Thursday Trivia

We haven't done this for a while and need a break from BCS-football chaos.

1. Who is the only player to break par all four rounds at the U.S. Open without winning?
ANSWER: Yes, Curtis Strange.

2. Who were the first two major-league baseball players to hit homers in their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s?
ANSWER: Ty Cobb is one. Rusty Staub is the other.

3. HOF pitcher Don Sutton lost one game as a high school pitcher. Who was the winning pitcher in that game (you've heard of him).
ANSWER: Ken Stabler it is.

4. What common thread links Willie Stargell and Jody Gerut?

5. Of the original 16 major-league franchises, which was the last to lose 100 games in a single season?
ANSWER: The New York/San Francisco Giants.

 

2. One I'm pretty sure is Ty Cobb. Is the other Mel Ott?

3. Ken Stabler, I think

 

You get 1.5 points.

 

4. They both have played baseball.

 

2. Rusty Staub

5. I'll go with the Pirates. They had a good run until the late 1940s.

 

I think I remember hearing Sutton tell the Stabler story on the radio once, but I knew they were from the same area and about the same age. Stabler was a helluva pitcher. Went 10-0 one year at Alabama. Was drafted three times, by the Yankees, Mets and Astros (Astros in the 2nd round).

 

I figured Junior for one of the guys in question 2.

As for No. 5 I'm pretty sure the Tigers of 2003 fit that category, although it wouldn't shock me if the Pirates or Orioles lost 100 since then. I do know that the Royals and Nats have lost 100 since then, but they both came in in 1969 and aren't part of the original 16.

 

4. Both hit for cycles?

 

I think the question means which one took the most years to lose 100, not which one did it most recently, though I could be wrong ...

 

That makes sense in that it makes the question much tougher.

 

5. Reds

 

Rusty Staub is correct.

Just to clarity on No. 5, it's which of the original 16 franchises went the longest before its first 100-loss season. We do not have a correct answer.