Oh Those Pilots

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to last weeks question was "Manny Mota could get out of bed on  Sunday morning and hit a line drive to center for a base hit" or close to that.  It is the famous Vin Scully quote about Mota. The Prize: 100 points toward the person's total.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through the end of 2024 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after the years final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Questions will be worth anywhere from 10-25 points depending on degree of difficulty. Questions will be more difficult as the year goes on, so you are never really out of the mix. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  He hit .329 for a depression era team which had two guys who were starters in the line-up with him, who had different names from this player but they had the same last name as each other, and the same first and last initials. Who was this outfielder? He also played in two World Series. TOTAL 150 POINTS. 

Not since the first year Mets did an expansion team begin and end it's life with a crazy bunch of castoffs. Name very familiar on other teams during their prime, the one season Seattle Pilots saw those big-name players run into the ground. The team spent one year there before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers.

Look at the list; Don Mincher, Ray Oyler, Tommy Harper, Tommy Davis, Gus Gil, Rich Rollins, Jim Pagliaroni, Merritt Ranew, Sandy Valdespino, Billy Williams, Diego Segui, Steve Barber, George Brunet, Gary Bell and the guy who revealed it all; Jim Bouton ("Ball Four"). Some of these guys weren't very good when they were in their best years. 

The club won three of it's first four games and went down hill from there. The worst hit in late June when they went 4-15 and were 18.5 games out of first place. They would finish 33 games out winning just 64 and losing 98. They scored 10 runs or more just three times and lost one of those while winning 10-9 and 16-13! They allowed 10 or more runs 16 times

Mincher led the team with 25 homers while the club total was 125, Mike Hegan hit .292 to lead the regulars. Segui and Bouton were the only major staff pitchers to finish above .500 with Bouton going 2-1, Segui 12-6. The staff ERA was 4.35. There were worse teams in baseball's celebrated past but this team deserves the credit for finishing in the running of the worst.

TRIVIA CONTEST; Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.  

Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.

 

Vic D, what a career could have been

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to last weeks question was Slim Sallee.  The Prize: 100 points toward the person's total.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through the end of 2024 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after the years final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Questions will be worth anywhere from 10-25 points depending on degree of difficulty. Questions will be more difficult as the year goes on, so you are never really out of the mix. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Along with Cavalillo, Jerry Lynch one of the great pinch-hitters of all time was Manny Mota. What did Dodgers announcer Vin Scully often say about Mota? TOTAL 50 POINTS. 

Vic Davalillo was one of those players with great promise, who had a long career but a career which was made less productive by an early injury. The fleet Venezuelan came up quickly through the Cleveland ranks and in his rookie 1963 season was on his way to Rookie of the Year honors, batting .304 and leading off for the Indians. Then tragedy struck.

On June 12th, facing the Tigers Hank Aguirre in the first inning, Aguirre plunked Davalillo on the wrist. The wrist was broken. He returned weeks later to finish at .292 but he was never able to hit left-handed pitchers as well again. Especially in the power department. Never a power hitter, of his 36 lifetime home runs 28 were against righties, 8 against lefties. 

Perhaps his best season was 1965 when he batted .301 with 26 steals. He'd remain in the upper .280's for much of his career but soon managers began to platoon him because his lack of hitting against lefties became obvious. His defense in center field always kept him in games though.

In 1968 he was sent to the Angels for Jimmie Hall and hit .298 in the year of the pitcher. The AL leader in BA that year was Carl Yastrzemski who hit .301.  After suffering a nervous breakdown he would close out the 60s traded to St. Louis. In his first NL at bat he homered and revived his career. It was there he became an extraordinary pinch-hitter and would eventually become a record setter in that department, until it was broken.

Davalillo had his moments of greatness as well as his trying moments. In his 16 seasons in the big leagues he was clutch, getting key hits for the Dodgers in the playoffs and had solid moments in St. Louis and in Pittsburgh, along with a key playoff series with Oakland. He retired at age 40 but went on to play several more seasons in the Mexican League.

Imagine what might have been if not for breaking his wrist as a 23 year old outfielder in Cleveland?

TRIVIA CONTEST; Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.  

Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.

The Greatest Year of the Yaz

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to last weeks question was the number of players who were traded for Frank Robinson in his career was 16.  The Prize: 10 points toward the person's total.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through the end of 2024 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after the years final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Questions will be worth anywhere from 10-25 points depending on degree of difficulty. Questions will be more difficult as the year goes on, so you are never really out of the mix. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  In a career which spanned 14 seasons he was a stalwart starter but also relieved. His lifetime WHIP was an amazing 1.17, but in one season as a reliever with over 100 innings pitched, his WHIP was under 1.00. Who was he? TOTAL 100 POINTS. 

It had been a long time since the Boston Red Sox had a batting champion. How about a player to lead the American League in RBI? Home Runs? Well, there was Dick Stuart, almost. But for someone to lead the AL in all three categories - the Triple Crown? You only had to look as far as Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. What a season Yaz had in leading the Red Sox to the pennant & MVP.

To be honest Frank Robinson did it the year before with more home runs (49-44) but this was the Red Sox. They hadn't had a great slugger since Ted Williams (Williams won the Triple Crown in 1942 & 1947) and then along comes Yaz. In his 7th season he led the league with 189 hits, 122 runs scored, a .326 batting average, 44 homers and 121 RBI. Take that Teddy Baseball!. Yaz would also lead the AL in seven more offensive categories including On Base Percentage. An amazing season although previously and even later he would lead the junior circuit in other hitting categories, too.

The proof of one really great season came on the last day of the regular 1967 season. The Red Sox needed to beat the Twins whom they were battling for the pennant. In a great match-up between two solid pitchers ((Jim Kaat vs. Jose Santiago), the Sox won it 6-4 with Yaz going 3-for-4 at the plate and hitting a 3 run homer in the 7th to basically clinch it. Yaz had a new name; Clutch. 

It should be noted Harmon Killebrew also smacked homer no. 44 in that game giving him a share of the home run record. While losing the World Series to the Cardinals, Yaz hit .400. It was a year Yaz would really "paak the caar."

TRIVIA CONTEST; Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.  

Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.