MONDAY
Q. Who was the
first left-handed pitcher to win a Cy Young Award for a team on the west coast?
Hint: He was the
first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award a second time.
Hint: He was the
first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons.
Hint: For all
that, he never won a Cy Young Award representing his league.
- CYA 1963, 65, 66
for LAD
- All three were for
all MLB, not for either league. CYA by
league began the after he retired.
FCR - Dennis Cullen,
Durham
Incorrect guesses: Mike
McCormick
TUESDAY
Q. What pitcher
surpassed Don Drysdale’s record for consecutive scoreless innings?
Hint: His canid
nickname seems at odds with his gregarious personality.
Hint: He once
plunked four (4!) batters in the space of two innings.
- 59 consecutive scoreless innings
- “Bulldog”
FCR - Morris Buenemann, Florissant, Missouri
Incorrect guesses: Clayton Kershaw, Bob Gibson, Dock Ellis
WEDNESDAY
Q. What coach is credited with transforming
Minnesota Twins’ pitcher Frank Viola from someone with a 11-25 record in his
first two seasons into an All-Star, a World Series MVP and a Cy Young Award
winner?
Hint: He (not Viola) had his best professional
year after spending a whole season in the military: Led the league in ERA and WHIP and led the majors in Shutouts and ERA+.
Hint: He was the first pitcher to throw a shutout
at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a regular-season game.
Hint: Perhaps no player’s name has better aligned
with the moniker of his last team.
- 1957 ERA
= 2.66;
WHIP = 1.082;
ShO = 6; and
ERA+ = 155
FCR - Daniel Wilson, St. Paul
Incorrect
guesses: Ron Perranoski, Dick Donovan,
Sad Sam Jones
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who was the first major league pitcher
to strike out 300 batters in a season in both leagues?
Hint: He was dubbed the next great strikeout
artist after Nolan Ryan by… Nolan Ryan.
Hint: He was the first Houston Astros pitcher to
throw shutouts in his first four consecutive starts at home.
Hint: He was the only Seattle Mariner pitcher to
win 20 games in a single season in the 20th century.
Hint: He allowed the first regular-season home
run in major league history in the month of March.
- 4 shutouts:
All four were thrown in Houston in front of an average crowd of
43,946, nearly 15,000 above the average attendance without him starting. In his 5th and final home start in
an Astros uniform, he gave up 2 runs in 7 innings 12-Sep. His average ERA for those starts was 0.51.
- 20-4 in 1997 for SEA; Jamie Moyer is the only other
pitcher in Mariner history with 20-win seasons. He had 2.
FCR - Charlie Fouche, Dalton, Georgia
Incorrect
guesses: Jim Bunning, J.R. Richard, Mark
Langston, Mike Scott
THURSDAY
Q. What former Spartan is the only pitcher
in major league history to hit two home runs on Opening Day?
Hint: He owns the current major league record for
the most RBI by a pitcher.
Hint: His World Series career ERA leads all
comers. He also leads in career win-loss
%, hits per 9 innings pitched and walks & hits per 9 innings pitched in
world Series play. (20 innings minimum)
Hint: During his
senior year in high school, his father built a wall around their home bullpen
pitching mound so that scouts and other observers would not distract him as he
warmed up.
- Led the South Caldwell High (NC) Spartans to the
2007 North Carolina State Title. His 2
OD HR were on 02-Apr-2017 against ARI.
- His career WS ERA is
0.25. The single run he gave up was a
home run surrendered to the next year’s WS MVP, Salvador Perez, in the 1st G of the 2014 WS.
- 54 career RBI (also leads w/17 HR)
- His father Kevin also build the home Bumgarner
grew up in.
FCR - Judah Kaplan,
Teaneck, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Derek Lowe, Red Ruffing, Robin
Roberts, Christy Mathewson, Bob Welch, Bob Gibson, John Smoltz, Bob Lemon,
Babe Ruth, Larry Sherry
FRIDAY
Q. What former Astro has the record for the
most strikeouts a season by a 20th-century National League righty?
Hint: No other native of his home state has even
played in as many as half the years he logged in the majors.
Hint: No pitcher has struck out 25 or more
batters in a single World Series since he last did it.
Hint: Interpreted one way, he’s as light as a 20th
of a pound.
- English “/-” (shillings) are 20 to
a “£”
FCR - Judah Kaplan, Teaneck, New Jersey
Incorrect
guesses: Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard, Mike
Scott, Billy Wagner
SATURDAY
Q. Who was the first player to collect 25
RBI in a season at age 45 or older in the modern era?
Hint: He was the oldest player in MLB history to
lead his league in hits.
Hint: It was the 7th time he had led
his league in hits.
Hint: Leading the league was something of a
specialty of his:
He led the league in… games
played 5 times;
in… plate
appearances 7 times;
in… at-bats
4 times;
in… runs
scored 4 times;
in… doubles
5 times; and
in… batting
average thrice.
Hint: Mickey Mantle gave him his nickname. Or possibly Whitey Ford did.
- 25 RBI in 1986 @ age 45
- 140 H @ age 40 in work stoppage-shortened 1981
- In a 1963 spring training game with CIN
playing NYY, he attempted to catch a Mantle HR that was 50 feet over his
head. Seeing this completely pointless
effort, Mantle turned to a Ford (or Ford to Mantle) and mockingly commented,
“Did you see ‘Charlie Hustle’ out there?”
Various versions of the story differ.
FCR - Mike Sparks, Las Vegas
Incorrect guesses: Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor, Julio Franco
SUNDAY
Q. About whom did Hall of Fame pitcher Don
Sutton say, “I never saw anything like it.
He doesn't just hit pitchers, he takes away their dignity.”
Hint: In one 3-year period in the middle of his
21-season career, he finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd
in MVP voting. He played in the same
league his whole career.
Hint: An All-Star teammate of his once said,
“"If [he] asked us to jump off the (… Bridge), we would ask him what
kind of dive he wanted. That's how much
respect we have for the man.”
Hint: His great-grandfather had been a
slave. His great-grandmother was
Seminole Indian. His unusual first name
was an amalgamation of his father’s first name and his mother’s maiden name.
Hint: In a rare moment of focus on himself, he
once said, “I'm proud of the fact that I'm the only player to hit a ball
completely out of Dodger Stadium.”
- Finished behind Joe Torre in 1971 when PIT won the pennant;
behind Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Billy Williams the next year and then nearly
overtook Pete Rose in Rose’s only MVP season. He received NL MVP votes in 8 additional
seasons including finally winning the award in 1979.
- It was teammate Al Oliver talking about the Fort Pitt Bridge and his and his fellow
teammates feelings about Stargell.
- “I was bred as an outcast, part Negro and part
Seminole, in my early years raised as an Indian.”
- Dodger Stadium blast 05-Aug-1969 off Alan Foster. Not the last home run ever to be hit out of
Dodger Stadium, but it was the first and is still the longest, a jaw-dropping
506 feet. There was no flirting with any
part of the playing field nor any bouncing off the top of any bleachers. It cleared every part of the stadium and then
part of the parking lot. Four years
later, he became the second batter to
do it. It’s been done since by Mike
Piazza, Mark McGwire and Giancarlo Stanton.
FCR - Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio
Incorrect
guesses: Reggie Jackson
IN MEMORIAM
Q. Behind whom did Ernie Banks, Gene Conley
and Hank Aaron finish for Rookie of the Year in 1954?
Hint: In 1961, he was the last player to hit an
inside-the-park home run in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Hint: Three months later, he was to score the
last run ever there.
Hint: To make room for him as a promising rookie,
the Cardinals traded away a future Hall of Fame outfielder.
Hint: Teammate Stan Musial helped him adjust his
swing just before his trade to the Dodgers.
Hint: The trade paid dividends as he was a
significant contributor in the Dodgers the first-ever pennant on the west
coast.
- IPHR off Robin Roberts 10-Jun-1961 in the 4th
inning. For added flavor, he took
Roberts over the wall in the 6th.
- On 11-Apr-1954, STL traded Enos Slaughter to NYY for Emil Tellinger (minors), Bill Virdon and Mel Wright. Moon debuted on Opening Day, two days later.
FCR - Michael Campos, Redmond, Washington
Incorrect
guesses: Wally Post, Roy Campanella
WEEKLY THEME – National
League players who won the World Series MVP and were named the Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the
Year” in the same season.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Bill
Deane, Cooperstown
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Dodger
Cy Young Award winners
Wed - Dodgers
that won the World Series MVP
- Dodger
World Series MVP's with 2 complete game victories and ERA, of under 2.00 for
the series.
- NL
pitchers who were WS MVP with at least one complete game and an era under 2.00
for the Series.
- Pitchers with two World Series CG shutouts and a World
Series MVP.
- World Series MVP pitchers for National league teams.
- 1) World Series MVP pitchers
or 2) Pitchers named Sportsman of the Year by SI
- World
Series MVPs who were the winning pitcher in the last game.
Thu - NL
pitchers who won a World Series MVP
- World
Series MVP's
- NL
pitchers who have won the World Series MVP
Fri - Modern
strikeout kings
- Starting
pitchers who had great performances in the last game of a WS
- Pitchers who won the WS MVP
- National
League pitchers who were World Series MVP
- Pitchers
for NL West teams at one time, who were All-Star selections multiple times.
- World
Series pitching -- going 2-0 with an ERA of one or better
Sun - WS
MVPS who helped break 2+ game AL winning streaks
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