Sporcle Saturday: Luis Robert reaches 20

Good morning!

In last Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox, Luis Robert Jr. had himself another fine game, going 3 for 4 with two home runs and three RBI. More importantly, he’s the first White Sox player to cross the 20 home run threshold on the season and the first to do so for the franchise since 2021. 

The 2022 squad was the first White Sox team to not have a member of the 20-dinger club since the 1990 iteration, and that team was at least fun to watch. If Robert Jr. can stay healthy and keep up the pace he could be the first White Sox 40-homer guy since 2016 and (doubling the total, here) the first 43+ homer guy since 2006. My lips to God’s ears, etc. 

At any rate, today will celebrate Robert Jr.’s terrific season by looking at other 20-home run seasons of yore, dating back to 1960. That leaves us with 143 player seasons: how many can you name? Good luck!

Quiz Parameters

• I’ve allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts
• For hints, I’ve provided the season and the number of dingers hit.

Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:

• I’d imagine I’ll eventually take this back far enough, but for now he isn’t a spoiler: Carl Reynolds logged the first 20 home run campaign in franchise history in 1930, with 22 dingers.
• The first player in baseball’s modern era to log a 20 home run season is Frank Schulte in 1911, while playing for the Chicago Cubs. If your immediate thought was that it would be Babe Ruth, you weren’t far off: he was third in MLB history in 1919 with 29. (Gavvy Cravath is the middle child, hitting 24 for Philadelphia in 1915)
• If we double everybody’s home run totals, this year’s team would have four guys with 20 or more home runs in a season, the first time that’s happened since 2018.

Direct link here

All data from stathead.com

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