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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Baseball Trivia 

I know that these will be easily googleable for the most part, but if you'd like to be challenged, I would invite you to eschew the search and start with wracking your brain to come up with the answers to the following:

  1. (Easy) - Name eleven ways to safely reach first base.
  2. (Medium) - Twice in the Phillies' history they have had 5 future Hall of Fame players on the same team. (1892 - Ed Delahanty, Sam Thompson, Billy Hamilton, Tim Keefe, and Roger Connor; 1917 - Pete Alexander, Eppa Rixey, Dave Bancroft, Chief Bender, and Johnny Evers) When was the last time they played with 4 future Hall of Famers, and who were they?
  3. (Hard) - It's the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies are down by more than one run, there is a man on third, with two outs and two strikes on the batter. The batter tries to check his swing on the third pitch, but the umpire says that he went around. The catcher misses the ball and it goes back to the screen, allowing the runner at third to cross home plate before the catcher is able to retrieve the ball. However, the batter doesn't run and the catcher throws the ball to first for the final put-out of the game. Does the run count?
I will award one donut for the first commenter who correctly answers all three questions. I will also buy you a latte if you certify that you did so without the aid of the internet search.

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Comments:

(Easy) - Single, double, triple, homerun, reach on error, base on balls, intentional walk, hit by pitch, strikeout wild pitch, catcher interference, any intentional interference with the runner by any fielder.

1983 schmidt, morgan, carlton, tony perez

(Hard) - The run does not count since it is a force play at first base.

-Ken

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Oh... no internet search used on that whether it's right or wrong.

-ken

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Ken -

Good try, but no donut. You have not posted a completely correct answer. For starters, a single, double, triple and homerun are all posted in the books as a "hit". Additionally, an intentional walk is the same as a base on balls. I believe that your number 11 is also a bit shaky. For instance, if a player attempts to steal second base on a pitch, but is interfered with by a fielder, the batter is not awarded a free trip to first.

Extra credit - what future Hall of Famer did the Phillies trade away between the 1980 and 1983 World Series appearances?

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Ryne Sandberg.

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That was me again.

ken

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For the first one, I'm assuming you are refering to more of a scorekeeper's options of how someone can arrive at first base...

1. base hit
2. Walk
3. Intentional Walk
4. Hit by pitch
5. Dropped 3rd strike
6. Error
7. Fielder's Choice
8. Fielder interference
9. Spectator interference
10. Catcher interference
11. Pinch Runner

I believe there are over 20 different options, but I don't remember them all--they start to get absurd...fair ball hitting people, suspension of games, etc...


KB

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My shot at Easy:
1. 1B/2B/3B/HR - Any hit
2. E - Error
3. FC - Fielders Choice
4. BB - Base on Balls
5. HBP - Hit By Pitch
6. CI - Catchers Interference
7. RI - Baserunner interferes with hit ball (runner out - batter awarded 1st)
8. Kw - Strikeout/Wild Pitch - runner beats throw
9. Ko - Strikeout/Wild Pitch - Ball Out of Play
10. Ku - Strikeout/Wild Pitch - Ball Lodged in Umps Gear
11. Pinch Runner

While the end result for 8, 9, and 10 all appear identical (for the batter, per se), how existing baserunners are affected does differ. The letters in front are my abreviations that would go in The Book. Also, a few of these DO NOT apply in various levels of Little League/Babe Ruth.

For medium, I have NO idea.

And for Hard, I agree with Ken above. It could be argued that the correct answer is 'Who cares?' If the score delta is more than one, as you state, the game is still over, whether you score the run or not.

FWIW
- Ted

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There are still no comments that have posted the complete correct answer to all three questions. It should be noted that based on the context of the Medium & Hard questions (which, as it turns out are actually the Medium and Easy questions, with the first one being the hardest of the three), I am specifically referring to the rules of MLB. Also, for the purposes of this particular quiz, with regard to rule 7.05, I have lumped parts bcd&e together as one way to reach first base, and parts gh&i together as another. In general, I employed the principle that a ball batted into the field of play is per se a different scenario than one that is not. At this point, in the various answers that have been provided, I have only counted 10 total correct ways to get to first. They will be the basis of the Friday Top Ten.

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