Q. What Dodgers
infielder has a $16 million contract that end at the end of this season?
Hint: He named his
new puppy Kobe.
Hint: He traces
the letters “FN” for his grandfather Francisco Nunez, in the dirt before every
game.
Hint: His best baseball buddy is San Diego
Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso.
- Alonso has been
with the Mariners and A’s since he was a Padre and now plays for the Cleveland
Indians. However, it was when Alonso was
a Padre that Machado became
his brother-in-law. In November 2014, he
married Alonso’s sister, Yainee.
FCR - Adam Balutis,
Arlington, VA
Incorrect guesses: Adrian
Gonzalez, Clayton Kershaw
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the first Colorado Rockies
player to lead the National League in home runs more than once?
Hint: He capped off his cycle with a walk-off
home run.
Hint: Since the beginning of the 2015 season, no
major leaguer has more runs batted in.
- Led in NL HR 2015, 2016. Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga & Larry
Walker each led once. Arenado tied with
Bryce Harper for the NL lead in homers in 2015 w/42; tied with Chris Carter in
2016 w/41.
- Cycle 18-Jun-2017
- Has had More than 470 RBI since the start of
2015 till today.
FCR - Maureen Walsh, Tallahassee
Incorrect guesses: Vinny Castilla, Charlie Blackmon, Larry
Walker
TUESDAY TWICE
Q. Who has more major league hits than any
other player born outside the United States?
Hint: He was the first National League player to
collect 200 hits in a season without hitting a triple.
Hint: He is the only player to hit for the cycle
thrice in the same ball park. (Not in
the same game. That would be a record!)
- Has 3,131 H (Ichiro is 2nd w/3,089)
- In 2004 he had 200 H + 0 3b. Instead, he focused on HRs for his EBHs and
led the majors w/48.
- 3 cycles = 01-Sep-2008;
24-Aug-2012;
& 03-Aug-2015
all at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
FCR - Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect guesses: Joey Votto, Albert Pujols, Roberto Clemente,
Larry Walker, Ichiro Suzuki, Rod Carew
WEDNESDAY
Q. Only three major league catchers have
played in more than one World Series before the age of 25. The first two were Yogi Berra and Johnny
Bench. Who was the third?
Hint: He has participated in the World Baseball
Classic every year it has been held.
Hint: He is the only position player to be
selected more than once to the All-WBC Tournament Team.
Hint: He has his own music recording company that
focuses on his passion for music, particularly reggaeton, salsa and vallenato.
- On the All-WBC
teams in 2013 & 2017.
- Molina
Records launched in 2013 with a disc from Venezuelan rapper Oma 206.
FCR - Patrick Roth, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Jorge Posada, Salvador Perez,
Buster Posey, Tim McCarver, Carlton Fisk, Ivan Rodriguez
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. What birthday boy graduated from a high
school recently made famous for the worst of reasons?
Hint: He is the most recent recipient of the
Roberto Clemente Award.
Hint: He played in the World Baseball Classic,
representing the country of his ancestors and played a big role in his team’s
upset of Mexico.
- Born 08-Aug-1989. Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School was subject to a terrible shooting in
February. Rizzo gave a passionate
speech at the candlelight vigil.
- 2017
winner of the Roberto Clemente
Award.
- Played for Italy
in WBC
in 2013.
FCR - Jesse Asbury, Norman, Oklahoma
Incorrect
guesses: Curtis Granderson
THURSDAY
Q. Who is the only American League BLTR to
lead the majors in doubles this century?
Hint: He was drafted in the first round (2nd
overall) of one of the richest drafts in MLB history. Of the 30 players in that opening round, 2
have been MVP; 8 have been All-Stars; 7 have won Silver Sluggers; 5 have won
Gold Gloves; 1 was Rookie of the Year (but 9 others finished in the top 10 ROY
voting); 2 have World Series rings; 1 was an LCS MVP; and 15 are alumni
Division-1 universities.
Hint: He’s one of the few who can claim to have
homered off Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer three times each.
Hint: Before turning pro, he won the Dick Howser
Trophy, Golden Spikes Award, the Brooks Wallace Award and the ABCA Rawlings
Player of the Year. He was also nominated for an ESPY as Best Male College
Athlete.
- 51 doubles in 2012
- In total that draft group represents 30
All-Star appearances, 19 Silver Sluggers, 10 Gold Gloves, & 3 WS rings. The universities they attended were Fresno State,
GA Tech, Long Beach State, Miami (X2), NC State, Nebraska,
Oregon State, St. John's, Stanford, TCU, Tulane, USC, Virginia &
Wichita State.
- [I’m not sure any other athlete has won that
particular collection of awards!]
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Dustin Ackley, Rickey Henderson,
Garret Anderson, George Brett, Grady Sizemore
FRIDAY
Q. What All-Star hit a walk-off homer for
his first-place team this week?
Hint: He currently leads his league in doubles
and leads the majors in runs.
Hint: His run total after that game exactly
matched his totals in each of the previous two seasons.
Hint: He underwent a course of orthodontia to help
achieve the megawatt smile he now shares with us all.
Hint: This
past offseason, he traveled to Asia to study martial arts.
- HR on Wed
gave CLE their 63rd win of the season and increased their lead in
the AL Central to 10 games.
- Entering the G on Thur, Lindor had 37 doubles
and 99 runs.
- He even wore a uniform with
his nickname, Mr. Smile.
- In Tokyo, he studied
Aikido.
FCR - Eric Savage, Short Hills, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Mookie Betts
SATURDAY
Q. Of the 117 major leaguers who have come
to bat 400 times this season, who is the only one with only one (1!) game where
he struck out more than once?
Hint: One of baseball’s premier shortstops and
one of baseball’s premier closers were his teammates as youths.
Hint: He has played in the majors for only 7
years, but already one of his teammates is in the Hall of Fame.
Hint: Although Spanish is not his native language,
he has become almost fluent in it.
- On 13-Apr,
he struck out twice. In 21 other games
he struck out once. In the other 95
games he has played this year, he did not strike out even once. Between 02-May
and 18-Jun-2018,
there were, according to Sports Illustrated,
8,874 strikeouts in the majors, only one of
which belonged to Simmons.
- Played with Didi
Gregorius and Kenley
Jansen in Curacao.
- Played with Chipper
Jones in 2012 w/ATL.
- Curacao youngsters are taught Spanish and
English from their earliest years in school.
Their native tongue is Dutch.
Simmons’ wife, born in the U.S., is fluent in Spanish as well.
FCR - Kellen Nielson, Blanding, Utah
Incorrect
guesses: Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Bryce
Harper, Freddie Freeman, Didi Gregorius, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. Who, in just his second full season in
the majors, led his team to the playoffs and helped his manager nab a “Manager
of the Year” trophy?
Hint: He was drafted 2nd overall,
behind only a highly-touted recruit who was later Rookie of the Year?
Hint: The year he was drafted, Sports Illustrated breathlessly reported,
“He might be the fastest prospect since Bo Jackson!”
Hint: Scouts who saw him in high school reported
that he once threw a football 82 yards and that his fastball reached 99 miles
per hour.
Hint: He sometimes wears his nickname instead of
his name on the back of his jersey.
- MIN were the 2nd AL Wild Card team
in 2017. Their manager, Hall of Famer Paul
Molitor, was named AL Manager of the Year.
- Statement comes from SI writer Allen
Chen.
- His nickname is “Buck”.
FCR - Anthony Zydlewski, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Incorrect
guesses: Kris Bryant, Rick Ankiel,
,Melvin Upton
SUNDAY
Q. Whose manager justifiably bragged, “There’s
[him] and then there’s 29 other centerfielders.”?
Hint: His General Manager threw in, “He’s a
weapon… He plays with his hair on fire. He
makes incredible plays and he makes some incredibly difficult plays look
routine.”
Hint: His major league debut, his only game that
season, was game 163, a wild-card tiebreaker game. Although they won and the team advanced, he
didn’t advance with them.
Hint: One season he managed to strike out 99
times in 98 games.
Hint: He was part of amateur championships at
both high school and college levels.
- Comments such as these, from Rays’
manager Kevin Cash and baseball operations president Matt
Silverman, very well might emerge during future contract
discussions.
- Debut 30Sep-2013. Played only the defensive half of the 9th
inning. No balls came his way.
- 99 K in 2017.
He is on schedule to break 100 this season.
- His high school , Bishop Luers High School in Ft. Wayne,
won the Indiana state championship. He
then led Parkland
College, where he was twice named a National Junior College
Athletic Association All-American, to a national championship.
FCR - Jack Sullivan, Louisville
Incorrect
guesses: Jackie Bradley, Jr.
WEEKLY THEME – Winners
of the prestigious Platinum
Glove Award.
National League
Molina........................ 2011, 2012, 2014,
2015
Simmons.................... 2013
Rizzo.......................... 2016
Arenado..................... 2017
American League
Beltre.......................... 2011, 2012
Machado.................... 2013
Gordon....................... 2014
Kiermaier.................... 2015
Lindor......................... 2016
Buxton........................ 2017
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Mike
Sparks, Sarasota
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Third
basemen with four All-Star game appearances and multiple gold glove and top 10
WAR seasons.
- 3rd basemen
who have been All-Stars this decade
- 3B
fielding bible winners
Sunday - Players
with the most Gold Gloves this decade
-
Something about advanced defensive metrics… The Fielding Bible,
SDI or something.
-
They’ve all won gold gloves
-
Something to do with All-Star and the classic
-
Leaders in SABR defensive index at each position
-
Gold Glover’s and silver sluggers
-
All stars who play for the team that drafted them
-
Career leaders in WAR of players who play for the teams that
drafted them.
-
gold glovers who were 1st round draft picks
Questions archived here: http://horsehidetriviA. blogspot.com/
Horsehide Trivia home
page: https://sites.google.com/site/tnfotobbpics/home/horsehide-trivia
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