This is a different sort of quiz, to recognize unusual accomplishments in 2012, many of which have probably not been remarked upon. Until now.
After the jump, you’ll see a table of batters and a table of pitchers. For both the batters and the pitchers, the table contains two lists, one of active players and one of players retired for at least 25 years. Your job is to match the active batters to the retired batters, and the active pitchers to the retired pitchers.
So, how do you match up the players? Pretty simple, really. All you need to know is that each active player accomplished a season or career feat in 2012 that had not been accomplished since one of the retired players did the same thing.
Thanks to everyone for playing the game. I admit this was pretty tough. The solution is after the jump.
So, in summary, you need to:
- Find something unusual that each active player did in 2012
- Find the matching retired player who was the last player to do the same thing
Here are the pitchers.
| Active | |
|---|---|
| Brian Duensing | Herb Score |
| Kyle Lohse | Ray Sadecki |
| Gio Gonzalez | Walter Johnson |
| Yu Darvish | Mike Caldwell |
| Felix Hernandez | Bobo Newsom |
| Cliff Lee | Bob Grim |
And, the batters.
| Active | |
|---|---|
| Jose Reyes | Eddie Lake |
| Mike Trout | Stan Musial |
| Miguel Cabrera | George Sisler |
| Dan Uggla | Willie Mays |
| Ichiro Suzuki | Roberto Clemente |
| Albert Pujols | Rogers Hornsby |
Hint: it may be easier to first guess the players that are matched, and then figure out the accomplishment that connects them.
So, what were these unusual pitching accomplishments in 2012?
- Brian Duensing compiled a now fairly unusual swingman season for the Twins, only the eighth season (and Duensing’s second) in the past 10 years of 10+ starts and 40+ relief appearances. What distinguished this season was Duensing’s lack of success in his role, becoming the first pitcher since Mike Caldwell in 1976 to have 40+ relief outings and 100+ IP with better than 2.5 SO/BB, yet falling short of an 80 ERA+ score.
- Kyle Lohse compiled his first qualifying season with an .800 winning percentage, leading the majors in that category. Among all pitchers with a losing career record in 200+ decisions during the 1901 to 2011 period, Lohse joined Bobo Newsom as the only hurlers in this group with an .800 season on their resumes (Newsom went 21-5 in 1940 to lead the Tigers to the AL title). Now that Lohse has a career winning record, Newsom again stands alone in this regard (for now, at least).
- Gio Gonzalez recorded his first 20 win season, and in fewer than 200 IP, despite allowing over 75 walks, becoming the first such pitcher since Bob Grim in 1954. Jered Weaver also had his first 20 win season in 2012, becoming the first pitcher to do so in fewer than 190 innings.
- Yu Darvish had an impressive first season in 2012, becoming only the fourth pitcher in an inaugural season with over 200 strikeouts despite a BB/9 over 4, and the first since Herb Score in 1955 to do that without committing a balk.
- Felix Hernandez authored the third perfect game of 2012 (a first), the second in his home ballpark (a first), and did so in the month of August (a first). But, for the 7th time in 8 seasons, Hernandez also compiled over 2.5 WAR with 80 or fewer walks, a mark only Walter Johnson can match through his age 26 season.
- As many have already noted, Cliff Lee had a hard-luck season in that he was his customary dominant self but struggled to notch many Ws. Despite a league-leading SO/BB ratio (his 4th time in 5 years with a mark above 5), Lee could manage only a 6-9 W-L record and had to finish strong (4-2 over his last 8 starts) to reach that. In fact, the last pitcher having 200+ strikeouts and 75 or less walks, but with a W-L% of .400 or worse, was Ray Sadecki who doubled Lee’s totals with a 12-18 mark for the the 1968 Giants. The only other pitcher to do this fared even worse – Turk Farrell of the expansion 1962 Colt .45s went 10-20 for that hapless crew, the last 20 game loser with an ERA+ of 120 or better.
And, 2012’s unusual hitting feats.
- Jose Reyes was playing for a new team, but was his usual self on the basepaths, notching his 7th season of 30 stolen bases and 10 triples, the most since Max Carey had 8 such seasons, the last in 1927. Even without the stolen bases, Reyes’s 7 seasons of 10+ triples are the most since Roberto Clemente did this 9 times, the last in 1970.
- Mike Trout began the season in the minors, but that didn’t stop him from compiling over 10 WAR in 2012, the first player to do that in less than 140 games since Rogers Hornsby‘s MVP season in 1925.
- Miguel Cabrera earned the first triple crown in 45 years and did so with a league-leading total of 377 total bases, his 8th consecutive season with 325, a mark last achieved by Willie Mays with 9 straight years from 1957 to 1965. With 322 TB in 1956, Mays was just those 3 bases short of 12 straight seasons at this level.
- Dan Uggla had a rough year in 2012, finishing with just a .220 average and only 19 home runs, levels he achieved only with a relatively strong .278 BA over his final 30 games. Despite those modest totals, the crafty Uggla still managed to induce more than 90 walks from pitchers, the first time since Eddie Lake in 1947 that a hitter has had 90+ walks and more hits, despite a BA of .225 or less and fewer than 20 HRs.
- Ichiro Suzuki recorded his 12th straight season of 175 hits, doing so in a year in which he changed clubs for the first time, joining career Yankee Derek Jeter in the midst of a 200 hit season, his 15th time reaching the 175 mark. Ichiro’s experience mirrors that of George Sisler, with whom Ichiro is already linked, having broken Sisler’s long-standing single season hit record in 2004. Sisler recorded his 11th season of 175 hits in 1928, a year in which he briefly joined career Senator Sam Rice who, like Jeter, was compiling a 200 hit season, his 11th at the 175 level. Those are the only two times a player with 10 or more seasons of 175 hits has joined a team with another such player. Interestingly, another player with 10 seasons of 175 hits, also all with his original club, also changed teams in 2012 – alas, a slow start left Albert Pujols just two hits shy of his 11th season at the 175 level.
- Speaking of Albert Pujols, despite that slow start in Anaheim, Albert still managed to hit the 30 HR, 50 double and 100 RBI milestones, becoming the first player since Stan Musial in 1953 to hit all 3 marks in his age 32 season or later. Pujols was also the first player since Musial with 3 seasons of 50 doubles and 90 RBI, and the first player ever with 3 seasons of 50 doubles and 100 RBI.
So, now you know the rest of the story of 2012.
Was Gonzalez the first Washington pitcher to lead the league in wins since Walter Johnson?
Not quite.
Bob Porterfield (1953) and General Crowder (1932, 1933) were AL wins leaders for the Senators.
Lead the league in wins with a W% over .700?
The accomplishment for Gonzalez has to do with wins but not W-L%.
Gonzalez and Grim: 20+ wins, less than 200 IP.
From #8: And fewer than 10 HR given up.
Gonzalez and Grim is correct.
Loshe was the first to qualify for the ERA title with only 3 losses since Cliff Lee (oops, wrong column).
Are Yu Darvish and Bob Grim connected, they both had big seasons in their first year in the ML?
Darvish and Score are the only AL pitchers with 205+ SO in first season.
Darvish and Score are correct.
From above I know it’s not the right answer, but Isn’t Gonzalez the first pitcher since Walter Johnson to strike out over 200 batters in a season for a Washington based team?
Yes, that is true. A long time without a flamethrower.
Trout and Mays—leading the league in runs, stolen bases and OPS+?
Not quite.
Rickey Henderson led in all 3 categories in 1990. Like Trout, Rickey had an abbreviated season, appearing in only 136 games.
Trout and Mays are not one of the matched pairs.
I know you said Trout and Mays aren’t a match but I just wanted to mention that I did find a match between them. Last two players with 30+ home runs, 40+ steals, and less than 90 RBIs.
I have a link between Uggla and Eddie Lake that mostly works with one small problem. Uggla and Lake are the last two players to have BA less than .220, walks greater than 90 and OPS+ less than 100. The problem? Eddie Joost accomplished the feat the same year that Lake did. So I think I’m probably in the ballpark but not quite there.
Re: Eddie Lake, teamed with Roy Cullenbine on the ’47 Tigers:
1) Only one other pair of teammates ever drew 120+ walks in a season: Eddie Joost & Ferris Fain on the ’49 Athletics.
2) In modern history, there are 11 seasons of 100+ walks while batting under .230. Lake (.211, 120 BB) & Cullenbine (.224, 137) both did it in ’47.
Those ’47 Tigers led the AL in walks by almost 100.
I would guess, knowing about many Tigers players, Eddie Lake and Jose Reyes are connected by leading the league in Plate Appearances after getting traded to the new team.
Chad Curtis also did this in ’95 with the Tigers. There may be others but Curtis was the first one I found.
Ken Singleton did it in 1975 with the O’s.
Uggla/Hornsby…Lead the league in walks as a 2nd Baseman?
Joe Morgan & Willie Randolph led their respective leagues in walks in 1980.
Well damn…oh well.
How about his for Trout and Sisler. More than 170 OPS+, 40 SB, 10 HR, and 120 R .
Looks like Bonds did that in ’96.
Bonds had exactly 40 SB, I mean more than 40.
Bonds went 42/40 in ’96 and finished 5th in the MVP…he also had 1.6 more WAR than any other player that received votes. Punished for being on a bad Giants team that year. Man that guy was good.
Uggla and Lake is correct.
Trout and Sisler is wrong.
Thanks Ed for the Trout-Mays link. Probably there are different ways to solve the puzzle.
I guess you’re referring to the Lake-Uggla connection in post 16. To eliminate Joost there should be a requirement for R>80. And Uggla batted .220 so the answer should read “less than .221 BA”.
Let me rephrase that.
Richard’s Trout-Sisler link in comment #25 does work, so it’s not “wrong”. It’s just not the connection I had found to make the overall puzzle work.
How about Pujols and Musial as the only players with 50 2Bs & 30 HRs after age 32?
Yes, Pujols and Musial is correct.
To recap at this point, these are the links that have been solved.
Gonzalez-Grim
Darvish-Score
Uggla-Lake
Pujols-Musial
We also know that Trout-Mays and Trout-Sisler are not what we’re looking for. So, for Trout, it’s either Hornsby or Clemente.
A reminder too that the 2012 accomplishment could be a season OR a career accomplishment. As an example of the latter, 2012 might be a player’s 5th season doing something, the first player since somebody with that many such seasons.
This is a bit obscure but Ichiro Suzuki joined Roberto Clemente as the only players age 36+ with 178+ H and <27 BB.
I’m afraid too obscure, JDV. I stick pretty much to round numbers with any query criteria I use.
How about this one? The players are Hornsby and Cabrera. More than each of the following: 40 2B, 40 HR, 130 RBI and 160+ OPS. Also fewer than 70 BB.
That does indeed work. Alas, again not what I was looking for. I have a couple a criteria with 4 factors involved, but most are 1 to 3 factors only. So, nothing with 5 factors.
Here’s another hint. Three of the four remaining batter links are about a career accomplishment achieved in 2012. See my comment #34 for example of what I mean by a career accomplishment.
Like they say “If at first you don’t succeed try, try again”, so here goes. Reyes is the first player since Musial to accumulate 7 seasons of 10 or more triples by age 29.
We already have Musial connected to Pujols.
But, 7 seasons with 10 triples is the right career accomplishment for Reyes.
I realized that Musial could not be the answer immediately after I posted my comment.
How about Reyes is the first player since Clemente to accumulate as many as at least 7 seasons of 10 triples.
Should be at least 10 triples.
Got it. Reyes-Clemente is a match.
Which means, by elimination, that Trout-Hornsby is also a match. But, what connects these two?
Was surprised that Willie Wilson didn’t have 7+ seasons of 10 or more triples. But it turns out he only had 6 seasons.
Hernandez and Johnson—something about playing for losing teams?
You guessed right on the match.
But, it’s not because of playing on losing teams.
One way in which Trout and Hornsby are NOT a match:
Trout, rookie, had zero sacrifices
Rajah, in his three years of batting .400, never had less than 13
One of those .400 seasons is the connection to Trout.
For Ichiro and Sisler: After 12 seasons: more than 2200 hits, less than 600 BB and less than 400 2B.
Ichiro and Sisler is correct, but I had them connected for a different career accomplishment … and for two strokes of the same fate.
I’m sure this is too specific to be right, but anyway: Felix Hernandez and Walter Johnson are the only AL right-handers with 1400+ SO through age 26 all for one team.
Others to reach 1400 SO thru age 26 are NLers Gooden, Drysdale and Valenzuela, AL lefty Herb Score, and two-team AL RH Blyleven.
John,
That wasn’t the connection I found. But, you’re on the right track with age 26.
John – Herb Score only had 837 SOs in his entire career. Looks like you meant Sam McDowell. At least they were both Indian’s pitchers.
Doug: This is he closest I have come to the Hornsby-Trout connection. I ran PI with OPS+ > 170, BB < 70, 3B 120. I came up with Trout, Hornsby, Holmes, Lajoie and Burkett. The only way I found of separating Trout and Hornsby from the other three is that they accomplished their feats in even-numbered years, which I am sure is not what you are looking for. And besides that would be 5 factors. Am I on the right trail at least?
Hi again Doug: I don’t like to give up but this, I think, is the best I can do and I don’t think it’s what you’re looking for.
Trout and Hornsby are the last two players (actually the only players) with OPS+ > 170, BB 120, R < 140 and bat right-handed.
Here’s the correction: OPS+ > 170, BB 120, R < 140 and bat right-handed
One more time:
OPS+ greater than 170
BB less than 70
R greater than 120
R less than 140
Bat RH
I’m afraid I was thinking about something much simpler, Richard.
I’ll post the solution shortly.
OK, but I enjoyed going through the search.
Thanks for playing everyone.
If I do another like this, I’ll tell you straight off what the matches are, and let you figure out the matching criteria.
I’ve written up the solution in the post.
Doug, FWIW, I enjoyed this format, as challenging as it was.
Duensing was the one that I really wanted to get, but couldn’t. It’s easy to say now, but I was right on the heels of his connection to Caldwell. I had the 100+ IP, 2.5 SO/BB and ERA+ under 80, but for some reason I focused on games finished. I never thought to use just relief games. My doink!
Here’s an interesting factoid re: a current Twins pitcher. In his first 17 career starts Liam Hendriks failed to notch a single victory. I’m not sure if that’s a record but it appears that the only pitcher who might have had a longer winless start streak at the beginning of their is Jack Nabors. Unfortunately BR doesn’t have game logs for his 1916 season with the Philadelphia A’s so we don’t know when he finally won a game.
As it stands now, Hendriks has only won once in 20 career starts. If he never starts again, he’ll be third all time in most starts with only one victory, behind Nabors (37 starts plus 15 relief appearances) and Mike Thompson (29 starts plus 25 relief appearances). All three pitchers have essentially the same ERA+: Hendricks is at 71, the other two are at 74.
BTW, the record for most career starts without ever winning a game is a tie between Steve Gerkin and Paul Brown. Both started 12 times and never won. Gerkin also pitched in relief 9 times, Brown 24. Gerkin actually wasn’t a bad pitcher, his career ERA+ was 93.
Actually, Ed, they do have some of the pre-1918 boxes over at retrosheet, including those for the 1916 Athletics. Nabors picked up his first W in his 10th career start, going the distance to beat the Red Sox 6-2. Nabors, who was the Athletics opening day starter that year, had 27 more winless starts that season, the longest streak until 28 game streaks by Matt Keough (1978-79) and Jo-Jo Reyes (2008-11).
As for Hendriks, he is not quite in record territory, but he’s getting close.
Generated 12/8/2012.
Like most of these guys, Hendriks appears to be struggling with the gopher ball. His control, though, looks to be the best of this bunch.
Despite his slow start, Fred Norman would win over 100 games in his career, including 4 victories in relief before notching his first W as a starter. He was the model of consistency in the 70s, with 7 straight seasons (1973-79) for the Big Red Machine, winning from 11 to 14 games, including either 12 or 13 wins in the first four of those years.
Thanks Doug! You are clearly better with the PI than I am. I tried to get it to do what you did but couldn’t. So I appreciate the follow-up. Looks like Mohler never did win as a starter though he won 14 games in relief. And Caudill did eventually win a game as a starter.
Doug: I had the same problems as Ed in trying to retrieve that list. I have spent more than a little time trying to figure it out. It’s easy to get a list of consecutive losses but what is needed is a list of consecutive no-wins which does not seem to be available on PI. Care to let Ed and me in on the secret?
Freddy Norman is also the last guy standing 5′ 8″ or less to win 100+ games in the majors. Dolf Luque (1914-35, 194 wins) is the last of that stature to reach 120+ wins.
Interesting that Liam Hendriks has served up a lot of HRs, since HR avoidance was one of his biggest strengths in the minors. In just 85 MLB innings last year, he yielded 17 HRs — the same number as he allowed in 482 IP on the farm (0.3 HR/9).
Doug: It would be a good idea to clarify exactly what you mean by a round number. My original interpretation was that you meant a number ending in 0 but I see from the answers a number ending in 5 forms a solution.
I’m looking forward to the next quiz.
Speaking again of Pujols, in his first 12 seasons he has never hit less than .285 (no minimum PA required). Only 5 players have made it through their entire careers above that level and only 16 have made it through just their first 12 years.
I guess numbers ending in zero, plus ending in 25 or 75, seem like round numbers for me.
Richard & Ed,
Select Game Started as Pitcher’s Role and then set Wins = 0 as criteria.
Good Lord, Doug, it was so easy. I’ll be able to fall asleep more easily tonight. I was unaware that you could set Wins = 0, I thought it had to remain at the default setting of 1.