Good morning!
As most are aware by now, the news came out last week that former Sox and Tigers center fielder Chet Lemon passed away at the age of 70. Lemon was signed by the A's out of high school at 22nd overall and originally played the infield. Washington hit his way up the minors alongside future White Sox (and one of my favorite Immaculate Grid answers) Claudell Washington.
When general manager Roland Hemond traded for him (going the other way were Stan Bahnsen and Skip Pitlock) in 1975, it quickly became apparent that his infield defense wouldn't cut it. Thus, in 1976 manager Paul Richards made him the every day center fielder and a fan favorite was born. In fact, asinwreck has a favorite memory from the following season: game 1 of a doubleheader on July 31, 1977.
In all, Lemon accumulated 24.9 WAR over his time in Chicago, slashing .288/.363/.451 (126 OPS+) and two All-Star appearances. From 1977-1981 (before he was traded to Detroit for Steve Kemp) he logged at least 4.1 WAR every season, and is the crux of today's Sporcle: which centerfielders playing for the White Sox have logged at least 2 wins above replacement in a season?
Setting the cutoff at 4 WAR would have been just 29 names and I wanted to make things a bit more challenging, so 2 WAR or more is the target, and the player must have logged 70% of their appearances in center. In all that's 64 entries: how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I've allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- To reiterate from above, a player must have played at least 70% of their games in center field, and logged at least 2 bWAR.
- For hints, I've provided the season and the bWAR.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The highest WAR logged by a player on this list came in 1966 and 1926, 6.4.
- Mickey Mantle and Ty Cobb hold the highest WAR in a season for a center fielder, each logging 11.3. (Though Mantle did it in back-to-back seasons in '56 and '57.)
- Somehow, Nate McLouth managed to log -2.7 WAR in 85 games for the Pirates in 2010.
All data from stathead.com
