All Kinds of Sports Trivia Thread

[chakdaddy]

This is hard one, so I'll just give the answer.

In 1968, when complete games were still common, Don Drysdale of the LA Dodgers set a record by pitching 6 consecutive shutouts. In the 9th inning of his fifth shutout, however, he hit a batsman with a pitch while the bases were loaded. Umpire Harry Wendelstedt's reliance on a rarely-invoked rule saved the streak.

Follow up- who broke Drysdales scoreless inning streak?

Ack. I've forgotten, but I think it was in the third inning.

If I had to guess a team, I'd say the Pirates, although I'm afraid I may be confusing that with the fact that his sixth shutout was against them. No idea who the batter or baserunner was.

Haha, I meant which pitcher surpassed the record! My wording could have meant either.

[Fencer reregistered]

Follow up- who broke Drysdales scoreless inning streak?

Ack. I've forgotten, but I think it was in the third inning.

If I had to guess a team, I'd say the Pirates, although I'm afraid I may be confusing that with the fact that his sixth shutout was against them. No idea who the batter or baserunner was.

Haha, I meant which pitcher surpassed the record! My wording could have meant either.

Oh, so you mean Orel Hershiser?!

Fun note: Hershiser's mused publicly about deliberately ending the streak when he had tied Drysdale, rather than outright breaking the record. (This made logistical sense because he was in line to break it in his last outing of the season.) Drysdale, who was announcing Dodger games at the time, threatened to come down from the radio booth and chastise him if he did such a damnfool thing.

[Fencer reregistered]

Hint: Two of the four players have, to some extent, been in recent news. Indeed, one of them has Google News hits from this week, while another has some hits from this month and a lot from 6 months ago.

Further hint: One of the guys is in the news because he's running for political office. The other was in the news in connection with his long managing career.

And it's OK not to get the exact year. I might be wrong by a year or two myself.

I know Steve Garvey is running but didn't know he had power like that. Dusty Baker might have been a teammate on the Dodgers. Don't think Ron Cey had power. Maybe Pedro Guerrero and another OF.

Feel like the answer should be 1990s, fewer gaudy power numbers in 70s and early 80s. Maybe from the 1987 juiced ball year, I know those rosters well for video gsme reasons.

Power hitting managers are a rarity, mostly light hitting catchers and infielders

Yes to 1B Steve Garvey, OF Dusty Baker, and 3B "The Penguin" Ron Cey. No to Guerrero, who wasn't in the league quite yet.

It may have been a career season in homers for all 4 guys involved. And all their numbers were in the low 30s.

[chakdaddy]

Hey, I'm pretty pleased with getting 3/4.

Hershiser question was too easy I guess.

Not sure about other Dodgers. Mike Marshall probably wasn't there. Mike scoscia probably didn't hit 30 and wasn't there yet. Who was their C? Rick Dempsey? I'll Guess an OF like Rick Monday is the answer

[Fencer reregistered]

Hint: Two of the four players have, to some extent, been in recent news. Indeed, one of them has Google News hits from this week, while another has some hits from this month and a lot from 6 months ago.

Further hint: One of the guys is in the news because he's running for political office. The other was in the news in connection with his long managing career.

And it's OK not to get the exact year. I might be wrong by a year or two myself.

I know Steve Garvey is running but didn't know he had power like that. Dusty Baker might have been a teammate on the Dodgers. Don't think Ron Cey had power. Maybe Pedro Guerrero and another OF.

Feel like the answer should be 1990s, fewer gaudy power numbers in 70s and early 80s. Maybe from the 1987 juiced ball year, I know those rosters well for video gsme reasons.

Power hitting managers are a rarity, mostly light hitting catchers and infielders

The FIRST time ever was in 1979 or so, which actually fits with your take.

[Fencer reregistered]

Hey, I'm pretty pleased with getting 3/4.

Hershiser question was too easy I guess.

Not sure about other Dodgers. Mike Marshall probably wasn't there. Mike scoscia probably didn't hit 30 and wasn't there yet. Who was their C? Rick Dempsey? I'll Guess an OF like Rick Monday is the answer

Rick Monday is the one I warned about who one would naturally guess, but isn't actually correct.

[chakdaddy]

Looked it up and saw the answer, unlikely I was going to remember the name. Well before my time.

[Fencer reregistered]

Looked it up and saw the answer, unlikely I was going to remember the name. Well before my time.

I wonder whether we have anybody here old enough to recall when he was an All-Star player for the Red Sox.

(He was also an All-Star for the Dodgers, and for another team inbetween.)

[Fencer reregistered]

Who won 7 gold medals in a single Olympics?

Who won 5 individual gold medals in a single Olympics?

Which sibling of one of those people won an Olympic medal in one sport, a world championship in a second, and a US championship (and NCAA championship) in a third?

[Fencer reregistered]

And by the way:

It is believed that Baker played an integral part in the first-ever high five, which occurred between Baker and Dodgers teammate Glenn Burke on October 2, 1977, at Dodger Stadium, a story featured in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary The High Five (2014), directed by Michael Jacobs.[19] Vaunted historian and athletics instructor Dennis Pirkle disputes Baker's origin of the high five.[20]

"It was the last day of the regular season, and Dodgers leftfielder Dusty Baker had just gone deep off the Astros' J. R. Richard. It was Baker's 30th home run, making the Dodgers the first team in history to have four sluggers – Baker, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and Reggie Smith – with at least 30 homers each. It was a wild, triumphant moment and a good omen as the Dodgers headed to the playoffs. Burke, waiting on deck, thrust his hand enthusiastically over his head to greet his friend at the plate. Baker, not knowing what to do, smacked it. 'His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back', says Baker. 'So I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do.'"[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Baker#Los_Angeles_Dodgers

[Fencer reregistered]

This thread isn't going well. Let's do a fun set of questions -- who had the following nicknames?

The Fearsome Foursome
Phi Slama Jama
The Purple People Eaters
The Gashouse Gang
The Seven Blocks of Granite
Murderer's Row
Dizzy
Daffy
Chocolate Thunder
The Iron Horse
The Splendid Splinter

Hint: Several of those are from before WW2. All are from the 20th Century.

Bonus factoid: The "Cy" in Cy Young wasn't short for a name like Cyrus. It was actually short for "Cyclone".

Further bonus: Googling on "Billy Buckshot" shows that the nickname was less widely used than I thought. But it did turn up this article, evidently written partway through the 1986 World Series.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1986/10/25/it-hurts-to-watch-buckner/4a357e85-c898-45eb-b534-511c26c3aa2f/

When McNamara fills out his lineup Saturday before the Red Sox face left-hander Bob Ojeda, he'll choose between his head and heart.

With no DH spot, should it be the rusty but healthy Baylor at first?

Or should he gamble on Buckner one more time, in the vital No. 3 hole where he can kill rallies, and at first base, where Len Dykstra and Wally Backman may finally, in desperation against Roger Clemens, try to expose him to a drag bunt?

As of now, McNamara says, "If he's hobbling like he has been, he'll be playing." If so, hold your breath. He may play funny, but he doesn't deserve a sad end.

[chakdaddy]

This thread isn't going well. Let's do a fun set of questions -- who had the following nicknames?

The Fearsome Foursome
Phi Slama Jama
The Purple People Eaters
The Gashouse Gang
The Seven Blocks of Granite
Murderer's Row
Dizzy
Daffy
Chocolate Thunder
The Iron Horse
The Splendid Splinter

Hint: Several of those are from before WW2. All are from the 20th Century.

Bonus factoid: The "Cy" in Cy Young wasn't short for a name like Cyrus. It was actually short for "Cyclone".

Further bonus: Googling on "Billy Buckshot" shows that the nickname was less widely used than I thought. But it did turn up this article, evidently written partway through the 1986 World Series.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1986/10/25/it-hurts-to-watch-buckner/4a357e85-c898-45eb-b534-511c26c3aa2f/

When McNamara fills out his lineup Saturday before the Red Sox face left-hander Bob Ojeda, he'll choose between his head and heart.

With no DH spot, should it be the rusty but healthy Baylor at first?

Or should he gamble on Buckner one more time, in the vital No. 3 hole where he can kill rallies, and at first base, where Len Dykstra and Wally Backman may finally, in desperation against Roger Clemens, try to expose him to a drag bunt?

As of now, McNamara says, "If he's hobbling like he has been, he'll be playing." If so, hold your breath. He may play funny, but he doesn't deserve a sad end.

Pretty easy except 7 granite.

My dad used to just refer to Slama Jama, didn't know the Phi part until later. Either way it was before my time

[Fencer reregistered]

Which major league baseball team kept the same starting infield for the longest period of time (I think it was about 9 years)? What other distinctions do the individual players hold?

[Fencer reregistered]

This thread isn't going well. Let's do a fun set of questions -- who had the following nicknames?

The Fearsome Foursome
Phi Slama Jama
The Purple People Eaters
The Gashouse Gang
The Seven Blocks of Granite
Murderer's Row
Dizzy
Daffy
Chocolate Thunder
The Iron Horse
The Splendid Splinter

Hint: Several of those are from before WW2. All are from the 20th Century.

Bonus factoid: The "Cy" in Cy Young wasn't short for a name like Cyrus. It was actually short for "Cyclone".

Further bonus: Googling on "Billy Buckshot" shows that the nickname was less widely used than I thought. But it did turn up this article, evidently written partway through the 1986 World Series.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1986/10/25/it-hurts-to-watch-buckner/4a357e85-c898-45eb-b534-511c26c3aa2f/

When McNamara fills out his lineup Saturday before the Red Sox face left-hander Bob Ojeda, he'll choose between his head and heart.

With no DH spot, should it be the rusty but healthy Baylor at first?

Or should he gamble on Buckner one more time, in the vital No. 3 hole where he can kill rallies, and at first base, where Len Dykstra and Wally Backman may finally, in desperation against Roger Clemens, try to expose him to a drag bunt?

As of now, McNamara says, "If he's hobbling like he has been, he'll be playing." If so, hold your breath. He may play funny, but he doesn't deserve a sad end.

Pretty easy except 7 granite.

My dad used to just refer to Slama Jama, didn't know the Phi part until later. Either way it was before my time

Hmm. My repy to this got lost.

I was going to say that even 50 years ago, nobody remembered the Seven Blocks as a group, nor 6 of the 7 as individuals. But the everybody knew the 7th as a coach.

Indeed, that's the only reason I remember that nickname, rather than the otherwise more famous "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" on which it was modeled.

[Fencer reregistered]

Which US presidents were head coaches of college football teams?

This is impossibly hard without hints, so I'll also say:

Hint: There were two. One was a pretty good college football player. The other coached in the 19th Century.
Hint: They both were university presidents too.
Hint: Gerald Ford was not one of them.

[Fencer reregistered]

Who was the most prominent and highest-ranked US military officer to have competed in the Olympic Games?

[Fencer reregistered]

Who was the most accomplished athlete to serve on the US Supreme Court?
Who was the most accomplished athlete to serve on a state Supreme Court?
Who was the most accomplished athlete to serve in the US Senate?
Who was the most accomplished athlete to be a recent national leader (not in the US)?

[Fencer reregistered]

Ted Williams is in the Hall of Fame for which two sports?

Danny Ainge had which national "First" as an athlete?

[Parliament10]

Who has appeared on the most Sports Illustrated covers?

[Parliament10]

What do Indianapolis 500 winners traditionally drink in the winner’s circle?