Go Figure: Chicago Baseball Stumpers

The Major League Baseball season will be truncated this year, so we figured it's only fair that we push a bit extra with 11 "Go Figure" stumpers here that contain 15 answers overall.

All have a tie-in to the Cubs or the White Sox.

1: The first major league home run by David Ross came in 2002, against which former longtime Cubs lefty?

2: Which two White Sox players led the American League in batting average before Tim Anderson accomplished the feat last year?

3: Since 2010, only three MLB teams have a worse home record than the White Sox. Which of these teams (Marlins, Twins, Orioles, Mariners) has not fared worse than the Pale Hose while playing at home?

4: The Crosstown Classic between the White Sox and Cubs dates to 1997 - at least for the regular season. But the rivalry's roots can be traced to a World Series when they squared off. What was the year, and who won the Series by reaching four wins first?

5: White Sox manager Rick Renteria played five seasons in the majors, securing 100 hits for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins. After singling in his first at bat, he scored when a teammate singled him home. Who is it? (Hint: The player will make $1.2 million from the New York Mets this year ... and for each of the next 15 years, as part of a deferred-compensation buyout he reached toward the end of his career.)

6: Since the first of Luke Appling's two batting crowns in 1936, six White Sox players were second-best in their pursuit of the AL batting title. Both Appling (1940) and Frank Thomas (1996) are on that list, and so are Johnny Dickshot (1945), Minnie Minoso (1951) and Al Smith (1960). Can you name the Sox player whose .316 average in 1974 was No. 2 in the AL, 48 points behind leader Rod Carew? (It was the biggest gap between the league's top two batters since 1901).

7: The consecutive years that White Sox Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox led the American League in singles (1954 to 1960) is second in MLB history only to Ichiro Suzuki's 10-year AL reign from 2001 to 2010. Since Fox, only two White Sox players have paced the AL in singles, in 1965 and 2011. Can you name them?

8: In 2019, the Cubs lost eight games after holding a lead going into the ninth inning - for a vexing 10% percent of their overall losses (78). How many times did the World Series Champion Cubs of 2016 blow a ninth-inning lead during the regular season?

9: Through 150 games last year, the Cubs were in position to gain a wild-card playoff berth before a nine-game losing streak sank their chances. How many consecutive one-run losses were part of that slide?

10: From May 4 to June 21 last year, Cubs hurler Yu Darvish went 10 starts without recording a decision - the longest drought for a starting pitcher since Philadelphia's Randy Lerch in 1977. The Cubs were 5-5 in those games. How many ended with a one-run margin?

11: The 11th anniversary of White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle's perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays is July 23. At the end of the 2019 season, only three players in that game were on active MLB rosters - one in Chicago, one in Detroit, and one in San Francisco. Who are they?

Answers

1: Mark Grace; 2: Luke Appling (1936, 1943) and Frank Thomas (1997); 3: Orioles; 4: 1906. The White Sox won the series, 4-2; 5: Bobby Bonilla; 6: Jorge Orta; 7: Don Buford (1965) and Juan Pierre (2011, tied with the Rangers' Michael Young) Pierre also led the NL in singles while playing for the Cubs, Dodgers, Rockies and Marlins; 8: Once; 9: Five, and they averaged 3 hours and 44 minutes to play - a key ingredient in the slump's torment; 10: Eight; 11: Ben Zobrist (Cubs), Gordon Beckham (Tigers) and Evan Longoria (Giants).

(0-3 Correct) - Report back to spring training; (4-6 Correct) - You're on the roster; (7-9 Correct) - You're in the starting lineup; (10-12 Correct) - you're an All-Star; (13-14 Correct) - you're a Hall of Famer; (All 15 Correct) - Please join my sports trivia team!

• Matt Baron is an Oak Park-based freelance writer. He supplements his baseball brainpower with Retrosheet.org for much of this research.