innings). [2 Issues here: a.) Young’s 3rd CS that day
was actually a pick-off at 1B by P Bob McClure in which Santiago was not
involved; & b.) The real last 20th century catcher
to toss out the same would-be base stealer 3 X in a G was Eli Marrero on 12‑June‑1999 when he thrice nailed
(relatively) speedy opposing catcher Brad Ausmus.
- Matt Nokes (25-May, 07-Jun & 26-Sep), John Marzano (16-Aug), Terry Steinbach (13‑Jun) & Santiago (18-Aug-1987),
FCR - Toni Monti, Whitestone, New York
Incorrect guesses: Mike Piazza, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench,
Carlton Fisk Ivan Rodriguez, Buster Posey, Gary Carter, Gabby Hartnett, Earl
Williams, Ted Simmons
THURSDAY
Q. Who was the next catcher to win the
American League MVP after Thurman Munson?
Hint: SABR considers him “…perhaps the greatest
all-round catcher ever.”
Hint: As a boy he was moved from pitcher to
catcher because his throwing arm was deemed an unfair advantage among his
peers. “I threw seven no-hitters, two in
one day,” quoth he.
Hint: His nickname is not from any resemblance to
any other player.
- Quote is from his SABR biography.
- Chino Cadagia, I-Rod’s coach from the
minors, called him Pudge simply because he was small and cocky.
FCR - Thomas Nester, Dix Hills, New York
Incorrect guesses: Carlton Fisk, Joe Mauer
FRIDAY
Q. Who was the first player to homer in his
first two World Series at-bats?
Hint: He was the bench coach for two World Series
championship teams.
Hint: He twice led the league in bases-on-balls,
once leading MLB.
- Bench coach for TOR’s Cito Gaston
1992-93.
- Led w/BB in 1974 (110) &
1975 (125).
FCR - Kellen Nielson, Blanding, Utah
Incorrect guesses: Gary Carter, Yogi Berra
FRIDAY FURTHER
Q. Who leapt into the waiting arms of
relief pitcher Bruce Sutter after the last out of a certain World Series?
Hint: He played in World Series for the teams of
two different cities, both in the state where he was born.
Hint: His autobiography was titled “Snap Me
Perfect”.
- Born in Joplin, Missouri, he played for KCR in the 1980 WS and for STL in 1982.
Then in 1985 he played for STL vs. KCR,
obviously in both cities.
FCR - Dave Serota, Kalamazoo
Incorrect
guesses: Ted Simmons
SATURDAY
Q. What bespectacled catcher refused to
wear contact lenses because they made him feel uncomfortable during games?
Hint: One of MLB’s recently-hired managers once
batted for him following a dangerous on‑field accident.
Hint: The only other major league players with
his last name came to the majors in the 19th century.
Hint: The farm director of the team that drafter
him said, “We’d like every one of our players to have the fire, the
determination and the all-round hustle that [he] has.”
- He tried contacts in spring training twice, in
1975 and 1978 season. He just felt
better with glasses.
- Dusty Baker took Yeager’s spot in the lineup after
an unusual, potentially lethal accident on 06-Sep-1976.
Baker was hired this week to manage HOU.
- Quote from Bill Schweppe, the Dodgers’ farm
director and a chief architect of their 1968 draft.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect
guesses: Clint Courtney, Mike Scioscia,
Pat Borders, Darrell Porter, Jim Sundberg, Brian McCann
WEEKEND BONUS - A
Q. Who set the record for most RBI in a
debut game in the 20th century?
Hint: He teamed up with Jaime Moyer to form the
first battery of 42-year-olds in a major league game?
Hint: With his first team, he twice won
“Most Improved Players” honors.
- 5 RBI in his debut: 06-Apr-1988.
His 5 RBI in a debut game was the most ever until Starlin Castro plated 6
on 07-May-2010.
- Borders and fellow Mariner Moyer formed the
Methuselah battery on 22‑Jul‑2005 when they beat CLE at Jacobs Field 4-3. It was the preantepenultimate game of
Borders’ career whereas Moyer had another 6 seasons in him.
- Won MIP for TOR in 1990 & 1992
FCR - Joe O’Neill, London, ON
Incorrect guesses: Matt Stairs, Carlton Fisk, Bob Boone
WEEKEND BONUS - B
Q. What native of Valencia won five Gold
Gloves and two Silver Sluggers?
Hint: He was also selected for the All-Star team
six times.
Hint: His first career home run was at the
expense of a pitcher who won three Cy Young Awards and threw two no-hitters in
his career.
- This Venezuelan native garnered GG in 2013-16,
18 and SS in 2016 & 18.
- AS in 2013-18
FCR - Blake Sherry, Dublin, Ohio
Incorrect guesses: Javy Lopez, Gary Carter
WEEKEND BONUS - C
Q. Who did Paul Bako replace as Greg
Maddux’ personal catcher?
Hint: His pinch-hit whiff was the 27th
out of Randy Johnson’s perfect game.
Hint: He hit the Atlanta Braves' 208th
home run of 1998, breaking their previous team record for home runs in a season.
- Perez caught Maddux’ starts more than 100
times between 1996 and 2001.
- 208th HR = 22-Sep-1998.
The team hit 7 more that season.
ATL’s current season record for HR is 249 which they hit (of course!) in
2019.
FCR - Jack Fahey, Oak Forest, Illinois
Incorrect guesses: Javy Lopez, Javier Lopez, Henry Blanco
SUNDAY
Q. Who hit more home runs in one season
while playing catcher than anyone else in major league history?
Hint: He is the only player to hit five doubles
in a National League Championship Series.
Hint: One season, he had a teammate pitcher with
his first and last name. Not once,
however, did they form a battery in a major league game.
- 42 HR @ C in 2003 plus 1 @ PH. (Johnny
Bench hit 45 HR in 1970 but 7 of those were when playing a position other
than C.)
- 5 2B in the 1996 NLCS
- He and relief pitcher Javier Lopez were teammates on BOS in 1996 from
04-Aug through 06-Sep, but never once were in a game together
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Johnny Bench, Nick Hundley,
Mike Piazza, Ted Simmons, Todd Hundley
WEEKLY THEME – Catchers
who won a postseason Most Valuable Player award. This week’s theme is a reprise of the theme
posted the week of September 10-16, 2018.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Walt Cherniak, Woodbine, Maryland
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Catchers
that (sic) won WS mvp.
- Catchers
who have won World Series MVP
Wed - Catchers
who have entries in IMDb having appeared as themselves in some form or another
on television.
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