Good morning!
Wednesday evening's loss to the Guardians had me rooting for a very particular scenario: Gavin Sheets stealing two bases in one game. Had Sheets accomplished that specific feat, he would have been the first White Sox player this season to hit at least one home run and steal two bases in the same game.
In franchise history, an athletic accomplishment such as this doesn't come around very often: there have been just 31 instances of it throughout White Sox history. Oddly enough, however, two of those instances came in a game last season, better remembered for the boxing match more than anything else.
Alas, Sheets was unable to complete the task I had mentally laid out for him, though he did provide me with this week's Sporcle theme: those players throughout White Sox history who have stolen at least two bases and hit at least one home run in the same game. As noted above, that's 31 instances: how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints I’ve provided the date in which the game occurred, and the position the player was at defensively on that day.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- I thought the first White Sox player to accomplish this may have also been the first player ever in the American League to do so, but alas; Nap Lajoie has him beat by four days: May 2, 1901.
- Only one player in baseball history (since 1901) has hit two home runs and stolen more than two bases (four!), and he’s an entry on this list: June 28, 1941.
- The player in baseball history to accomplish this feat the most times in their career? The answer is unsurprising, and my first guess as well as it is likely yours: Rickey Henderson, with 21 such games (three coming over a torrid eight-day stretch in May of 1986). Barry Bonds is a distant second, at 11 games.
- The White Sox are 24-6 when one (or more!) of their players accomplishes this feat.
- Somewhat surprisingly, the Sox join five other teams who have had two players do this in the same game: the Philadelphia Athletics on 7/25/1930 (Al Simmons and Bing Miller, a 14-1 win over Cleveland); Cleveland in game 1 of a doubleheader on 6/27/1965 (Chuck Hinton and Leon Wagner, a 10-7 win over the Kansas City Athletics); Oakland on 7/26/1982 (Rickey Henderson and Dwayne Murphy, an 11-8 win over the California Angels); Cincinnati on 4/14/1987 (Kal Daniels and Eric Davis, a 6-3 win over Atlanta); and, finally, the Colorado Rockies on 6/27/1994 (Dante Bichette and Eric Young, Sr., a 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres).
All data from stathead.com
