Once again, Mike Dean quickly came up with the right answer for our first August trivia question — Who was the last switch hitter in the American league to win the MVP award?

The answer — Vida Blue in 1971, the same year he won the Cy Young Award.

The second question still is waiting for an answer. This one may take a bit of research.

Current standings in our year-long trivia contest:

Matt Mitchell — 5 points
Mike Dean — 4
Paul Parker — 1
Dave Wallack — 1

The RMSABRite with the first correct answer to each of the following questions will receive one point in our year-long trivia contest.

1. Who was the last switch-hitter to win the American League Most Valuable Player award? In what year?

2. What pitcher’s lifetime ERA has the same numerals as his career batting average? And what are those numbers?

The next general meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SABR will take place September 6 — time and place to be determined. Discounted tickets to that evening’s 6:05 pm game with the Houston Astros will be available. Current plans for the meeting call for an open research forum. Come armed with a short presentation. Don’t be shy.

For those attendees of the chapter’s monthly luncheon, the date for the September informal get together has been changed from Wednesday, September 17 to Tuesday, September 16 to avoid conflict with the Colorado Rockies’ 1:05 pm Wednesday game with the San Diego Padres.

Also, the date for the chapter’s annual banquet has been set — November 8 at the Denver Athletic Club.

Mike Dean wasted no time coming up with the correct answers to the July 7 trivia questions.  Look at the previous post (just below this one) and click on “Comments” to see the answers.

New Trivia Standings:

Matt Mitchell — 5 points

Mike Dean — 3 points

Paul Parker — 1 point

Dave Wallack — 1 point

1. Name all the Dimaggio brothers.  This is somewhat of a trick question.  One point for the correct names, and one extra point forgetting them in order, oldest to youngest.

2.  Most SABRites know that the 1951 National League pennant was decided in the third game of a playoff series between the Dodgers and Giants when Bobby Thompson hit a dramatic home run off Ralph Branca.  In the second game, the Dodgers romped to a victory.  The question is: How was the first game decided?

The leaders in our 2008 trivia contest are:

Matt Mitchell — 5 points

Paul Parker — 1 point

Dave Wallack — 1 point

Does anyone have any or know of any? Particularly for Thursday the 3rd. I have friends coming in and could use 4.
I may be emailed at
stanmvp48@aol.com

The genius who covers the Rockies for the Denver Post points out today (6/19/08) that “the Rockies could move out of last place today with a victory and a San Francisco loss”. Only problem is: the Giants don’t play today, a fact which he could have discovered in about 10 seconds. Don’t we deserve a serious columnist?

Stan Cook

I just noticed that Kaz Matsui made his 8 th error of this season tonight for Houston.

Did anyone notice the article in the NYTimes sports section today about the fact that the American Leage teams are scoring significantly fewer runs per game than the National League teams. One reason is that so few of them are making use of the DH. Many, such as Hafner, Thomas, Thome, Giambi have seen better days. Some, such as Jose Vidro, should never have been used as DH. In fact, as of yesterday, the average slugging average of all of the designated hitters in the AL is under .400. Last year the only team that broke .500 was Boston

Spitball is one of two national baseball literary magazines (Elysian Fields) is the other one. For 25 years Spitball has given the Casey Award. As explained in the current issue of the magazine, “The Casey Award was established in 1963 by Mike Shannon and W. J. Harrison, co-editors and co-founders of Spitball, because at that time there had never been any award specifically designated to honor the authors and publishers of outstanding baseball books.”

The art on the cover of Spitball’s current issue is the logo designed by Blair Gibeau which adorns the certificate presented to each winner of the Casey Award, as well as the accompanying plaque.

The winner for the best baseball book of 2007 is The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neill’s America by Joe Posnanski, published by William Morrow.

The other finalists for the award were:

Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Fierce Gentleman, Lee Lowenfish, University of Nebraska
Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball, Norman Macht, University of Nebraska
Crazy ‘08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books
Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robonson’s First Season, Johnthan Eig, Simon & Schuster
Senior Year: A Father, A Son, and High School Baseball, Dan Shaughessy, Houghton Mifflin
Ty and the Babe: Baseball’s Fiercest Rivals, Tom Stanton, Thomas Dunne Books
The Best Game Ever: Pirates Vs. Yankees October 13, 1960, Jim Reisler, Carroll and Graf
Through a Blue Lens: The Brooklyn Dodger Photographs of Barney Stein, 1937-1957, Dennis D’Agostino and Bonnie Crosby, Triumph Books
Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball, Peter Morris, University of Nebraska Press