Got 42/53 without even typing the names of Bonds, A-Roid, McGwire, Sosa and Clemens. Missed Lefty O'Doul, K-Rod, Dean Chance and Eddie Collins. Also missed Juan Gonzalez, but he juiced too, so no biggie.
As a batter, O'Doul only had four TRULY full seasons. He won two batting titles (.398 with Phillies in 1929---his first full season! & .368 with Dodgers in 1932). For those four full seasons (1929-1932) he hit a blistering .373. Not bad production for a guy who was already in his 30s when he had those four seasons. It's closed now but he had a restaurant in San Francisco, near Union Square, "Lefty O'Doul's", that was a great cafeteria style place to eat, and it had scores of photos all over the walls autographed by players galore. Lefty didn't stick around in the majors because he missed S.F. and the Bay Area too much to stay away. For a guy with a .349 lifetime BA, he did NOT leave because there weren't any teams wanting him!!!
Just a note on Rogers Hornsby: **beginning of the 20th century through the present, Hornsby holds the top 3 highest seasonal batting averages for the Cardinals (.424, .403, .401 in 1924, 1925, 1922), the top one for the Cubs (.380 in 1929), the top one for the Braves (.387 in 1928), and when he hit .361 (in 1927) for the Giants it was also their 20th century single-season record until broken a couple years (or so) later. He may have been a curmudgeon but that guy could hit in his sleep!
Had my first corned beef at Lefty O'Doul's when I was ten and my dad took me there. Ten years later, Pop sent a copy of "The Glory of Their Times" to me in Vietnam. He had Lefty autograph his picture (Harry Hooper, too).
We must have a lot in common, at least baseball-wise. One year when I was in-between college years(?) I actually drove down to Santa Cruz and went to Harry Hooper's home. Got a couple autographs (one on a photo from his playing days). Harry passed away two or so years later. Another time I was able to get Joe DiMaggio's when I went to a ballfield that was being named for him, or the kids' league playing there (in Marin), saw it in the paper, said "I'm going", and surrounded by a bunch of kids (I was the only adult who ventured out on the field to get his autograph, unashamedly) I was fortunate that he was gracious enough to give it---he looked surprised such a "big kid" was out there.
A lot of records haven't been approached, nor will be approached due to a wildly different style of play since the early modern era. Also, this allows you to really think about it, rather than just remember the names of a lot of players who were dead long before you were born
Now that the Negro league stats (such as they are) are considered Major League, can this be updated to include the likes of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, et al?
Never realized that Julio Franco played 2 years overseas. He was always the super old guy on the field to me, but looks like the 2 years he played in Japan made him miss the cut. But at least i got John Franco because of it. I wonder how many of the 23% actually knew John Franco, or if they got him guessing Julio Franco.
Yeah. I'll probably remove this next time the quiz needs an update for other reasons, likely when Scherzer or Verlander cracks the top 5 all time for strikeouts.
Ha, Ha! No, he didn't.
He got what proved to be the game-winning hit in game2 of the 1933 World Series.
I ate at his restaurant. Quite a place.