For a quick diversion, here’s a list of ten notable starting pitchers of the modern era (since 1901). Which career accomplishment (min. 250 decisions) distinguishes these players among all retired pitchers of the modern era?

Congratulations to Bob Eno. He knew that only these pitchers compiled a .550 W-L% in 200+ decisions over their first 10 seasons, but then slid below .450 in 50+ decisions for the rest of their careers. More after the jump.

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There are two players in this quiz with a lot of similarities in their careers. Your job is to figure out their identities based on these clues:

1. We were both born in New York City.
2. We both played over 200 games for teams in the same two cities.
3. We both played over 200 games at each of the same two positions.
4. We were both All-Stars playing a third position in a third city.
5. We both have older brothers who played in the majors.

Congratulations to no statistician but and Voomo Zanzibar! They teamed up to make short work of this quiz, identifying the mystery players as Joe Torre and B.J. Surhoff. More after the jump.

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This quiz involves eight players, all but one of which were active in the past 30 years. Yet they are only players in majors history to retire with a certain career accomplishment. What is it?

Seems I’ve managed to stump the HHS panel. The quiz answer is that only these players recorded a 3000 PA career having 45% of hits go for extra bases, and with doubles comprising 45% of extra-base hits. More after the jump. Continue reading →

As we await this month’s HoF balloting, here’s a little diversion in a bit different format from most of my quizzes.  Here are the clues:

1. I pitched primarily in relief in a career of more than both 10 seasons and 500 innings
2. I never pitched in the post-season, but was twice traded in mid-season from teams that made the playoffs
3. I pitched in both leagues, but played in the AL only for expansion teams

Congratulations to Jim! He knew that our mystery player was none other than Frank DiPino, (mostly) an NL reliever from the 1980s and early 1990s. More on DiPino after the jump.

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What do three HOFers have in common with several other less celebrated players? In fact, all of them share the distinction of a certain seasonal batting accomplishment of which no others can boast. What is it?

Congratulations to Voomo Zanzibar! He knew that these players have hit the most home runs in a season from each of the nine batting order positions.

The list of players is after the jump.

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This quiz is about players with a connection to another player. There are two lists of players with each player in the first list matching a player in the second. Your job is to figure out the connection.

Congratulations to No Statistician But! He knew that the matching players were teammates in a season when both (or all) hit their 300th home runs. Those details are after the jump.

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Royals speedster Paulo Orlando has most recently joined this group of mainly obscure players. But, only these live ball era players started their careers in an unusual way. What distinguishes the starts of these players’ careers among those of all other live ball era players? (Click on MORE to see the full list of quiz players)

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Here’s a list of some of the all-time great sluggers, plus a few others in a different class. Your task is to identify the career accomplishment shared only by these retired players.

1. Babe Ruth
2. Mark McGwire
3. Barry Bonds
4. Jim Thome
5. Adam Dunn
6. Russell Branyan
7. Dave Kingman
8. Rob Deer

Congratulations to Elkboy! (and welcome to HHS). He knew that only these retired players recorded Isolated Power higher than Batting Average in a 3000 PA career. More after the jump.
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All of these pitchers played for a division champion. But, they also did something else to distinguish themselves from all other relief pitchers since divisional play began in 1969. What is this unusual pitching accomplishment?

The pitchers are:

1. Wade Davis,
2. Santiago Casilla,
3. Zach Britton,
4. Koji Uehara,
5. Joaquin Benoit,
6. Rafael Betancourt,
7. Cla Meredith,
8. Michael Jackson,
9. Dennis Eckersley, and
10. Dick Hall.

Click MORE for links to these players’ Baseball-Reference pages.

The solution to the quiz is that these are the only relief pitchers on a division-winning team to face fewer than 3.75 batters per IP in a 50 IP season with zero starts. More on efficient relief seasons after the jump.

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The 2012 Minnesota Twins have the unfortunate distinction of being the only club in more than 35 years with some unusual position players on its roster. What unenviable characteristic distinguishes these clubs from among all other post-war teams?

Hint #1: There were twelve such teams from 1920 to 1941, and seven more from 1942 to 1945. Seventeen of those 19 teams were Braves, Phillies, Athletics and Reds clubs.

Hint #2: The recent passing of 1960s Giant third baseman Jim Davenport led me to this topic (though he wasn’t one of the players that put the 1968 Giants on this list).

Congratulations to bstar! He correctly identified that only these post-war teams had two players qualify for the league batting championship with ISO of 0.05 or less. More after the jump.

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