Good morning!
As we continue our odyssey through the Opening Day starters of the past, we come to second base and shortstop. While shortstop has been relatively stable the last several seasons, I believe this will make the eleventh straight Opening Day that there will be a new name playing second base.
Not great! And, who wants to make a Josh-style wager that next year will mark twelve straight? Were I a betting man, I do believe I would lay money down on good odds of that happening. At any rate, since 1950 you are tasked with naming those starting second basemen and shortstops. In all there are 146 names: how many can you get? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted the full 20 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, you get…well, what you’ve been getting: the Opening Day date and everybody is grouped by year.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The franchise record for most Opening Day starts at shortstop is 14, by Luke Appling. Consecutive starts on Opening Day, though, as noted above, is 13, from 1985-1997.
- The first-ever Opening Day second baseman for the franchise? The wonderfully-named Dave Brain.
- As for the first-ever Opening Day shortstop, that honor belongs to Frank Shugart, and was to be the last season of his career.
All names from baseballreference.com
