Knowledge Test No. 10

1.

There is a sizable roster of Hall of Famers with 20 or more years of service in the big leagues. Eddie Collins, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Honus Wagner, Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Nolan Ryan, Harmon Killebrew and Rogers Hornsby are but a few from the illustrious group. The club gets pretty exclusive when it comes to those who spent their entire career of over 20 years with one club. Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, who starred for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955 through 1977, and Carl Yastrzemski, who starred for the Boston Red Sox from 1961 through 1983, share the distinction of being the two Cooperstown honorees who spent the most seasons with only one club. Each man played 23 seasons with his original team. Robinson and Yastrzemski also share the distinction of taking over for a Hall of Famer at his position. The Orioles third baseman Robinson succeeded was Hall of Famer George Kell. And of course Yaz patrolled left field for Boston following the retirement of the legendary Ted Williams. There were four Hall of Fame players who spent 22 seasons with only one club. One of them was Adrian Constantine "Cap" Anson, who played for the Chicago Nationals since the inception of the National League in 1876 until the end of the 1897 season. Anson was a four-time batting champion and also managed the Nationals-later known as the Cubs-from 1879 until his retirement as a player in '97. Can you name the other three Hall of Famers who spent 22 years playing for only one club? Hint: Two of them never played a day in the minor leagues.

2.

In recent years, New York Yankees hurlers threw several high-profile no-hitters. In the 1990s, there were four Yankees who fired hitless gems-all at Yankee Stadium. Two of them were perfectos in back-to-back seasons by David Wells in 1998 and David Cone in 1999. Doc Gooden had his moment of triumph during his storied comeback with a 1996 gem. One-handed lefty Jim Abbott fired one in 1993. It has been 42 years since the Yankees had a no-hitter thrown against them. Can you name the Hall of Fame pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, who in 1958, pitched the last no-hitter against the New York Yankees?

3.

There has been a host of MVP award winners whose contribution to their team's winning effort was not one of great power or run production. Maury Wills was given the award for his record-setting work on the basepaths in a 1962 season in which Dodgers teammate Tommy Davis hit .346 with 153 RBIs and the Giants' Willie Mays blasted 49 homers with 141 RBIs. Interestingly, the light-hitting Wills is the only former MVP position player to finish his career with over 2,000 hits and under 500 RBIs. Even perennial batting champ Rod Carew had an uncharacteristically high total of 100 RBIs to go with his lofty .388 batting average when he won the AL MVP in 1977. It was Carew's only 100-RBI season. National League shortstops Marty Marion (1944) and Dick Groat (1960) had MVP seasons in which they compiled power numbers that made Carew look like Willie McCovey. Marion hit six homers and drove in 63 runs, while Groat managed to slug only two homers with a mere 50 RBIs. But there is actually an MVP in the books, who won the award following a season in which he failed to hit a single homer! Can you name the Hall of Famer who's the only position player in history to win the MVP Award while finishing his MVP season with zero homers?  

4.

When a Hall of Fame pitcher finishes his career with more hits as a batter than wins as a pitcher, it's a good indication that he was an outstanding hitter, because to get to the Hall, a pitcher needs to compile a lot of wins. The best-hitting pitcher in history may very well have been Wes Ferrell, who slugged a record 37 homers (plus a 38^th he hit as a pinch-hitter), with 208 RBIs and a .280 batting average in his 15-year career. His total of 193 wins was dwarfed by his total of 329 hits. The following four Hall of Famers were also among the best-hitting pitchers in history. Don Drysdale twice hit seven homers in a season, and had a season in which he batted .300 with a .508 slugging percentage. Walter Johnson hit 24 lifetime homers in a career largely spent in the Dead Ball era, had a .400 season and two seasons with a .500-plus slugging percentage. Warren Spahn hit a National League-record 35 career homers and had 189 RBIs. And Bob Lemon-a converted outfielder-slugged 35 homers as a pitcher (37 lifetime) and slugged at least one homer every year he pitched but his last. Amazingly, one of these slugging pitchers finished his career with exactly the same number of hits as wins. Name the pitcher with the remarkable coincidence in his career totals.  a.  Don Drysdale     b.  Walter Johnson     c.  Warren Spahn     d.  Bob Lemon    

5.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds is closing in on the 500 home run mark. He will reach the milestone early in the 2001 season. If the Giants don't go to the World Series in 2000, Bonds will become the only slugger other than Ernie Banks, with 500 or more home runs, to never play in the World Series. If the St. Louis Cardinals go to the World Series in 2000, Mark McGwire (if he's healthy) will become the latest member of the 500 home run club to play in the World Series for two different teams. Name all six members of the 500 home run club to play in the World Series for more than one club.  

6.

In August of 1985, in a game against the California Angels, Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hit a ball that would have cleared the right-center field wall at Anaheim, but was caught for an out. If it had gone out, it would have been a historic evening. Murray hit three homers that night and a fourth would have made him only the 11^th man to hit four homers in one game. (Since then, two more players have accomplished the feat.) Murray is a member of the 500 home run club. All the members of the 500 home run club had at least one 3-homer game. Several had more than one. Two members of the 500 home run club are among the twelve men who had a four-homer game. Can you name them?   

7.

Some single-game achievements are accomplished by players whose names are not exactly among The Game's most memorable. Hitting two grand slams in one game is one of those feats. Most of the men who hit two slams in one game were not notable sluggers. Of the 11 players who belted two slams in one game, only two ever had a 40-homer season. One was Jim Gentile, who once hit 46 homers, but had only one other season of 30 or more and finished his career with only 178 round-trippers. The Yankees' Tony Lazzeri was the first player to hit two slams in one game. Lazzeri never hit as many as 20 home runs in one season. Detroit's Rudy York accomplished the feat. York, who had four 30-homer seasons, was known as a slugger, but finished with well under 300 homers in his career. The others to hit two slams in one game were Jim Tabor, Jim Northrup, Robin Ventura, Chris Hoiles, Nomar Garciaparra, Fernando Tatis and a pitcher, Tony Cloninger. Only one man who hit two grand slams in one game hit more than 300 lifetime homers. He is also the only man other than Gentile to have a 40-homer season. Can you name him?   

8.

The save as we know it today became an official statistic in 1969. Sportswriter Jerome Holtzman was instrumental in getting the age-old concept of the save introduced as an official statistical category. The criteria were refined in 1975 to make it somewhat easier to record one, but saves began being credited to relief pitchers during baseball's centennial year. The first recorded save came in the traditional Cincinnati opener on April 7 at Crosley Field. Dodgers Hall of Famer Don Drysdale-pitching on Opening Day for the last time in his career-was ahead in the contest 3-2, when he was relieved after six innings. The pitcher who went the final three innings was credited with the first official save in major-league history. Name the Dodger pitcher who posted the first official save.  

9.

Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan accomplished the astounding feat of pitching in four decades. He had his first cup of big-league coffee with the New York Mets in 1966 and returned in 1968 to stay. He stayed until 1993, pitching an unprecendented 27 major-league seasons. Left-hander Jim Kaat started his career in 1959 and finished his career in 1983, which made him a four-decade pitcher as well. There are several Hall of Fame pitchers who toiled in three different decades. Some of the unforgettable names are Walter Johnson, Bob Feller, Lefty Grove, Gaylord Perry, Cy Young, Tom Seaver and Warren Spahn. Seaver pitched in the World Series for the Mets in the '60s and '70s and was a member of the pennant-winning 1986 Red Sox, but did not see action in the World Series that year. There is one pitcher who is not listed, who not only appeared in the World Series in three different decades, but is the only pitcher in history to win a World Series game in three different decades. Can you name him?  

10.

If Greg Maddux had won his last start of 2000, he would have joined teammate Tom Glavine as a 20-game winner for the second time. Since Randy Johnson is favored to win the Cy Young Award again, that would have made Maddux and Glavine the latest pair of 20-game-winning teammates to fail to win the Cy Young. In 1999, Houston's Josẻ Lima and Mike Hampton won 20 or more games each. Neither man won the Cy Young Award for his efforts. The last time it occurred was in 1993, when San Francisco's John Burkett and Bill Swift both won 20 or more, but were outpolled by Atlanta's Maddux for the coveted award. Since the award's inception in 1956, there have been many such occurrences. That very year, the Cleveland Indians had a trio of 20-game winners-Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and Herb Score-who were overlooked because there was only one award given for both leagues until 1967. It went to 27-game-winner Don Newcombe of the Dodgers in '56. In 1971, when Oakland's Vida Blue was the AL honoree, the Baltimore Orioles had four 20-game winners who failed to win the Cy Young: Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson. There were actually two more trios of 20-game-winning teammates in the AL in the 1970s, which failed to produce a Cy Young Award winner. Can you name these two trios of 20-game-winning teammates?  

11.

In limited action in 2000, San Francisco's Ellis Burks made a serious run at a 100-RBI season. He nearly became only the fourth player in big-league history to amass a total of 100 RBIs in 400 or fewer at-bats. One of the three sluggers to accomplish this feat was the aforementioned Rudy York. In his sensational rookie year in 1937, York hit .307 with 35 homers and 103 RBIs in only 375 at-bats. The other two sluggers to accomplish this unusual feat have many things in common. Both men are still active; both accomplished the feat in the same season; both won an MVP at the same position; both had more than one 40-homer season; both have played all of their major-league games since 1990. One had exactly 400 at-bats when he accomplished the feat and the other had 399. One has played his entire career in the National League and the other has played his entire career in the American League. Who are these two productive sluggers with so many interesting coincidences in their records?

12.

Of the 24 players with 3,000 or more hits, Ty Cobb won the most batting titles with 12. Honus Wagner won eight, as did Tony Gwynn. Stan Musial and Rod Carew each won seven. Sluggers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron were best known as home run kings, but they were also batting champs. Al Kaline won a batting title in only his second season and became the youngest-ever batting champ as a result. Carl Yastrzemski won three batting titles, including one that he won with a .301 average-the lowest-ever title-winning mark. Seven of the 24 members of the 3,000-hit club never won a batting title. Cal Ripken Jr recently joined the illustrious club of major-leaguers with 3,000 or more career hits. He also joined the more exclusive club of players with 3,000 hits who never won a batting title. Can you name the six players other than Ripken with 3,000 or more hits who never won a batting title?

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Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune