It’s frequently said that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. But the opposite is true once we reach the postseason. It will take 11 victories for the two teams in each league who receive first-round byes and 13 for those taking part in the wild-card round to win the World Series. I work all baseball season with a marathon mindset, then suddenly my internal clock speeds up dramatically. Unfortunately, the same is not true for my metabolism, which is why I never could consider running a marathon. To be honest, I find driving 26 miles exhausting. I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend that amount of time running. I don’t know what I would think about during the run, other than questions for you. Well, while I never will find out, I’ll be quite content posing my questions to you in this forum. Have fun and don’t get any blisters.
1. On June 21 of this season, the White Sox beat the Jays 7-6 in 12 innings. On July 3, the Cubs lost to the Red Sox 4-2 in 11 innings. These were each team’s longest games of the season. In terms of time, which marathon game took longer?
a. White Sox-Jays
b. Cubs-Red Sox
c. The same
2. Aaron Judge’s race to 62 home runs was a dash, while Albert Pujols’ journey to 700 homers was a marathon. Pujols became the fourth player to hit 700 homers. Who was the oldest when reaching the mark?
a. Albert Pujols
b. Babe Ruth
c. Barry Bonds
d. Hank Aaron
3. Speaking about going for a run, who scored more runs?
a. Babe Ruth
b. Hank Aaron
c. The same
4. In the modern era (since 1900), five Chicago players have scored 1,300 or more runs. Please put them in order. They all had between 1,305 and 1,327.
a. Ryne Sandberg
b. Ernie Banks
c. Billy Williams
d. Frank Thomas
e. Luke Appling
5. Speaking of marathons, on May 8, 1984, at Comiskey Park, the White Sox beat the Brewers 7-6 in a game that took 25 innings and 8 hours, 6 minutes. Which Hall of Famer was the winning pitcher in that game?
a. Steve Carlton
b. Tom Seaver
c. Hoyt Wilhelm
6. The marathon distance is 26.2 miles (26.2187575, to be exact). We are not that precise when it comes to home-run length. Take, for example, the game of May 17, 1979, in which the Phillies edged the Cubs 23-22 in 10 innings. Needless to say, the wind was blowing out that day. By the time the Cubs came to bat in the bottom of the fifth, the Phillies had their largest lead at 21-9. Their shortstop, Larry Bowa, commented: ‘‘When we got up by 12, I figured we could win if we could hold them under two touchdowns and could block a couple of extra points.’’ One player hit a homer estimated at 530 feet, the longest at (and out of) Wrigley. Who hit that prodigious blast?
a. Mike Schmidt
b. Dave Kingman
c. Bob Boone
d. Bill Buckner
7. A stolen base is definitely a dash. The White Sox’ record for most steals in a game is four, achieved by eight players. Only one did it more than once. Who was he? Give yourself extra credit if you know how many times he did it.
a. Lena Blackburne
b. Scott Podsednik
c. Lou Frazier
d. Oris Hockett
8. The baseball season is indeed an exhausting 162-game marathon. In 1965, two Cubs played not 162 games, not 163 games, but 164 games. Who were those two marathon men?
a. Ernie Banks
b. Ron Santo
c. Glenn Beckert
d. Billy Williams
e. Don Kessinger
9. OK, a home run is a marathon and a steal is a dash. Only one player in Cubs history hit two homers and stole two bases in the same game. Who was he?
a. Patrick Wisdom
b. Corey Patterson
c. Jason Heyward
d. Moises Alou
Good luck to all the marathoners. I’ll see you all next week.
ANSWERS
1. The White Sox game took 4 hours, 23 minutes and the Cubs game took 4:25.
2. At 42, King Albert was the oldest. Babe Ruth was the youngest at 39 years, 156 days.
3. They each scored 2,174 runs. Rickey Henderson is the all-time leader with 2,295.
4. Frank Thomas (1,327), Luke Appling (1,319), Ryne Sandberg (1,316), Billy Williams (1,306), Ernie Banks (1,305).
5. Tom Seaver won 311 career games, 310 as a starter. This was his one victory in relief, pitching one inning.
6. Each of those players homered, but it was Dave Kingman who hit three homers, including one that headed straight toward a stoop on Waveland Avenue.
7. Scott Podsednik did it four times in 2005-06.
8. Ron Santo and Billy Williams. Ernie Banks played in ‘‘only’’ 163. Maury Wills, the great base-stealer who recently died, played in 165 games for the 1962 Dodgers.
9. Jason Heyward did it on April 6, 2019. And the Cubs beat the Brewers 14-8.
