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Off-Day Kwiz

Frayed Knot
May 08 2008 08:29 AM

Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth have a lot of things in common - but what unique "accomplishment" do their careers, along with that of [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/z/zwilldu01.shtml]Dutch Zwilling[/url], have in common?

Triple Dee
May 08 2008 08:39 AM

They all led the HR category in their respective leagues.

This question was given at a baseball trivia night of my old college team.

Benjamin Grimm
May 08 2008 08:42 AM

Hmmm.

Mays started and ended his career in New York, but with two different teams.

Aaron did the same with Milwaukee, and Ruth with Boston.

And Zwilling played for three different Chicago teams.

It feels like the answer is somewhere in there, but I bet it isn't.

Frayed Knot
May 08 2008 08:44 AM

Grimm got it.


They were the ONLY MLers to start and end their careers in the same city but on different teams

Benjamin Grimm
May 08 2008 08:47 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 08 2008 08:50 AM

Really?

Didn't Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden do the same?

Willets Point
May 08 2008 08:47 AM

="Benjamin Grimm"]

And Zwilling played for three different Chicago teams.



That's fascinating. I wonder if Zwilling is the only player to play for Chicago in the AL, NL, and Federal League. Or perhaps the only player to have his entire career on those three franchises.

Triple Dee
May 08 2008 08:48 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 08 2008 08:50 AM

Frayed Knot wrote:
Grimm got it.


They were the ONLY MLers to start and end their careers in the same city but on different teams


Boooooooo -- my answer was not incorrect, though -- Zwilling led the Federal League in HRs in 1914.

Benjamin Grimm
May 08 2008 08:49 AM

="Benjamin Grimm"]Really?

Didn't Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden do the same?


And Yogi Berra too. I'll bet there are a bunch of others.

AG/DC
May 08 2008 08:54 AM

Joe Pignatano and a bunch of other former fifties New Yorkers who ended up on the early Mets.

Frayed Knot
May 08 2008 08:55 AM

="Benjamin Grimm"]Really?

Didn't Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden do the same?



Ummm, yeah they did.
I got the info from a column in 'The Hardball Times' and he's quoting a recently published book as the source.

Either that's a really sloppy book (sloppier than me even) or something's getting lost in the translation.

Mendoza Line
May 08 2008 08:56 AM

Clem Labine, if you count Brooklyn and New York as the same city (I would).

Benjamin Grimm
May 08 2008 08:57 AM

And there are probably a bunch of Cubs/White Sox, Braves/Red Sox, Phillies/Athletics, and Cardinals/Browns that we'd never even think of.

Frayed Knot
May 08 2008 08:59 AM

Worst. Kwiz. Ever.

AG/DC
May 08 2008 09:04 AM

Well, I don't know if this helps, but they all played for three teams --- the first and the last were in Padukah, and just one team was sandwiched in between.

That's if you count the Atlanta Braves as a different team from the Milwaukee Braves.

More interesting to me is the list of players who travelled to a new city with a team and came home eventually with another tam, suggesting that his affiliation with the city on the jersey was as strong or stronger than their affiliation with the team name on the jersey.

Aaron, Mays, and Hodges would be there.

Benjamin Grimm
May 08 2008 09:08 AM

I wonder then, did any Kansas City A's return to the Phillies? Any early Baltimore Orioles go back home to the Cardinals? Any Milwaukee Braves go home to the Red Sox?

Certainly none on the level of Mays and Aaron, so I doubt that any of us would be able to think of them from the tops of our heads.

Let's get SteveJRogers to research it. Maybe we can get him to stay up until 2 a.m. doing it.

AG/DC
May 08 2008 09:18 AM

I know Vic Power returned to the Phillies at the end of his career, but he only played one year with the Philadelphia A's at the start.

RealityChuck
May 08 2008 09:52 AM
Re: Off-Day Kwiz

Frayed Knot wrote:
Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth have a lot of things in common - but what unique "accomplishment" do their careers, along with that of [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/z/zwilldu01.shtml]Dutch Zwilling[/url], have in common?
You poached my Zwilling question. :) SDMB?

Others who finished their careers in the city they started, but on a different team include Bob Aspromonte (Brooklyn -- which was part of New York City at the time -- and the Mets).

RealityChuck
May 08 2008 10:00 AM

Found one: Elmer Valo. Came up with the Athletics (where he played most of his career), moved to Kansas City, and finished up with the Phillies.