Below are two lists of four players, one list of batters and one of pitchers. Both the batters and pitchers are the only players in the searchable era with a certain connection to the Fourth, one connection for the batters and a different but related connection for the pitchers.

So, what are the connections?

Hint #1: there is no batter vs. pitcher connection between the listed players (at least, none that is germane to the quiz)

Hint #2: the fact that Art Houtteman, Ray Moore and Billy Pierce were teammates of each other at various times is purely coincidental and has nothing to do with the quiz. Ditto for Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman. Honest.

Congratulations to Richard Chester and Insert Name Here! Richard correctly identified (with a little help) that these batters homered in a July 4th game off of a pitcher whose birthday is July 4th. Similarly, INS identified that these pitchers gave up a home run in a July 4th game to a batter whose birthday is July 4th. They are the only players in the searchable era who meet these criteria. The fact that there are four of each for July 4th – hey, truth is stranger than fiction.

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We’re at the half-way point of the 2013 campaign and one of this season’s best kept secrets is the fine crop of rookie hurlers this year.

Don’t know about Jose Fernandez or Julio Teheran? Here’s your opportunity to find out.

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Homer Bailey recorded the first no-hitter of the 2013 season tonight, dispatching the Giants on 109 pitches, 74 for strikes. Bailey allowed just a single batter to reach base, on a walk to Gregor Blanco leading off the 7th inning. Joey Votto provided the only offense the Reds would need with a first inning sac fly, with Brandon Phillips adding insurance tallies with a 2-run HR in the 6th inning.

More after the jump.

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This quiz concerns a career (min. 5000 PA) batting feat accomplished since 1901 by only a handful of the all-time greats … plus a few other guys who have each played their entire careers within the past 25 seasons.

So, who are these other guys hobnobbing with baseball’s elite? That’s for you to find out based on the list below, conveniently ordered by the career batting feat that only these players have achieved.

Congrats to Insert Name Here, aweb and Josh who identified the mystery players bolded above. Congratulations to Howard who identified that these players have the 10 highest career RBI per game rates of all players with 5000+ PAs, and are the only players with a rate of more than 0.8 RBI per game.

Ryan Howard joined the group just yesterday – he currently has exactly 5000 PAs. Will be interesting to see if he can stay on the list. Some players (Greenberg, Gonzalez, Belle) benefited from a short career and/or retiring at an early age before their decline phase dragged down their career rate stats. Williams may have the most impressive accomplishment with missing a large chunk of his prime years to military service and thereby compiling almost one-third of his career PAs in his age 35 season or later.

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In case you missed it (like me), last week (on June 16, to be precise), Torii Hunter cranked home run number 300 to become the 136th member of that club. What was once a momentous feat now just attracts a kind of … ho hum … “Good for him!” type of recognition. Sort of like the attention paid to Ryan Howard‘s 300th at the end of last season (unless you missed that one too).

Once akin to a pitcher reaching 300 wins, 300 homers no longer has anything like that luster. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at the 300 home run milestone, and preview a possible coming change in its significance.

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Rather more players included here than in most quizzes. But, there is a reason for that.

These sixteen pitchers are indeed among the “sweetest” of the live ball era. But, the number 16 is also part of the quiz answer, relating to a seasonal accomplishment since 1920 of which only these pitchers can boast.

Hint #1: there is no significance to the arrangement of the rows or columns

Hint #2: outside of the 5 seasons from 1968 to 1972, only 10 of these pitchers accomplished this feat

Congratulations to –bill ! He correctly identified that only these pitchers have posted a season (min. 200 IP) since 1920 allowing less than one run per 16 batters faced. Some of baseball’s most memorable pitching seasons are represented in the list after the jump.

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Here is the final installment of this series, looking at players at each position recording the best hitting months.

As with Part 1 on Outfielders and Part 2 on Infielders, the method is to identify the top OPS in each calendar month for players with a minimum 80 PAs in the month (50 PAs for April). As well, the player must have played a majority of his games in that month at one position, though all of his playing time is included in the reported OPS. For Part 3, the PA threshold for pitchers has been set at 20 PAs, and 15 PAs for April.

More on these hot hitters after the jump.

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Since 1916, what game accomplishment is shared by only these pitchers?

Hint #1: none of these pitchers has done this more than once

Hint #2: no pitcher has accomplished this feat in the post-season

Congratulations to Richard Chester! He identified the players in the quiz as the only pitchers to hit a homerun on their birthday. Since Randy Wolf did this in 2002, pitchers have batted on their birthday in 93 games, but have all come up empty in the long ball department.

Our list includes none of the 13 pitchers who batted most often on their birthday, led by Sad Sam Jones with 9 birthday games and Bobo Newsom with 7. Tied for 14th spot are a large group of 44 pitchers who batted in 3 birthday games including Turk Lown, Bob Hooper, Freddie Fitzsimmons and Don Drysdale, as well as active pitchers Edwin Jackson of the Cubs and John Lannan of the Phillies. Bubba Church and Jack Harshman homered in their only birthday games, but both took the loss.

What is the season statistical feat achieved by only these pitchers since 1961?

Hint: none of these pitchers achieved this feat more than once

Congrats to –Bill ! He identified the players in today’s quiz as the only pitchers since 1961 with a season win total matching or exceeding their age. No pitcher has managed this feat since Roger Clemens recorded 24 wins as a 23 year-old in 1986, a year after 20 year-old Dwight Gooden also won 24 games.

Wally Bunker, at age 19, is the youngest to do this since the 19th century, while Steve Carlton is the oldest in our list with 27 wins at age 27 in 1972. The last pitcher to do this more than once – Hal Newhouser in 1944-46 with 29, 25 and 26 wins, aged 23-25. Bob Feller is the only other three-peater in the live ball era with 24, 27 and 25 wins aged 20-22 in 1939-41. The last pitcher to do this aged 30 or older – Lefty Grove with 31 wins at age 31 in 1931.

Early last season, I did a piece highlighting Matt Kemp’s fast start. Coming off a near-MVP season in 2011 when he flirted with the Triple Crown with a .324/.399/.586 slash and league-leading HR (39) and RBI (126) totals, Kemp kept right on rolling, going 2 for 5 on opening day and maintaining that .400 batting average for all but 3 of his first 30 games. Kemp’s April looked like .417/.490/.893 with 12 home runs.

Kemp would go down with an injury in mid-May, and then re-injured himself in his second game back at the end of that month. Returning after the All-Star break, he finished just .280/.331/.461 with 11 home runs over his last 70 games.

For 2013, the power circuits are off for Kemp, with just two home runs on the season and a .251/.305/.335 slash before he injured his hamstring a couple of weeks ago. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at Kemp’s decline and what might be causing his struggles.

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