Our mailbox is always full of esoteric questions from our readers. So every week, we pass along some of their most interesting queries to baseball historians who know the answers.
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A: Three players -- Mike Torrez, David Cone, and Dwight Gooden -- have won 10 games for both the Yankees and Mets. Torrez spent one season with each team, compiling a 14-12 record as a Yankee in 1977, and a 10-17 record as a Met in 1983. Gooden won 10 games with the Mets nine times between 1984-1994, and won 11 with the Yankees in 1996. Cone reached double-digits in wins five times with the Mets, and three times with the Yanks.
Q: Who was the only major-leaguer to retire after winning 27 games the year before?
-- VAMCD@aol.com
A: The pitcher who retired immediately after winning 27 games was Sandy Koufax. In 1966, his final season, the lefty went 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA and 317 strikeouts while winning the NL Cy Young Award, and Triple Crown for pitchers. He also led the league in innings pitched, complete games, and shutouts. However, because of arm problems, he was forced to retire the next season, at the age of 31. Because of his early retirement, Koufax was the youngest player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame at the age of 36.
Q: Where does the term "around the horn" come from?
-- Dressel43@aol.com
A: According to Paul Dickson's The New Baseball Dictionary, the term "around the horn", which refers to a double play started by the third baseman, or throwing the ball around the infield after a strikeout, has its origins in sailing. It refers to the long voyage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Before the creation of the Panama Canal, ships had to travel south past the tip of South America, Cape Horn, to get from one ocean to the other. So the long journey from one ocean to the other, like the journey from third base to first, had to go "around the horn."
Q: How many Indians have hit 20+ home runs for the team in seven seasons?
-- Cara Burkett
A: Only two players in Cleveland Indians history have hit 20+ home runs seven times. Jim Thome did it over seven consecutive seasons -- 1994-2000 -- totaling 223 homers over that span. The only other Indian to do it was Larry Doby, who also did over seven consecutive seasons, from 1948-1955.
Q: Who holds the record for most consecutive Cy Young Awards won?
-- Eric Mortenson
A: Greg Maddux set the record for most consecutive Cy Young Awards when he won his fourth straight in 1995. That year, Maddux went 19-2 with 181 K's, 23 walks, and a 1.63 ERA, and was the National League's unanimous winner.
Currently, two pitchers have a chance and equaling Maddux's mark. Pedro Martinez has won the past two American League Cy Young Awards, and Randy Johnson has equaled him in the National League over the past two years.
Q: What number did Walter Johnson wear as a player and manager?
-- Emmett Laneir
A: When Walter Johnson was playing -- 1907-1927 -- major-league teams had not yet adopted uniform numbers. The Washington Senators first added uniform numbers in 1931, so for the first two years Johnson managed the Senators -- 1929-1930 -- he had no uniform number. He wore #28 in 1931, and #25 in 1932, his last year as manager.
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