Quiz – Early and Eager (solved)

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For a quick holiday diversion, consider what distinguishes these players from among all others who played their entire careers since 1901.

Rk	Player
1	Ethan Allen
2	Fernando Tatis
3	Tom Downey
4	Sherry Robertson
5	Lynn Jones
6	Hack Miller
7	Foster Castleman
8	Joe Pittman
9	Eddie Zimmerman

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/1/2015.

Congratulations to John Autin! He correctly solved this New Year’s puzzle by identifying these players as non-pitchers born on New Year’s Day (early) who compiled more strikeouts than walks (eager) over their careers. To limit the list, those careers must have been of at least 100 games since 1901.

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Eric E

9 years ago

All were born on January 1.

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Doug

9 years ago

Reply to Eric E

You’ve got the “early” part.

Eric E

9 years ago

But there must be something else, of course – there are 41 players born on Jan. 1 who played since 1901. Is there a furniture store named “Fernando Tatis”?

Mike HBC

9 years ago

Reply to Eric E

Don’t go to Hack’s for your new sofa- the name is all too accurate.

Doug

9 years ago

Reply to Mike HBC

Miller has a couple of interesting distinctions.
– fewest career games with 200+ career RBI
– first post-1901 Cubs left-fielder with consecutive qualifying seasons batting .300 (only Riggs Stephenson and Billy Williams have also done so)

Cubs had one Hack on the roster for 35 consecutive seasons (1922-56) with Hack Miller, Hack Wilson, Stan Hack and Warren Hacker (and no overlap on any of those Chicago stints).

Editor

John Autin

9 years ago

A wild cut: All were born or schooled in a city that has had professional baseball at some point.

All but Zimmerman were born in such a city — Tom Downey’s hometown of Lewiston, ME is one of three minor-league Lewistons, and Lynn Jones’s Meadville, PA is one of two minor-league Meadvilles.

David P

9 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John – But what about Fernando Tatis (born and schooled in the Dominican Republic)?

Artie Z.

9 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Bob Owchinko, was born on 1/1/1955 in Detroit and he’s not on the list. Even if we focus on hitters, Hank Greenberg was born on 1/1/1911 in NY, NY and went to school in the Bronx.

Richard Chester

9 years ago

My guess is that they are all position players with at least 75 career hits and fewer than 6000 career PA.

Editor

John Autin

9 years ago

Non-pitcher, more strikeouts than walks, 300+ PAs — That lands these nine plus Joe Martin. Adding a requirement of “more than one year played” would knock out Martin.

Richard Chester

9 years ago

Reply to John Autin

The 75 hit requirement would also knock out Martin.

Richard Chester

9 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Better yet non-pitcher, more SO than BB and more than 100 games played works.

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Doug

9 years ago

Reply to John Autin

John has got it (or, at least, he’s close enough).

The list are all non-pitchers born on Jan 1 with strikeouts exceeding walks in careers of 100 or more games since 1901.

Editor

John Autin

9 years ago

Reply to Doug

Funny thing: Calling my first guess a “wild cut” helped me see what “eager” meant in the title. 🙂

Voomo Zanzibar

9 years ago

They are listed in order of Games Played, so, no help there…