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“It isn’t that hard to get RBIs when you’re hitting home runs—you generally get at least one.”

— Mike Schmidt

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FIRST

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There’s a reason diehard fans get to the ballpark hours before game time. It’s not for better parking. It’s not for extra time to find our seats. It’s not so we’ll have time to down an extra hot dog, heavy on the mustard, prior to the first pitch.

It’s called BP.

Watching a Major League team take batting practice is without question one of the most exhilarating events a baseball fan can witness firsthand. But we don’t go hours early to watch players practice hitting to the opposite field. Oh no, we want to see the long ball, and lots of them. That’s why we bring our gloves. It’s partly because we want to chase those big flies and try to catch one like we’re little kids … and partly because we know if Albert Pujols drills one right at us that having a glove is truly a matter of life or death.

There isn’t a fan alive that doesn’t love the long ball.

So that’s where we begin. Here in the top of the first we’ve got a heavy dose of big-time sluggers who performed some incredible feats. Let’s get going with those two immortal words we love so much: Play Ball!

Top of the First

Question 1: The annual Home Run Derby during the All-Star break has been a fan-favorite for a long time. The All-Star break has also been a historical measuring stick for players on a potential record-setting home run pace. If you’ve got 30 bombs at the break, well, that’s pretty special. Who was the first player in history to hit 30 home runs before the All-Star break?

a)      Dave Kingman

b)     Willie Mays

c)     Harmon Killebrew

d)     Mike Schmidt

Question 2: The list of players to hit 30 homers before the break is pretty short, but it’s also pretty stout because it’s a virtual who’s who of home run champions. A few guys have done it more than once, but only one player has made it to the break with 30 homers on four different occasions. Who is that player?

a)      Ken Griffey, Jr.

b)     Sammy Sosa

c)     Mark McGwire

d)     Alex Rodriguez

Question 3: In 1994, for the first time in history, there were three players who hit 30 homers prior to the All-Star break. In 1998, that record was eclipsed as four players went into the break with at least 30 homers. In both seasons—1994 and 1998—there was one slugger who was a part of both of those record-setting groups. Who had at least 30 homers at the All-Star break in both 1994 and 1998?

a)      Greg Vaughn

b)     Mark McGwire

c)     Ken Griffey, Jr.

d)     Sammy Sosa

Question 4: Who is the only slugger in history to make it to the All-Star break with at least 30 homers … for two different teams?

a)      Ken Griffey, Jr.

b)     Mark McGwire

c)     Reggie Jackson

d)     Greg Vaughn

Question 5: Only five players in history have made it to the All-Star break with at least 35 home runs. The record is 39. Who holds that record?

a)      Mark McGwire

b)     Luis Gonzalez

c)     Ken Griffey, Jr.

d)     Barry Bonds

Question 6: Who was the first player in history to make it to the All-Star break with at least 30 homers and not win his league’s home run title?

a)      Reggie Jackson

b)     Greg Vaughn

c)     Willie Mays

d)     Dave Kingman

Question 7: Frank Thomas—not the Big Hurt, but the original Frank Thomas who debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 17, 1951, and finished his initial rookie campaign with two home runs—slugged 30 homers in 1953, his first full big league season, and was an All-Star the following year. He later set a Major League record for a particular type of home run—that being the clutch walk-off game-winning variety. Thomas was the first player in big league history to win a game for each of four different franchises via a walk-off home run: the Pirates, Braves, Mets, and Phillies. Over the years several other players have tied his record, most recently a high-profile free agent signee in his first year with his new club in 2010. His game-winning shot came vs. Scot Shields of the LA Angels. Who tied the Major League record by hitting a walk-off blast for his fourth ballclub on May 1, 2010?

a)      Johnny Damon

b)     Alfonso Soriano

c)      Andruw Jones

d)     Troy Glaus

Question 8: And staying with that particular home run record … prior to 2010, it was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays who tied this record by drilling a walk-off blast for his fourth different team. Who tied this record as a member of the Rays?

a)      Vinny Castilla

b)     Jose Canseco

c)      Carlos Pena

d)     Fred McGriff

Question 9: On May 1, 2010, a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks doubled and singled in his first two at bats vs. the Cubs to raise his season average to .667. Okay, he was only 9 for 12 on the season … but, he did start the season 9 for 12, and even better the player who got off to such a hot start at the plate in 2010 was Dan Haren, who doesn’t earn the big paycheck to swing the bat, but rather to make other guys who also earn big paychecks look flat-out stupid trying to make contact with Uncle Charlie. In nearly 40 years of baseball since the DH rule was instituted in the AL only one other pitcher had a better stretch of at bats than Haren’s run to begin 2010. A member of the 2001 San Francisco Giants pitching staff had a stretch in which he was 12 for 13. Now that’s just ridiculous. Which member of the 2001 Giants pitching staff apparently thought he was Barry Bonds for a spell?

a)      Jason Schmidt

b)     Kirk Rueter

c)      Russ Ortiz

d)     Livan Hernandez

Question 10: The Los Angeles Dodgers are steeped in history and tradition, recognized around the world as one of the premiere franchises in professional sports, not just MLB. So to have your name etched in the Dodgers’ franchise record book for something no one else has ever done is quite special to say the least. This is the franchise, after all, of Reese, Lasorda, Snider, Koufax, Campanella, Robinson, Drysdale, and … Don Demeter? Yup, Demeter, who hit only 34 home runs in five seasons for the Dodgers, set a franchise record in 1959 that stood half a century. It was a hot start at the plate that got Demeter’s name in the book after he belted five homers with 14 RBI and a .382 batting average during the first nine home games on the Dodgers’ schedule that season. No other Dodgers’ player had ever posted such gaudy numbers in the three Triple Crown categories during the club’s first nine home games … and no player did so again, not until 2010 that is, when this player batted .432 with five home runs and 14 RBI during the Dodgers first nine home games. Who set the new standard for hot starts at home for the Dodgers franchise?

a)      Matt Kemp

b)     Manny Ramirez

c)      Andre Ethier

d)     James Loney

Top of the First Answer Key

___ Question 1: B

___ Question 2: C

___ Question 3: C                                   

___ Question 4: B                                   

___ Question 5: D

___ Question 6: C

___ Question 7: A*

___ Question 8: C*

___ Question 9: D*

___ Question 10: C

Keep a running tally of your correct answers!

Number correct:             ___ / 10

Overall correct:              ___ / 10

#7 – Royals, Red Sox, Yankees, and Tigers.

#8 – Athletics, Tigers, Red Sox, and Rays.

#9 – He was 15 for 64 on the season: .296, one home run, eight RBI, and only four strikeouts.

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