Belated Last Chance to Win a Free Copy of THT 2014!

by
December 3, 2013

So, I was supposed to run the final trivia contest for The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2014 last Wednesday, but I forgot. So I pledged on Twitter to run it yesterday, but again, I forgot. So, today, I finally present this year’s final trivia contest. Sorry it took me so long!

In case you haven’t heard, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2014 is now available to purchase on ye ole internets. You can find my post on the book here, Dave Studeman’s post on the book here, and listen to Carson Cistulli’s FanGraphs Audio episode with Studes here.

After you’re done consuming those posts, you can buy it from Createspace (where we get the biggest cut of sales), from Amazon (in both print and for the Kindle) and from Barnes & Noble on the Nook.

Because we’re giving folk, and since it’s the beginning of the holiday season and all, we want to give you a chance to win yourself a free copy of the book. So today, tomorrow and Wednesday, we’ll be running a trivia contest based on one of the articles in the book. The first person to post the correct answer in the comments will win a free physical copy of the book (sorry, no free Kindle or Nook versions). It’s just that simple!

Today’s question comes from the article entitled “Revisiting The Book’s ‘Mano a Mano’ Chapter,” by Steve Staude. In it, Staude explores the batter-pitcher confrontation in great detail. One of the ways he does so is to create “families” of pitchers, based on their velocity and breaking ball percentage. The grid he constructed has 18 “families,” with one pitcher designated as the head of each family. Here is the grid, with 10 names removed from it:

Staude grid

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Cutting to the chase, the question before you, dear reader, is this:

Can you accurately name at least five of the 10 remaining “family” heads?

Phrase your answers as such: Low Velocity, Mid Breaking Ball% = Barry Zito

If no one gets five correct, I’ll revisit and determine whose guesses are the best. I’ll consider any answer I get before the FanGraphs After Dark chat tonight.

Good luck!





 

Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.

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ettin
11 years ago

C.J. Wilson, Max Scherzer, Homer Bailey, Yu Darvish, and Felix Hernandez

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ettin
11 years ago
Reply to  ettin

Oops.

Wilson: Mid Velocity, Mid Breaking Ball%
Scherzer: High Velocity, Low Breaking Ball%
Bailey: Mid Velocity, Mid Breaking Ball%
Darvish: Low Velocity, High Breaking Ball%
Hernandez: Low Velocity, Mid Breaking Ball%

0