As the dog days of summer approach, a lighter bit of trivia for you. No heavy analysis here, just some idle fun with the Play Index.

Johnny Damon signed on with the Indians earlier this season. Cleveland is Damon’s 7th club, and 4th in 4 seasons. What you might not be aware of is this: Damon leads in games played for all players who have played for exactly 7 clubs.

Another active player close to the top of his list is Omar Vizquel, now with his 6th team. Omar needs another 33 games (possible, but unlikely) to move past Dave Winfield for the most games played for players appearing for exactly 6 franchises.

After the jump, I’ll take a look at other weary travelers.

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HHS reader with the moniker “Insert Name Here” was lamenting that a recent quiz was too easy, and was pining for something really challenging as in days past. So, just for INH, here’s something a bit harder.

The 12 players in this quiz have achieved a hitting feat related to the television series Seinfeld. This has been accomplished only 13 times in the game-searchable era, so one of the twelve has done it twice.

Can you figure out what that accomplishment might be?

Click on the link below to see the list of players and get started on your sleuthing.

Congratulations to Richard Chester! He identified that these are the only players since 1918 to compile a 0-0-0-0 box score line in a game with 5 or more PAs. Like Seinfeld, a game about “nothing” (at least as far as the box score is concerned).

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Perhaps nothing is more quintessentially American as taking in a ballgame on Independence Day. Even better is if the game features some special and memorable plays.

After the jump, I’ll recount some heroic Independence Day performances at the ballpark.

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A discussion started on yesterday’s Strikeout Milestone post concerning players who have appeared in the most games on the winning side. That topic arose in response to media coverage of Derek Jeter appearing in his 1500th winning game last week.

After the break are the top 5 winningest players for each franchise, during the game-searchable era (since 1918).

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Following up on a post by birtelcom concerning the continually increasing trend to more strikeouts in the game, I noticed that there is likely to be a lot of action on the strikeout milestone list this year. After the break, I’ll take a look at today’s career strikeout kings and their predecessors.

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Ewell Blackwell
Baseball-Reference.com

Sidearmer Ewell Blackwell was a top NL pitcher of the late 40s and early 50s (he may also possibly be a relative of Don “Ears” Mossi, don’t you think?). Nicknamed “The Whip” for his unusual delivery, Blackwell’s best season was 1947, when he led the senior circuit in wins and strikeouts, was the All-Star game starter and, in a close MVP vote, placed 2nd to Bob Elliott of the Braves. That season, Blackwell also nearly duplicated Johnny Vander Meer’s 1938 feat of consecutive no-hitters. After no-hitting the Braves on June 18, Blackwell took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the Dodgers on June 22, only to be foiled by an Eddie Stanky single.

Blackwell is the subject of today’s quiz because of a peculiar singularity. He is the only pre-expansion pitcher in the game-searchable era to accomplish a particular feat.

What is it that Blackwell achieved, and that no other pitcher from 1918 to 1960 could duplicate?

Congratulations to Richard Chester! He identified that Ewell Blackwell in 1950 was the only pitcher from 1918 to 1960 to record more hit batsmen than wild pitches in a season with 10 or more of each.

In Monday’s action, Carlos Ruiz was a major contributor to the Phillies attack in an 8-3 romp over the Pirates, going 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and a stolen base. That performance pushed Ruiz’s batting average back above the .350 mark, just 4 points behind current NL leader David Wright.

So far this year, Ruiz is having one of the best seasons ever for catchers aged 33 or older. Ruiz was last batting below .300 on Apr 27 and, since racing past .350 with a 4 for 5 game on May 17, has been above the .350 mark on all but 5 days, and never lower than .344. Yet, it seems hardly anyone outside Philly has noticed.

After the break, I’ll take a closer look on what is so far a quite remarkable season.

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Reading the title of this post, you might be asking “Haven’t there always been intimidation pitchers?”. What I’m referring to, though, are pitchers who intimidate batters not only with their stuff, but also because the batter isn’t always sure where the next pitch may be headed.

To this point in the 2012 season, these three pitchers (min. 80 IP) are having dominating seasons, as evidenced by their ERAs and strikeout totals.

But, they’re also on pace for allowing 50% more walks than earned runs, something that hasn’t been accomplished by 3 pitchers in the same season in more than 20 years (if it happens this year, the trio will have to include someone other than Beachy, who was shelved for the year today pending Tommy John surgery).

After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this unusual pitching profile.

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Here’s a collection of hitters including All-Stars, journeymen, and even a player many might regard as obscure. But, there is a common link connecting them, a feat accomplished since 1918 only by these players. What is this feat?

Hint: the feat is in two related parts.

The quiz has been solved. Congratulations to Richard Chester and Nick Pain, who identified that these are the only players since 1918 to homer in both their first career regular season game, and also in their first career post-season game.

In a recent post about Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez joining the 500 doubles club in the same month, there was discussion about which pairs of teammates may have accumulated the most counting stats together. So, just for fun, I’ve compiled a table of prolific teammate accomplishments.

Take a look after the jump, and please let me know of any I may have missed.

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