Did You Know....? (pitchers, president, MVP, pitcher)

[Grandstander]

I know that Nolan Ryan's first name is Lynn, so he is the Nolan. And I remember Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean from a set of Hall of Fame trading cards I had when I was a little squirt, the same source where I learned Denton True Young was "Cy."

Pretty much everyone will know George Herman Ruth and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

And....guessing here, wasn't it Harmon Clayton Killibrew? I have a vague memory of hearing that.

That is all I know without having to start looking them up.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

I know that Nolan Ryan's first name is Lynn, .

Actually, I knew that, but the cancelling connection escaped me at the time, and there is another HoFer whose middle name is Nolan.

These are all relatively well known HoFers, not the ones that you wouldn't even recognize if I gave you the last names like Beaumont or Burns.

[Grandstander]

I remembered that Jackie Robinson was Jackie Roosevelt Robinson.


I didn't know, so I looked it up. "Shirley" was Kiki Cuyler, who was actually Hazen Shirley Cuyler, so I suppose he didn't mind "Kiki."

[jtur88]

Just heard this one: The only three Hall-pf-Famers who were selected among the first three draft choices were Reggie Jackson, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount.

[filihok]

Do you know what Tigers' pitcher holds the (somewhat random) record of consecutive games with at least 8 strikeouts?

It's not this guy


It's not this guy anymore as his record was broken


Nope, it's this guy, who's having a quietly phenomenal season

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by jtur88

A little trivia for you. How many of these Hall of Famers (all inducted as MLB players) can you identify by their middle names (I put the easy ones first.)

1. Cleveland
2. Roosevelt
3. Jack
4. Herman
5. McPherran
6. True
7. Bradsher
8. Cline
9. Glee
10. Hanna
11. Moses
12. Martinez
13. Samuel
14. Shirley
15. Owen
16. Clark
17. Nolan
18. Dornel
19. Emory
20. Pershing
21. Dee
22. Jefferis
23. Ernest
24, Augustine
25 Henley
26. Evan
27. Clayton
28. Calbert
29. Natali
30. Amar

I know that True is Cy Young (Denton True Young at birth). I was going to say that Tom should be on that list also (George Thomas Seaver), but I believe he was inducted with his full given name.

[jtur88]

This has been dangling out there for a while, I guess everyone interested has already posted their best guesses. Here are the correct answers.


1. Grover Cleveland Alexdander
2. Jack Roosevelt Robinson
3. Michael Jack Schmidt
4. George Herman Ruth
5. Ralph McPherran Kiner
6. Denton True Young
7. Enos Bradsher Slaughter
8. Rodney Cline Carew
9. Paul; Glee Waner
10 Jay HannaDean
11. Robert Moses Grove
12. Reginald Martinez Jackson
13. Theodore Samuel Williams
14. Hazen Shirley Cuyler
15. Carl Owen Hubbell
16. Louis Clark Brock
17. Andre Nolan Dawson
18. Wilver Dornel Stargell
19. James Emory Foxx
20. Robert Pershing Doerr
21. Ryne Dee Sandberg
22. Herbert Jefferis Pennock
23. Carlton Ernest Fisk
24, Edward Augustine Walsh
25. Ricky Nelson Henley Henderson
26. Robin Evan Roberts
27. Harmon Clayton Killibrew
28. Brooks Calbert Robinson
29. Ernesto Natali Lombardi
30. Theodore Amar Lyons

[Ridgerunner]

I knew only Alexander, Ruth, Young and Dean.

[jtur88]

Hall of Famers who got in on the basis of just one day in their lives:

Bill Mazeroski. One dramatic home run. Othersie, another Jim Fregosi.

Bill Terry. Batted .400, but one less hit in 1930, and he bats .3996, and is another Don Mattingly. Only ten seasons with more than 100 hits.

Ernie Lombardi. With two games to go, tied with Mize for batting title, but goes 4-for-5. Without the batting title, he's another Benito Santiago. Never got over 167 hits in his career.

Carl Hubbell. Struck out 5 in a row in the All Star Game. Otherwise, another Martinez (Pedro or Dennis, take your pick) but always with lots of run suppoprt.

Jackie Robinson. If he had been the SECOND black player in MLB, he's be another Jose Vidro or Jeff Cirillo (according to Baseball Reference's similiarity scores, not my opinion. HOF Standards Score = 38, Average HoFer = 50.).

Elmer Flick. Led the upstart dead-ball AL in batting, but 69 points behind the NL leader. Without his .308 batting title, he's another Joe Vosmik.


There are probably a few more. It's actually somewhat surprising that people like Bobby Thomson, Bob O'Farrell and Don Larsen are not in the Hall of Fame. In fact, Bobby Thomson had a higher per-season WAR than Mazeroski, and got MVP votes in more years than Maz. And hit a more dramatic home run.

[jtur88]

The only team in the major leagues who has not yet won a game this year when trailing after 8 innings is the New York Yankees. 0-47 when trailing into the ninth. The won only two last year.