08-Jul-2019
This week’s quiz was
submitted by Steve Klitzner of North Miami Beach, a Horsehide Trivia reader
since last Thanksgiving.
MONDAY
Q. Major League Baseball, during its
centennial celebration in 1969, announced its all-time greatest team. Who was the only position player on that team
whose career had begun in the 19th century?
Hint: He led his league multiple times in: Hits, runs, doubles, triples, runs batted in,
stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging.
Hint: He never led in home runs in his 21-year
MLB career in spite of having double-figure home runs in a season twice.
Hint: He was a real card.
- Led in H = 2X
R = 2X
2b = 7X
3b = 3X
RBI = 4X
SB = 5X
BA = 8X
OBP = 4X
SLG = 6X
- Hit 10 HR in each of 1898 & 1908
- A single, famous copy of his 1909-11 T206 “Sweet
Caporal”
baseball card in excellent condition, perhaps the most famous collectible card
of all time, was sold for $3,120,000.00 the last time in
changed hands.
FCR - Dennis Walls, Orrington, Maine
Incorrect guesses: Cap Anson, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Cy Young,
Napoleon Lajoie
TUESDAY
Q. What pitcher started 143 games his first
six seasons, but only started four games his last sixteen seasons?
Hint: He won all four of those games.
Hint: He led the league in strikeouts five times.
Hint: His first house is still standing, but his
second house, the one he built, has been
destroyed.
- All 143 were for BOS 1914-19. The last 4 were for NYY 1920-33.
- Led AL in K as a batter 1X w/BOS (while
a P) & 4X w/NYY. When he retired, he
held the career K record until it was broken by Mickey Mantle 30 years later.
- The house of his birth is now a beautiful museum at 216 Emory Street in Baltimore. The first Yankee Stadium, rightfully called
The House that Ruth Built” lasted from 1923 until 2008.
FCR - Michael Shopoff, Houston
Incorrect guesses: Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz, Hoyt Wilhelm,
Randy Johnson, Herb Score, Satchel Paige, Amos Rusie, Steve Carlton, Hoyt
Wilhelm, Ichiro Suzuki
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who had a major league career of only 10
season, but which included a Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP and six All-Star
Game appearances?
Hint: In addition to receiving MVP votes in 8 of
his 10 seasons he lead the league twice in stolen bases and won a batting
title.
Hint: He played in 6 World Series and had his
number retired by more than one team.
- Received MVP votes
- Number retired by LAD and now by all MLB teams
*6 Dodger teammates
also received MVP votes in 1949.
FCR - Larry Farin, Plano, Texas
Incorrect
guesses: Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella,
Joe Gordon, Maury Wills, Ryne Sandburg
IN
MEMORIAM (Not part of this week’s theme.)
Q. Whose decent 3.91 ERA couldn’t prevent his
team’s staff ERA from being the worst in its first year in the American League?
Hint: In games he started, his cap flew off his
head more than even Willie Mays’s did.
Hint: Only Mother Nature could prevent this
bulldog from starting a World Series Game Seven.
Hint: After a seven-year MLB hiatus, he joined a
team blessed with two former MVPs, a former Rookie of the Year and a manager and
fellow knuckle-baller both headed for the Hall of Fame.
Hint: In his only victory with them he struck out
the first batter he faced—a four-time batting champion.
Hint: Even in light of his very respectable MLB
career, he made a bigger impact on the game with a pen in his hand than with a
baseball in it.
- SEP 1969 team ERA was the
worst in the AL. Not why they moved to
Milwaukee, but it couldn’t have helped.
- When pitching well, his violent pitching
motion caused his pitching arm to brush up against his cap and knock it off.
This could happen a few dozen times in a complete game.
- He was originally slated to pitch the 1962 WS
Gm7 vs. the San Francisco Giants, but was bumped in favor of Ralph Terry when
rain postponed that deciding game by one day.
- After being out of the majors since 1970, he
returned for a 5-game cameo with ATL.
Bill Madlock was his lead-off strikeout victim (using mostly
knuckleballs) on 14-Sep-1978
- Bouton’s seminal work, “Ball Four”, was a
controversial tell-all exposé that cracked wide-open the hidden lives of major
league players. This well-received book
was on The New York Times best-seller list for 17 weeks, the longest a
sports book had stayed there for nearly 25 years.
FCR
- Adrian Fung, Toronto
Incorrect
guesses: Tug McGraw
THURSDAY
Q. Who, in his major league debut, went 4
for 4 at the plate with 2 singles and 2 triples off a Hall of Fame pitcher?
Hint: The following month he was his league’s
player of the month.
Hint: He had a 22 game hitting streak his first
season.
Hint: Despite playing in only 52 games that
season, he won Rookie of the Year with no other players receiving even a single
vote.
- NL Player of the Month August, 1959
FCR - Fred Worth, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Incorrect
guesses: Orlando Cepeda, Frank Robinson,
Kirby Puckett, Mike Trout, Pete Reiser
FRIDAY
Q. Who had the lowest average that won his
league’s batting title?
Hint: His nickname has but 3 letters, however, they
are not the first 3 letters of his first or last name, nor do they appear in
that order anywhere in his name.
Hint: His grandson was originally drafted by the
same team this player played for his entire career.
- Won AL batting title w/.301 in 1968.
- “Yaz”
- Mike Yastrzemski was drafted by the BOS in 2009 but did not
sign, probably because he wasn’t taken until the 36th round. Make his MLB debut for SFG in 2019.
FCR - Alex Poterack, Providence
Incorrect
guesses: Alex Johnson, Snuffy Stirnweiss,
Jose Reyes, Elmer Flick, Pie Traynor
SATURDAY
Q. Who is the only player to lead his
league in hits more than 5 times, but never win the MVP award?
Hint: His highest MVP finish was 3rd.
Hint: He never hit less than .309 in any full
season.
Hint: During his career, he won awards named for Branch
Rickey, Lou Gehrig Memorial Award and Roberto Clemente Award for combining good
play and strong work in the community.
- Finished 3rd in MVP voting in 1984. When hit .394 in 1994, he was only 7th
most valuable in the voters’ collective estimation.
- Hit .309 in 1983 and 1990.
- Gwynn won the Branch Rickey Award in 1995, the Lou Gehrig Memorial
Award
in 1998, and the Roberto Clemente
Award
in 1999.
FCR - Dan Schoenholz, Walnut Creek, California
Incorrect guesses: Wade Boggs, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Ichiro
Suzuki, Michael Young, Kirby Puckett
WEEKLY THEME – “The greatest accomplished in a baseball
player’s career is being elected to the Hall of Fame the first time they are
eligible. The worst might well be making
the last out in a World Series. These
are the 6 players who achieved these highest and points but not until they had suffered
these lowest points.” ~ Steve Klitzner
1926—Ruth was
caught trying to steal 2b in the 7th game. Pete Alexander was pitching. Rogers Hornsby tagged Ruth out. Bob Meusel was at the plate with Lou Gehrig on
deck. STL won their first ever
WS 3-2. Today’s social media would have
had a field day with the Babe’s decision.
10-Oct-1926
1956—Robinson
struck out to end the 7th game as NYY beat the BRO. The third strike was dropped by Yogi Berra who
threw to Bill Skowron for the out. 10‑Oct‑1956
1962—One of the most
memorable G 7 endings occurred with the NYY leading SFG 1-0 in the bottom of
the 9th. With 1b open and
Orlando Cepeda on deck, McCovey hit a hard line drive to 2b Bobby
Richardson. Matty Alou was the tying run
on 3rd. Willie Mays,
representing the winning run, was on 2nd. 16-Oct-1962
1975—Yaz flew
out to center field in the bottom of the 9th with BOS trailing the CIN 4-3 in the 7th
game. Carlton who?
First Correct
Respondent to Identify Theme – Bob Charkovsky, Ashton, Maryland
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Tuesday - First
Hall of Famers to be inducted
- Inaugural HOF class
(1939) [sic]
- Players in the first
hall-of-fame class
- First players elected
to the hof
- The initial HOF
class
Thurs - HOFers
who made the last out of the 7th game of the World Series
- Hall
of Famers who made the last out in the World Series
Friday - HOF
players who made last out in a World Series
Sat - First
ballot hall of famers in each decade.
- Left
handed hitters with the most gidp lifetime or leading the league.
- All
made last out in a World Series Game 7
- Each
player did it in a different decade -- Ruth in 20s, McCovey in 60s, Yaz in 70s,
Gwynn in 80s.
_________^^^^^^^^^_________
BONUS QUESTIONS NOT
RELATED TO THE THEME
BASTILLE DAY BONUS
Q. Who are the four batter who hit 30 home
runs in the same season they had an on‑base percentage of .500?
Hint: The fewest home runs any of them hit was 34
in any such season.
Hint: The lowest OBP any of the had in any such
season was .512.
Hint: It was the same player who had those lows
and in the same year.
Hint: Extra points of Horsehide Trivia honor to
anyone who can answer this without aid of references—electronic, dead-tree or
otherwise.
A. In chronological order, they are=> [Just
for fun, I’ve added their WAR score for those years.]
Player Year HR OBP WAR
Babe
Ruth....... 1920...... 54...... .532...... 11.9
1921...... 59...... .512...... 12.9
1923...... 45...... .545...... 14.1*
1924...... 46...... .513...... 11.7
1926...... 47...... .516...... 11.5
Ted
Williams.... 1941...... 37.... .553..... 10.6
1957...... 38...... .526........ 9.7
Mickey
Mantle. 1957...... 34...... .512...... 11.3
Barry
Bonds.... 2001...... 73**... .515...... 11.9
2002...... 46...... .582...... 11.8
2003...... 45...... .529........ 9.2
2004...... 45...... .609**... 10.6
*All-time MLB record
for a position player
** All-time MLB record
N.B. In these 12
seasons, these players averaged an OPS of 1.311!
Bold = led the league that
year
I was prompted to this
particular combination of stats from the back of a 2019 Mickey Mantle Panini "Diamond
Kings card, #15.
FCR - R. D. Lerner, Silver Spring, Maryland
(Baseball Brainiac Bill Deane got all 4 off the top of his head. If you know him, you don’t doubt that that is
true.)
Incorrect
guesses: Lou Gehrig, Jim Thome, Rogers
Hornsby, Joey Votto, Stan Musial, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Joe DiMaggio,
Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ryan Braun, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Kemp, Ian Kinsler, Claude Raymond,
Eric Gagne, Ron Piche, Rheal Cormier, Hank Aaron, Bobby Richardson, Mark
McGwire, Greg Vaughn, Ken Griffey, Jr.
SUNDAY
Q. Who is the only left-handed-hitting MLB
player with more career doubles on his résumé than does Stan Musial?
Hint: His name is double-unique.
Hint: Five times he had 50 or more doubles in a
season.
Hint: He is often overlooked as a player at his
position because so many others who played there are among the immortals.
- 792 career doubles. No one has more, handedness notwithstanding.
- Of the 19,587 known major leaguers, no other
player has had the first name “”Tris” and no other player has had the family
name “Speaker”,
ergo, Double-Unique.
- Season total in doubles topped 49 in 1912, 20,
21, 23 & 26.
- Other centerfielders who might come to mind
first include Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Ken
Griffey, Jr., Kirby Puckett, Andruw Jones, Mike Trout, Richie Ashburn, Larry
Doby and Dale Murphy. Speaker, however,
deserves a place at the head, or very near the head, of this list.
FCR - Cappy Gagnon, Notre Dame (His city is of little
consequence.)
Incorrect guesses:
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