Here is a list of well-known ballplayers, all connected by a common seasonal batting achievement.
Your job: find that common batting feat, and identify the missing ballplayers needed to complete this list.
Note: there is no significance to the multi-column list; a single column list would have worked just as well
Congratulations to Ed on identifying these hitters as the record holders for home runs in a season at a specific age. After that, it was a true team effort to identify the remaining mystery players, shown in red above. So, thanks to everyone for playing.
Interestingly, there is a single HR record-holder for every age – no ties. See the complete list of these record HR seasons after the jump.
| Player | HR | Year | Age | Tm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy Brown | 2 | 1945 | 17 | BRO |
| Phil Cavarretta | 8 | 1935 | 18 | CHC |
| Tony Conigliaro | 24 | 1964 | 19 | BOS |
| Mel Ott | 42 | 1929 | 20 | NYG |
| Eddie Mathews | 47 | 1953 | 21 | MLN |
| Joe DiMaggio | 46 | 1937 | 22 | NYY |
| Prince Fielder | 50 | 2007 | 23 | MIL |
| Jimmie Foxx | 58 | 1932 | 24 | PHA |
| Babe Ruth | 54 | 1920 | 25 | NYY |
| Roger Maris | 61 | 1961 | 26 | NYY |
| Hank Greenberg | 58 | 1938 | 27 | DET |
| Ken Griffey | 56 | 1998 | 28 | SEA |
| Sammy Sosa | 66 | 1998 | 29 | CHC |
| Sammy Sosa | 63 | 1999 | 30 | CHC |
| Alex Rodriguez | 54 | 2007 | 31 | NYY |
| Sammy Sosa | 64 | 2001 | 32 | CHC |
| Mark McGwire | 58 | 1997 | 33 | TOT |
| Mark McGwire | 70 | 1998 | 34 | STL |
| Mark McGwire | 65 | 1999 | 35 | STL |
| Barry Bonds | 73 | 2001 | 36 | SFG |
| Hank Aaron | 47 | 1971 | 37 | ATL |
| Barry Bonds | 45 | 2003 | 38 | SFG |
| Barry Bonds | 45 | 2004 | 39 | SFG |
| Darrell Evans | 34 | 1987 | 40 | DET |
| Ted Williams | 29 | 1960 | 41 | BOS |
| Barry Bonds | 28 | 2007 | 42 | SFG |
| Carlton Fisk | 18 | 1991 | 43 | CHW |
| Julio Franco | 5 | 2003 | 44 | ATL |
| Julio Franco | 6 | 2004 | 45 | ATL |
| Julio Franco | 9 | 2005 | 46 | ATL |
| Julio Franco | 2 | 2006 | 47 | NYM |
| Julio Franco | 1 | 2007 | 48 | TOT |
I’ll take a stab at the Sosa-Maris line: Those two and Mark McGwire are the only players with a season of 60+ HR, fewer than 30 doubles and less than a .300 BA.
It’s my understanding that this is not 7 mini-quizzes together; it’s one large quiz in which there are 7 mystery players and 14 given that share the same feat. It’s outlined as such in that bottom paragraph.
That is correct.
That’s too bad. When I saw Ruth and Prince, I was thinking perhaps Kruk
So, since those are the only three to do that, that must not be the answer. 🙂
Note that there is also no significance to the rows. I could as easily have shown a single column list of 21 rows, 14 filled in, and 7 not. I just did it this way to save screen space.
Okay, so I noticed immediately that these are all sluggers, particularly HR sluggers, all having at least one 40-HR season, and all but Teddy Ballgame having at least one 45-HR season. Also, they all have stretches of consecutive seasons of 150+ OPS+, and all of them but Maris and Fielder have stretches of 3+ such consecutive seasons. Also, Maris is the only one not to have an OPS of at least 1.000.
Just some things I noticed, no guesses yet. I’m also curious as to if this is a single-season or career accomplishment (or perhaps both, as we saw in the most recent quiz). The presence of active players, however, leads to me to presume that this is a single-season accomplishment.
It is a single-season accomplishment.
well, i dont know if im on the right track, but everyone here has at least one season with RBI > 130 and runs > 100 and HR > 43.
not sure if this is significant, or just a coincidence because everyone on this list is so accomplished.
Interesting that you mention that little factoid.
Here’s another clue: none of the mystery players have a season matching those criteria
So it’s a single-season batting accomplishment that meets NONE of those criteria and includes ALL of these 14 players?
Wow, this one’s difficult.
To clarify:
– none of the mystery players has a season matching ALL three of those criteria (HR >= 43, RBI >= 130, Runs >= 100)
– two have no seasons matching any of those three criteria
– the other five each have at least one season matching at least one of those criteria
Doug: Are Cal Ripken and Billy Williams two of the mystery players?
No. Neither of those two.
Is the achievement most home runs without hitting a triple?
It can’t be. Joe DiMaggio hit at least 4 triples in every season.
I’ve got to imagine Pujols is on the list.
No, not Pujols.
All those players are former HR leaders. Other than that, I have nada.
Three of the mystery players also were league-leaders in HR.
But, the other four never were.
So by using the PI we can identify all HR league leaders who never had more than 42 HR, 129 RBI and 99 runs scored in a particular season. It would involve manual searching of the list. Three of those players are the mystery players. I’m hitting the sack now, maybe I’ll try tomorrow.
Good thought, Richard.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll reveal one of the names, or maybe two. Any more than that would give it away, I think.
I’m still up. It looks like Bill Melton and Gus Zernial are possibilities.
Neither of those, Richard.
I have revealed one of the mystery players.
My procedure in post 28 won’t work well, there are too many players to choose from. Now we know that Ott is one of the three mystery players who led in HR and also is one of the five players who met your last criterion of post 10. Still a long way from the answer.
I wouldn’t spend much time pursuing that line of inquiry.
Comment #35 may provide a clue.
Are the mystery players still active?
None of the mystery players are active.
Is one of the criteria leading your league in home runs?
No, not one of the criteria.
How about they all led their league in homers AND had a team mate who led the league as well….Gehrig, Canseco, Mantle, kiner, Matt Williams, Sandberg, and Cabrera
…with at least 40
….but, then again, where are Mays and McCovey?….and Doug, too late for cookies and milk?
Thanks for trying, Paul.
I have no idea what the answer is.
Just wanted to mentioned this morsel that I just read:
next year, the Mets’ two highest paid outfielders will be…
Jason Bay and
Bobby Bonilla
Some things are priceless. For everything else, there are the Mets.
Bobby Bonilla turns 50 this Saturday.
He last donned the orange and blue in the last century.
And, the Mets are really still paying him!!!
Supposedly, the Wilpons approached Bonilla about paying out the last year of his contract over 10 years with like 8% interest. He didn’t want to do it…his ex-wife said he was a fool not to take the offer. So he took Freddie up on the idea.
Now, if the US Dept of Justice doesn’t think the Wilpons knew that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme to THEIR benefit as earlier investors, Eric Holder must have the IQ of a retarded mosquito. Guaranteeing Bonilla those kind of returns is evidence enough to cast suspicion that Wilpon knew he could do better with those funds invested with Madoff
This is a really interesting list. Obviously not the answer, but take a look at how many of these players began their careers when they were 20 or younger.
In fact, the oldest any of these players was in his first season was 22 (Maris and McGwire… funny how that works out, huh?)
Is it most home runs for each age? For example, Ott has the most homeruns at age 20. Mathews has the most at age 21. Etc.
Yes, this would explain why some of the mystery players don’t sound like the biggest sluggers (based on how Doug has described them).
Following with that, I can identify Tony Conigliaro as one of the mystery players, for having the most HRs at age 19, although Bryce Harper came pretty close in 2012.
That seems like the right answer, although I can only find five of the missing six. You have Tony Conigliaro at 19, Darrell Evans at 40, Carlton Fisk at 43, Julio Franco at 44 & 45 & 48, and Jack Quinn at 46. Maybe I’m missing someone?
I assume it would be Phil Cavarretta with 8 home runs at age 18.
Except Jack Quinn’s not an answer; Franco hit 9 dingers at age 46, while Quinn hit only one. Instead, you should list Tommy Brown, who hit 2 HRs at age 17.
Additionally, nobody 16 or younger has hit a HR, so the six mystery players are Brown, Cavarretta, Conigliaro, Evans, Fisk, and Franco.
Prince Fielder has the most home runs in a season for a 23 year old.
Jimmy Foxx for a 24 year old
Babe Ruth for a 25 year old
Roger Maris for a 26 year old
Hank Greenberg for a 27 year old
Ken Griffey Jr for a 28 year old
Sammy Sosa for a 29 year old
Sosa again at 30
ARod at 31
Sosa again at 32
McGwire at 33, 34 and 35
Bonds at 36
Aaron at 37
Bonds again at 38 & 39
Darrell Evans at 40
Williams at 41
Bonds at 42
Fisk at 43
going back
Phil Cavarretta at age 18
Conigliaro at 19
You mentioned Ott at 20 and Mathews at 21
DiMaggio at 23
Now it’s just a matter of putting them in their proper place
If Ed is correct, then the players line up as so:
Most HRs at age 19 — Tony Conigliaro (24) (one of the “mystery” players)
Most HRs at age 20 — Ott (42)
Most HRs at age 21 — Mathews (47)
Most HRs at age 22 — DiMaggio (46)
At age 23 — Fielder (50)
At age 24 — Foxx (58)
At age 25 — Ruth (54)
At age 26 — Maris (61)
At age 27 — Greenberg (58)
At age 28 — Griffey (56)
At age 29 — Sosa (66)
At age 30 — Sosa again (63)
At age 31 — A-Rod (54)
At age 32 — Sosa again (64)
At age 33 — McGwire (58)
At age 34 — McGwire again (70)
At age 35 — McGwire again (65)
At age 36 — Bonds (73)
At age 37 — Aaron (47)
At age 38 — Bonds again (45)
At age 39 — Bonds again (45)
At age 40 — Darrell Evans (34) (“mystery” player)
At age 41 — Teddy Ballgame (29)
At age 42 — Bonds again (28)
At age 43 — Carlton Fisk (18) (“mystery” player)
Phil Cavaretta at age 18 is probably one of the mystery players also
Also
At age 17–Tommy Brown
He is the youngest player to hit a HR.
Reply to post 43: Franco, not Quinn, holds the record for 46 years old.
So if it’s true that Franco was in fact several years older than he said he was (common guess is 3 or 4 years), that’s an even more impressive end to a career then.