Off-Day Kwiz

[Frayed Knot]

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 Dutch Zwilling, have in common?

[Guest Triple Dee]

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]

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]

Grimm got it.


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

[Benjamin Grimm]

Really?

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

Edited May 8, 2008 by Guest

[Willets Point]

="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.

[Guest Triple Dee]

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.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

="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.

[Guest AG/DC]

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

[Frayed Knot]

="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.

[Guest Mendoza Line]

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

[Benjamin Grimm]

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]

Worst. Kwiz. Ever.

[Guest AG/DC]

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]

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.

[Guest AG/DC]

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]

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 Dutch Zwilling, 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]

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.