Baseball Trivia Book Has All Bases Covered

With opening day just around the corner, David Nemec has come out with a book called “Great Baseball Feats, Facts & Firsts,” a Signet paperback that includes some tidbits you won’t find in your basic record book. Some excerpts:

The first black American to pitch in the major leagues was Dan Bankhead, for Brooklyn in 1947. Used as a reliever in four games, he had an 0-0 record but homered in his first major league at-bat.

In 1947, Hank Thompson became the first black to play for the St. Louis Browns. Two years later, in 1949, he became the first black to play for the New York Giants.

Trivia Time: Why wasn’t Chris Chambliss greeted at home plate by his teammates after beating Kansas City, 7-6, with a ninth-inning home run to clinch the American League Championship Series for the New York Yankees in 1976? (Answer below.)

In 1929, Earl Averill of Cleveland became the first future Hall of Famer to hit a home run in his first at-bat in the majors. The only other Hall of Famer to accomplish the feat was pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm for the New York Giants in 1952. In his second at-bat, Wilhelm tripled. He then played 20 years in the majors without ever again hitting a home run or a triple.

Mel Ott of the New York Giants, in the last game of the season against Philadelphia in 1929, walked five times to tie a major league record. Ott started the game one home run behind the Phillies’ Chuck Klein in the National League home run derby. To ensure Klein the crown, Phillies’ pitchers purposely passed Ott every time he came to bat.

The last player to make more than 50 errors in a season was Chicago Cubs shortstop Roy Smalley, with 51 in 1951. Cub fans, harking back to Tinker-to Evers-to Chance, cynically coined the chant “Miksis-to Smalley-to Addison Street.”

In 1945, Snuffy Stirnweiss of the New York Yankees won the closest batting race in history when he hit .30854 to edge Tony Cuccinello of the Chicago White Sox who hit .30845. After the season, Cuccinello was released by the White Sox and never again played in the majors.

In 1923, pitcher Herman Pillette of the Detroit Tigers led the American League in losses with 19. In 1949, Duane Pillette of the St. Louis Browns, his son, tied for the American League lead in losses with 14.

Tom Zachary of Washington, after giving up Babe Ruth’s 60th home run in 1927, was traded to the Yankees the following year. In 1929, he had a 12-0 record, and he wound up with a World Series record of 3-0.

Trivia Answer: Mobbed by Yankee Stadium fans, Chambliss was unable to complete his home run trot. Hours later, accompanied by two policemen, he came out of the dugout to touch home plate and make the run official.

Does the NCAA have the coaches’ attention these days?

At Wednesday night’s John Wooden Award dinner at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, master of ceremonies Tommy Hawkins, a former All-American basketball player at Notre Dame, was introducing some area high school stars. After about the third young man stood up and towered over the crowd, Hawkins jokingly said, “Would any of you be intereted in attending Notre Dame?”

On the dias was Gary Williams, basketball coach at Ohio State, who, upon hearing what Hawkins said, leaned over to the man next to him and said: “That’s a violation.”

And he wasn’t kidding.

Quotebook

Leo Durocher, to umpire George Magerkurth, who said, “Did I hear you call me a blind bat, Durocher?”: “What, you can’t hear either, Magerkurth?”