Quiz – Post-War Batters (solved)

48 Replies

Here are what might appear to be a random collection of ballplayers. Represented are players from each of the past 7 decades.

But, there is a common batting feat that connects the following list of players. What is that feat?

Player
Johnny Pesky
Bobby Richardson
Al Bumbry
Alex Johnson
Don Mueller
Ron LeFlore
Dale Mitchell
Randy Velarde
Doug Glanville
Al Rosen

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/14/2013.

Hint: these are only retired players to achieve this feat since 1946

Congratulations to Insert Name Here and Richard Chester. INH identified these players as the only retired players with careers of 1500 or fewer hits that included a season since 1946 of 200 hits and 50 RBI. Of the 102 retired players with a 200 hit season since 1946, only 11 failed to parlay that success into a career of more than 1500 hits. Those 11 include the 10 players in our quiz plus Bob Dillinger, whose 200 hit season produced only 44 RBI. Dillinger’s career was only 753 games, the only player of those 102 not to reach 1000 games, which was the alternative solution to the quiz identified by Richard Chester.

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Jeffrey A Pelletier

11 years ago

Something to do with all having 200 hit seasons?

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Jeffrey A Pelletier

That’s a start.

wlcmlc

11 years ago

One 200 hit season in their career and having their best batting average.

wlcmlc

11 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

Ignore does not work for Pesky.

Lawrence Azrin

11 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

Dale Mitchell had a higher BA in a non-200 hit season; Pesky had three 200-hit seasons (his first three seasons).

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Mitchell’s highest BA, in a qualifying year, was in 1948 when he had 204 H.

It looks to me that they all had their highest BA in a year when they had 200+ hits.

Lawrence Azrin

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Oops,you’re right.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to wlcmlc

Nothing to do with batting average.

oneblankspace

11 years ago

Over 200 H in their best season, less than 1500 H in their career (which is why all active players are excluded from the results).

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to oneblankspace

That’s almost it. That query gives you this list, with one player too many.

Player
Bobby Richardson
Al Bumbry
Alex Johnson
Don Mueller
Ron LeFlore
Johnny Pesky
Dale Mitchell
Randy Velarde
Doug Glanville
Al Rosen
Bob Dillinger

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/14/2013.

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

200-hit, 50-RBI season, less than 1500 hits in career.

Even if it’s not what you’re looking for, it definitely works.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Okay INH,

It does work, so I’ll give it to you.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to oneblankspace

And also more than 1000 hits.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Or perhaps a 200 hit season, fewer than 1500 career hits and fewer than 1000 games played.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

I meant more than 1000 games played.

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

I’m going with a 200-hit season, but with 75% of hits being singles as part of the solution. Obviously, it’s not the full solution, as the Play Index brings up 44 results for such a queue.

Howard

11 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Al Rosen wouldn’t fit in.

Howard

11 years ago

No sacrifice hits in a 200 hit season?

Howard

11 years ago

Reply to Howard

Never mind. Just so happened that the first two I checked had no SHs in such a season and I jumped the gun.

Voomo Zanzibar

11 years ago

Dillinger was still a player after 1951.
He spent four more years with Sacramento of the PCL.
I wonder if he couldn’t get an MLB job or if that was by choice.
He was a Californian (southern, but still), an the PCL was a ‘respectable’ league in the early 50’s…

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Wow, I’m actually surprised to get one of these correct.

Then again, oneblankspace’s original guess helped a lot. I also think it’s interesting how our monikers share the common interest in anonymity. Anyway, t thanks for the help, OBS.

Mike L

11 years ago

Apparently after Rosen had “only” 24HR and 102 RBI (.300/.404.506) OPS+ of 147 in 1954, Cleveland cut his pay.

Voomo Zanzibar

11 years ago

Reply to Mike L

From b-r bullpen:
“In addition to his injured finger from 1954, he had back problems and broke his nose 13 times during his career.”

How do you break your nose 13 times?

Gootch7

11 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

I dunno. Bar fights? His wife liked to hit him in the face with a frying pan? “During his career” doesn’t necessarily mean “on the field of play”.

I don’t think it hurts much after the tenth or so break….

Mike L

11 years ago

Reply to Gootch7

Rosen was apparently an amateur boxer. Maybe the nose got softened up.

Lawrence Azrin

11 years ago

Reply to Mike L

Allegedly, the Yankees tried to cut Mikey Mantle’s pay after his 1957 MVP season, because he had “only” 34 HR, compared to 52 in 1956, and “only” 94 RBI, compared to 130 in 1956.

According to B-R, he did get a $5,000 raise after his 1957 season. I’m sure that these weren’t the only times pre-free agency the game’s best players were offered pay cuts after (to what looks like us) great seasons.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Yankee GM George Weiss was always looking for the flimsiest of excuses to cut a player’s salary (except for Joe D. of course).

John Nacca

11 years ago

Velarde had over 70 rbi’s combined with both teams in his 200 hit season

John Nacca

11 years ago

Wait a sec…..the answer listed above has to be wrongly written. It says…

INH identified these players as the only retired players with careers of 1500 or fewer hits that included a season since 1946 of 200 hits and 50 RBI.

If the 50 rbi part is right, I found a FEW players above that had 200 hits in a season, but MORE then 50 rbi’s……

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Reply to John Nacca

Check the list (not including Dillinger, remember) and in fact they all have one or more 200-hit seasons with 50 RBIs AND less than 1500 career hits.

Insert Name Here

11 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Oh, I see what you mean now. When Doug wrote “200 hits and 50 RBI”, he meant that they all have AT LEAST 200 hits and 50 RBI in one season, despite their 1500 or fewer career hits.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to John Nacca

I think I’ve worded it correctly. The players above have both:
a) career with 1500 or less hits; and
b) a season since 1946 (could be more than one) with 200+ hits and 50+ RBI

The alternative solution is a) above plus:
b) 1000+ career games; and
c) a season since 1946 (could be more than one) with 200+ hits

John Nacca

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

OK, the + after the 200 and 50 makes all the difference, at least to me lolol……..

John Nacca

11 years ago

Unless you mean two DIFFERENT seasons? If that is the case, it kinda sucks to penalize Rosen for the 3 seasons he had of only a handful of AB’s…

Voomo Zanzibar

11 years ago

Wow, Pesky is a WWII “what could have been.”

200 hits in a pure rookie season at age 23.
3 years away.
Then 2 more 200 hit seasons upon his return.

The next three years the hits went down, but he apparently got discerning and cullenbined 99+ free passes.

Lawrence Azrin

11 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

When Ted Williams was on the HOF Veterans Committee (the 90s?),there was some talk of possibly making Pesky a Veteran’s Committee pick, I don’t know how serious it was.

Even giving him WWII credit, Pesky’s career was rather short; 1270 games actually played, 1700+ with WWWII credit.

topper009

11 years ago

What do these players have in common

Bobby Richardson
Chuck Howley
Jerry West

Editor

John Autin

11 years ago

Reply to topper009

Hmm … Howley and West both played college ball for West Virginia. But Richardson apparently didn’t go to college(?), although he did end up the baseball coach at South Carolina. So, I got nothin’.

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to topper009

I was going to say that each won a league championship and also finished last with the same franchise. Except, it’s not quite true. The Lakers finished last the year after West retired, and never missed the playoffs in his playing career.

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

I found the answer via google though I won’t post it. And I’m a bit embarrassed that I needed google. Chuck Howley is primarily famous for one thing, and it’s the thing he has in common with West and Richardson.

John Nacca

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Championship MVP’s for a losing team……..

topper009

11 years ago

Reply to John Nacca

Yup, its what I think of right away when I hear Bobby Richardson

Tim Pea

11 years ago

Has there ever been a player that started off slower in HoF voting and went on to get in than Richie Ashburn? Ashburn received 2.1% in his first year. I know the writers never voted him in, but still.

11 years ago

Reply to Tim Pea

I don’t know the answer to Tim Pea’s question but I have to say that as much as we criticize the current voters, some of those earlier ballots were quite strange. For example, in 1968, Terry Moore received 11.7% of the vote. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of Mr. Moore before. Part of the reason that Moore received so many votes is because it was his last year on the ballot. Which seems like a lousy reason to vote for someone for the Hall of Fame. If a couple of voters voted for him, fine. But 11.7%??? Here… Read more »

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Well, he did play CF between Musial and Slaughter on the 1942 championship team. And he did share a name with a beautiful Hollywood actress.

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

So maybe they thought they were voting for the actress??? (who I’ve also never heard of!).

Hartvig

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Part of Moore’s appeal may have come from being viewed as the National League equivalent of Joe DiMaggio at least from a defensive standpoint and we tend to forget nowadays how much of the DiMaggio mystique was centered around his defense. Don Larsen was another one a lot like Vander Meer. Fifteen years on the ballot with a peak of 12.3% of the vote with a career of 81-91 record even though he pitched for the Yankees in what are normally a players peak seasons (ages 25 thru 29) and in 4 of those 5 years they won the AL… Read more »

11 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

I definitely remember that rule being in place when Larsen was receiving votes. That being said, I interpret the rule as something that binds the BBWAA as a whole, not individual voters. In other words, it bars the BBWAA from automatically putting people in the Hall who meet a particular criteria without going through the regular voting process.