The Ridiculously Difficult Sports Quiz

[mith]

Hey, you missed your chance on United.

[Highest Prime]

I'm back.

mith +2 for Nolan Ryan (#2), -1 for Robin Yount
Quailman +2 for Hank Aaron (#5)
Duphrates +2 for the Babe (#10!), -1 for Joe DiMaggio

OST -1 for Mickey Mantle
Qaqaq -1 for Ted Williams
Aga -1 for Wade Boggs

Certainly not the results you might have expected!
List updated back on page 3.

[This message has been edited by Highest Prime (edited 05-09-2003 01:35 PM).]

[casinopete]

Ryne Sandburg

[Sparhawk]

How about Reggie Jackson (Mr. October)? [I am trying to remember famous baseball players who retired in the late seventies or early eighties.]

[Qaqaq]

Ty Cobb

[Trojan Horse]

I'll try Cy Young.

[One Skunk Todd]

Lou Gehrig?

[Quailman]

Ozzie Smith

[cuban smoker]

Ferguson Jenkins.

[Quailman]

Tom Seaver

[Agamemnon]

Daryl Strawberry

Hey, cut me some slack here, I'm only remembering the players from when I was last in Yankeeland!

[Quailman]

Mr. Strawberry did not make the HoF. He is currently residing in a halfway house, however.

[Agamemnon]

Karl Yasterzemsky?
Or something similar like that!

[Highest Prime]

Updating the numbers:

Quailman +2 for Tom Seaver (#1 overall with 98.8%), -1 for Ozzie Smith
Qaqaq +2 for Ty Cobb (#3 overall with 98.2%)

None of the other answers are correct:
Sandberg, Reggie, Cy Young (!), Gehrig, Jenkins -- none in the top 10 all-time.
And of course the esteemed Mr. Strawberry is in rehab, not in Cooperstown.

That's five down, five to go.

[Duphrates]

Joe di Maggio didn't get in? He slept with Marilyn Monroe for Pete's sake!!! What does it take to get these peoples votes?

[One Skunk Todd]

Cal Ripken?

[casinopete]

Frank Robinson

[Quailman]

Is Ripken eligible yet? It's got to be someone who played for a zillion years so that the voters all think he's been around forever - and probably for no more than two teams.

Mike Schmidt?

[casinopete]

Yogi Berra!

[Qaqaq]

Jackie Robinson?

[Agamemnon]

Roger Clemens

[Quailman]

He's still pitching. You have to be retired for 5 years to get on the ballot.

[Agamemnon]

How am I supposed to know, eh?

[Agamemnon]

William Gilbert Grace

[Duphrates]

LOL, though I'll probably be the only one who does.

[Sparhawk]

Roberto Clemente

[mith]

George Brett?

[Highest Prime]

Of all those guesses, the only two correct ones were:

Quail +2 for Schmidt (96.5%, 6th)
mith +2 for Brett (98.2%, 4th)

Yastrzemski came the closest of the rest, gathering 94.6% of votes. And of the three Robinsons in the Hall, Brooks (92%) actually garnered a higher percentage than either Frank (89.2%) or Jackie (77.5%). Clemente did get 92.7%, but Berra only 85.6%.

Oh, and Joe DiMaggio got 88.8%. I'll add here that the third pre-1980 inductee, like the first two, is actually a pre-WWII inductee.

Nos. 7, 8, and 9 left to guess. #9 is the only pre-1980 selection remaining.

[This message has been edited by Highest Prime (edited 05-09-2003 11:18 PM).]

[Elayne]

Oh oh i Know!

Johnny Bench Helps when you come from Cincinnati who had the big red machine in the 1970's

[This message has been edited by Elayne (edited 05-10-2003 12:50 PM).]

[Highest Prime]

Bench is correct! 8 down, 2 to go.

List is updated on page 3.

[Trojan Horse]

This is probably just going to cost me another point (and I'm already in the hole), but I'll guess Willie Mays.

[mith]

Reggie Jackson

[edit: oops, missed that he was tried earlier. maybe we should start bolding answers so I see them. ]

[This message has been edited by mith (edited 05-11-2003 08:17 PM).]

[El Camino]

*First post EVER in VG*

Roberto Clemente?

[Highest Prime]

Willie Mays ... is ...

... number 11 (d'oh!) on the all-time list, with 94.7% 'yes' votes.

And for his first post EVER in VG, El Camino ... is wrong.

To avoid this topic getting stale, a couple of hints:

Hint 1: The pre-WWII inductee is in the Guinness Book of World Records for something completely (well, OK, largely) unrelated to his baseball career.

Hint 2: The post-1980 inductee was on the same team (at the same time) as another of the 8 correctly guessed members of this list.

I'll check back again tomorrow to see if that was enough ...

[This message has been edited by Highest Prime (edited 05-13-2003 08:57 PM).]

[mith]

How 'bout Joe Morgan?

[Quailman]

Did anyone guess Honus Wagner yet?

If not, I will.

[This message has been edited by Quailman (edited 05-13-2003 11:03 PM).]

[Highest Prime]

And then there was one.

Honus Wagner is #9 all-time, with 95.1% 'yes' votes.

Joe Morgan, though meeting the qualifications put forth in the hint, is not the 10th and final member of this august club. There's actually a rather limited number of possible inductees meeting all the aforementioned criteria, when you think about it.

[Highest Prime]

Seven days have passed with no final answer, so I'll close the question. The complete Hall of Fame list, sorted in descending order of vote percentage, can be found here.

The 10th and final member, in 8th place (95.8%), was Steve Carlton, who was a Phillies teammate of Mike Schmidt (6th) for several years.

Scores after four rounds:
mith 28
Quailman 21
Duphrates 5
Qaqaq 3
casinopete 2
Sparhawk 2
kevinatilusa 2
Elayne 2
cuban smoker -1
One Skunk Todd -2
Trojan Horse -2
Aga -3

Question 5 coming right up!

[Highest Prime]

This next question could be labeled the 'If this doesn't get Aga out of the cellar, nothing will' question ...

(5) In the 73-year history of the World Cup, only 8 nations have ever reached the championship match more than once. List them.
(+2 per correct answer, +4 bonus for final answer, -3 per wrong answer)



[This message has been edited by Highest Prime (edited 05-16-2003 04:59 PM).]

[mith]

Brazil