Tuesday nite TRIVIA ?
 

What does Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams have in common ?

This should be an easy one.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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So many options but I’ll start with both were sons of an immigrant parent. (So was Stan. Musial by the way). Just a guess.

Drew

each played in the American League with only one team their entire career and wore a single digit on their uniform while dating attractive women.

I've got it!
 

Each has 3 letters in their first name!

They were both major league baseball players?

They're both male?

Neither one has been in my kitchen?

Both served our country during WWII from 1943-1945 (hi Ted)

They traded each other's respective 1939 Play Ball cards (sample backs IIRC), but Ted wanted + cash because it was his RC.

Same number of letters in their names. Three in first. Eight in last.

Both were born in California and died in Florida.

Both were guests on What's My Line?

Both had higher batting averages than Joey Gallo.

Neither one had any at bats in 1961.

They were almost traded for each other (true).

come on guy, don't leave us hanging

Both set records in 1941 that haven't been broken..........too obvious?

What record did Ted set?

Tuesday Nite Trivia
 

Yes Tim....too obvious :)

Although, the way the game is played nowadays, I think DiMaggio's 56-game streak will never be broken.

Gee, there sure are a lot of things Joe and Ted have in common. But, they are not answer I'm looking for. It's not complicated, it's very elementary.

So, I'll throw you a hint (which may throw some of you way off). Think Robert Redford (from the 1984 movie The Natural) as having this in common with Joe and Ted.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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They were almost traded for each other

Ok I will overthink this. Wonderboy was made from a tree struck by lightning; Joltin Joe (lightning) and Splendid Splinter (tree). Longshot

Tuesday Nite TRIVIA
 

This is easy....don't over think it....what does Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams and Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford in The Natural) have in common ?

I'm sure that most of you have seen the 1984 movie The Natural.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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1939
 

All three (Williams, DiMaggio & Hobbs) played during the 1939 centennial season.

Each had a uniform number that was divisible by 9--Williams and Redford (Roy Hobbs) each wore 9, while DiMag originally wore 18 in spring training in 1936.

Hi, Ted,

Larry

They all met Wilford Brimley?

All of them were on the cover of Life magazine.

I don't think Joey Gallo knows what a batting average is, Pete, nor will he ever with that softball swing of his that starts in Mexico City and finishes in Montreal! Oh how much I have grown to hate the kind of idiocy that type of player represents. Just so tired of these (one of three) "true outcome" players--homerun, strikeout, or walk! If I was the Texas GM, he'd still be in the minors, learning to make contact with the ball (can't honestly say that he is aware that that is part of the game).

Happy collecting Pete,

Larry

They all hit a HR in their last at-bat?

They all played baseball ?

They all wore #9 (DiMaggio wore #9 in 1936)

They named there bat

None are pictured on the Lincoln penny?

Trivia
 

FINALLY....we have a genius.

Sonny Tutor is the Trivia King.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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Aaaand, a new Net 54 meme was born.

Adam Dunn may have been ahead of his time.

They all 3 were white & played the outfield ?

According to Cliff Clavin, they are three people who have never been in his kitchen.

lmhao!!!

the best thing to emerge from this thread!!!!

I guess some here did not get the message.

Sonny Tutor (post # 25) guessed correctly.

Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams and Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford in The Natural) wore uniform #9.
Joe's rookie year (1936) uniform # was 9.

This thread has ended....thanks to all who participated.


TED Z

T206 Reference
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Ted people are just having fun at your expense because the question was so open-ended.

"question was so open-ended"..... ! ? ! ?

What the "freak" is so open-ended about this simply stated question ?



TED Z

T206 Reference
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Because there could be a dozen different right answers or more and someone had to guess which one you had in mind. So naturally it inspired some humor. Don't take it as an offense, it isn't meant that way at all.

TRIVIA flashback......
 

Peter

No offense taken.
However, circa 8 years ago I posted this same quiz on this forum. Note the mood difference in the responses back then from these in this quiz.... http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ay+nite+trivia

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/t...oedtedwill.jpg

TED Z

T206 Reference
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Ted I hear ya. Maybe it was the slight wording difference, who knows. I'm still not sure what record Ted set in 1941. I assume the poster was referring to the .406 but of course that's not the single season mark or anywhere close, just the last one over .400.

DiMaggio's streak of course is untouchable especially with the way guys strike out today. .400 probably the same.

The key to hitting .400+ is WALKS. Ted Williams lead the AL with 147 Walks in the 1941 season when he hit .406 and in 1957 when he flirted with .400, he had 119 Walks.
These batters nowadays don't have the patience to wait out the pitcher. Therefore, I think Ted's .406 may never be surpassed. As I do not think DiMaggio's 56-game streak
will ever be equaled.



TED Z

T206 Reference
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Gotta disagree with this assessment Ted. In 1941 Major leaguers walked in 9.2% of their plate appearances. In 2016 the rate was 9.1 % there's some variance of course but no noticeable trend in walks/plate appearance in either direction.

I would argue lack of contact is a much bigger issue. 1941 Major Leaguers K's in 9.1% of their PA's in 2016 it was 21.1%. Advanced stats seem to indicate this is a more successful way to play the game, but I have to wonder. Contact obviously leads to more opportunities for success then no contact. Supposedly the power increase makes up for the contact decrease.

Also FWIW Lajoie had only 24 walks in his .400 season Sisler only walked 46 and 49 times respectively in his .400 seasons Joe Jackson was 56 times, Bill Terry was 57, Harry Heilmann was 73, Hornsby was in the 80's which is healthy, Cobb was right around 100. I don't think this shows that walks are essential to hitting .400.

If we look at their K numbers they definitely support my hypothesis.

Hi Scott
These guys played in an era when you could get 250 Hits; therefore, they didn't need Walks to help boost their BA. However, in the post WWII era getting 250 hits just ain't happening
any more. But, being patient and having a good eye can get you Walks, which of course reduces your official AB number.....which in turn (for a given number of Hits) raises your BA.

You don't have to take my word for it. Here's what George Brett said to a Sportscaster when asked in 1980 (he batted .390) why he fell short of achieving .400: " I didn't get enough
Walks. I needed about dozen more Walks to achieve .400 "


TED Z

T206 Reference
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Over the course of that season there doubtless were a dozen or more times he swung at ball four and made an out, so he's right.

I like a good discussion, so don't think I'm giving you a hard time.

250 hits has only been done 7 times, and 7 of the top 20 all time hit season totals have occurred since 1977. That's pretty much a perfect ratio of 1/3 of the top seasons in 1/3 of modern ball history.

As for Brett, that's great, but it's really anecdotal. Yes technically if he reduced his AB total with a couple handfuls of walks he would've hit .400 it doesn't mean you can employ walks as a strategy to hit .400. Also often times those who excel at something are among the worst at explaining it. It's why guys like Ted Williams are pretty much failures as a managers while guy like Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson and Tommy Lasorda are successful. Of course there are exceptions, but generally peaking being a savant doesn't actually mean you're qualified to explain what you do. (And yes I know William's The Science of Hitting is considered a seminal work to this day, but Brett was a disciple of Charlie Lau and Walt Hriniak who couldn't collectively hit their way out of a paper bag.)

I don't think Brett or Ted was suggesting he employ walks as a strategy. As I read it, he was suggesting that if he had been more judicious and walked a few more times instead of making an out on a bad pitch, he would have had a better BA.

Your initial point is interesting. I'd like to see what the Elias Sports bureau could find on it. I bet he didn't make very many outs on potential ball 4's. He did walk at a decent rate and if he's swinging at ball four I'm guessing that pretty often it was his pitch and he hit it well. Even discounting that he only swung at ball 4 if it was a great pitch for him, a dozen such instances where he didn't get a hit, statistically would imply that there were about 20 such instances in total. I don't know that I believe he swung at 20 potential ball 4's in 515 plate appearances.

Also would like to point out he only struck out 22 times the year in question which supports my argument. A low K total doesn't mean you have a high average but if you have a high average in all likelihood your K total is pretty low.

You don't think that once every 8 games he swung at ball 4? I don't have any numbers but it sounds quite plausible to me, even the best hitters get fooled frequently.

first he only played 118 games that year if I remember correctly so that takes it to once every 6 games. Then how often did he see a pitch on a three ball count? He walked 58 times (and since I had to look that up I checked he played 117 games that year) how many more 3 ball counts above those 58 do you think he saw in 515 plate appearances? Then how many of those WOULD have been ball four that he swung at? I would posit that with three balls the next pitch is probably a strike more often than other counts which lowers the possible number even more. I honestly don't know, but I meant it about Elias. This is the kind of statistic they excel at. But I still think it'll probably be, to most, a surprisingly small number.

515 PA's
- 58 Walks
_________
457 PA's

How many reached Ball 3?

Statistically speaking a 3 ball count is significantly less common. First of all the at bat has to last at LEAST 3 pitches, and then you need three balls. Plus I don't know how often he would swing away at 3 - 0, so that may impact one of the possible 3 ball counts. But if you throw out logic and just look at statistics there are 12 different possible counts only 3 of which are 3 ball counts, or 25%.

That would indicate he had 114 3 ball counts that didn't result in walks. I gotta imagine it was actually a LOT less than that.

Interesting thought exercise though. Fun stuff.

Seems to me every single batter these days goes to 3-2 plus 5 foul balls. Just kidding, but not really.