Q. Whose recent
exhaustive biography concludes that he is the greatest catcher of all time?
Hint: He is so
well-liked, there’s more than a statue in his honor, there’s an entire museum!
Hint: His name has
been copied, but his style in inimitable.
- Allen Barra’s ground-breaking
effort, Yogi Berra, Eternal
Yankee, is a captivating read.
Well-documented yet very
accessible. His findings are hard to
refute.
- A lawsuit ensued when
Hanna-Barbera produced pick-a-nick-basket-stealing smarter-than-average rascal
named Yogi Bear.
FCR - Tim Luca, San
Mateo, California
Incorrect guesses: Johnny
Bench, Bob Uecker, Roy Campanella, Moe Berg, Sherm Lollar
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the first
player to hit five home runs in his team's first four games of a season?
Hint: It presage a
good season as he and his teammates celebrated a World Series championship at
the end of that season.
Hint: The very
next year, he led MLB in doubles, triples and stolen bases.
- 1968 = 46 2b, 14 3b & 62 SB
FCR - Kevin and Bob Wachs, Mountain View, California
Incorrect guesses: Rickey Henderson, Stan Musial, Brady Anderson,
Willie Mays
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who was the first multiple-time 20-game-winning
pitcher to be seen on the field wearing glasses?
Hint: The first year he wore them he led the
league in ERA.
Hint: He pitched for two solid decades, but his
coaching career outdid even that.
- Lee Meadows may well have beat Harder with his
20-9 record in 1926 and was famous for wearing glasses, so we’ll retroactively
edit in the words “multiple-time” to the question. Meadows, of course, doesn’t satisfy the
hints.
- Played for CLE for 20 seasons, 1928-47, but
coached in the majors for 23 years 1947-1969 mostly, but not uniquely for the
Indians.
FCR - Vince Guerrieri, Elyria, Ohio
Incorrect
guesses: Steve Blass, Lee Meadows, Jim
Konstanty, Ryne Duren, Dizzy Trout, Greg Maddux, Fritz Peterson, Harry
Brecheen
THURSDAY
Q. In the first ten years of existence of
the team called the “Expansion Washington Senators” they won their Opening Day
game exactly once. What was the name of
the pitcher credited with that victory?
Hint: Even though he was the losing pitcher in
his own MLB debut, he made history that day.
Hint: On the other team that day was a player from
his high school who be a Hall of Famer.
Hint: He himself, however, is not eligible for
Hall of Famer glory.
- W = 09-Apr-1962. The Senators would win only one more Opening
Day game before becoming the Texas Rangers.
- He was the losing pitcher in the last MLB game
ever played in Ebbets Field: 24‑Sep‑1957. He pitched 7 strong innings only surrendering
a single earned run against a Dodger team with a former Rookie of the Year, one
with 3 MVPs, 2 Hall of Famers and a line-up with a total of 30 All-Star
appearances.
- With only 9 years in the Bigs, Daniels doesn’t
qualify for HOF nomination. He might
have garnered the odd vote. Ya never
know.
FCR - Randy Fletcher, Springville, Tennessee
Incorrect
guesses: Dick Bosman, Joe McClain, Bobby
Shantz, Dick Donovan
FRIDAY
Q. Whose home run was the fifth of the five
hit in the ninth inning of a game against the Reds in Cincinnati the year the
Reds won the National League pennant?
Hint: Two of the other four homers were hit by
Hall of Famers.
Hint: It was only his seventeenth major league
game and only his second career home run.
Hint: He played a key role in another famous
game, this time one between two pitchers who each threw complete-game
one-hitters. His double in the 8th
eventually provided the game’s only run.
Hint: After his playing day, he was the baseball
coach at a university in the Northeast Conference.
- HRs by Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Jim
Davenport (ITPHR), Willie Mays & Orsino.
- Coached at Fairleigh-Dickinson University
FCR - Craig McGraw
Incorrect
guesses: Jo-Jo Moore, Bernie Carbo, Jerry
Lynch, Joey Jay, Mark Fidrych
SATURDAY
Q. Who served up the home run to Johnny
Orsino, the 9th of the inning on 23‑Aug‑1961?
Hint: He was the star of the Pasadena High School
basketball team that won the state championship.
Hint: In a bizarre turn of events, a man in Florida passed away having lived much
of his adult life claiming he WAS this pitcher.
It was only discovered an unraveled after the man’s death.
- 5-HR inning:
23-Aug-1961
- Impersonation saga => (Click here.)
FCR - Nels Johnston, St. Thomas, Ontario
Incorrect
guesses: Bill Stein, Jim Brosnan
SUNDAY
Q. Who was the first person traded straight-up
for the person with the worst batting average in the history of documented
major league baseball. (As always, reasonable
minimums apply.)
Hint: The only players ahead of him in Rookie of
the Year voting are all now in the Hall of Fame.
Hint: He didn’t win as many games in the entire
remainder of his career added together as he did as a rookie.
- Traded from CHC to MLN for Bob Buhl 30-Apr-1962. Buhl, a very serviceable pitcher with a solid
15-year career, could only assemble a batting average of .089.
- 10 Wins in 1961; a total of 8 over the next
two seasons. 3-year career.
FCR - Kevin Mix, Chicago
Incorrect
guesses: Dave Brain, Gene Bearden, Wally
Bunker, Ed Vande Berg, Bo Belinsky
WEEKLY THEME – Players
on the baseball cards in the tree house in
the movie “The Sandlot”. Check each out individually by clicking on
them below.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Pat
Ray, Paradise Valley, Arizona (after
Daniels)
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - Hall of
Famers with weird off season jobs
- Hall
of Famers who were involved in the 1964 World Series
Friday - Hall
of Famers with weird off season jobs
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