Thursday night, I had hit on 15 of 16 March Madness games and I was tied for first in a pool with 107 participants. Feeling pretty good. As of right this second, I am now #37 of the 107, and dropping like a rock. Five of my Sweet 16 picks are out. And I had Virgina as a Final Four team. Sigh. Time for some trivia to take my mind off of it:
1) What is the most career games pitched without a win? The record is held by two pitchers, name them. Tie: Juan Alvarez, 0-5 during 1999-2003 (Angels, Rangers, Marlins), and Ed Olwine (Braves), 0-1 during 1986-1988. Each pitched 80 career games without a win, but Olwine at least had one save while Alvarez had none..
2) Who had the most career at-bats without a home run (yes, dead ball era) and how many was it? 200-pound Catcher William Holbert had 2,335 at bats in 13 seasons in the dead ball era and didn't hit a single home run. He was a .208 hitter for six teams in twelve years as a backup catcher. You have to give honorable mention to Giants announcer Duane Kuiper who only hit one home run in 3,259 at bats during the live ball era.Â
3) What is the most stolen base attempts on any pitcher in a single season without a single successful steal? Name the number and pitcher. Luis Tiant, 1968: nine steal attempts, nine caught stealing, zero steals allowed in 258.1 innings pitched. Recently, Josh Tomlin pitched 165 innings without a single runner attempting a steal on him (there have been 22 examples of that in MLB history). And Whitey Ford threw 283 innings in 1960 without allowing a single steal, but only three runners tried to steal on that lefty.
4) Which player had the most career at bats without a single steal, and how many? Russ Nixon, 1957-1968, 2,504, 7 attempts, no steals. Yes, he was a catcher, but he was under 200 pounds and not a slugger. He had career 19 triples, but no steals.
5) Who holds the best career ERA and what is it (minimum 100 games)? Lowest ERA, Ed Walsh, 1.82. Also has lowest career "FIP" which measures ability of pitcher to eliminate walks, home runs, hit by pitch and maximize strikeouts. Effective between 1906 and 1912. Won 40 games in 1908 in 49 starts, 464 IP. During that span, led the league in strikeouts twice, shutouts three times, saves five times, innings pitched four times, hits allowed twice, ERA twice, losses once (went 18-20 in 1910). Threw a great spitball. Lowest career WHIP by any pitcher who pitched at least 10 years and second lowest career MLB WHIP ever. Member of Hall of Fame, but voted in by Old Timer Committee, because apparently lowest career ERA and WHIP isn't enough to get in by a straight vote of the sportswriters.
6) Which batter has been hit by the most pitches, and how many is it? You're right about Biggio. Hughie Jennings holds the record with 287 HBP (in 4,895 ABs at the turn of last century) and Biggio is at 285 with 10,876 ABs.
7) Which pitcher has hit the most batters in a career, and how many? For some reason, I thought this was Nolan Ryan -- he had 158 career HBPs. A pitcher named Gus Weyhing drilled 277 batters in 4,337 innings from 1887 to 1901. He was a decent pitcher, with a 264-232 record. And he spent the first five years of his career with a 50 foot pitching distance -- and 2/3 of his HBPs were in those five years! Not surprisingly, he's #5 on the "most wild pitches" list with 240. By the standards of the day he gave up a lot of runs, a career 3.88 ERA. He wasn't a big guy, he was 5'10", 145 pounds. His nickname was "Cannonball." He pitched for 11 MLB teams and has the 12th most complete games in history.Â
8 ) Who has thrown the most wild pitches in a career and how many? Tony Mullane had 343 wild pitches. He pitched from 1881-1894 with a career-high of 63 wild pitches in 1884. Like Ryan, he walked A LOT of players. Mullane was considered a good pitcher, though. He finished with a career 284-220 record and a 3.05 ERA, having thrown 4,500 innings. He won 30+ games five times in his career. He also lost 22+ games five times. He gave up 1,400 walks and struck out 1,800. Here's the really funny thing. For almost Mullane's entire career, the pitching distance was 50 feet. It didn't become 60'6" until 1893 and Mullane's ERA ballooned from 2.59 to 4.44. It didn't hurt Mullane's strikeouts much -- he only went from 109 to 90 -- but his walks increased from 127 to 189. He was out of the game one year later.
9) Who has been caught the most times stealing in a career and how many? Like Cy Young (career holder of most wins and losses), Henderson had the most career steals with 1,406 and the most times thrown out with 335, giving him a career stolen base percentage of 80.8% which is #44 on the all time list.
10) Who has grounded into the most double plays in a career and how many? He wasn't very fast, for sure. But the record holder is Albert Pujols with 362. He recently surpassed Cal Ripken who had 350. Of the next six names on the list, all are or are soon-to-be Hall of Famers as well: Ivan Rodriguez, Hank Aaron, Carl Yastrzemski, Dave Winfield, Eddie Murray and Jim Rice.
11) Who made the most outs in his career and how many? Correct. Rose had 10,328 outs. Henry Aaron was second with 9,136, 10 ahead of Carl Yastrzemski. Also, Rickey Henderson had the sixth-most outs with 8,510 and Biggio had the 11th most outs with 8,272.Â
12) Who committed the most errors in his career and how many? Herman Long committed 1096 errors (in 1,795 games at shortstop) with a .906 fielding percentage. He holds the record.
13) Who were the oldest and youngest players, and how many All-Star appearances did they have in their careers? Joe Nuxhall was the youngest at age 15, Minnie Minoso was the oldest at age 54. Nine all star appearances between them; two for Nuxhall (1955, 1956) and seven for Minoso (1951-1954, 1957, 1959-60).
Extra Credit: What ex-Stanford Cardinal was hit three times in one inning? Once by an HBP, once on a steal attempt, once on a throw home. Here's the answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_hR8nkhNa0
1) What is the most career games pitched without a win? The record is held by two pitchers, name them. Tie: Juan Alvarez, 0-5 during 1999-2003 (Angels, Rangers, Marlins), and Ed Olwine (Braves), 0-1 during 1986-1988. Each pitched 80 career games without a win, but Olwine at least had one save while Alvarez had none..
2) Who had the most career at-bats without a home run (yes, dead ball era) and how many was it? 200-pound Catcher William Holbert had 2,335 at bats in 13 seasons in the dead ball era and didn't hit a single home run. He was a .208 hitter for six teams in twelve years as a backup catcher. You have to give honorable mention to Giants announcer Duane Kuiper who only hit one home run in 3,259 at bats during the live ball era.Â
3) What is the most stolen base attempts on any pitcher in a single season without a single successful steal? Name the number and pitcher. Luis Tiant, 1968: nine steal attempts, nine caught stealing, zero steals allowed in 258.1 innings pitched. Recently, Josh Tomlin pitched 165 innings without a single runner attempting a steal on him (there have been 22 examples of that in MLB history). And Whitey Ford threw 283 innings in 1960 without allowing a single steal, but only three runners tried to steal on that lefty.
4) Which player had the most career at bats without a single steal, and how many? Russ Nixon, 1957-1968, 2,504, 7 attempts, no steals. Yes, he was a catcher, but he was under 200 pounds and not a slugger. He had career 19 triples, but no steals.
5) Who holds the best career ERA and what is it (minimum 100 games)? Lowest ERA, Ed Walsh, 1.82. Also has lowest career "FIP" which measures ability of pitcher to eliminate walks, home runs, hit by pitch and maximize strikeouts. Effective between 1906 and 1912. Won 40 games in 1908 in 49 starts, 464 IP. During that span, led the league in strikeouts twice, shutouts three times, saves five times, innings pitched four times, hits allowed twice, ERA twice, losses once (went 18-20 in 1910). Threw a great spitball. Lowest career WHIP by any pitcher who pitched at least 10 years and second lowest career MLB WHIP ever. Member of Hall of Fame, but voted in by Old Timer Committee, because apparently lowest career ERA and WHIP isn't enough to get in by a straight vote of the sportswriters.
6) Which batter has been hit by the most pitches, and how many is it? You're right about Biggio. Hughie Jennings holds the record with 287 HBP (in 4,895 ABs at the turn of last century) and Biggio is at 285 with 10,876 ABs.
7) Which pitcher has hit the most batters in a career, and how many? For some reason, I thought this was Nolan Ryan -- he had 158 career HBPs. A pitcher named Gus Weyhing drilled 277 batters in 4,337 innings from 1887 to 1901. He was a decent pitcher, with a 264-232 record. And he spent the first five years of his career with a 50 foot pitching distance -- and 2/3 of his HBPs were in those five years! Not surprisingly, he's #5 on the "most wild pitches" list with 240. By the standards of the day he gave up a lot of runs, a career 3.88 ERA. He wasn't a big guy, he was 5'10", 145 pounds. His nickname was "Cannonball." He pitched for 11 MLB teams and has the 12th most complete games in history.Â
8 ) Who has thrown the most wild pitches in a career and how many? Tony Mullane had 343 wild pitches. He pitched from 1881-1894 with a career-high of 63 wild pitches in 1884. Like Ryan, he walked A LOT of players. Mullane was considered a good pitcher, though. He finished with a career 284-220 record and a 3.05 ERA, having thrown 4,500 innings. He won 30+ games five times in his career. He also lost 22+ games five times. He gave up 1,400 walks and struck out 1,800. Here's the really funny thing. For almost Mullane's entire career, the pitching distance was 50 feet. It didn't become 60'6" until 1893 and Mullane's ERA ballooned from 2.59 to 4.44. It didn't hurt Mullane's strikeouts much -- he only went from 109 to 90 -- but his walks increased from 127 to 189. He was out of the game one year later.
9) Who has been caught the most times stealing in a career and how many? Like Cy Young (career holder of most wins and losses), Henderson had the most career steals with 1,406 and the most times thrown out with 335, giving him a career stolen base percentage of 80.8% which is #44 on the all time list.
10) Who has grounded into the most double plays in a career and how many? He wasn't very fast, for sure. But the record holder is Albert Pujols with 362. He recently surpassed Cal Ripken who had 350. Of the next six names on the list, all are or are soon-to-be Hall of Famers as well: Ivan Rodriguez, Hank Aaron, Carl Yastrzemski, Dave Winfield, Eddie Murray and Jim Rice.
11) Who made the most outs in his career and how many? Correct. Rose had 10,328 outs. Henry Aaron was second with 9,136, 10 ahead of Carl Yastrzemski. Also, Rickey Henderson had the sixth-most outs with 8,510 and Biggio had the 11th most outs with 8,272.Â
12) Who committed the most errors in his career and how many? Herman Long committed 1096 errors (in 1,795 games at shortstop) with a .906 fielding percentage. He holds the record.
13) Who were the oldest and youngest players, and how many All-Star appearances did they have in their careers? Joe Nuxhall was the youngest at age 15, Minnie Minoso was the oldest at age 54. Nine all star appearances between them; two for Nuxhall (1955, 1956) and seven for Minoso (1951-1954, 1957, 1959-60).
Extra Credit: What ex-Stanford Cardinal was hit three times in one inning? Once by an HBP, once on a steal attempt, once on a throw home. Here's the answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_hR8nkhNa0
Audaces fortuna iuvat
