Baseball Trivia

[swerb]

Interestign question I saw on another board. Anyone else have any good baseball trivia?

If Ted Williams were still alive, he could walk up to an active player today and say...

"I got two hits off that guy in one game. How did you do when you faced him?"

To which active player would he be talking to, and to which pitcher would he be referring to?

[consigliere]

It wouldn't be Juilo Franco and Jim Kaat would it?

I guessed on Franco because he goes back the farthest among active hitters I believe, to 1982. And Katt pitched from 59-83, and Williams last season was 1960. Kaat is the only pitcher that overlapped both Williams and Franco from what I can tell. I have no idea if they ever faced Kaat though.

[furls]

Does Ricky Henderson count as active? He is still playing in the minors. That takes the overlap back to 79.

[swerb]

That's right Consig.

The active player, naturally, is Julio Franco, and the pitcher would be Jim Kaat. Williams batted against Kaat on the final day of the 1959 season (when Franco was 1 year old) and had two hits against him. Kaat walked Franco in 1982 when Julio was a rookie.

In other words, there is still an active player who faced a guy who faced Teddy Ballgame.

[consigliere]

Wow, thank God for Baseball-Reference. I figured Franco had to be the player....so looked up players with the most seasons played that were pitchers that overlapped Williams/Franco.

The fact Franco is still playing is just sick though. Is this guy gonna play till he is 50?

[dpdad]

Franco has over 2500 hits in his career. If he hadn't been out of the big leagues for a few years in the late nineties playing in Mexico and such, he might have a real shot at 3000 and the HOF.

[pup]

Easy with the HoF talk. Even if he played in the bigs for those years, and got the 500 or so hits he would need, there is no way he makes the cut. It is not a reward for playing 30 years in the majors. He has never been in the MVP race. He was never one of the top players in his era.

[ACrank]

(i thought it was Baseball Reference, but i just checked and i couldn't find it) but somewhere there is a baseball variation of the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon game - a search engine where you can type in two different players and get the players conecting the two of them....

[swerb]

Crank, if you find it ... post in here. That sounds hysterical.

[furls]

baseball HoF voters are no obliged to honor certain milestone numbers and put guys into the hall. The stat geeks now own baseball.

Welcome to the HoF Mr. Biggio.

[pup]

NO WAY.

[ACrank]

Crank, if you find it ... post in here. That sounds hysterical.

I found it

http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/

[swerb]

The Three Degrees Of Separation - Andre Thornton to Travis Hafner

Andre Thornton played with Larry Andersen for the 1979 Cleveland Indians

Larry Andersen played with Terry Mulholland for the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies

Terry Mulholland played with Travis Hafner for the 2003 Cleveland Indians

Note - I think every single one of these involves either Julio Franco or Terry Mulholland.

Thanks for the link Crank ...

[consigliere]

Awesome.

How about this one: Lou Boudreau to Grady Sizemore

Only 4 connections needed (suprisingly):

- Lou Boudreau played with Minnie Minoso for the 1949 Cleveland Indians

- Minnie Minoso played with Rich Gossage for the 1976 Chicago White Sox

- Rich Gossage played with Jose Hernandez for the 1991 Texas Rangers Exclude

-Jose Hernandez played with Grady Sizemore for the 2005 Cleveland Indians.

[Jumbo]

Note - I think every single one of these involves either Julio Franco or Terry Mulholland.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/linkable_most.shtml

Naturally, guys who play towards the middle of the century are the most-linked. I'd think it would help to play for a number of teams, also...and, looking at mid-century, even to play for 2-3 teams during the reserve system was probably a lot. Thirty years from now though...Franco is definitely at the top of the list.

How about this one: Lou Boudreau to Grady Sizemore

Better:

Tris Speaker - George Uhle (25 Indians)
George Uhle - Bob Feller (36 Indians)
Bob Feller - Minnie Minoso (49 Indians)
Minnie Minoso - Thad Bosley (80 White Sox)
Thad Bosley - Juan Gonzalez (89 Rangers)
Juan Gonzalez - Grady Sizemore (05 Indians)

Edited to note: The irony is that Gonzalez and Grady never actually played at the same time, as it was Juan's injury that paved the way for Grady to start on the team. Excluding Gonzo results in a Minoso-Brian Downing-Jose Hernandez chain.