Baseball: BASEBALL TRIVIA QUESTION #3

[Again, I ask that you please refrain from using Google or other reference tools, or that you please refrain from posting the answer, if you do so.]


This is a stat I heard awhile ago. It's one somebody strained to think up, but it's still an interesting one, when you get to the answer. Trust me on that.

It is an undeniably impressive combination of feats to bat at least .370 and steal at least 50 bases in the same season. Common sense would suggest this feat has been accomplished, if at all, only by superstars in the Dead Ball Era. And, with one exception, this suggestion would be correct.

FOUR players have done this since 1900. THREE of them are as follows:

1. TRIS SPEAKER, in 1912, when he batted .383 and stole 82 bases. Believe it or not, he was NOT the Red Sox best player that year--at least, not in my opinion. Pitcher Smoky Joe Wood had one of the greatest pitching seasons ever that year, leading the league in every desirable stat, going 34-5, and winning 3 games in the Series, including the do-or-die finale, in relief;

2. GEORGE SISLER, in 1920, when he batted a whopping .420 and stole 51 bases. Obviously, for that year at least, he did not validate Bill James' opinion that he was the most overrated player of all time, nor mine that he was #2; and

3. TY COBB, the guy who averaged almost .370 for his career, and over 50 SB per season, even if you count his tiny first season, when he stole only 2 bases, had only 50 AB's, and batted under .300 for the ONLY time in his 24-season career. Cobb accomplished this .370/50-SB feat in--are you ready for this?--1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916 and 1917.


Okay. Those are three of them. But the fourth guy is not from the Dead Ball Era. And the stolen base pretty much went the way of the dinosaur during the Babe Ruth Era, and did not resurface until the Maury Wills Era in the early 60's. When Wills stole 51 bases in 1960, he was the first N.L. player to break the 50 barrier since Max Carey in 1923. The A.L. had a few 50 S.B. men in that time, but none who hit .370 in the same season.

IN FACT, the fourth player is one who accomplished the .370/50 SB feat after Cobb (1961), Speaker (1958) and for that matter Sisler (3/73) were dead and buried. And this guy is/was a pretty great player--a fact not necessarily shown by the 50 SB, but certainly shown by the .370.

QUESTION: NAME HIM.


B.H.N.

How am i expected to know that without using google lol.. But i'll be interested to see who it is if someone gets it.

HINT: The fourth guy accomplished this feat in the 1980's.


B.H.N.

One guy i'm thinking of and the only reason why is that as you know i'm an A's fan and i can remember Ricky Henderson stealing over 50 bases for quite a few seasons on the trot. And i think he was the league leader for stolen bases for most of the time through the 80's..

For getting that many times over 50 stolen bases he might have got that av. once lol and if i'm right it was a lucky guess as thats when i first started watching baseball during the 80's.

Sorry, my friend. Rickey surely stole 50 bases many times, but he never hit .370 or higher while doing so. But I will tell you this, and here's a nice pair of clues:

(1) Bill James rates both Rickey and the correct person among the Top 100 players of all time, though he (correctly, in my view) rates Rickey a lot higher; and

(2) Neither man is in the Hall of Fame YET.

B.H.N.

Worth a try i guess..

Well i decided to look it up as i wont know the answer, i looked at all the guys in the NL and AL who stole over 50-bases in each of the seasons in the 80's and not one hit over .370 batting av and i dont think i missed it. The baseball almanac must be outdated or i need my eyes tested...

Your almanac is wrong. And unlike Rickey, who's a guy one naturally associates with 50 SB's but finds hard to imagine batting .370, this guy is the other way around. Now THAT, my friend, is a very good clue.

And I'll toss in the fact this happened in the 1980's only year of the "juiced ball"--1987.

B.H.N.

Ahh i found it, the alamnac does have it, it must be my eyes that need testing...

I would never have guessed it either.

OK, now does anyone else want to take a guess? I'll throw in more clues:

This guy is a mortal lock for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in 2007. He hit .370 or higher 3 times, and .368 another time, and you won't have any trouble believing that. It's the 50 stolen bases which are a surprise.

Two more hints:

This guy retired with the highest lifetime batting average (.338) of anyone since Ted Williams (.344) retired in 1960.

And that's not the only link between the two of them. Williams famously tutored this guy on hitting for power, leading to his having his two best HR seasons (16 and 17) at ages 37 and 38, and his best doubles season (49) at age 37.

B.H.N.

Nobody else want to take a stab at this. This is one of THE two guys from the 1980's that you would associate with very high batting averages. The other one, Wade Boggs, never stole 50 bases. You just naturally THINK that this guy never would have, either... but he did.

B.H.N.

HOOTIE:

Would you please put this question out of its misery?

B.H.N.

Tony Gwynn, although i thought it could be Raines till you said he wasn't known as a base stealer.

WE HAVE A WINNER.

In 1987, Tony Gwynn batted exactly .370--the third highest average of his career--and stole an astonishing 56 bases, 16 more than his 2nd highest single-season SB total.

Gwynn is listed at 5'11" and, kindly, at 199 pounds. But in the six-year span from 1984 through 1989, he had four seasons in which he stole 56, 40, 37 and 33 bases. In his 12 remaining seasons after 1989, he never came near those figures again.

His career stolen base % was a borderline 71%, but in 1987, it was a very impressive 82%, which helped make this the second best season of his career, in runs created per innings played. His best was the 1994 season, in which he batted a whopping .394, before the owners' lockout killed the rest of the season and, unbelievably, the World Series.

B.H.N.

ADVANCE CLUES:

My next question will have info on players from the 1920's thru 1950's, as well as players from the 1960's through the present, but the answer will again be someone from the present time (1990's), not another Cy Young or Stan Musial question.

The player will be the least talented of the four so far, at least in terms of career feats, but he was one hell of a player.

B.H.N.