Sporcle Saturday: Beating the streak
Good morning!
Just two days from now marks a 20-year anniversary (if it were a marriage, a quick Google search says china would be the traditional gift): the start to the longest hitting streak in White Sox franchise history. I somehow doubt that Jerry Reinsdorf will be sending Carlos Lee a box of the finest Royal Copenhagen china, so to celebrate we’ll just have to make do with a Sporcle to commemorate the event.
Lee began his streak with a 2-4 showing in a 6-5 win over Baltimore on May 13, and his last game with a hit –game number 28– was a 1-5 effort in a 7-5 extra-innings victory against the Marlins. During the streak he slashed .381/.413/.500, and oddly enough just one home run (but eleven doubles).
At any rate, I thought this anniversary would make for a fun Sporcle. Today, let’s examine which White Sox players throughout franchise history have recorded a hitting streak of at least 15 games (can span multiple seasons). That’s 142 entries: how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- It’s a big list with some obscure names, so I’ve allotted the full 25 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the season, hit streak, and position of the player in question.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The lowest average from the streaks on this list is .295 (1955 OF, first streak)…
- …while the highest is a sizzling .517 (1935 SS).
- If you’d like a good read, check out the 1942 player’s SABR biography.
- Alec Bohm has this season’s longest hitting streak thus far, with an 18-game heater that ended on May 5.
All data from stathead.com
127/142 before I ran out of time. My most recent miss was 1951, with World War II (as usual) being my biggest blind spot.
My strategy was to Remember Some Guys in bulk, as I cannot claim to having a whole lot of White Sox hitting streaks memorized. I typed all sorts of names in, including several just because I love their names.
I bring that up to mention that Steve Albini, who died earlier this week, delighted in unusual baseball names such as
I stumbled across that 7″ looking at Albini’s feed in the days before he passed. I ordered it immediately. Can’t wait to listen to it.
I’ll never forget the longer of the 1992 streaks coming to an end because of the dastardly Tony La Russa.
Tell the story
My 12-year old self was convinced that
It was actually in the 8th:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-13-sp-5581-story.html
Ha, 2004 1B/OF.
Good times.
I did ok at the end of the full 25 minutes (115/142) but I can’t imagine how low my percentage was. I remember almost none of these streaks so I just guessed position player names for the entire time based on years and positions and sometimes just remembering someone was a good hitting regular. I’m sure I typed more wrong names than correct ones and I think it was by a wide margin.
110/142. Got everyone in my lifetime. My first miss was 1953. Left 3 or 4 names out there that I should have gotten. Great quiz, as usual, Ted!!
Thanks, roke!