kcchief19
07-08-2012, 05:47 PM
The Fourth of July holiday edition of IWS kept entries depressed a bit, but I decided to go ahead and call it an official game with 18 entries.
With the MLB All-Star game coming Tuesday to my home city and hosted by my favorite team, it seemed appropriate to break out an all-star themed version. Even though we ended up with essentially three eliminator questions, I really only regret question No. 1 since I think it was the easiest to predict. I was hoping the phrasing of question three would skew responses a different way, but it was at least an interesting psychological experiment.
1. The MLB All-Star Game is widely considered the best all-star event in sports. What is the second best all-star competition?
14 - NBA
2 - NFL
2 - NHL
An eliminator right off the bat, even though I expected this is what Stupid would think.
2. While fans choose the starting lineups for both teams, they unfortunately do not get to vote for the play-by-play voice. If fans did get to elect a play-by-play announcer for the game, who would win?
14 - Vin Scully
2 - Joe Buck
2 - Jon Miller
I personally would have selected Scully too, but part of me figured the current play-by-play guy would get some votes. It's been 22 years since Scully was the voice of the World Series on TV and is 84 years old, but we still love him.
3. What is the greatest moment in MLB All-Star Game history?
14 - Charlie Hustle Takes Out Poor Ray Fosse
2 - Cal Ripken MVP in final All-Star Game
1 - Carl Hubbell Strikes Out Ruth, Gerhig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin In a Row
1 - Stan The Man Musial's Walk-Off Homer in the 12th
Many of you noted that a similar question appeared in Digamma's recent IWS contest. However, that asked for "memorable" moment, which brought Rose-Fosse and the Tie Game Abomination into play. I hoped by asking for "greatest" moment we would focus on the positives. While that eliminated the tie game, Rose-Fosse still comes out on top. Worth noting that in MLB's vote last year, Musial's homer was voted the great moment in all-star history, edging out Ripken's "Perfect Script" in the final round. I would have struck out, since I'm still blubbering from the Ted Williams salute at Fenway.
4. What player left off this year's MLB All-Star Game rosters is the biggest snub?
7 - Johnny Cueto
4 - Zack Greinke
2 - Bryce Harper
2 - A.J. Pierzynski
1 - Andre Ethier
1 - Austin Jackson
1 - Josh Willingham
Finally, a decent distribution of answers. Cueto appeared to be the favorite for the early entries, with Greinke gaining ground later in the week. That seems to reflect the media fixation, would seem to be in Cueto's corner early due to the LaRussa situation, then cooler heads turned to Greinke. Interestingly, only Bryce Harper among the Final Vote candidates showed up here. Either Stupid thinks those guys weren't snubbed or the Final Vote isn't a snub after all.
5. The Home Run Derby was added to the All-Star Game in 1985. Ken Griffey Jr. leads with three wins. If the derby had started in 1933 with the first All-Star Game, who would be the all-time leaders in wins?
10 - Hank Aaron
3 - Mickey Mantle
2 - Babe Ruth
1 - Ken Griffey Jr.
1 - Stan Musial
1 - Ted Williams
I was pretty proud of this question, although the answers weren't quite as distributed as I hoped. I guessed Stupid would go with Aaron, even though I think Mantle, Musial, Williams or Mays may have all beaten him. I purposely used 1933 as the start point so everyone wouldn't automatically say Ruth. Somewhat surprised Mays or Reggie Jackson didn't make the list. Reggie seemed built for the home run derby.
6. This year's All-Star Game is in Kansas City, and Royals Hall of Famer George Brett will be this year's ambassador. After Brett, who is the second-best player in Royals history?
8 - Bret Saberhagen
6 - Frank White
1 - Kevin Appier
1 - Carlos Beltran
1 - Bo Jackson
1 - Dan Quisenberry
Purely selfish question here -- I wanted to see what Stupid thought about my favorite team. After George, it's a pretty steep drop to No. 2 and there's room for debate. I figured Saberhagen would eek it out, even though Frank White is the correct answer. Surprisingly, Carlos Beltran was never an All-Star during his six seasons in KC. Also, the two Royals with the most All-Star Game appearances didn't get a vote -- Amos Otis and Mike Sweeney were selected five times each.
Snubbed By Tony LaRussa
Nilodor - 448
Made the Final Vote But Lost Out
mauboy1 - 784
claphamsa - 3,920
Mustang - 13,720
Named a Reserve But Didn't Play
Grover - 17,920
Solecismic - 32,928
Barkeep49 - 43,904
Voted by the Fans as a Starter
DanGarion - 47,040
korme - 65,856
cougarfreak - 82,320
Subby - 94,080
Named Starting Pitcher for the All-Star Game
PurdueBrad - 109,760
Pyser - 219,520
Perennial All-Stars
Marmel - 230,496
jbergey22 - 263,424
In Line for the Win But Bullpen Blew It
panerd - 345,744
Game MVP Winner From the Losing Team
albionmoonlight - 439,040
All-Star MVP With a Walk-Off Home Run in the 12th
spleen1015 - 1,536,640
spleen1015 indeed gets the walk-off with a perfect score. A.J. Pierzynski cost albionmoonlight the tie, which makes him the latest person to be wronged by A.J. Pierzynski. Congrats to spleen1015 for your second all-time IWS stupid win!
With the MLB All-Star game coming Tuesday to my home city and hosted by my favorite team, it seemed appropriate to break out an all-star themed version. Even though we ended up with essentially three eliminator questions, I really only regret question No. 1 since I think it was the easiest to predict. I was hoping the phrasing of question three would skew responses a different way, but it was at least an interesting psychological experiment.
1. The MLB All-Star Game is widely considered the best all-star event in sports. What is the second best all-star competition?
14 - NBA
2 - NFL
2 - NHL
An eliminator right off the bat, even though I expected this is what Stupid would think.
2. While fans choose the starting lineups for both teams, they unfortunately do not get to vote for the play-by-play voice. If fans did get to elect a play-by-play announcer for the game, who would win?
14 - Vin Scully
2 - Joe Buck
2 - Jon Miller
I personally would have selected Scully too, but part of me figured the current play-by-play guy would get some votes. It's been 22 years since Scully was the voice of the World Series on TV and is 84 years old, but we still love him.
3. What is the greatest moment in MLB All-Star Game history?
14 - Charlie Hustle Takes Out Poor Ray Fosse
2 - Cal Ripken MVP in final All-Star Game
1 - Carl Hubbell Strikes Out Ruth, Gerhig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin In a Row
1 - Stan The Man Musial's Walk-Off Homer in the 12th
Many of you noted that a similar question appeared in Digamma's recent IWS contest. However, that asked for "memorable" moment, which brought Rose-Fosse and the Tie Game Abomination into play. I hoped by asking for "greatest" moment we would focus on the positives. While that eliminated the tie game, Rose-Fosse still comes out on top. Worth noting that in MLB's vote last year, Musial's homer was voted the great moment in all-star history, edging out Ripken's "Perfect Script" in the final round. I would have struck out, since I'm still blubbering from the Ted Williams salute at Fenway.
4. What player left off this year's MLB All-Star Game rosters is the biggest snub?
7 - Johnny Cueto
4 - Zack Greinke
2 - Bryce Harper
2 - A.J. Pierzynski
1 - Andre Ethier
1 - Austin Jackson
1 - Josh Willingham
Finally, a decent distribution of answers. Cueto appeared to be the favorite for the early entries, with Greinke gaining ground later in the week. That seems to reflect the media fixation, would seem to be in Cueto's corner early due to the LaRussa situation, then cooler heads turned to Greinke. Interestingly, only Bryce Harper among the Final Vote candidates showed up here. Either Stupid thinks those guys weren't snubbed or the Final Vote isn't a snub after all.
5. The Home Run Derby was added to the All-Star Game in 1985. Ken Griffey Jr. leads with three wins. If the derby had started in 1933 with the first All-Star Game, who would be the all-time leaders in wins?
10 - Hank Aaron
3 - Mickey Mantle
2 - Babe Ruth
1 - Ken Griffey Jr.
1 - Stan Musial
1 - Ted Williams
I was pretty proud of this question, although the answers weren't quite as distributed as I hoped. I guessed Stupid would go with Aaron, even though I think Mantle, Musial, Williams or Mays may have all beaten him. I purposely used 1933 as the start point so everyone wouldn't automatically say Ruth. Somewhat surprised Mays or Reggie Jackson didn't make the list. Reggie seemed built for the home run derby.
6. This year's All-Star Game is in Kansas City, and Royals Hall of Famer George Brett will be this year's ambassador. After Brett, who is the second-best player in Royals history?
8 - Bret Saberhagen
6 - Frank White
1 - Kevin Appier
1 - Carlos Beltran
1 - Bo Jackson
1 - Dan Quisenberry
Purely selfish question here -- I wanted to see what Stupid thought about my favorite team. After George, it's a pretty steep drop to No. 2 and there's room for debate. I figured Saberhagen would eek it out, even though Frank White is the correct answer. Surprisingly, Carlos Beltran was never an All-Star during his six seasons in KC. Also, the two Royals with the most All-Star Game appearances didn't get a vote -- Amos Otis and Mike Sweeney were selected five times each.
Snubbed By Tony LaRussa
Nilodor - 448
Made the Final Vote But Lost Out
mauboy1 - 784
claphamsa - 3,920
Mustang - 13,720
Named a Reserve But Didn't Play
Grover - 17,920
Solecismic - 32,928
Barkeep49 - 43,904
Voted by the Fans as a Starter
DanGarion - 47,040
korme - 65,856
cougarfreak - 82,320
Subby - 94,080
Named Starting Pitcher for the All-Star Game
PurdueBrad - 109,760
Pyser - 219,520
Perennial All-Stars
Marmel - 230,496
jbergey22 - 263,424
In Line for the Win But Bullpen Blew It
panerd - 345,744
Game MVP Winner From the Losing Team
albionmoonlight - 439,040
All-Star MVP With a Walk-Off Home Run in the 12th
spleen1015 - 1,536,640
spleen1015 indeed gets the walk-off with a perfect score. A.J. Pierzynski cost albionmoonlight the tie, which makes him the latest person to be wronged by A.J. Pierzynski. Congrats to spleen1015 for your second all-time IWS stupid win!