Last week, I was going through some old boxes to send to St Vinny’s.  I’m going minimalist like the 57 Things Guy.  Not really, but I had some Sox stuff from the 80’s to give away.  It wont be appreciated at the Madison, Wisconsin St Vinny’s, and has little value otherwise, so I wanted to have some fun and have a trivia contest with prizes. 

First prize is the full set of 1988 Sox Starting Lineup guys.  That’s right.  Relive the glory of the Jim Fregosi years.  The year that brought us slugging Dan Pasqua,  the late Carlos Martinez, and something called Ravelo Manzanillo.  Joel Davis was outpacing Russ Morman for the Failed  Prospect crown.  A young Ken Williams had future front office dreams clouding his thoughts while he batted .159/.221/.305 in 243 PA’s (!)  The Starting Lineup set, though, includes real major leaguers Fisk, Baines, Walker, Guillen, and Redus.  See the terrible cellphone photo.  One is bent, but fuck if you care.  A box of tasty treats comes to the crapwallow you call home if you win this test (and if you provide me the coordinates of your crapwallow).

If you come in second place, you will be consoled with the "Back To School on Your Birthday" pack, which contains pocket folders that look like giant baseball cards of Calderon, Baines, and Walker.  PLUS, some Sox pencils and eraser.  And the last piece of this cache is the best, pictured below.  Its a Happy Birthday message (recorded on cassette tape) from former all-time saves leader Bobby Thigpen.  Its new-in-box, so I don’t even know how awesome it is.  You could find it even more awesome that it appears, if A) you are willing to sully its pristine condition (note: pristine here also means kinda bent) and B) you still own a cassette player.

There will be two rounds of 5 questions each.  One here, and the second round will be posted tomorrow here (I’ll update this FP) at 10:00am Central.  If there is a tie (I assume there will be some perfect 10 of 10 scores) so the first two top scoring SSSers to finish the 2nd round will win.  

HERE are the first 5 questions (dont neglect to give your SSS username in the first question).

HERE are the other 5 questions.

Some hints:  All answers will be a player name.  All players will have played for the Sox during the decade of the 80’s.  Usually, the answer will be a non-star player – not super-obscure, but you won’t find Fisk or Baines or the like.

This stuff is in Kenwo’s sweetspot, so if he doesn’t win, he’s probably a fraudulent lam-o.  Some of the oldtimers will know these things immediately, but even young’uns will find it all on the interweb.

Good luck!

**** FINAL ANSWERS ****

1. In one appearance, I threw 7 scoreless innings in RELIEF. (Juan Agosto).  From the 25 inning game in 1984.  My other favorite factoid for that game was that Tom Paciorek got 5 hits even though he didn't start.

2. I reached base in my first 6 PA’s upon joining the Sox through trade. (Sammy Sosa).  For about 2 days, we said, "Harold WHO?"

3. I’m slow-footed, and I hit a looper that George Bell injures himself trying to field.  While Bell haplessly watches in pain, I chug out an inside the park homer.  Meta ALERT! (Wayne Nordhagen)

4. I was traded for the guy who was traded for the guy who hit .333 against the Orioles in the ’83 ALCS. (Rich Wortham)  My dad called him Rich Worthless, but he begat Tony Bernazard, who begat Julio Cruz who showed up for the '83 ALCS.

5. I share the name (and Experience) of a former SSS-er, though I only played 55 games with the Sox. (Jerry Royster). An unremarkable half season with the Sox.  I always assumed JRE was a Braves fan from way back.

6. I once hit .462 in Rookie League ball, then a minor league record, before eventually joining the Sox. (Gary Redus).  SSS indeed, but 68 games of that production is pretty rare.  He got a hit in 65 of those games.

7. I threw the most pitches in Sox playoff games in the 80’s. (Britt Burns).  Well there were only 4 playoff games in the 80's, and in Burns' well-known, 10-inning "Tito Landrum" game, he threw 150. 

8. I went 0-5 with 5 K’s in a game won by Ed Farmer. (Kevin Bell)  I just remembered this game vividly for some reason.  I couldn't stand him as a player.  Each of the 5 K's ended an inning.  However, I did NOT remember that most of them were facing Guidry or Gossage, so maybe I should give the kid a break.

 9. I appeared on the cover of Baseball Digest in 1980, and then went out and lost my next 7 decisions. (Ross Baumgarten)  The worst of the three lefties....

10 . My first ML homer was a walkoff off Mark Eichhorn. (Dave Gallagher).  Runs a baseball academy now that you don't know about because he neglected to get Fred McGriff's celebrity endorsement.

 **** WINNERS ****

Trooper is the first prize winner, and the only dude who nailed 10 of 10.  KenWo is second with 9 of 10.  He famously missed the inside-the-park question (guessing Marc Hill).  It sounded like he wanted the second prize more anyway...  Grinder in Training also scored 9 (missed Agosto), but KenWo beat him on time.  Winners, send me an email (attached to my profile), and I'll shoot you your swag.