The fans speak out

Baseball Digest, Jan, 2004

There was a chart in the October issue showing players who batted below .300 while compiling at least 200 hits in a season.

Has there been any major league player who never had a 200-hit season, but was elected to the Hall of Fame?

Peter Opatz

West St. Paul, Minn.

There have been 59 major league Hall of Fame players who never collected as many as 200 hits in one season.

These players include eight first basemen, five second basemen, 11 shortstops, four third basemen, seven left fielders, four center fielders, seven right fielders and 13 catchers.

There are some surprising names on the list including Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Mickey Mantle and Mel Ott.

The Complete roster of these players can be found on Page 56 in the "7th Inning Stretch" feature.

I thought I had heard all of the names of major league teams, but after reading "The Fans Speak Out" section in the November Baseball Digest, I saw mention of the Boston Bees. I must admit I never heard of them.

Could you print some more info on the Bees?

Paul Whitmer

Bellingham, Wash.

After a disastrous 1935 season in which the Boston Braves finished with a 38-115 won-lost record, new club president Bob Quinn wanted to alter the negative image of the team. His solution was to change the team's nickname.

He decided to conduct a poll of fans to choose a new name, with the most popular submissions to be turned over to a panel of sportswriters.

The panel chose the name Bees, and that's how the team was designated until after the 1940 season when the name Boston Braves was again used from 1941 through 1952, after which the club was moved and became the Milwaukee Braves.

From 1936 through 1940, the Bees finished sixth, fifth, fifth, seventh and seventh, under managers Bill McKechnie (1936-1937) and Casey Stengel (1938-1940).

Some of their players in those days included outfielder Wally Berger, second baseman Tony Cuccinello, catcher Al Lopez, and pitchers Lou Fette, Jim Turner and Danny MacFayden.

In the October issue, there was a summary of a game in which the Red Sox scored 17 runs in one inning against the Tigers (on June 18, 1953).

Gene Stephens had three hits in that inning, and the pitcher, Ellis Kinder, had two hits in the same inning.

Has any other pitcher, before or since that game, ever had two hits in one inning?

Jerry Gould

Danbury, Wis.

Sorry, we can't answer that question because no records have been kept of pitchers collecting two hits in one inning. The record book lists only those players who accumulated as many as three hits in an inning, including Stephens and three pre-1900 players, Tommy Burns, Fred Pfeffer and Ned Williams, all of the Chicago White Stockings who achieved the feat in the same game and inning (seventh) on September 6, 1883.

In the long history of the majors, however, it would be safe to assume that pitchers, other than Kinder, punched out two hits in one inning.

Last season, Albert Pujols of the Cardinals went on a 30-game hitting streak.

I would like to know how his record would tend if the following occurred:

Say, the Cardinals are playing the Phillies in Philadelphia and Pujols is intentionally walked four times in the game.

He would be 0-for-0 with no official at-bats. Would his hitting streak still be alive after that game?

Jason Merola

Mt. Laurel, N.J.

Pujols' hitting streak would remain alive if he was walked four times in four plate appearances. Section 10.24 of the Official Rules Book reads as follows:

"A consecutive hitting streak shall not be terminated if all the players plate appearances result in a base on balls, hit batsman, defensive interference or a sacrifice bunt."

Is it true that there was a deaf baseball player who was the reason home plate umpires began signaling a called strike by motioning with their right arm?

Don Corbett

Arlington, Mass.

According to some historians, umpires began using hand signals on balls and strikes for the benefit of William Hoy, a deaf mute who lost his hearing as a baby because of meningitis

Other evidence, however, suggests that the hand-signal practice by umpires began independently.

Hoy was called "Dummy", a cruel but common nickname applied to such afflicted people in the old days. Hoy played center field from 1888 through 1902, spending five of those seasons the Cincinnati Rods. Only 5-4 in height, he batted .288 for his career, and died in 1961 at the age of 91.

My father and I were watching a Yankee game last season, and the announcers were talking about how many hits some pitchers have given up.

What pitcher has given up the most home runs?

Tracy Bolger

Wantagh, N.Y

We'll give you the highest total of home runs a pitcher has yielded in an inning, in a game, and in a season since 1900, and in a career as follows:

Most home runs in a career: 505 by Robin Roberts from 1948 through 1966 with the Phillies, Orioles, Astros and Cubs.

Most home rims in a season: 50 by Bert Blyleven of the Twins in 1986.

Most home runs in a game: Six by Larry Benton of the Giants on May 12, 1930; Hollis Thurston, Dodgers, August 13, 1932; Wayman Kerksieck, Phillies, August 13, 1939; Al Thomas, Browns, June 27, 1936, and George Caster, A's, September 24, 1940.