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PINCH-HIT HOME RUNS
Q: Who has the record for the most career home runs as a
pinch-hitter?
-- RZucconi@aol.com
A: The career leader in pinch-hit home runs is Cliff Johnson, who hit 20 in his career. He hit 5 for the Houston Astros in 1974.
Q: During a broadcast of a Yankees game last week, a trivia question was asked, and neither I nor my father heard the answer. Who was the last Yankee pitcher to hit a home run?
Q: When computing league standings, how do you figure games behind? If one team is playing .800 ball with a 16-4 record and another team is playing .867 ball with a 13-2 record, who is in first place and by how much are they ahead? This scenario assumes that both teams will play the same amount of games by the end of the season.
-- John P. McRae
A: To compute the number of games one team is behind another, add their differences in wins and losses and divide by 2.
RECORD PCT GB
16-4 .800 ---
13-2 .867 .5
Even though the 13-2 team has the better winning percentage, they are technically half a game out of first place. If both teams were to keep winning at the same rate, however, the 13-2 team would eventually win the division -- assuming both teams play the same number of games.
A: There have been 37 instances of a player hitting 30 home runs and stealing 30 bases in the same season. The most recent members of the 30/30 club are Jeff Bagwell and Raul Mondesi, both of whom achieved the feat in 1999. Bobby Bonds reached 30-30 five times in his career.
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