Yesterday, as I was researching names for today’s Sporcle, Jim happened to post an article which aligned with a player I was planning to note. Yes, that player is Albert Belle.
What’s noteworthy about Albert Belle is that he’s the most recent White Sox player to collect 200 hits in a season, and that occurred all the way back in 1998. In fact, he’s one of only 10 player seasons in franchise history to accomplish that feat.
Ten names does not a good Sporcle make, though, so I took a look at how many players had 190+ hits. That gave me thirty names…better, but not enough. Thus, 180 hits will be today’s cutoff. That leaves us with 66 entries…how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints I’ve provided the season, number of hits, and primary defensive position.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The franchise with the most players to have hit 200+ hits in a season is the Detroit Tigers, with 42 player seasons (Miguel Cabrera being the most recent, in 2012).
- The franchise with the fewest players would be the Tampa Bay Rays, with exactly…0 players; Aubrey Huff came *this* close in 2003, with 198. (The Mets have just two, surprisingly, Jose Reyes in 2008 and Lance Johnson in 1996)
- 2018 saw no player in MLB achieve the 200 hit mark (first time since 2013). Whit Merrifield was the MLB leader last season, with 192 knocks. (In case you’re wondering, Yolmer Sanchez led the Sox with 145)
All data from baseballreference.com
55. Got everyone from 1941 on.
Boomer had 53
52. Had a brain fart on 2012.
63, with two of the misses being the 1911 guys. Kinda cool to see how many entries appear when you type in
59. I too got everyone from 1941 and later.
51. Only one I missed from ’41-on was Floyd Robinson.
Of the ones I forgot, the only one I should have gotten/remembered was Harry Hooper. After putting in Simmons I knew there was another HOFer who spent a little bit of time with the Sox but I couldn’t put my finger on him.
I was stuck on 2012 OF and 2008 SS. I was going through the list of recent outfielders and remembered, “
I also was helped by this surname coincidence. With that bit of luck, getting 1941 on except 1962 was pretty easy. I’m not good at these but I’m old enough to easily remember from the 80’s onward and the 1941-1960 guys are all Sox legends.
44. Managed to get everybody in my lifetime at least. I’ll never be good with the old timers. Was surprised to see Eaton not on the list, though he did hit 175 two straight seasons.