Trivia/History thread

[Beau Vine 54203]

I'm reading Roger Angell's biography of David Cone, and out-of-nowhere, Chapter 14 has nothing to do with Cone.  Chapter 14 ("The Four-Forty") is all about a trivia question that fascinated Angell and the other New York writers...

I'm updating to add 4 players who have qualified since the book was published in 2001:

Quote

Who are the 14 MLB players with 4 letters or fewer in their surnames who have hit 40+ homers in a season?

The most obvious one is Babe Ruth.  The least obvious is Wally Post -- hit 40 for the Reds in 1955.

Will leave the rest to you chucklefucks...

Edited February 26 by Beau Vine

[You don't know me 1161]

Sammy Sosa and Adam Dunn come to mind.

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

George Bell 

[Helobious 9459]

Moises Alou got damn close, 39.

[Helobious 9459]

Jimmie Foxx & Willie Mays are another 2 easy ones. 

[UTPhil2006 3801]

Mel Ott 

[Beau Vine 54203]

12 minutes ago, You don't know me said:

Sammy Sosa and Adam Dunn come to mind.

Big Donkey hit 40 5 years in a row, 6 total, finished with 462, but never finished higher than #21 in MVP voting.  

12 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

George Bell 

Wow, didn't expect Bell off the board so soon.  47 in 1987 (a fluke year for a lot of guys); his next highest was 31.

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

Bell/Moseby/Barfield were the shit back then. 

[IDIOTsavant 8482]

Jim Rice…also thought of Fred Lynn, but he topped out at 39.

[You don't know me 1161]

1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Jimmie Foxx & Willie Mays are another 2 easy ones. 

I am disappointed that I missed those.

[You don't know me 1161]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

Big Donkey hit 40 5 years in a row, 6 total, finished with 462, but never finished higher than #21 in MVP voting.  

 

I think the high strike outs hurt him.  His best years were kind of prior (at least I think) to analytics really becoming an important part of baseball. 

ETA:  Playing for Cincinnati didn't help him either.  That's probably the biggest issue.

Edited July 11, 2022 by You don't know me

[henrygandorf 29189]

lee may and jimmy wynn got really close but didn't make it.  fisk had 37 in a season.  josh bell also had 37.  albert belle should've changed his name.

johnny mize is my contribution.

[henrygandorf 29189]

nelly cruz is another.  wouldn't have thought about him, but the 4 players since 2001 made me think.

[dcar00 14144]

[WBT 20559]

Derrek Lee.

Carlos Lee topped out at 37.  Jeff Kent also topped out at 37.

Edited July 11, 2022 by WBT

[WBT 20559]

2 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

George Bell 

Jay Bell had 38.

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

Guys are posting too fast.

Derrek Lee and Jermaine Dye, Nelson Cruz.

[henrygandorf 29189]

ty cobb and pete rose had 40.  total.  for their careers.  probably.

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

1 minute ago, henrygandorf said:

ty cobb and pete rose had 40.  total.  for their careers.  probably.

Cobb had 46 INSIDE THE PARK HRs....117 total.

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

Johnny Mize with the NY Giants should be another.

missed that HG already named him.

Edited July 11, 2022 by BillyGoatHill

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

5 minutes ago, BillyGoatHill said:

Jermaine Dye

If he went almost DH-only, probably could have squeezed a couple extra years. OPS last 6 seasons... 

.793
.846
1.006
.804
.885
.793

But he played 133 in RF that final season, it was real bad. 

[WBT 20559]

I was sitting here still racking my brain but that's 14 named:

1. Ruth
2. Post
3. Sosa
4. Dunn
5. Bell
6. Foxx
7. Mays
8. Ott
9. Rice
10. Mize
11. Cruz
12. Cash
13. Lee
14. Dye

[ztejas 43411]

Barry Bond. 

[Beau Vine 54203]

1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

 

1 hour ago, WBT said:

Derrek Lee.

 

I thought these and Dye were the three really difficult ones.  My hint for Cash was going to be "Post, TX."  

[Beau Vine 54203]

38 minutes ago, WBT said:

I was sitting here still racking my brain but that's 14 named:

1. Ruth
2. Post
3. Sosa
4. Dunn
5. Bell
6. Foxx
7. Mays
8. Ott
9. Rice
10. Mize
11. Cruz
12. Cash
13. Lee
14. Dye

[dcar00 14144]

Cash was a damn good all around ball player.  when he retired his 377 home runs were the 4th most by AL left hander behind Ruth, Gehrig, and Williams.

his 61 season was pretty crazy but kind of lost to history because of another thing going on...

[petscii 1189]

Carlos Pena or Peña

[petscii 1189]

There was also 11 seconds where I thought Frank Thomas's last name was Hurt.

 

 

[petscii 1189]

Can we do a prop bet on the next person to get on the list... Brandon Belt anyone?

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

Sam Huff. 

 

*Optimistic post. 

[WBT 20559]

Soto should one of these years.  Josh Bell maybe.

CJ Cron is only a little off the pace to do it this year.

[petscii 1189]

2 minutes ago, WBT said:

Soto should one of these years.  Josh Bell maybe.

CJ Cron is only a little off the pace to do it this year.

Yeah, I was going for rampant homerism but Cron seems like a decent bet. 

[Beau Vine 54203]

2 hours ago, petscii said:

There was also 11 seconds where I thought Frank Thomas's last name was Hurt.

 

[Scraps 13560]

LJ Hoes

[Beau Vine 54203]

Editing for clarity...

OK, since y'all think you're so fucking smart, try this one on...

There are 6 guys in MLB history since 1940 who won the MVP without 1) getting any MVP or CY or RoY votes in previous seasons, or 2) winning any other major awards (GG, SS, etc.) or 3) playing in the ASG in previous seasons.  Who are they?  Not counting Lynn and Ichiro, who won as rookies.

I'm arbitrarily throwing the 1940 cutoff because MVP voting was so absurd in the old days (Ruth won 1 MVP and received votes in only 2 other seasons).  

Actually, I'll give y'all one: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/konstji01.shtml

Now that he's out of the way, the other five have occurred during my lifetime.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Beau Vine

[Helobious 9459]

Miguel Tejeda? And some guy named Kevin Mitchell. Legit never heard of him.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Helobious

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

Googling kinda defeats the purpose. 

And not Tejada. 

[Beau Vine 54203]

37 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Miguel Tejeda? And some guy named Kevin Mitchell. Legit never heard of him.

Is this another Dale Murphy bit?

And it's neither of these guys.  I edited the question to make it clearer -- Mitchell is a pretty good guess, but he finished 3rd in RoY.  Tejada got MVP votes the two previous seasons.  

You're looking for dudes who basically just came out of nowhere to win the MVP.  Take a look at the Konstanty b-r page I linked -- you're looking for someone who has nothing in the awards column until "MVP-1."

 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Beau Vine

[Scraps 13560]

Is Vida Blue one?

That's about only guess I got...I probably have never heard of the people who have done it

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

Beau is old, but probably not 1959 old.

Thought Maris might be one, but they had two ASGs back then, he made one before MVP. 

[henrygandorf 29189]

this feels like a willie hernandez situation though the question is very confusing to me. 

[WBT 20559]

Morneau

[Huckleberry 32839]

Cecil Fielder? Did he win the MVP his 50HR season? Seems like he never won one but worth a shot. 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

Fernando Valenzuela?

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

9 hours ago, Helobious said:

And some guy named Kevin Mitchell. Legit never heard of him.

then you never played the (really shitty) RBI Baseball 2.  he was the only guy that had any pop.

10 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Editing for clarity...

OK, since y'all think you're so fucking smart, try this one on...

There are 6 guys in MLB history since 1940 who won the MVP without 1) getting any MVP or CY or RoY votes in previous seasons, or 2) winning any other major awards (GG, SS, etc.) or 3) playing in the ASG in previous seasons.  Who are they?  Not counting Lynn and Ichiro, who won as rookies.

I'm arbitrarily throwing the 1940 cutoff because MVP voting was so absurd in the old days (Ruth won 1 MVP and received votes in only 2 other seasons).  

Actually, I'll give y'all one: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/konstji01.shtml

Now that he's out of the way, the other five have occurred during my lifetime.

does the bolded mean ever in the career, or just before the MVP?

[IDIOTsavant 8482]

My first thought was Terry Pendleton, but it looks like he won a Gold Glove or two before ‘91.

[cochamps 1879]

Zollo Versailles  and Dick Groat seem likely

[Helobious 9459]

9 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Googling kinda defeats the purpose. 

And not Tejada. 

Didn’t google, just looked up mvp winners on bref and clicked around on guys I’d never heard of. Although I do remember Tejeda when he played. He was in that kickass HR derby with Berkman in Houston in 2004.

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

Just looked up MVP winners, pretty much negates the point. 

Edited July 12, 2022 by shadow_operative2.0

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

*Tejada, you fool.