Why I Like Baseball

It’s officially SABR day in America (America includes Canada, too, as there are chapters/meetings in Toronto and Montreal, plus Puerto Rico has a chapter and meeting today, and presumably Mexico would be included if there were a chapter there…). Many SABR chapters are having Hot Stove meetings today and other shindigs to celebrate. (Schedule).

I’m a member of the Boston chapter, but also one of the first “online chapters,” the SABR charter community of bloggers known as the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Since I’m feeling a bit under the weather and may not make it to my Boston chapter meeting, I figured I’d offer this trivia quiz for seamheads everywhere to enjoy.

Caveat: I am not a serious baseball trivia type. At the annual SABR convention, I don’t think I’d even make it past the first round in their trivia contest. Pictured at left are myself and fellow baseball writer Stu Shea (I’m the one with the Bun of Doom, in case you couldn’t tell…) chit-chatting at the convention. However, my head is packed full of miscellany, so out come questions like the following.

There’s no prize for getting the answers right, by the way, other than that terrific feeling of superiority. No Googling! (Although the answers to these can be found in my books The 50 Greatest Yankee Games and The 50 Greatest Red Sox Games… Just sayin’.) But no, the answers aren’t ALL Red Sox/Yankees. Just some.

I’ll post a separate post with the answers hidden under a link.

1. The only modern players (post 1900) to record three hits in a SINGLE INNING both played for the Red Sox. Can you name them both?

2. This past year Melky Cabrera hit for the cycle. Can you name the previous TWO Yankees to accomplish the feat?

3. Three times in history a single pitcher has recorded a no-hitter, but lost the game. I’m not talking about guys like Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings only to give up a game-winning homer in the unlucky 13th, but guys who actually gave up no hits and lost anyway. The first was Ken Johnson on April 23, 1964, who pitched 9 no-hit innings for Houston but lost 1-0 to Cincinnati. Can you name the other two unlucky souls?

4. Who holds the record for most putouts by a catcher on two consecutive days? Hint, he’s one of the catchers who caught a game where his pitcher struck out 19 or more men in one day. He caught 20 strikeouts one day, and 16 the next.

5. Three times pairs of teammates have thrown no-hitters in the same season. The first time was in 1917 when Ernie Koob and Bob Groom did it for the St. Louis Browns, on back to back days, no less. The last time was in 1962, when Earl Wilson and Bill Monboquette both turned the trick for the Red Sox. Who are the other two pitchers to do it?

6. Aaron Boone did it in 2003. Bernie Williams did it in 1996 and 1999. Mickey Mantle did it in 1964. But who was the first Yankee to hit a walk-off home run for the Yankees in a postseason series? Can you name him and what pitcher he hit it off?

7. This past season saw both Nick Swisher and Nick Green take the mound for their teams. In 1940 a position player more noted for his bat took the mound and struck out Rudy York. Who was he?

8. Three Yankees have hit three triples in a game. The first was Hal Chase in 1906. Earle Combs did it in 1927. Who was the third? He did it in 1938, his third year in the big leagues.

9. Only two players in history have 400 home runs or more AND 10 or more steals of home. Can you name them? Hint: they usually batted back to back in their lineup.

10. Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game when he was 40. David Cone was 36 when he threw his. But there is one man who was 37 when he accomplished the feat. Who?

Okay, give up? Find the answers here.