Sporcle Saturday: 5+ hits

Yermin Mercedes (White Sox)

The first week of baseball has brought a wealth of Sporcle possibilities. Lance Lynn’s excellent start on Thursday brought to mind four different themes alone: home opener home runs, home opener pitchers, top game scores, and high-strikeout games. I would be remiss, however, to not celebrate one of the biggest bright spots to start the season: Yermin Mercedes and his five-hit effort against the Angels last week.

Of course, Mercedes have given us so much more than that in the days since, but I couldn’t let the opportunity by. I was suprised to learn that this was the first five-hit game by a White Sox batter since 2017, and the first ever by a Sox batter manning the DH. In all, there have been 115 five-hit games by a White Sox batter in franchise history: how many can you name? Good luck!

Quiz Parameters

  • I’ve allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts.
  • For hints, I’ve provided the date of the game, and the position of the player in question.

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

  • The White Sox are 95-18-2 when a player has a five-hit game.
  • The largest win from the games on this list is a 29-6 blowout of the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. As you may note from the Sporcle list, two players recorded five-hit games during that victory.
  • The biggest loss came in 1918, when the team lost 11-5 against Detroit. That Sox team somehow managed to score just those 5 runs despite collecting 14 hits.
  • White Sox pitching, meanwhile, have allowed 95 such instances, the most recent of which was Mike Trout’s 5-5 night in 2018. (Box score, SM recap)

(Photo courtesy of White Sox)

All data from stathead.com

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asinwreck

93/115 before I ran out of time.

I really didn’t know almost any of these individual game performances, but guessing players who were generally successful (either for one season or for a career) turned out to be pretty effective. When the counter ran out, a bunch of unfamiliar names popped up, and now I am most curious to delve into the story of

a brief, bright shining comet
Maurice Archdeacon
.

asinwreck

Said comet
seems like a worst-case comp for Nick Madrigal.

Joliet Orange Sox

I also used the type-successful-hitters-and-hope plan. Many of the old-time hitters I entered I’ve only learned about doing these quizzes. I was surprised Smead Jolley didn’t show up here and he’s a player I have only heard of doing these quizzes.

I love these quizzes because of learning about players like “The Comet” who I would never hear of otherwise. I always go down a baseball reference rabbit hole or two after doing one of these quizzes.

Jim Margalus

No game today.

roke1960

81/115. Definitely left a few out there that I should have gotten, but I did get every one in my lifetime.

roke1960

Yes, I was surprised

this guy
Joe Jackson
was not on the list.
And who is
this guy
Maurice Archdeacon
?