TRIVIA 2020

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there have been 4 teams which had 3 different position players put up 7+ fWAR in a single season. what are they?
(hint: obviously one of these teams is the cardinals. sorry. i can also give you the decades for each of these 4 seasons, if wanted)

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Sunday, 19 April 2020 15:59 (five years ago)

One of them must be a Gehrig-Ruth team, since there were so many seasons where those two did it.

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 16:55 (five years ago)

For the Cardinals, I'll guess it's a Pujols-Rolen-Edmonds team, although I'm not sure if there was a season where they were together.

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 17:04 (five years ago)

Man, I'm good.

I don't think the Big Red Machine ever extended beyond Morgan/Bench, although Rose may have edged over 7.0 somewhere in there, so that's my third guess. Fourth would be the 2001 Mariners.

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 17:07 (five years ago)

was thinking one would be griffey/a-rod/edgar but gar only put up 7 once, before a-rod debuted

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 17:49 (five years ago)

before his first full season, rather

those three did combine for 24.8!!!!!!!!!!!!! in 96 though

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 17:52 (five years ago)

didn't happen with the killer b's or bash bros, though biggio and bagwell both had 8+ in 97

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:01 (five years ago)

Not any of those Reds teams either...I don't think the '98 Yankees; they were deep, but I don't think they had huge star seasons in their everyday lineup. Maybe one of the A's teams from around 1930?

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:20 (five years ago)

the 27 yankees are incredible for this - ruth/gehrig/combs combined for 32.3........ and combs was still under 7

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:26 (five years ago)

Oh--then I was wrong about the '27 Yankees. Combs is at 7.0 on Baseball Reference...and I see now the question has to do with Fangraphs.

clemenza, Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:37 (five years ago)

spoiler alert

it did happen 2 years later - ruth/gehrig/lazzeri did it with exactly 10 fewer WAR than the 27 trio (7.8/7.3/7.2)

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:41 (five years ago)

what bums

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Sunday, 19 April 2020 18:41 (five years ago)

Hey, trivia guy, we need two more answers.

clemenza, Monday, 20 April 2020 16:13 (five years ago)

This gave me much to ponder on my morning walk. Possibility, which I will check after posting--wondering if Bonds/Kent/fluke-season Rich Aurilia were in alignment?

clemenza, Monday, 20 April 2020 17:54 (five years ago)

Online version is Thursday night. Register here: https://t.co/HOspy6gXGu pic.twitter.com/lPy66C1Pnp

— Ted Berg (@OGTedBerg) April 19, 2020

mookieproof, Monday, 20 April 2020 18:56 (five years ago)

see thread for example questions

mookieproof, Monday, 20 April 2020 18:57 (five years ago)

(xpost) No on Bonds/Kent/Aurilia, at least on Baseball Reference. '29 Yankees, '04 Cardinals...

clemenza, Tuesday, 21 April 2020 20:58 (five years ago)

The St. Louis hint makes me think it's a red-herring, like the Blues or something.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 April 2020 21:08 (five years ago)

errr Browns

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 21 April 2020 21:10 (five years ago)

Hey, trivia guy, we need two more answers.

shit, sorry! i thought i had this thread bookmarked, so when it didn't come up i assumed no one cared about the trivia question. OOPS!

you've got 2 of the 4:

1929 Yankees (Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri)
2004 Cardinals (Rolen, Edmonds, Pujols)

the other two are much more difficult. i'll give you two clues, once for each:

1) post-war 1940s league champion featuring a top 10 joe posnanski player
2) while mantle and maris were hogging the attention, this team with a pair of slugging outfielders was...also playing (alex trebek i am not)

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 21 April 2020 21:21 (five years ago)

1) post-war 1940s league champion featuring a top 10 joe posnanski player

evil hint, had to figure this one out through blunt force

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Tuesday, 21 April 2020 23:49 (five years ago)

and i got the last one, mostly through cheating, but i've never really been good with the early 60s.

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 00:00 (five years ago)

None of the Williams-Red Sox, Musial-Cardinals, or Mantle/Maris-Yankees teams check out on Baseball Reference.

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 00:52 (five years ago)

those were my first two thoughts

the second one is 1961 but not expressly mantle/maris, as hinted

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 01:16 (five years ago)

and only one of the 2 teams passes the threshold in rWAR

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 01:17 (five years ago)

Okay, now I get it--'61 Tigers.

Going through Fangraphs is too much work; is the other one a Williams or Musial team?

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:07 (five years ago)

nope!

it's really hard. it would be astounding if you got this (or anyone else).

all three of the players' first names are three letters long.

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:11 (five years ago)

and the legendary top 10 player was a 42-year old at the beginning of his MLB career

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:29 (five years ago)

Ah

Joe/Ken/Lou...?

Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:33 (five years ago)

i'd never even heard of ken keltner

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:34 (five years ago)

Me neither

Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 04:35 (five years ago)

1) post-war 1940s league champion featuring a top 10 joe posnanski player

That's what threw me: you don't say so, but I mistakenly assumed the Posnanski guy was one of the three players.

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 06:26 (five years ago)

Keltner's probably most famous now for Bill James's Keltner HOF test.

http://www.cooperstowncred.com/statistics-glossary/keltner-list/

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 06:28 (five years ago)

the satchel paige clue was kind of evil, sorry

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 07:11 (five years ago)

i've never really been good with the early 60s.

same here

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 07:11 (five years ago)

I know Ken Keltner bcz he made a defensive play said to have ended DiMag's 56-game hitting streak

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 13:45 (five years ago)

On August 20, 1938, as part of a publicity stunt by the Come to Cleveland Committee, Indians' catchers Frankie Pytlak and Hank Helf successfully caught baseballs dropped by Keltner from Cleveland's 708-foot-tall (216 m) Terminal Tower.[3] The 708-foot (216 m) drop broke the 555-foot, 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument.[2]

let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:28 (five years ago)

I know that story but forgot KK was part of it

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 22 April 2020 14:44 (five years ago)

one month passes...

the marlins have thrown six no-hitters

wtf

mookieproof, Wednesday, 17 June 2020 17:31 (five years ago)

This is probably already a well-known question, and the answer should be obvious because the wrong answer is too obvious: who was the first major leaguer to hit 66 home runs?

clemenza, Wednesday, 17 June 2020 20:13 (five years ago)

you mean the first to hit 66 home runs in a single season? so...there was sammy sosa in 1998 of course. but is it answer mark mcgwire (who hit 70 that year), if he reached 66 home runs first? or is the trick trick question that it was sammy sosa, if he hit 66th before mcgwire did? i don't remember

Karl Malone, Wednesday, 17 June 2020 21:39 (five years ago)

^posted from my computer while logrolling down stairs^

Karl Malone, Wednesday, 17 June 2020 21:39 (five years ago)

sosa held onto 66 for 45 minutes before mcgwire caught him

℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Wednesday, 17 June 2020 23:14 (five years ago)

Yes. I'd completely forgotten that--Sosa had the lead for an hour. (Got that from the ESPN documentary.)

clemenza, Friday, 19 June 2020 01:21 (five years ago)

I'd estimate that the HR leaders this year will have less than 23 HRs for the season. Trivia: When is the last time that happened? (Hint: it was a tie)

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 25 June 2020 01:28 (five years ago)

i think i'm wrong, but is it 1919? my reasoning is that 1920 is the year that babe ruth really broke out in a monstrous way (54 HR?) and the rest of baseball hadn't quite caught up yet. but maybe the year before that?

time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Thursday, 25 June 2020 02:19 (five years ago)

after that. to clarify, I mean in either league

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 25 June 2020 02:28 (five years ago)

my revised guess is 1981!

time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Thursday, 25 June 2020 02:29 (five years ago)

Yeah, the AL leaders only had 21 that year. Strike season, yada yada.

Armas OAK 22
Evans BOS 22
Grich CAL 22
Murray BAL 22

Grich did it in the least appearances with only 325 AB

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 25 June 2020 02:50 (five years ago)

most HR 60 or fewer games

Player Year Games Team HR

Matt Olson 2017 59 OAK 25
Gary Sánchez 2016 53 NYA 20
Aristides Aquino 2019 56 CIN 19
Rhys Hoskins 2017 50 PHI 18
Troy Glaus 2004 58 ANA 18

brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 June 2020 17:06 (five years ago)

Is there a general thread for posting odd or interesting stat-related stuff from the past?

Fluke of the calendar, but caught my attention:

MLB Hits Leaders - Past 10 Decades

2010-2019: Robinson Cano - 2,624 hits
2000-2009: Ichiro Suzuki - 2,244 hits
1990-1999: Wade Boggs - 1,999 hits
1980-1989: Wade Boggs - 1,821 hits
1970-1979: Pete Rose - 2,251 hits
1960-1969: Pete Rose - 2,090 hits
1950-1959: Willie Mays - 1,805 hits
1940-1949: Stan Musial - 1,589 hits
1930-1939: Paul Waner - 1,814 hits
1920-1929: Rogers Hornsby - 2,043 hits

clemenza, Monday, 19 August 2024 22:05 (ten months ago)

Jesus, that's obviously wrong...averaged 262 hits per season! Sorry, don't shoot the messenger.

clemenza, Monday, 19 August 2024 22:06 (ten months ago)

Looking at the comments, apparently that's not the only error in there.

clemenza, Monday, 19 August 2024 22:08 (ten months ago)

MLB.com features Sporacle along with Immaculate Grid...I rarely open it up, but this one's interesting (I got 19/25):

https://www.mlb.com/fans/trivia/name-that-baseball-player

clemenza, Friday, 30 August 2024 20:17 (ten months ago)

I got 8. But that was also from having terrible luck with my guesses (which was most of them)

FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 31 August 2024 02:12 (ten months ago)

I got 13. There’s a fun reference to Buster’s legal name in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZS9fmkY184

Romy Gonzalez’s utility infusion (gyac), Saturday, 31 August 2024 11:19 (ten months ago)

three months pass...

Only player to knock in 100 (season) for both the Jays and the Expos? Never would have got this.

Tony Batista

clemenza, Tuesday, 10 December 2024 19:27 (six months ago)

two weeks pass...

i did so poorly on this that i'm not even going to tell you my score: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZFFVtw2f0b-S0KC7ccWwJyInUPT1N_ygC6FygFRo4uCjXew/viewform

(from The Athletic's 2024 Baseball Trivia Quiz)

mookieproof, Wednesday, 25 December 2024 19:32 (six months ago)

13/50. I knew the first one right away at least.

gyac, Wednesday, 25 December 2024 19:59 (six months ago)

25/50--went fast, intuitive guessing (I knew maybe seven or eight for sure through elimination).

clemenza, Wednesday, 25 December 2024 20:12 (six months ago)

17/50 but maybe only knew 2-3 w hi certainty

johnny crunch, Wednesday, 25 December 2024 20:33 (six months ago)

25/50. I also went fast, with mostly intuitive guessing. Cool quiz though.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 26 December 2024 08:34 (six months ago)

15. yikes

FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 26 December 2024 18:04 (six months ago)

The most amazing stat you'll hear today: Babe Ruth hit more HR during Jimmy Carter's lifetime (430) than any currently active player (Giancarlo Stanton, 429).

NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 30 December 2024 20:04 (six months ago)

Drew Davis
‪drewdavis71.bsky.social‬

The MLB career home run leaders when Jimmy Carter was born on October 1, 1924:

1 - Babe Ruth 287
2 - Cy Williams 173
3 - Rogers Hornsby 141
4 - Roger Connor 138
5 - Sam Thompson 126

mookieproof, Monday, 30 December 2024 20:27 (six months ago)

(xpost) I had to really think about that for it to make sense (eventually it did).

clemenza, Monday, 30 December 2024 23:17 (six months ago)

Another one (a guy in the comments verified the math):

https://i.postimg.cc/26n6q5P3/rickey.jpg

clemenza, Monday, 30 December 2024 23:25 (six months ago)

Two possible answers for a second baseman (and possibly/probably a third active player):

https://i.postimg.cc/T1VN3gdk/quiz.jpg

(Of the players listed, there are other possibilities--I can think of another catcher and two other third basemen who would work.)

clemenza, Sunday, 5 January 2025 02:27 (six months ago)

So… this is the highest WAR by position, for players that have played for only one team?

If that’s correct, I’m actually not certain who the answer is… maybe Whitaker? Fox? Collins? Banks?!

FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 5 January 2025 05:08 (six months ago)

You're on the right track: one team/MVP/HOF. So Robinson and Gehringer, with Altuve a possibility down the road.

clemenza, Sunday, 5 January 2025 05:10 (six months ago)

Wow I was pretty off on most of those guys

FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 5 January 2025 05:11 (six months ago)

Oh ya, Gehringer looks like the answer with Whitaker the runner up

FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 5 January 2025 05:13 (six months ago)

three months pass...

Who threw the first-ever CG shutout against the Jays?

Fergie Jenkins!

clemenza, Friday, 25 April 2025 04:01 (two months ago)

one month passes...

Good reader question from Posnanski's column today:

Not counting players who've won an actual (seasonal) Triple Crown, eight others have won a career TC, leading all three categories in different years.

-- four are in the HOF
-- three are PED players who would be in otherwise
-- one is neither; who is it?

He is a post-expansion player everybody knows well.

Andrés Galarraga

clemenza, Tuesday, 27 May 2025 20:56 (one month ago)

The guy with the question missed Albert Pujols--someone else.

clemenza, Tuesday, 27 May 2025 21:16 (one month ago)

i remember seeking out the ]show hidden text[ starting lineup figure just so i could put him sideways in a weird way

z_tbd, Tuesday, 27 May 2025 21:55 (one month ago)

He was one and done when he came up for the HOF, which makes sense: good raw totals, but the mitigating factor of Coors during his prime barely had him nudge above 30 WAR.

clemenza, Wednesday, 28 May 2025 02:19 (one month ago)

three weeks pass...

Who is the only player to hit more than 90 HR for both the Mets and the Yankees?

Maybe this is an easy one for those of you based in NY, but I couldn't come up with it.

Link to the player's BR page when you want the answer.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 20 June 2025 19:27 (two weeks ago)

thought strawberry may have cranked out some more HRs at the end with the yankees but nope!

z_tbd, Friday, 20 June 2025 19:35 (two weeks ago)

Curtis Granderson? Haven't checked yet.

clemenza, Friday, 20 June 2025 19:51 (two weeks ago)

Gold star for robot boy!

clemenza, Friday, 20 June 2025 19:51 (two weeks ago)


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