Grid 233

Where would a Marlin even wear Sox? C'mon.

ERIK: I tapped out on this one. Yes, I actually clicked the “Give Up” button. Sorry. Just couldn’t think of a good Marlins/ChiSoxer. Or a bad one. Which means the first thing I did was check the most popular answer for the thing I couldn’t think of.

Jake Burger! Of course!

In the end, though, the Marlins/Soxers aren’t like the Minnezona Twinbacks: They have some not-bad players there. Start with Hall of Famer Tim Raines and continue on: Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Carl Everett, Carlos Lee, Billy Hamilton, Juan Pierre. With Mark Buehrle and/or Alex Fernandez pitching, David Robertson in relief, perfect game saver DeWayne Wise as a defensive replacement. Feels like a team.

So here’s today’s trivia question:

Who was the first Yankees position player to win a Gold Glove?

Hint: Gold Gloves began in 1957, but that first year it was just one per position in the entire Majors. It wasn’t until a year later, in ’58, that they began divvying it up by league.

And yes, the first Yankees GGer was a pitcher: Bobby Shantz. Hold onto that name, Tim, because he wound up winning eight GGs (1957-1964) for six different teams. He’s invaluable to the game:

• Yankees

• Pirates

• Astros

• Cardinals

• Cubs

• Phillies

Exactly. Another St. Lophia Phidinal! He also began as a KC Athletic. Relevant, because the 1950s KC owner had financial interests in the Yankees, and throughout his tenure there seemed to be a lot of shady deals happening. Dennis Moore deals: robbing from the poor (A’s) and giving to the rich (Yankees).

Anyway, yes, Shantz isn’t the answer to the trivia question since he’s a pitcher. He’s just a fun sidelight. And the answer isn’t Mickey Mantle, either. He won his only GG in 1962. Bobby Richardson is a good guess—I nearly went with him above—but he won it later, 1961-65. Roger Maris? He didn’t show up on the Yankees until 1960. From the KC A’s, of course. He was the star attraction of the most infamous of those shady A’s/Yanks deals.

Here’s the answer: The first Yankees GGer is Norm Siebern. Yeah, me neither. A left fielder, he had a not-bad year at the plate in ’58 (.300/.388/.454) and won the GG to boot. The next season he dipped in all three hitting categories and no GG. And the year after? He wasn’t with the Yankees. He was with the Kansas City A’s. He was part of the multi-player deal that brought Maris to the Yankees.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Siebern actually hit well for KC. Over four seasons he went .289/.381/.463. What he didn’t do? He didn’t win two MVPs and set the home run record.

Hey, what about those Kansas York Athlekees, Tim? How would they do in our Superimaginary IG World Series?

Sadly, I’m not seeing a catcher.

• C: Sal Fasano??

• 1B: Jason Giambi

• 2B: Willie Randolph

• SS: Clete Boyer??

• 3B: Eric Chavez

• LF: Tim Raines

• CF: Rickey Henderson

• RF: Reggie Jackson

• SP: Catfish Hunter

• SP: Tommy John

• RP: Goose Gossage

• Bench: Roger Maris, Don Baylor, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Enos Slaughter(!), Matty Alou, Felipe Alou, Bert Campaneris, Home Run Baker, Jose Canseco, Billy Martin, Dave Kingman

Not bad. Good outfield. Helluva bench. But…

I wonder if there’s one of these where you could get HOFers at every position. Must be.

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TIM: Hey, sorry for the delay on this one, I’ve been out of sorts, and last night my mouth was hurting again from dental work and all I could focus on was TV. (I started watching one of your friend Craig’s shows, Six Feet Under.) Mouth doesn’t hurt today, but my headspace is still kind of bleh.

Anyway, to the Grid!

I’m rather surprised at how low a score I got with these guys. Fernandez was the only guy I could come up with for Sox/Fish, and aside from Fermin everyone else seemed a big enough name to get 20+ percentages. OK, I’ll take it.

Who should I have remembered along with Fernandez? Cameron. I always forget he had a last gasp in Miami. Also fellow ex-M Miguel Olivo. Why? I don’t know, but I saw the name in the list and went, “oh, of course, I knew that.”

I’d never heard of those Yankees (Shantz and Siebern), but you’re right, good names to know for the sake of the grid.

The only catcher I can see for the Kansas York Athlekees is Billy Bryan, and no, I didn’t know him before I went looking for a KC A’s catcher that fit. :) Looks like he was a second-stringer with KC and not even that with the Yankees. That’s limiting myself to the Kansas City A’s, which would remove most of your team. Not a lot of years in KC for the A’s, so that’s a serious handicap. For your squad, you could put Campy or Mike Gallego at SS if you didn’t want to use Boyer there. And don’t forget Bobby Shantz!