not-at-all-trivial trivia 2013

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With his next hit, Albert Pujols will be the ninth player to get 1000 hits in both leagues. Who are the other eight?

Clues: three are HOFers, two were on the HOF ballot this year but weren't elected, two others have yet to appear on the ballot (one of whom has a very good HOF case), and one retired in 2011 and was primarily a shortstop.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 08:10 (six years ago) link

Frank Robinson
Bill Buckner

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 9 August 2018 11:56 (six years ago) link

Robinson yes, Buckner no.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 12:55 (six years ago) link

Is Beltre the "very good case"?

clemenza, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:00 (six years ago) link

No, he's not--949 hits in the NL.

clemenza, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:02 (six years ago) link

Raines must be one of them.

clemenza, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:07 (six years ago) link

I should clarify that all eight of these guys are retired.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:07 (six years ago) link

Not Rained or Beltre.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:07 (six years ago) link

Raines

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:08 (six years ago) link

Raines had 966 AL hits. I'm evidently working on a shadow list of the guys who came the closest without actually doing it.

clemenza, Thursday, 9 August 2018 13:09 (six years ago) link

Anyway, the three HOFers are Robinson, Winfield, and Vlad Guerrero. The two guys who weren't elected to the HOF this year are McGriff and Carlos Lee. The two not yet eligible are Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Beltran. The last one is Orlando Cabrera.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 9 August 2018 21:11 (six years ago) link

I remember p much nothing about Cabrera and Lee.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 9 August 2018 21:18 (six years ago) link

btw the AL LCS + NL LCS + WS MVP was . . . orel hershiser

mookieproof, Thursday, 9 August 2018 21:27 (six years ago) link

I gave up after my near misses. If I'd thought about it, I'm sure I would have gotten Winfield and Vlad eventually. McGriff, probably not. The others, no. Good question.

clemenza, Thursday, 9 August 2018 21:29 (six years ago) link

A friend gave me this the other night: who was the last Cy Young winner to win 20 and hit .300? (Prompted by Max Scherzer, who was hitting .288 going into tonight's game--he's 1 for 2 tonight.) Not that hard if you think about it--I missed on my first guess, got it on the second. I found a page that list all seven HOF pitchers who did both in the same season (including the answer to the question). The page says seven non-HOF pitchers did it too. So a second question: who was the last guy (maybe--the last HOF'er, anyway) to win 20 and hit .300 in the same season?

clemenza, Saturday, 18 August 2018 00:51 (six years ago) link

my go-to for 'pitchers who could hit' is always former pirate great rick rhoden, who never won 20 games or had a significant cy young showing (fifth once)

so what i'm saying is that i have no idea

mookieproof, Saturday, 18 August 2018 01:00 (six years ago) link

first guess that come to mind was dontrelle willis

johnny crunch, Saturday, 18 August 2018 01:40 (six years ago) link

Rhoden was 14-9 in '84, hit .333; Willis won 22 in 2005 and hit .261. So good guesses both, but no. I'll leave the question open till tomorrow.

clemenza, Saturday, 18 August 2018 01:48 (six years ago) link

Glavine?

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 18 August 2018 03:56 (six years ago) link

Just checked -- it's not him, he never hit .300 in any season and was under .240 in his Cy Young years.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 18 August 2018 03:59 (six years ago) link

I'm going to go with Mike Hampton for my second guess (can't remember if he won the Cy during that one really good year he had, but he could hit).

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:04 (six years ago) link

Fernando "El Toro" Valenzuela?

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:06 (six years ago) link

Hampton finished second in the voting in 1999, won 22 games, and hit over .300. He might be the answer to #2 (not a HOFer though).

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:08 (six years ago) link

xp those are solid guesses, but i don't think it can be anyone (even) that recent

mookieproof, Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:08 (six years ago) link

i'm sorry, 'el toro' is clearly former pirate great pedro alvarez's nickname

mookieproof, Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:10 (six years ago) link

Glavine was my first guess too, NoTime. And Hampton is more recent than the answer I had for the second question (one of those seven non-HOF'ers)--good job.

The correct answer to the first question is Bob Gibson, who hit .303 in his Cy-winning '70 season. The HOF answer to the second question was a year later (and extra tough because an AL pitcher just prior to the DH): Catfish Hunter won 21 in 1971 and hit .350!

Some others: http://www.baseballbunts.com/index.php/the-club/299-pitchers-in-the-hall-of-fame-with-20-wins-and-300-batting-average-in-a-season

clemenza, Saturday, 18 August 2018 04:34 (six years ago) link

bob gibson is the answer to so much!

good quiz

mookieproof, Saturday, 18 August 2018 05:03 (six years ago) link

Holy crap, I didn’t know that about Gibson! I knew he was a fine hitter, but dang.

Karl Malone, Saturday, 18 August 2018 07:02 (six years ago) link

The big surprise to me was Catfish Hunter--that .350 mark was in 103 AB. He was pretty good for his whole career (.226), even if you eliminate 1971 (still above .200). He only got two more PA after the DH came in; batted 1.000 in 1973 in one AB.

clemenza, Saturday, 18 August 2018 12:39 (six years ago) link

I wouldn't have guessed Gibson. I was sure it was somebody more recent.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 18 August 2018 18:28 (six years ago) link

https://enlightenment.rip/

this was discussed on the fangraphs podcast - it's a tool to discover the first MLB player who was younger than you and the last player older than you

for me it's rick ankiel and bartolo colon

na (NA), Friday, 24 August 2018 14:58 (six years ago) link

Mine are Ed Nunez (journeyman AL reliever) and Julio Franco

I always thought the first younger was Jose Oquendo, but Nunez beat him by a year

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 August 2018 15:26 (six years ago) link

ankiel/bart for me as well

johnny crunch, Friday, 24 August 2018 16:06 (six years ago) link

i also got bartolo colon

something is broken with it, i think?

Karl Malone, Friday, 24 August 2018 16:11 (six years ago) link

i'm 35 btw

Karl Malone, Friday, 24 August 2018 16:12 (six years ago) link

i got jose reyes, on the younger side

Karl Malone, Friday, 24 August 2018 16:12 (six years ago) link

if you're younger than bartolo colon, the answer for the second part defaults to bartolo colon, because i guess it defaults to the oldest "last player older than you were to play in the majors"? i don't know, the first part is more interesting anyways

na (NA), Friday, 24 August 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link

yeah, i guess the second question becomes more interesting once you're older than all of the active players. i'm working on it!

Karl Malone, Friday, 24 August 2018 16:27 (six years ago) link

I got Melvin Upton. My friend I sent it to is going to get Pujols, which is really gonna fuck him up because Pujols Is Old has been a bit of a running joke w/ us

challops trap house (Will M.), Friday, 24 August 2018 19:57 (six years ago) link

hell there are half a dozen managers younger than me now

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 August 2018 20:12 (six years ago) link

Both sides of that are broken. It gave me Aramis Ramirez for first player younger than me. He was born about six months after I was. Several players were born between the two dates.

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 24 August 2018 20:27 (six years ago) link

Fred Manrique on the young end--never heard of him. (Debuted in '81 for the Jays, also played for the Expos.) Julio Franco at the other end.

clemenza, Friday, 24 August 2018 20:41 (six years ago) link

I got Alex Rodriguez (born ten months after me) and Colon (still older than me, so the dream of playing in MLB is alive).

NoTimeBeforeTime, Saturday, 25 August 2018 06:15 (six years ago) link

Benji Gil / Raul Ibañez

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 26 August 2018 00:51 (six years ago) link

I had done this before through Baseball Reference. Got same answer...

Alex Fernandez & Mariano Rivera

earlnash, Sunday, 26 August 2018 03:14 (six years ago) link

Jose Bautista (Braves, Mets, Phillies) will become the third player to appear for three teams in a single division in the same season. The others:

-Kelly Johnson, 2014 (Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles)

-Bob Reynolds, 1975 (Tigers, Indians, Orioles)

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) August 28, 2018

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 28 August 2018 17:11 (six years ago) link

Both sides of that are broken. It gave me Aramis Ramirez for first player younger than me. He was born about six months after I was. Several players were born between the two dates.

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, August 24, 2018 4:27 PM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but the players between, did they play before aramis did? the point is, it tells you who was the first player to suit up for a game who was younger than you. aka the first time you could turn on a game and say "oh i'm not younger than all ballplayers now." it's not just "who's closest to you in age."

also says on the side that as long as there's a player older than you, it'll just show the oldest active player. when all players are younger than you, that's when the second part becomes interesting.

challops trap house (Will M.), Tuesday, 28 August 2018 17:27 (six years ago) link

Hmm, looks like you're correct. None of the guys in the interim debuted before Aramis.

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 28 August 2018 17:35 (six years ago) link

four weeks pass...

mookie betts could become the fourth player to win an MVP, batting title, gold glove and silver slugger all in the same year. who were the other three?

(note: the silver slugger awards began in 1980)

mookieproof, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 15:12 (six years ago) link

Two quick guesses: Ichiro, Altuve.

clemenza, Tuesday, 25 September 2018 15:27 (six years ago) link


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