not-at-all-trivial trivia 2013

ya - he did have a good run there – most of what he did looks like it was through sheer volume tho.

I should have had Roberts (I have his autograph on an old baseball book) and Alexander; I thought Gibson and Marichal had too short a prime, but I guess they were opening-day starters for the entire duration; Sabathia somewhat of a surprise; Martinez definitely a surprise.

Who is the only shortstop in history with 5000+ PA and less than ten stolen bases? (You know his name.)

my guess for this was close, but no cigar (15 SBs)

at least the answer knows his limitations -- some of these dudes should have run a lot less

Nomar?

nope

i read it in the new BP annual

Ah no. Nomar stole 22 bases in his rookie year alone.

Somebody from the 40's and 50's? I thought of Boudreau, but it's not him (51 SB's in his career).

Morb's hint "(You know his name.)" tells me it's either a modern player, or someone rather well known.

active!

I finally got it after ~5 or so guesses. for some reason I forgot he was a ss

my initial guess was saint cal, who was 33-for-66

What is a good filterable baseball stats site? If it's possible to home in on that answer at baseball-reference.com, I can't figure out how. Total database eejit.

took me five guesses after Morbs' latest clue.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/split_finder.cgi?type=b

i used fangraphs to find the answer (select "Career" under the "Batting Leaders" tab on the main page, click "SS" to restrict it to just SS PA's, set minimum PA's to 5000, then sort by SBs)

Jhonny Peralta was my first guess, just because i watch him play every game and can't imagine him ever stealing. but it turns out he's managed 15 successful stolen bases.

Thanking u mookie & Karl

Huh, I wouldn't have gotten that without looking it up.

I noticed Cabrera is just shy of .300/.400/.500 for his career right now, so searched out a list of players who retired with all three. Here's a Sporacle--harder than you might think. I got 17/22, with many incorrect guesses along the way. (Didn't miss anyone really obvious, though...maybe #7.)

http://www.sporcle.com/games/UnknownUser/mlb-all-time-300-400-500-club

Surprised Willie Mays isn't one of them!

I got 14. Actually only one of the ,300/3000 hit/300 hr club made the list. Those four are the firsts I went with.

Willie Mays didn't walk a ton.

corey seager is 6-for-6 with six RBIs in salt lol city today

the last player to perform such a feat in the majors was . . . barves' willie harris vs. cardinals, 7/21/07

(combined 25 runs on 36 hits in salt lake today: 5 homers, 7 doubles, 1 triple. joeks)

who is the oldest living player of your fave franchise?

(the Met is obvious yet surprising)

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/oldest-living-major-leaguers-mlb-teams-franchises-060215

each team's last walk-off grand slam:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJZqHyRWsAAWIky.png

http://www.hardballtimes.com/when-you-think-about-it-trivia-isnt-trivial-part-1

I'm part of team trivia contest every winter, and I always think at least half their (100) questions aren't trivia at all. I don't know what the exact dictionary definition, but to me, trivia and general knowledge aren't interchangeable.

https://i.imgur.com/GaP8EfK.png

At first I thought he was dumping the water on himself!

the only active player left who's homered off rick ankiel is . . . aj burnett

The Mets swept their three-game series against the Diamondbacks and scored all 13 of their runs on home runs. The last such series sweep in the majors--that is, three or more games with all runs driven in by homers--was played 55 years ago, with the Orioles sweeping three games at Detroit. Baltimore scored 13 runs in the series.

Nathan Karns is the first AL pitcher to homer in 4 years and the first to account for the only run in a game with a home run since 1962

I wonder how often a player is a triple short of a cycle and then actually gets a triple.

since 1914, there have been 244 instances of a player hitting for the cycle and 13,191 instances of a player ending up “a triple short of the cycle”

http://www.baseballessential.com/news/2015/04/16/least-likely-cycles

Pretty close but I guess what I'm getting at is obviously the triple is the hardest/least-likely part of the cycle to get, so if someone hits for the cycle, do they usually get the triple early in the process or is there no consistency about when the triple comes? Does that question make any sense?

i'm guessing there's not much consistency apart from maybe someone trying to stretch a double late if they've got the other three

I would imagine it's all random, though I wonder how many players a "triple short" try to leg out a 3B in that final at bat..

damn, killfiled by frogbs

But how could it be random if a triple is statistically less likely than a single, double, or homer? Seems like "a triple short of the cycle" would happen more often than a double short or a single short.

that is true (and it does). but it doesn't follow that ppl who actually get the cycle would hit the triple last

i think

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_to_hit_for_the_cycle

All you need is Baseball Reference, a spreadsheet, and a few hours.

i adore no-hitters compared to the jerkwad cycles.

a bit parochial, but

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2015/8/10/9111909/new-york-mets-trivia-teenagers

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2015/8/3/9084755/new-york-mets-trivia-40-year-old-players

@dennistlin
The Padres had come up one hit short of a cycle 361 times. They'd finished a triple shy 258 times.

Nice ceremony for the '85 Jays at today's game (Bell, Barfield, and Moseby specifically). I have even more nostalgia for the '83-87 group than the two WS winners.

Anyway, reminded me of something I'd forgotten. The '85 team clinched at home against the Yankees in the 161st game. What noteworthy thing happened in the meaningless 162nd game? (Not all that difficult.)

i assume a no-hitter.

Last night Bryce Harper became the 15th player in history to record 4 walks, 0 hits, and score 4 runs.

Right after becoming the all-time leader in major league games played by a native of the Dominican Republic, Adrian Beltre was ejected by home plate umpire Adam Hamari.

Actually, I do live in a town with a minor league (AHL) hockey team. Players get called up and it affects things. There are pretty big rivalries between some of the teams in their division.

There seems to be an element to your argument that minor league baseball in general is irrelevant

feeling very seen lol

if fans derive pleasure from their local minor league teams winning, then that is wonderful; perhaps i am too cynical

Actually, I do live in a town with a minor league (AHL) hockey team.

The Gulls??!?!?!?! I recall sitting in the stands next to Kim Alexis, who at my 17 year old self, had never seen such a beautiful woman in such close proximity. She was very kind to us nerds!

Yes! Their biggest rival is Ontario.

By bWAR, Paul Goldschmidt has been seven times as valuable as any other #246 draft pick in baseball history. Oh, hang on. My mistake. He has been seven times as valuable as EVERY other #246 draft pick in baseball history, COMBINED. https://t.co/5vwR9t7ikt

— AZ SnakePit (@AZSnakepit) January 2, 2019

I remember we talked a bit about that two years ago, and karl malone linked to this SI piece:

http://www.si.com/mlb/strike-zone/2014/06/09/mike-piazza-keith-hernandez-albert-pujols-late-round-draft-picks

Goldschmidt's "DROP," by the way, has moved to 1964.9, which would put him 5th on the SI list, just shy of Kenny Rogers at 4th. If he puts up 4.0 WAR this year, he'd move up to 3rd. Catching Pizza for first (another 35 WAR) highly unlikely.