not-at-all-trivial trivia 2013

i don't even know who Robin Roberts is.

'good morning america' anchor

jeezus man, he had 286 wins and I didn't even hafta look it up

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

he retired well over a decade before I was born! aside from that, his name never came up in trivia or anything else - looks like he was a fringy HOF'er. oh well... the more i know!
xpost

Led NL in WAR for pitchers every year 1950-54... Fringy!

http://joeposnanski.com/joevault/?p=116

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.

Yup, minor league allstars are the kings of cockblock.

I don't agree that they're pointless. Obviously, a team can be upended at any time by call-ups, but it's otherwise like any other competitive team sport - you try to win, try to beat your rivals, etc. I don't believe it's pointless to the players or to the fans of teams.

Due to a strike in mid-season, the season was divided into a first half and a second half. The division winner of the first half (denoted E1, W1) played the division winner of the second half (denoted E2, W2).

wow, I never knew about this! crazy

The Reds/Cardinals story was one of the many subplots in the split-season book I just finished. I knew about that, but what I'd forgotten was that baseball had boxed itself into a situation where, for the first time ever, it was theoretically possible that certain teams might benefit towards the end by throwing a game--either in picking their opponent for the extra playoff round, or even in determining whether or not they made the playoffs. Herzog and LaRussa were both asked by reporters if they would intentionally lose game if doing so would ensure a playoff spot, and both, without hesitation, said they would. Which of course sent Bowie Kuhn around the bend.

They scrambled around and came up with some fix that sort of worked.

I don't agree that they're pointless. Obviously, a team can be upended at any time by call-ups, but it's otherwise like any other competitive team sport - you try to win, try to beat your rivals, etc. I don't believe it's pointless to the players or to the fans of teams.

when MLB rosters expand on sept 1, most teams (well, not the mets or white sox or blue jays) call up their best triple-a and double-a players. so everyone else slides up a level to fill the vacuum, and suddenly you have minor league playoff teams whose rosters barely resemble what they were two weeks previously, let alone months earlier.

not to mention the things like josh donaldson 'rehabbing' for double-a akron in their playoffs, and the fact that school's back in and no one comes to the games -- triple-a columbus has actually let people in free for playoff games the last few years just so they might buy food.

winning is better and more fun than losing, sure, and players are obviously competitive. but team records and titles in the minors have no correlation to major league success. the point of playing in the minors is not to help the class a team win, it's to move up and help the big league team win get fucking paid

Your argument was that they are "entirely pointless," though, and I think they're clearly not, nor should they be. I understand that AAA playoff rosters can be affected even more by call-ups than a team normally is. But is there not a core of a team that generally remains? In any case, I am sure there's fun in the competition regardless and I am sure that the players enjoy that aspect of it, as do fans. There seems to be an element to your argument that minor league baseball in general is irrelevant, that the games are not "the point" of the whole enterprise, but I see no reason to put that negative slant on the whole thing and if I lived in a town with a minor league team it would be a lot more fun to root for them than not to bother.

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.