Who Am I? (Second-Place Edition)

by Jesse on Aug 14, 2009 3:00 PM EDT in WTF Comment 23 comments

After inexplicably dropping two of three to the Royals, there's a fair amount of pessimism running through Twins Territory as we head into the weekend. So we'll play with the "close but no cigar" theme today, with all of your clues coming from Twins players who played on a Minnesota squad that finished second at least once.

Who Am I? (Answer: Quentin McCracken)

I was originally drafted by the Rockies
My career year came the season after I left the Twins, when I talled a 107 OPS+
I picked up MLB plate appearances for six franchises
Just to make it easy on you: I only played for the Twins one season

Who Am I? (Answer: Bernie Allen '62, Rod Carew '67)

You only get one hint for me: the Twins finished in second place my rookie season. I was a second baseman.

Who Am I? (Answer: Dean Chance)

I won 20 games twice, once for the Twins
By the numbers I might actually have been a better pitcher the year after I won 20
You've heard of me, if you're at all familiar with Twins history

Who Am I? (Answer: Chris Speier)

I was the oldest player on a second-place Twins club during the season in question
Once upon a time, I was a first-round draft pick by the Giants

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You have to number these...

is Luis Rivas, 2001 Rookie 2B

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 3:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I mean... number two...

Number 2 is Luis Rivas, 2001 Rookie 2B

HMTL formatting grabbed by pound sign

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Technically right,

but I didn’t count Rivas as a rookie because he played a few games in 2000. It’s somebody else.

by Jesse on Aug 14, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Someone just a bit better than Luis Rivas, too...

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Aug 14, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Number 3 is Dean Chance 1967?

I’m not sure if 1968 is really better. WHIP was a bit lower, most of the rest of the peripherals were about the same. Maybe. Better fit for this than Viola & Koosman who where the other 2/1 twenty-game winners I could think of.

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 3:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes, #3 is Dean Chance!

by Jesse on Aug 14, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Found #1 and #4

… but it was a pretty rigorous search of rosters… I did some double-checking for the other two, the search I did for this was so thorough that I basically cheated. :-)

Fairly obscure guys though… one of them has a son that we played against recently and his name popped up in a game discussion.

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 3:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

#1 - Todd Walker?

BetterLaettner

by BetterLaettnerThanRider on Aug 14, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No...

We drafted Walker. Stayed with us for a few years, then we traded him to Colorado with Butch Huskey for Todd Sears.

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

#1

The other half of the Bobby Kielty platoon?

by DJL44 on Aug 14, 2009 4:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Can't be

I know Mohr was with the Twins in ’02 – I was at “Lutheran Night” that year at the Dome, in which he was named the Lutheran player of the year.

Unless you’re thinking of a different Kielty platoon partner, I guess, but I don’t know that Kielty was on the Twins in ’01 (the only second-place year of the decade before ’08), and the clue says that this guy only had one year with the Twins.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Aug 14, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Finally found it

Just one year to look through, and it still took me about four passes through the roster before thinking to click on the right guy. I had completely forgotten about his presence on the Twins.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Aug 14, 2009 5:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

#4

Guessing Chili Davis, probably not right

by DJL44 on Aug 14, 2009 4:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That was my first guess, too

I looked it up, though, and Randy Bush was the oldest player on the ’92 Twins.

I tracked down the correct answer (pretty easy to do on Baseball-Reference), and I had no idea that player ever played for the Twins. As an additional clue, I will tell you that he was a teammate with Chili on RBI Baseball.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Aug 14, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Upgrade these guys and maybe we finish first… though in some cases (62,66,88) it wasn’t going to matter because the top team was great and finished way ahead.

by DavidRF on Aug 14, 2009 6:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

by Jesse on Aug 15, 2009 5:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

#2 answer

I was about to guess Bernie Allen when I realized the correct response is Rod Carew.

by Robley on Aug 15, 2009 8:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's clever...

You’re right—for both of them.

I actually ran into Bernie Allen first when writing the question, then saw Carew could also be the answer five years later. A bit of a trick question. Nice work.

by Jesse on Aug 15, 2009 11:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs