Deep Trivia

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

28 MLB players have hit 500 or more homers.

Who are the only two who finished with lifetime slugging percentages under .500?

Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson

[Leo_The_Lip]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson

Correct-amundo.

And for the extra point, who used to use that word?

[BMW]

Russell Branyan led the 2010 Mariners with 15 home runs. His season represents the fewest plate appearances needed (238 on the M's) relative to the team leader (32.5% of Ichiro) for a club's home run leader with 10+ home runs. Branyan was traded to the M's midway through the season after spending the first half on the Cleveland Indians. The Mariner's CF Franklin Gutierrez was second with 12 homers.

If you include seasons where a club's HR leader had less than ten, then Nick Altrock holds the record. In just nine plate appearances, he hit one of Washington's four homers in the 1918 season. Walter Johnson, Howie Shanks and Joe Judge had the other three.

[Leo_The_Lip]

Trick question:

How far is second base from first base?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Trick question:

How far is second base from first base?

I am tempted to bite and say 90 feet, although I guess it has something to do with whether there are 90 feet between the edges of the bases that face each other or 90 feet between the centers of the bases.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Trick question:

How far is second base from first base?

Less than 90 feet. Not sure the exact number though.

EDIT: 88' 1-1/2"

[Leo_The_Lip]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I am tempted to bite and say 90 feet, although I guess it has something to do with whether there are 90 feet between the edges of the bases that face each other or 90 feet between the centers of the bases.

cephasjames got it right. However in the latter part of the summer, MiLB will move second base closer to the mound and further reduce the distance. All in the name of more steals.

Plus, second has never been 90 feet trom first or thired at any time.

[BMW]

Tony Gwynn was hitting .300 or over at the end of every day from 1 May 1993 to 31 Mar 1998, with the exception of opening day in 1996 (when he opened the season 1-4).

Out of his 2,440 career games, there were only 26 games where he finished the day below .200.

During his 20 seasons, there was only a single day where he was below a .200 batting average after the month of April had ended. That was 17 May 2000, when he finished the day at .196.

[BMW]

The 1948 Pirates and 1978 Twins are the only teams to lead off the game with a single, double, triple and home run in that order.

Both did so as the home team, nobody has accomplished it as the away team.

Stan Rojek, Frankie Gustine, Dixie Walker and Ralph Kiner in game 2 against the Phillies on June 13, 1948 (off Schoolboy Rowe and Paul Erickson)

Hoskin Powell, Roy Smalley, Rod Carew and Glenn Adams against the Royals on August 16, 1978 (off Doug Bird)

[BMW]

The last time each team started a player #3 in the lineup in their major league debut

Arizona Diamondbacks - Travis Lee (1998) - 3 for 4
Atlanta Braves - Scott Thorman (2006) - 0 for 4
Baltimore Orioles - Steve Finley (1989) - 0 for 1
Boston Red Sox - Andy Merchant (1975) 2 for 4
Chicago White Sox - Mario Valdez (1997) 1 for 6
Chicago Cubs - Lou Johnson (1960) - 1 for 6
Cincinnati Reds - Grady Hatton (1946) 3 for 5 (technically Stephen Larkin (1998) - 1 for 3 - during the last game of the season as a favor to his brother Barry)
Cleveland Indians - Carlos Santana (2010) - 0 for 3
Colorado Rockies - never
Detroit Tigers - Wilkin Ramirez (2009) - 1 for 3
Houston Astros - Cesar Cedeno (1970) - 2 for 5
Kansas City Royals - Mike Kingery (1986) - 2 for 4
Los Angeles Angels - Garret Anderson (1994) - 2 for 4
Los Angeles Dodgers - Eric Young (1992) - 2 for 4
Miami Marlins - Ryan Jackson (1998) - 2 for 5
Milwaukee Brewers - Al Yates (1971) - 1 for 4
Minnesota Twins - Whitey Herzog (1956) - 1 for 4
New York Yankees - Rusty Torres (1971) - 1 for 4
New York Mets - Darryl Strawberry (1983) - 0 for 4
Oakland Athletics - Ben Grieve (1997) - 3 for 4
Philadelphia Phillies - Tony Curry (1960) - 1 for 2
Pittsburgh Pirates - Donn Clendenon (1961) - 0 for 3
San Diego Padres - Barry Evans (1978) - 3 for 6
San Francisco Giants - Dan Gladden (1983) - 0 for 2
Seattle Mariners - Ricky Nelson (1983) - 0 for 4
St. Louis Cardinals - Red Schoendienst (1946) - 1 for 4
Tampa Bay Rays - Yoshi Tsusugo (2020) - 1 for 4
Texas Rangers - Keith Smith (1977) - 0 for 3
Toronto Blue Jays - never
Washington Nationals - Ron Calloway (2003) - 2 for 4

[BMW]

Records for most players used at a position in a single season (player with most appearances in parenthesis):

C - 2021 Cubs, 9 players (Wilson Contreras)
1B - 2000 Cardinals, 13 players (Mark McGwire)
2B - 2021 Cubs, 12 players (David Bote)
3B - 1915 Athletics, 14 players (Wally Schang)
SS - 1944 Dodgers, 10 players (Bobby Bragan)
LF - 2017 Dodgers, 16 players (Chris Taylor)
CF - 1969 Expos (Adolfo Phillips), 1973 Expos (Ron Woods), 2007 Athletics (Nick Swisher), 2021 Reds (Tyler Naquin), 12 players
RF - 2004 Royals (David DeJesus), 2016 Padres (Matt Kemp), 2019 Mariners (Mitch Haniger), 15 players
DH - 1990 Athletics (Jose Canseco), 22 players

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by BMW

The last time each team started a player #3 in the lineup in their major league debut

Philadelphia Phillies - Tony Curry (1960) - 1 for 2

I remember Tony Curry, from the Bahamas! I saw him play at Connie Mack Stadium in 1960, the game where he collided with SS Joe Koppe, a journeyman player who hit .171 that year. The game, per Retrosheet, was June 3, 1960. Curry was hitting .352 at the time. He ended up at .261. I always blamed Koppe. It was the outfielder’s ball. If you look at the stats, Curry was never the same after the collision; although he had some very good years in the minors. He retired in 1967 at age 29, and returned to Nassau, where he was instrumental in promoting baseball in the Bahamas.

[BMW]

The paper lists "Curry All Right" although he was "sprawled unconscious but revived by oxygen in the dressing room." Seems like a fantastic potential for a permanent injury - but he was playing just two days later.

[BMW]

Shoeless Joe Jackson finished his career with a .356 batting average, 4th best of all time. But he never won a batting title.

Ty Cobb won the title every year that Jackson played apart from 1916 (Tris Speaker) and 1920 (George Sisler).

[Westheim]

I totally robbed this from the Rangers-Fish broadcast:

Most Wins by Palindrome Pitchers:

Robb Nen - 45
Fernando Salas - 26
Dave Otto - 10
Glenn Otto - 6

[Amazin69]

I assume that Colbert LeRoy Harrah leads all palindrome batters by miles and miles, in every category.

No offense to Dick Nen (and his 1 big HR in 1963), Mark Salas, or long-ago NY Highlander catcher Truck Hannah.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by BMW

Russell Branyan led the 2010 Mariners with 15 home runs. His season represents the fewest plate appearances needed (238 on the M's) relative to the team leader (32.5% of Ichiro) for a club's home run leader with 10+ home runs. Branyan was traded to the M's midway through the season after spending the first half on the Cleveland Indians. The Mariner's CF Franklin Gutierrez was second with 12 homers.

If you include seasons where a club's HR leader had less than ten, then Nick Altrock holds the record. In just nine plate appearances, he hit one of Washington's four homers in the 1918 season. Walter Johnson, Howie Shanks and Joe Judge had the other three.

The fun part of that stat is that means that half of Washington's dingers that year were hit by pitchers. (I'm sure Altrock was pinch-hitting,as he was mostly a coach by then, but his career was pitching. And being a clown, but that's a different story.)

Nice to see Joe Judge still able to coach the NY Giants of the NFL, 104 years later. Wise move to hire such a veteran, I guess.

Howie Shanks is the only man to ever reach base in an official perfect game. He was the leadoff hitter in that 1917 "perfecto" the Red Sox recorded against Washington. Babe Ruth walked Shanks, argued the call and got ejected. Ernie Shore came in, Shanks was caught stealing, and Shore retired the remaining 26 batters in order. And from 1917-1991, this was recognized as a perfecto, until MLB sobered up.

(I disliked a lot of the disqualifications, such as "it's not a no-hitter if the home team doesn't bat in the 9th" [it's not Andy Hawkins's fault his "defense" was so terrible they let in four runs] or "it doesn't count if you pitch 9+ no-hit innings but then allow a hit later in extra innings" [how are you kicking Harvey Haddix out of the record books??], but yeah…Shore's "perfect game" was clearly a bit suss. JMO.)

[Leo_The_Lip]

My brother told me he had learned that Yogi Berra had caught both ends of a doulbe header 117 times, which was the record.

So I looked that up and founde this:

https://valueoverreplacementgrit.com...hind-the-dish/

So no, not 117. Rather it was 145. But Frankie Hayes and Mickey Cochrane were close.

[BMW]

A variety show promoter, Coy Poe, signed Harry S. Truman to a bonus baby contract for the Yankees for $1.

Coy was the father of Pody Poe, who had some notoriety in the 1970s in Oklahoma when the federal government spent millions to investigate and convict him as the head of a sports gambling ring.

[BMW]

Willie Stargell's given name was Wilver Dornell Stargell. Wilver is a combination of his father's first name, William, and his mother's maiden name, Vernell.