Quiz – Baseball Matching Game

In this quiz, we have two lists of players.

Each player on the first list is related to exactly one player on the second list.
Each player on the second list is related to exactly one player on the first list.
A particular feat connects each pair of players. It is the same feat for all pairs.
No other pairs of players have accomplished this feat.

Congratulation to Tristram12 who identified that in the pairs of players below (the lists are matched up now) each player homered in his first WS game, and both in the same game. Those games are here.

List 1	List 2
Joe Harris	Pie Traynor
Hank Greenberg	Joe Medwick
Dick Bartell	George Selkirk
Roger Maris	Bill Mazeroski
Don Mincher	Zoilo Versalles

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/19/2012.

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Neil L.

12 years ago

Doug, you know these quizzes become addictive, but, at first blush, you have outdone yourself this time!

Are we allowed 20 questions? (Not counting this as one.) 🙂

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Sure. Ask away. I think this one may be more difficult.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Are the feats all “sabermetric” feats (eg WAR, OPS+, etc) or “traditional” stat feats (AVG, HR, RBI, etc)? Or is it an even mix?

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Hey, insert, how are you? I’ll speak for Doug. Too many questions.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “how are you”?

Anyways, the chat function disappeared from my computer screen a few weeks ago. Is it my computer or did the site shut it off?

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Insert, just meant I hadn’t talked to you in a while.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Traditional.

richard chester

12 years ago

Are the matching pairs contemporaries?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to richard chester

Yes, they are contemporaries.

John Nacca

12 years ago

Was the feat something accomplished in the regular season or postseason?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to John Nacca

Post-season.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Joe Harris and Pie Traynor were contemporaries, and were each hit by exactly 31 pitches in their careers. They were also Pirates teammates in the late 1920s.

Tristram12

12 years ago

Dumb luck, but I’ve got it, thanks to Joe Smith. Each player hit a HR in their first World Series game, during which their matched pair also hit a HR in their first World Series game. The matched pairs are:
Joe Smith – Pie Traynor
Hank Greenberg – Joe Medwick
Roger Maris – Bill Mazeroski
Dick Bartell – George Selkirk
Don Micher – Zoilo Versailles

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Tristram12

“Joe Smith”? You mean Roger Maris, correct?

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Whoops… I mean Joe Harris, not Roger Maris. Rhymes are messing with my mind.

Tristram12

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Yes,I meant Joe Harris. Don’t know where the Smith came from.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Tristram12

Congratulations, Tristram12.

Here are the games.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=jXd0K

18 other players have hit a HR in their first WS game, but only one (Benny Ayala in 1979) since the LCS began in 1969. Not sure why that might be, but it is odd: 27 times in first 65 series, only once in the next 42 series.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Perhaps the excitement of the World Series makes guys forget to take their steroids?

Neil L.

12 years ago

Wow! ~bows in awe to Tristam~

Tristram12

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Thanks! Got lucky on this one.

Neil L.

12 years ago

You are being too modest, Tristram. Was it Roger Maris that was your key to solving the puzzle?

Tristram12

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Well, Joe Harris was the only player on either list that I wasn’t familiar with, so I started with his bio page in the bullpen section of BB-Ref. He hit the first back-to-back HR in WS history with Goose Goslin. As a two-player feat, that felt right so I looked 3 times to make sure Goose wasn’t on the second list. As part of that, I looked at the game log and saw that Pie Traynor hit a HR in that game as well. Going to his post-season gamelogs showed it was his first WS game as well. Then I… Read more »

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Tristram12

Good sleuthing, Tristram12. Thanks for playing.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Tristram12

Tristram12- Thanks for the heads up on Harris. I had heard of him but if I ever knew how good he was I had forgotten. But he seems to have all kinds of fascinating stuff going on. As a 23 year old he got 6 plate appearances in 2 major league games without getting a hit and yet managed an OBP of .800- 3 walks, 1 HBP, 1 sac & 1 out. Then, in spite of tearing up the minor leagues (especially when you consider the era in which he played) he has to wait 2 years for another chance… Read more »

Tristram12

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Adding to the legacy, when he joined the independent league, he received a lifetime ban from Judge Landis. Subsequently, he was the first to have such a ban overturned. Landis cited his impressive war record and implied that the gassing/head injury impaired his thinking.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

I’m sorry I missed this one — it sounds fiendishly good!