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Welcome to the “Mystery Player World Series Round,” Week One!

The regular season of the Mystery Player Tournament has come to an end and now we move into the final round, the World Series. I want to thank all you guys and gals who have been in the tournament from the beginning. I hope you’ve all had as much fun with this as I have. When I started this 18 weeks ago, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. You all have contributed to its success.

Congrats To The Six Qualifiers!

Below are the participants who will compete for the tournament championship. It was a hard-fought battle from start to finish with some fierce competition from some excellent players. These six came out on top!

The six have qualified for a spot in the World Series Round by either winning a division title or winning one of the two wild-card spots. I’m expecting the competition in the final round to also be intense as all six all have demonstrated their knowledge of player identifications and baseball history in general.

The six participants are:

William Carter, winner of the Eastern Division and Central Divisions; Russ Bravender and Bob Rambo, who finished in a tie for second in the Central Division; Mike Bresina, winner of the Western Division title (and also had the highest overall point total); and Everett Shockley and Kevin Barwin who won the two wild-card spots.

Rules for the World Series Round

The World Series will consist of three weekly entries, starting today and continuing for the following two weeks. Each round will be similar to what we’ve been doing up to now: a group photo followed by a bunch of bonus questions.
Scoring will be the same, one point for each correct identification, one for each question answered correctly, and one for the first person to get everything correct.
Following the third week, I’ll announce the World Series Grand Prize winner.

You Are All Welcome to Play!

I’ll be posting each entry as normal on the web page so that everyone can have a crack at it. The difference is that only the scores from the six qualifiers will be recorded. This way, those of you who have been with the tournament from the beginning will not be excluded and can still have some fun with it. But only the scores from the six qualifiers will be recorded.

As usual, the World Series round is “open book.” Feel free to use any resources you want.

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com

Tournament Prizes

The winner of the tournament will receive a $50 Amazon gift card and a complimentary copy of my newly released book, The Best of Baseball History Comes Alive. The runners-up will also receive complimentary copies of the book.

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The Mystery Player World Series Round, Week One!

Let’s Play Ball!

As we move into the World Series round, you’ll see things have picked up a notch or two…

Today we see a group of seven Cardinals from one of the early decades of the 20th century.

This week there are a total of 15 points available: One for each of the seven players in the featured photo (seven points total), one each for each of the bonus questions (seven points total), and one for the first person to get all the players and the bonus questions correct.

Who are the seven Cardinals in this week’s Mystery Players photo?

(1 point awarded for each correct identification)

This week’s bonus questions:

How many of these players are in the Hall of Fame? Which player(s)? (1 point)
Within two years, what year was this photo taken? (1 point)
One of the players was nicknamed “Showboat.” Which player? (1 point)
One of the players holds the National League record for the highest batting average in his rookie year. Which player? (1 point)
One of the players was a Hollywood stuntman before his baseball career and eventually married an opera singer. Which player? (1 point)
One of the players is the all-time record holder for range factor by a center fielder and holds the outfield single-season record for putouts with 547. Which player? (1 point)
How many of these players later became managers? Which player(s)?

Good luck to our six World Series Round Participants! Give it your best shot! And remember, everyone else is also invited to play.

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com

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Last Week’s Results for Western Division, Week Six:

The Mystery Players were:

Rube Marquard, Jeff Tesreau, Christy Mathewson, Red Ames, Hooks Wiltse, Doc Crandall

Answers to the Bonus Questions:

Marquard and Mathewson are in the HOF; the year was 1912; Mathewson was nicknamed “The Christian Gentleman”; Marquard married Blossom Seeley; Tesreau quit the team in 1918.

Congratulations to:

Kevin Barwin

He was the first to correctly identify last week’s Mystery Players and answer all the bonus questions correctly. He received 12 points.

The following also scored points by identifying some or all of the Mystery Players and the bonus questions:

William Carter (11), Bob Rambo (9), James Pearn (11), Mark Moreno (9), Everett Shockley (11), Cary Seidman (6), Pat Hanson (11), Russ Bravender (10), Ed Cassidy (10), Tom Marshall (7), Bill Cunniff (5), Don Stokes (6).

Appeal Plays: If you think I’ve made a mistake with your score, you can request an appeal, just like an appeal in a major league game. Send me your appeal request at: Livac2@aol.com. It won’t go to New York, but I’ll address the issue as fairly as I can…and probably quicker than most major league appeals!