Quiz – Mystery Ballplayers

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.

Player	Player	Player
Alex Rodriguez	Eddie Mathews	Mel Ott
Joe DiMaggio	Mark McGwire	Tony Conigliaro
Sammy Sosa	Roger Maris	Darrell Evans
Hank Greenberg	Ken Griffey	Tommy Brown
Jimmie Foxx	Barry Bonds	Phil Cavarretta
Hank Aaron	Ted Williams	Julio Franco
Babe Ruth	Prince Fielder	Carlton Fisk

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/18/2013.

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

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/18/2013.

49 Comments

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Richard Chester

12 years ago

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.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

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.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

That is correct.

Mike L

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

That’s too bad. When I saw Ruth and Prince, I was thinking perhaps Kruk

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

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.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

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… Read more »

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

It is a single-season accomplishment.

cubbies

12 years ago

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.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to cubbies

Interesting that you mention that little factoid.

Here’s another clue: none of the mystery players have a season matching those criteria

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

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.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

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

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Doug: Are Cal Ripken and Billy Williams two of the mystery players?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

No. Neither of those two.

Josh

12 years ago

Is the achievement most home runs without hitting a triple?

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Josh

It can’t be. Joe DiMaggio hit at least 4 triples in every season.

12 years ago

I’ve got to imagine Pujols is on the list.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to RJ

No, not Pujols.

Luis Gomez

12 years ago

All those players are former HR leaders. Other than that, I have nada.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Luis Gomez

Three of the mystery players also were league-leaders in HR.

But, the other four never were.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

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.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

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.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

I’m still up. It looks like Bill Melton and Gus Zernial are possibilities.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Neither of those, Richard.

I have revealed one of the mystery players.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

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.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

I wouldn’t spend much time pursuing that line of inquiry.

Comment #35 may provide a clue.

Luis Gomez

12 years ago

Are the mystery players still active?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Luis Gomez

None of the mystery players are active.

GrandyMan

12 years ago

Is one of the criteria leading your league in home runs?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to GrandyMan

No, not one of the criteria.

Paul E

12 years ago

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

Paul E

12 years ago

…with at least 40

Paul E

12 years ago

….but, then again, where are Mays and McCovey?….and Doug, too late for cookies and milk?

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Thanks for trying, Paul.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

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

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

Some things are priceless. For everything else, there are the Mets.

Author

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

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!!!

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

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… Read more »

Mike L

12 years ago

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.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

In fact, the oldest any of these players was in his first season was 22 (Maris and McGwire… funny how that works out, huh?)

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

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.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

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.

Jeff J. Snider

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

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?

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff J. Snider

I assume it would be Phil Cavarretta with 8 home runs at age 18.

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff J. Snider

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.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

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… Read more »

Insert Name Here

12 years ago

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… Read more »

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

Phil Cavaretta at age 18 is probably one of the mystery players also

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Insert Name Here

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.

mosc

12 years ago

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.