Good morning!
It was on this day in 1934 White Sox Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. By the age of 19 Aparicio was representing his country in the Baseball Amateur World Series and the Venezuela national tournament. Shortly after a terrific showing in both tournaments, White Sox GM Frank Lane signed him to a $10,000 contract (on the advice of a different shortstop in today's quiz, as well as Caracas' manager Luman Harris).
While Aparicio would toil away in the minors for two years, he made the club out of spring training and debuted on April 17, 1956 against Cleveland. The result? A 1-3 showing: his single contributed to the eventual go-ahead run in a 2-1 victory on Opening Day. Aparicio would go on to win Rookie of the Year that year and started a streak of nine consecutive seasons leading the American League in stolen bases (and five of six seasons leading the majors). Eventually, he would hold the record for most games played at shortstop: 2,583 games.
At any rate, all this to say: I wish I could have watched Luis Aparicio play! I noted on his player page that he accumulated four seasons of at least 4 wins above replacement, which is what today's Sporcle will test you on. In all, there have been 31 player-seasons where a White Sox shortstop has accumulated at least 4 WAR. How many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I've allotted just seven minutes for completion attempts, since there are a variety of repeats on this list.
- For hints, I've provided the season and the WAR.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The average triple-slash of the players on this list: .292/.367/.499
- No player has hit more than 28 home runs on this list, while three players tallied zero.
- Just one player on this list went over the 200-hit mark: 204, in 1936.
All data from stathead.com
