Quiz – Tricky Trifectas (solved) |

Congratulations to the following readers on solving the quizzes:

Part 1: wlcmlc, Dr. Doom and Richard Chester teamed up to identify that all of these players had a season with equal totals for walks, runs and RBI, numbering at least 40 (or any number from 38 to 43).

Part 2: Richard Chester and Bix identified that these players had a season with identical totals for doubles and HRs that also equaled their age on June 30 of that season

Part 3: Richard Chester identified that these players had 3 or more seasons of 30 or more walks and more than 3 times as many RBI as walks

The lists of players and their seasons for the three quizzes are after the jump.

My favorite player for this sort of thing is Butch Nieman. He played just 3 seasons for the Braves during World War II, but managed to compile these weird and wacky totals:

1943: 39 runs, walks and strikeouts. RBI = 46 = BB (39) + HR (7)
1944: 65 runs and RBI. 47 walks and strikeouts. 16 doubles and HR. RBI = 65 = BB (47) + HR (16) + 2
1945: 43 runs and walks. RBI = 56 = BB (43) + HR (14) – 1

Incidentally, with those 37 career homers, Nieman’s rate of 1 HR per 32 PAs ranked 10th best in the majors for 1943-45, among those with 30+ HR for the period.

Here’s the answer to Part 1, with equal totals for walks, runs and RBI, numbering at least 40.

Rk	Player	R	BB	RBI	Year	Tm	G	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
16	Ben Zobrist	91	91	91	2009	TBR	152	599	501	149	28	7	27	104	.297	.405	.543	.948	*496/783D5
66	Al Kaline	72	72	72	1965	DET	125	474	399	112	18	2	18	49	.281	.388	.471	.859	89/5
81	Phil Garner	66	66	66	1978	PIT	154	609	528	138	25	9	10	71	.261	.345	.400	.745	45/6
99	Woodie Held	61	61	61	1963	CLE	133	493	416	103	19	4	17	96	.248	.352	.435	.787	*4798/65
101	Stephen Drew	60	60	60	2007	ARI	150	619	543	129	28	4	12	100	.238	.313	.370	.683	*6
132	Steve Mesner	52	52	52	1945	CIN	150	610	540	137	19	1	1	18	.254	.322	.298	.620	*5/4
143	Ripper Collins	48	48	48	1936	STL	103	327	277	81	15	3	13	30	.292	.399	.509	.908	*3/97
144	John Gochnaur	48	48	48	1903	CLE	134	512	438	81	16	4	0	53	.185	.265	.240	.505	*6
146	Alex Cora	47	47	47	2004	LAD	138	484	405	107	9	4	10	41	.264	.364	.380	.745	*4
163	Ivan Howard	43	43	43	1915	SLB	113	380	324	90	10	7	2	48	.278	.368	.370	.738	359/7648

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/22/2013.

Part 2 is players with doubles and HRs both matching their age.

Rk		HR	2B	Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
19	Joe Carter	33	33	1993	33	TOR	155	669	603	92	153	5	121	47	113	.254	.312	.489	.802	*97/D
46	Bobby Grich	30	30	1979	30	CAL	153	609	534	78	157	5	101	59	84	.294	.365	.537	.903	*4
53	Jason Kubel	30	30	2012	30	ARI	141	571	506	75	128	4	90	57	151	.253	.327	.506	.833	*7/D9
58	Billy Williams	30	30	1968	30	CHC	163	699	642	91	185	8	98	48	53	.288	.336	.500	.836	*79
69	Willie Mays	29	29	1960	29	SFG	153	669	595	107	190	12	103	61	70	.319	.381	.555	.936	*8
96	Carlos Lee	26	26	2002	26	CHW	140	576	492	82	130	2	80	75	73	.264	.359	.484	.843	*7/D
99	Bill Nicholson	26	26	1941	26	CHC	147	617	532	74	135	1	98	82	91	.254	.357	.453	.810	*9/7
110	Doug Rader	25	25	1970	25	HOU	156	644	576	90	145	3	87	57	102	.252	.322	.436	.758	*5/3
113	Bobby Murcer	25	25	1971	25	NYY	146	624	529	94	175	6	94	91	60	.331	.427	.543	.969	*8
137	Ron Hansen	22	22	1960	22	BAL	153	606	530	72	135	5	86	69	94	.255	.342	.440	.781	*6

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/22/2013.

Part 3 are players with 3 or more season of 30+ BBs, and over 3 times as many RBI as walks.

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Al Simmons	8	1924	1933	22-31	Ind. Seasons
2	Juan Gonzalez	6	1992	2001	22-31	Ind. Seasons
3	Cecil Cooper	4	1980	1985	30-35	Ind. Seasons
4	High Pockets Kelly	4	1921	1929	25-33	Ind. Seasons
5	Garret Anderson	3	1997	2003	25-31	Ind. Seasons
6	Matt Williams	3	1990	1999	24-33	Ind. Seasons
7	George Bell	3	1987	1992	27-32	Ind. Seasons
8	Joe Carter	3	1986	1994	26-34	Ind. Seasons
9	Orlando Cepeda	3	1959	1962	21-24	Ind. Seasons
10	Joe Medwick	3	1935	1937	23-25	Ind. Seasons
11	Irish Meusel	3	1922	1924	29-31	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/22/2013.

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Hartvig

11 years ago

I’m guessing that part of the answer to #1 is the same number of walks and runs in a season while accomplishing something else but I haven’t figured out that part of it yet.

Reply to Hartvig

I’m pretty sure it’s not going to let me do this but I have to try:

http://youtu.be/WW21rcHiVU0

Author

Doug

Surprise. You can do it.

This was the clue, by the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrzNLVUEEnw

Reply to Doug

I was pretty certain it wasn’t Operation Petticoat….

Dan

I was going to say more walks than runs scored.

wlcmlc

#1 A year with walks, runs and RBIs all the same.

Reply to wlcmlc

Correct, but one more limiting criterion for the players shown.

Richard Chester

If the movie clue was The Grass Is Greener the additional limiting criterion could have been that they never played on artificial turf (well at least some of them never did). 🙂

I thought for a while it might be while playing at least 3 different positions in the season but JOEY CORA !??! proved that not to be the case (Gochnaur didn’t either but I saw that later)- it couldn’t be something as straightforward as while playing at least playing a few game in the infield, could it?

Actually even simpler than that.

Hint: more hitters than these have identical walk, run and RBI totals, but these hitters are the most impressive on the list because …

they all played in more than 100 games.

No, Steve Hovley had 24 each of BB, R, and RBI in 105 games in 1972.

Even simpler than that. Just a limitation on the criteria already identified, NOT an additional criterion.

Dr. Doom

Then it’s gotta be like >=30 of each or something. Or 25. Something like that.

40+ of each (R, RBI, BB)

That’s right, Dr. Doom.

It’s actually 38 or more. Jim Leyritz is next on the list with 37 of each in 1995.

After Leyritz I found Al Evans at 30.

Followed by:

28 – Dale Sveum (1992)
27 – Chuck Tanner (1955)
26 – Tommy Harper (1968)
24 – Steve Hovley (1972)
20 – Steve Yeager (1980)
19 – Brad Hawpe (2011)
18 – Jerry McNertney (1968), George Stumpf (1932)
16 – Steve Clevenger (2012)

And, down from there.

For part 2 they each had a qualifying season with HR = 2B so that could be part of the answer.

Bix

#2 — doubles, homeruns, and age all the same.

Reply to Bix

Bingo.

Impressive start, guys.

For part 3 does the fact that none of those players ever had more than 62 BB have anything to do with the solution?

Reply to Richard Chester

In an indirect way, yes.

Walks are part of the answer, and not having many of them makes it a lot easier to meet the criteria for part 3.

#3 — something along the lines of having at least 1000 career RBI, with career RBI at least 2x career walks?

I was figuring (without looking specifically) that it had something to do with RBI, since Carter, Gonazalez, Medwick and others are on the list. I think this is along the right line of thinking.

Part 3 is about Walks and RBI.

The career angle has to do with seasons in a career, rather than career totals.

It may have something to do with a certain RBI/BB ratio and number of seasons attaining or exceeding that ratio.

And attaining a certain number of RBI. I ran RBI/BB equal to or greater than three with a minimum of 100 RBI. All the guys on the list did it three seasons or more but there are a few extra names on my list.

Very close.

Of course (hint, hint), you could put the limit on the other component of the ratio.

#26 is exactly right, with a certain limit applied to a component in the ratio.

no statistician but

Three seasons with a third or less BB to RBI.

Reply to no statistician but

Correct.

But, still need something else to limit it to just the listed players.

How’s this? RBI/BB greater than 3 and BB greater than 30

Actually RBI/BB equal to or greater than 3 and BB equal to or greater than 30.

You’ve got it.