Baseball: BASEBALL TRIVIA QUESTION #10---100 XBH in 1 season

Baseball Trivia Question #10----Players with 100 or more Extra Base Hits in a Season


Before the advent of Steroid Ball, one of the rarest--and greatest--feats in baseball was to get 100 or more Extra Base Hits in a season. Prior to 1995, it was rarer than a perfect game, and on 2 of the 9 occasions when it HAD happened, it had unquestionably been helped a lot by an absurd home park. (The same is true of two of the six times it's happened since 1/1/95.)

It never happened during the Dead Ball Era. For all their doubles and triples (over 1,000 apiece, during their careers), neither Cobb nor Speaker ever did it. Nor did any other player whose career was centered in the Dead Ball Era.

But in the 1920's, 3 different players had a 100-XBH season.

In the 1930's, 1 of the three previous guys had a SECOND 100-XBH season; a new guy had TWO 100-XBH seasons (aided enormously by an outrageous home park, which was last used by MLB in the late 30's); and TWO MORE NEW GUYS had one 100 XBH season apiece.

And finally, in 1948, a seventh guy had a 100-XBH season. I wrote at length about that season recently, saying it was perhaps the best season of all time not had by Babe Ruth or the new-and-inflated Barry Bonds.

Thus, in the 95 years before Steroid Ball got completely out of hand (1900-1994), we had SEVEN PLAYERS who had a total of NINE SEASONS with 100 or more XBH.

I am nauseated to report that in the scant 11 years since (1995-2005), we have had FIVE PLAYERS rack up SIX SEASONS with 100 or more XBH--though, while several of those seasons were racked up by obvious suspects, the guy who had TWO such seasons, like the guy who had two such seasons in the 30's, may be clean and his deeds may be attributable to his ridiculous home environs.

This is going to be a two-part question, with the modern players coming tomorrow or Monday. But for now, I want to see how many of the six superstars of the 20's and 30's you can name, plus whether you remember what I said about the guy who was a god in the year 1948.

I will provide clues, namely the years in which these guys racked up their feats, and the number of XBH they compiled in their magical seasons.

1. 1921---119 XBH Still a single-season record, and only right that he still holds it.

2. 1927---117 XBH Check the year, which is still believed by many, probably most, experts to be the year of the greatest team ever. This guy was a huge part of it, and his name wasn't Ruth. His RBI's were, however, aided enormously throughout his career by his batting behind first Ruth, then DiMaggio.

3. 1930---107 XBH This was the all-time year of the hitter, more so than any one year of Steroid Ball. Bill Terry, a very overrated player, batted .401. Hack Wilson hit 56 HR's, which was a NL record until the great, fun HR battle between those two steroid freaks in 1998. And Hack Wilson's also amassed 191 RBI's, which is a record I do not believe my niece's grandchildren will live to see broken. This guy's 107 XBH's are still tied for a NL record. He played in the 20th Century's #1 joke of a park. And get this: His TEAM batted .315 that year [the NL, as a whole, batted over .300], and they still finished DEAD LAST with a 6.71 E.R.A.)

4. 1937---103 XBH This guy drew 102 walks, still got 200 hits and 183 RBI's, which was--and still is--3rd highest RBI total ever

5. 1932---103 XBH Same guy and absurd park as in 1930.

6. 1948---103 XBH He missed by 1 HR being only player ever to lead league in 2B, 3B, HR and virtually everything else positive.

7. 1922---102 XBH He won the Triple Crown in 1922, and it wasn't his only one.

8. 1932---100 XBH If he played today, he'd be automatically condemned for steroid use, due to his phenomenal musculature. An opposing player once famously asked him how much air his arms held. He was known for cutting his uniforms' sleeves short, so pitchers would see--and freak out over--his arms. He was 32 years old the day he hit his 500th HR, but then his drinking took him out of the picture, in one of sports' all-time worst wastes of talent. In his final two seasons, facing terrible WWII pitching, he had 244 AB's and hit 7 HR's, at ages 36 and 37. He didn't even try to hit the real stuff, when the real pitchers returned in 1946. Twenty years after that, virtually penniless and in terrible health from his drinking, he apparently choked to death on a piece of food.

1930---100 XBH This is the same guy who hit 117, the second highest total ever, in 1927. Although recent years have seen a Golden Era at his position, he is still rated by all or nearly all experts as #1 at his position. I've always rated him #1 there, but I need to take a closer look at the numbers before I make up my mind.


HOOTIE: I've gotten ZERO response so far, and it's not Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Please give it 4 or 5 more hours. I'm going to be interested to see how many of these you can get. My clues, obviously, have made things a lot easier on you. Do you think you can get 100% with that info?

EVERYONE, PLEASE: No reference books, Internet assistance, etc. The ludicrously easy hitters' park was called The Baker Bowl. Look up its dimensions on the Net AFTER this question's over.

Part Two to follow tomorrow night, late.

B.H.N.

[Edited on 3/19/06 by BaseballHistoryNut]

TRD, IA Clonz and OTHERS,

Y'all best hurry on this one with a few well-educated guesses or something, because when HOOTIE lets loose, he'll likely get all of them, and he'll surely get almost all of them.

BHN

I know. Since Hootie's already a lock when his time comes....

I will give y'all the TEAM that each of these guys played for when he had his incredible 100 extra-base hit season(s).


1. 1921, 119 XBH. New York Yankees.


2. 1927, 117 XBH. New York Yankees, and remember, I said it wasn't Ruth.


3. 1930, 107 XBH. Philadelphia Phillies.


4. 1937, 103 XBH. Detroit Tigers.


5. 1932, 103 XBH. Philadelphia Phillies.


6. 1948, 103 XBH. St. Louis Cardinals.


7. 1922, 102 XBH. St. Louis Cardinals. (polar opposites as people)


8. 1932, 100 XBH. Philadelphia A's.


9. 1930, 100 XBH. New York Yankees.

And remember, #9 is the same guy as #2, and #5 is the same guy as #3.

Dear Friends (sincerely meant),

Come on, y'all, this is the 30th view for this thread, so I know people are watching it. And when Hootie gets around to it, he's gonna nail these.

Now, think of it this way. Y'all remember how painful it is to ask someone of the opposite sex out, knowing they may reject you completely, answering with an emphatic and unqualified NO!!!? It won't hurt 1/1,000,000th that much to be wrong about these questions. So just take a few wild guesses. I've given you the years, the teams and some additional hints.

I gave you two years in the 30's where I said the guy was the same player both years, NOT Babe Ruth, but a Yankee. Anybody got a wild idea about who that dude might've been, and about why he got to fatten up by driving in Ruth all the time?

And then there's the dude with the still-record 119 XBH in 1921, which is light years more than almost everyone else. I told you he played for the Yankees, but I gave no other clues about him. Any ideas what that might mean and why he might be so much better than the others, except the teammate who had the privilege of driving him in all the time?

I gotta go to bed. I'm hopin' that when I wake up, all of these questions are correctly answered, and only about 1/2 by Hootie.

[By the end of baseball season, I'm either gonna drag a bunch of people into hardcore baseball fanhood, or I'm gonna get expelled from the site for being way too manic.]

B.H.N.

Been away for 3 days. Just seen the questions.

1. 1921 Ruth
2. 1927 gehrig
9. 1930 Gehrig
3. 1930 Foxx
5. 1932 Foxx
4. 1937 Greenberg
6. 1948 Musial
7. 1922 Hornsby
8 ?

1932 is Foxx. The two with the PHILLIES are Chuck Klein.