TRIVIA 2020

Minus his big season, .204 lifetime--still pretty decent for a pitcher.

i didn't realize don was such a good hitter! he put together some excellent seasons in 58 and 59 as well, hitting well above league average

Somehow I did know he was really good. .268/.336/.361 for his career, hit .300 or better six times. Sent up to pinch-hit 88 times.

Sent up to pinch-hit 88 times

damn, that's impressive. now i want to know the record for THAT, heh

i saw a mention of jim abbott's no-hitter today and took a look at the arc of his career. i didn't realize quite how good he was at his peak (1991: 18-11 with 2.89 ERA and 5.5 fWAR, 243 IP, and very good in 1992 as well), but also how bad things got in the late 90s. his ERA was 7.48 in 1996 (he went 2-18 for the angels) over 142 IP. i checked, and yes - that is the highest ERA for a pitcher who has thrown 140+ innings in a season since integration

and he was 28 during that season! he retired, took 1997 off to listen to ok computer, and then came back for 2 more seasons before retiring for good at age 31. what happened to him?

there was no coming back again after Kid A

jim abbott listened to treefingers for the first time and, honestly, he hated it. he didn't understand what was even going on and why it was taking so long. but on the third and fourth listen, something changed, and so he retired again

The best he could was good enough

Turned up on my FB feed (from MLB's FB page): the 15 African American pitchers to win 20 games. Here's the link if you want to check yourself (I glanced at the post before trying it myself): https://www.facebook.com/mlb/posts/pfbid02vFMJgGhradC5fUcMLfcen5cSSYQ7TrjdnT5tAwD3SK1C4tH6Kq7PefRAaN8Bi6w4l.

Stealing this from FB: of the 33 players with 3,000 hits, which five never had a 200-hit season?

Answer: Anson, Yaz, Murray, Winfield, Henderson.

ted williams?

still seems crazy tho

oh shit ted didn't even get to 3000 hits; he sucked

Nice question, I only got two right (the first and fourth you listed).

Impressed that you got the first one, one I never would have gotten. I saw the answers concurrent with the question, so didn't get to try it. I think I might have gotten the last three with enough thought--last two for sure--but never would have guessed Yaz, who I would have just assumed got 200 hits in '67. Pretty sure I knew Williams wasn't a 3,000 hit guy because of the two Ws, walks and wars.

Who made the last out in Johnny Vander Meer's second no-hitter? (One or two of you may have seen my FB comment--don't answer.)

(Needless to say, someone famous.)

BR Walk-off asking the real questions

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_pxCAwXAAA-uUr?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_pxCAYXgAAseEK?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_pxCAyXYAACB3J?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F_pxCAWXoAAtK8o?format=jpg&name=medium

I must have known this long ago and forgot: Randy Moffitt, first-round pick of the Giants in 1970 who went on to have a decent career splitting the closer job with Gary Lavelle for a few years (both played for the Jays, too), is Billy Jean King's brother. Still alive.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this--lifted from FB--but: who was the only player to play alongside Vlad Guerrero Sr., Craig Biggio, and Dante Bichette?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/veresda01.shtml

Only one MLB player who started his career before baseball was integrated is still living: Tommy Brown, who was 16 when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944 and is now 96.

Source: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/Oldest_Living_Baseball_Players.php