Yankee4Life

9 out of 10, 63 seconds. I don't care what my score was. These were tough questions today. I appreciate any bit of advice. Thank you. I have a elliptical machine that I use that seems to help.

10 out of 10, 38 seconds. Forget it, just a lousy day time wise. You guys are again going to fly by it. That is good Jim. It really is. With my arthritic knees I can not walk so good anymore.

Beautiful! I am very happy for you. You just gave your family the best Christmas gift this year. Take care.

Just as long as it's that Jim and not your health.

October 1, 1961: Roger Maris surpasses Babe Ruth with 61st home run Roger Maris, New York Yankees On October 1, 1961, ending a quest that had enthralled both the baseball world and the American public, New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris capped one of the most spectacular seasons in baseball history when, with one swing of the bat, he became the major-league single-season home-run leader. The New York Yankees had begun the month of September with a 13-game winning streak that not only separated them from the field but also put to rest any doubts about their ability to repeat as American League champions. That fact, combined with the injuries to slugger Mickey Mantle that had removed him from the season-long pursuit of Babe Ruth’s iconic home-run record, left the Yankees’ regular-season finale noteworthy only for the historic opportunity it afforded Maris to surpass the Babe’s hallowed mark of 60 home runs in a single season. And yet for all its historic potential, the reported crowd was little more than a third of what the iconic Yankee Stadium could hold. But in its own way, that lackluster crowd was reflective of the season-long controversy surrounding the record chase, a controversy that had come to a head with Commissioner Ford Frick’s summertime declaration that any new record would have to be achieved within the confines of the traditional 154-game schedule and not the new expansion-induced 162-game slate. That announcement alone probably diminished interest in the season’s final game. Too, for many longtime baseball fans, the idea of Roger Maris as the heir to Babe Ruth was, fairly or not, preposterous, and that fact also may have reduced the number of onlookers at Yankee Stadium that day. And yet from the outset, those in attendance, a boisterous crowd officially recorded as 23,154, left no doubt that they knew they could be witnesses to something special, baseball history being made before their very eyes. Although the World Series was slated to start the next Wednesday, first-year Yankees manager Ralph Houk fielded his regular lineup absent only the injured Mantle who was still in the hospital but who was expected to be released in time to start Game One of the Series. Filling in for him was John Blanchard, who played right field while Maris moved to center. On the mound for the Yankees was Bill Stafford. The second-year right-hander, who was scheduled to pitch World Series Game Three against Cincinnati, was seeking a 14th win in this final pre-Series tune up. Facing the American League champs were the Boston Red Sox, a team finishing their first season of the post-Ted Williams era, a campaign that had left them in sixth place, with a 76-85 record heading into the final game of the season. On the mound against a Yankees team that had set a major-league record with 240 home runs was rookie Tracy Stallard. Under a cloudy sky and with a game time temperature of 70 degrees, Stafford threw the game’s first pitch at 2:03 P.M. and quickly dispatched the Red Sox, striking out the side. The tension in the historic ballpark was evident as the Yankees came to bat: Maris, batting in his customary third slot in the batting order, would get his first chance to hit in the home half of the inning. As second baseman Bobby Richardson came to bat to lead off the Yankees half of the first, the anticipation grew. After Richardson grounded back to the pitcher, shortstop Tony Kubek’s single to center brought up Maris for his first at-bat against 24-year-old right-hander Stallard. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Maris, the quintessential pull hitter, was fooled by changeup, and instead of driving the ball to right, lofted one to the opposite field, where left fielder Carl Yastrzemski hauled it in for the second out of the inning. A passed ball moved Kubek to second but Yogi Berra’s pop fly to second ended the Yankees’ at-bat. The game quickly settled into a pitchers’ duel. After Stafford retired the Red Sox in order in the second, Stallard did the same to the Yankees. And while Stafford proceeded to retire six of the next seven batters he faced, leaving him with a one-hitter through four innings, Stallard opened the fourth by striking out Kubek, making him the ninth straight batter the young right-hander had retired. Next up was Maris, and as he approached the plate he was greeted with a roar. Stallard’s first pitch to Maris was a ball outside; his second was low and in the dirt. The crowd, anxious to see Maris hit, booed Stallard’s careful approach to the slugging outfielder. Stallard quickly delivered the 2-and-0 pitch, and as he had done so many times before that season, the left-handed-hitting Maris turned on the ball and sent it flying into the right-field seats, not far from the Yankees bullpen where his teammates were poised to grab the historic ball. Instead, the record-breaking ball was grabbed by a young man, Sal Durante, who was quickly hustled to the safety by the police. Meanwhile, as the crowd roared, Maris, who recalled that he thought it was gone as soon as he hit it, made his way around the bases, jogging head down, as he had done 60 other times that season. After being congratulated by third-base coach Frank Crosetti and greeted by Yogi Berra at home plate, the happy Maris headed to the dugout. However, the shy record-holder’s teammates would not allow him to remain there, instead pushing him back out onto the field to acknowledge the fans who were joyfully and exuberantly cheering his name and celebrating his unprecedented accomplishment. Maris’s single run held up as the game’s only offense as both pitchers cruised through the opposing lineups. Stafford continued to impress in his Series tuneup, ultimately leaving after the sixth having given up only three hits while striking out seven. He was relieved by Hal Reniff, who pitched a perfect seventh, striking out one. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ offense was no more productive. While the American League champs managed to collect two hits in the bottom of the seventh, putting men on second and third, before Stallard induced pinch-hitter Tom Tresh to pop up to short, in the end Maris’s home run proved to be the extent of their offensive output. Maris himself had two more at-bats, but like much of the game after his record-setting blast, they were anticlimactic. Emotionally spent, he struck out in the bottom of the sixth, not long after having met with Sal Durante, who had been brought down to the locker room to meet the new record-holder. Durante sought to give Maris the ball, and the slugging outfielder was deeply touched by the generous offer. However, Maris was also fully aware that San Francisco restaurateur Sam Gordon had announced a $5000 reward for the record-breaking ball, and so he refused, telling the 19-year-old Durante to keep it and “make yourself some money.” Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Maris made the last out of the Yankees’ regular-season when, facing the Red Sox’ Chet Nichols, who had relieved Stallard after the seventh inning, he popped to second. Closer Luis Arroyo, who had come on in the eighth, dispatched the Red Sox in the top of the ninth, giving up one single, and the Yankees, having finishing the regular season with 109 wins, looked ahead to the World Series, which would open at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. In many ways the game typified Maris’s season. Through all the turmoil the shy slugger always had the unstinting support of his teammates, who watched in awe as the 27-year-old player dealt with unprecedented amounts of pressure and attention. And in turn, he had always been most concerned about helping his teammates win. Indeed, almost lost amid the fanfare was the fact that the 61st home run represented not only Maris’s league-leading 142nd run batted in, but the only run in the game, indeed, the winning run, in the Yankees’ 109th victory. In the end, that was what Roger Maris – a man whose career saw him play important roles on seven league championship teams and three World Series winners – was always about. October 1, 1961. Roger Maris hits home run number 61.

8 out of 10, 61 seconds. Believe me I am surprised here. I did have a baseball one and a question about the Raiders so that helped.

9 out of 10, 69 seconds. Pretty good but one question stumped me and I am hoping one of you can figure out where I went wrong.

ban are you. ok thank.

5 out of 10, 51 seconds. For me on a Tuesday this is outstanding.

9 out of 10, 79 seconds. In just about every one of these questions I hesitated today. I got a lot right but it wasn't easy.

You're in the zone a lot!

10 out of 10, 38 seconds. Can you ever tell that you just don't seem to have it for one reason or another? I was just too slow today even though every single question was too easy. Who was known as the Bambino? Yeah, that one made me think. 😉

9 out of 10, 58 seconds. A lot of these questions were what I have referred to as stop-and-think ones today because before I clicked on my choice I had to stop and think about it a lot longer than I usually do and when that happens I have a longer time.

10 out of 10, 31 seconds. A typical Friday score and I am happy with it. We had a close day today. Look at Jim, he had 33 seconds and any other time that would be a winner by a long shot. We did so good today that score was only good for a third place finish. Wow.

I wouldn't worry about that at all Devlin. It's easy to criticize when you are not the one working on the mod.

8 of 10, 52 seconds. Thank you for the football questions today. I needed them. Not one soccer question! And sabugo you explained perfectly how the soccer groups are determined. Thank you.

Devlin, this is incredible! What you have done with this game is just fantastic. This is a thirty-year-old game and the work that you have done on it is like giving it a new coat of paint. You make this game look and play so much better. As for the sound problems that you think you have I really don't see it to be a major problem. Thank you once again for what you have done and I hope that other people in here will get curious about this fun game that you have done so many good things with. Fröhliche Weihnachten to you and your wife.

8 out of 10, 63 seconds. Slow day today but resourceful. And if I didn't screw it up I would have had nine right.

I don't even know what Group H is.

You???

Rip Radcliff He had more to do with its demise than its institution: nevertheless, Rip Radcliff is among that handful of major leaguers who inspired a change in a league’s rules. The rule, established at the December 1939 baseball meetings in Cincinnati, was a bizarre one that lasted for just a short time. The owners of seven of the eight American League teams pushed through an edict that would bar their league’s defending champion from making a player transaction with any of the other clubs in the league. It was a measure obviously aimed directly at the lone dissenting team, the New York Yankees, who in addition to being the defending American League champions, were also winners of the last four World Series. Whether the rule prevented the Yankees from repeating in 1940 — they believed it did — they were replaced as pennant-winners by the Detroit Tigers. Thus, on May 5, 1941, when Detroit purchased Radcliff for $25,000, it was the Tigers, and not the Yankees, who were the defending American League champions. Radcliff’s sale set off a wave of criticism by the league’s other teams, claiming the sale violated the “spirit” of the law forbidding intraleague trades or purchases (except on waivers) with last year’s pennant-winner. Although the sale went through, the acrimony it generated convinced the owners, led by Washington’s Clark Griffith, that they’d made an unworkable rule and they abolished it. Raymond Allen Radcliff was born in Kiowa, Oklahoma, on January 19, 1906. Everyone agrees that it was his father who gave Radcliff the nickname “Rip”; there are, however, sundry versions of why he did so. In one, Papa Radcliff compared his young son’s sleeping ability to that of Rip Van Winkle. In another, he got the name from a show called “Rip Van Winkle” that was playing in Kiowa. A third claimed the name had started as “The Ripper” because of the youngster’s frequent tearing of his clothes and then got shortened to “Rip.” Radcliff grew up playing baseball on the Kiowa sandlots while building a strong body working in his father’s blacksmith shop. After graduating from high school, he played several years of semipro baseball in Kiowa. His father and two elder brothers, all of whom had also played semipro ball, urged him to accept the college scholarship he’d been offered, but Radcliff refused. “The only way to get rich quick is to get out there and play some professional baseball,” he said. A left-handed batter and thrower, the five-foot 10, 170-pound Radcliff began his professional career in 1928 with the Paris (Texas) Colts of the Class D Lone Star League. Despite compiling eye-catching batting averages wherever he played, he would spend the next six seasons in the minors. Those averages included a .359 mark for the Muskogee (Oklahoma) Chiefs of the Class C Western Association in 1929, .369 for the Selma (Albama.) Cloverleafs of the Class B Southeastern League in 1930, .361 for the Shreveport (Louisiana) Sports of the Class A Texas League in 1931, and .364 in 1933 for the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints of the American Association in AA ball, the highest designation at the time. At Selma in 1930, Radcliff was a Triple Crown winner, leading in both home runs (15) and runs batted in (116) to go along with his league-leading batting average. He also led the league in total hits, as he did the following year for Shreveport when he won another batting title. Originally a first baseman, Radcliff switched to the outfield while playing under manager Jakie Atz at Shreveport. So it was as an outfielder that he reported to the Philadelphia Athletics spring training camp at Ft. Myers, Florida, in 1934 after Philadelphia secured him in a trade with St. Paul. Radcliff later recalled that during training camp, A’s manager Connie Mack mentioned he was looking for a catcher. Radcliff recommended Hank Erickson, who was with Louisville of the American Association. Mack took the recommendation and sent Radcliff to Louisville in a deal for Erickson. A disappointed Radcliff went to Louisville, where he had another fine season, batting .335 for the Colonels. That prompted the last-place Chicago White Sox to buy him and include him in their September call-ups. He made his big-league debut on September 17, and appeared in 14 late-season games. After hitting a respectable .286 as a 29-year-old rookie in 1935, Radcliff started slowly in 1936–so slowly, that three weeks into the season, White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes convinced owner J. Louis Comiskey to claim Yankees outfielder Dixie Walker as a possible replacement. But when Walker injured a shoulder soon after joining the Sox, Radcliff got another chance. He came out of his slump and went on to have an outstanding season, totaling 207 hits and a .335 batting average while exceeding the league average in on-base and slugging percentages. He continued to be a particular thorn in the side of the pennant-winning Yankees, batting .370 against them on the heels of his .380 mark in 1935. Radcliff further upset the New Yorkers in 1939 by plowing into Yankees third baseman Red Rolfe as part of a series of “incidents” between the two clubs that season. Mickey Cochrane, manager of the defending champion Tigers, was scheduled to be the American League manager for the All-Star Game in 1936. Cochrane, however, was in Wyoming recovering from a nervous breakdown, and the league chose Joe McCarthy of the Yankees to take his place. Saying he wanted a starting lineup that the fans might have chosen, McCarthy selected Radcliff to start in left field. Rip’s outfield mates at Boston’s Braves Field that afternoon were Cleveland’s Earl Averill in center field and the Yanks’ Joe DiMaggio in right. The Nationals won the game, 4-3; claiming their first All-Star win, although the game is best remembered for DiMaggio’s “failures.” The league’s rookie sensation was hitless in five at-bats and had a shaky day in the field. Radcliff played five innings before Goose Goslin of the Tigers replaced him. He was 1-for-2, grounding out against Dizzy Dean and stroking an 0-2 pitch for a single against Carl Hubbell. An average defensive player at best, he also contributed an excellent fielding play, making a fine catch of a long drive hit by Joe Medwick. Eleven days after playing in the midsummer classic, Radcliff had the greatest game of his career. He had six hits in seven at-bats as the White Sox crushed the A’s 21-14 in the second game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park. Radcliff’s six hits (four singles and two doubles) tied an American League record for a nine-inning game. The Sox went on to finish third in 1936, their highest place in the standings since the Black Sox scandal surfaced back in 1920. Radcliff continued his solid hitting over the next two seasons, batting .325 in 1937 and .330 in 1938. A series of injuries, along with foot problems, limited him to just 113 games in 1939, and his batting average plunged to a full-season career-low of .264. Dykes, ignoring the injuries, believed Radcliff was on the downgrade. On December 8, Chicago traded him to the St. Louis Browns for outfielder Moose Solters. Healthy again after off-season surgery, Radcliff rebounded to hit .342 for the 1940 Browns, fourth highest in the league. He also shared with Boston’s Doc Cramer and Detroit’s Barney McCosky the American League lead with 200 hits and finished ninth in voting for the Most Valuable Player award. “I just hit ‘er when she’s in there,” Radcliff told the Sporting News that season. “Some pitchers are tougher than others of course, but when you’re getting hold of the ball, it doesn’t really make much difference.” Oddly, given his standing as the number two batter in the league on the morning of the All-Star game, Radcliff did not make the American League’s squad in 1940. St. Louis and Washington were both mediocre teams that season; nevertheless, they did play one memorable game. On June 21, rookie pitcher Sid Hudson of the Senators took a 1-0 no-hitter into the 9th inning. Radcliff, the leadoff batter, ended Hudson’s bid with a pop-fly double down the right field line. He went to third on a passed ball, but Hudson retired the next three batters to preserve the 1-0 victory. In May 1941, at the time of his controversial sale to Detroit, Radcliff was batting .282 for the Browns. In retrospect, the best explanation for why six teams would pass on such a fine hitter may be that it was a “gentleman’s agreement,” one designed to help both teams. The addition of Radcliff would help the Tigers make up for the loss of Hank Greenberg, who’d been called into the Army, and the $25,000 in cash would help the financially desperate Browns. Radcliff took over in left field for the Tigers, batting .317 for them for a combined season’s mark of .311. It would be his last hurrah. Detroit used him mostly as a pinch hitter the next year and again in 1943, when he led the American League with 44 pinch-hitting appearances. It was a role he disliked. “I’m a bum pinch-hitter,” Radcliff said. “I can’t see the ball unless I’m batting regular.” A week after the 1943 season ended, the Tigers traded Radcliff to the Athletics for infielder Don Heffner and catcher Bob Swift. Yet, as was the case in 1934, Radcliff was destined never to play a big league game for Connie Mack. Though nearing his 38th birthday, with the country still at war, Radcliff chose instead to join the Navy. He ended his ten-year American League career with a .311 batting average and 533 runs batted in. Considered one of baseball’s best “wrist hitters,” he hit only 42 home runs, but in turn was a very difficult batter to strike out. Radcliff fanned only 141 times in 4,074 at-bats, a strikeout total that was less than half his total of 310 walks. Following his discharge from the Navy, Radcliff returned to the minor leagues, batting .303 for the 1946 Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association. He sat out the 1947 campaign, and in 1948, his final season in organized baseball, played first base while managing Greensboro of the Class C Carolina League to a last place finish.

4 out of 10, 81 seconds. The game had mercy on me today as it gave me two baseball questions. That's why I managed to get four right.

Yes sir. It's also calming, therapeutic and good for the soul.

7 out of 10, 79 seconds. Slow time but it had to be done. These questions were tricky.