Brewers trivia warms up February

{image1} I can always tell I'm ready for spring when I start spending spare moments at work and home looking at statistics on baseball-reference.com. And though the snow continues to fall in the Midwest, spring and Opening Day are not that far away.

But rather than doing a "What's New for 2005?" column (assumedly, most Brewers fans know Carlos Lee is here, Scott Podsednik isn't, the bullpen is a question mark, etc.), I've decided to warm up your day with thoughts of summers long gone. So ponder these 10 bits of Brewers trivia to pass the time until April. Answers appear below. No peeking.

Hitting Trivia: We start with the bats. All career questions are based on at least 2,000 plate appearances in a Brewers uniform.

1. Which Brewers hitter has the highest career on-base percentage?
2. Only two hitters have had individual seasons that ranked in the franchise's all-time top 10 in each of the following categories: batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging). Who are they, and when did they do it?
3. How many 100-walk seasons have Brewers hitters had, and in what seasons did they occur?
4. It's no surprise that Paul Molitor and Robin Yount dominate the Brewers' single-season runs category; combined, they have the top six run-scoring seasons in club history. Who has the seventh highest?
5. How many 1982 Brewers rank in the team's all-time top 10 for games played?

Pitching Trivia: Scanning the records, I was quickly reminded of the team's largely futile history on the mound. Thus, only three pitching questions. Career records are based on at least 75 decisions and 500 innings pitched.

1. Which Brewers hurler leads the club's all-time victory list?
2. Ben Sheets compiled the fourth-best single-season ERA among starters in club history last year (2.70). Which three pitchers rank ahead of him?
3. Which pitcher ranks best in each of the following career categories: hits allowed per nine IP, bases on balls and hits allowed per nine IP, and strikeouts per nine IP?

Managing Trivia: And let's not forget the guys who set the starting rotations.

1. Four Brewers managers (with at least 100 games managed) have career-winning records. Who are they?
2. Which Brewers manager (with at least 300 games managed) has the worst overall record?

ANSWERS

Hitting Trivia

1. We start it off with a topical one. The answer is Jeff Cirillo. His career .385 OBP ranks ahead of Kevin Seitzer's (.376) and Paul Molitor's (.367) on the Brewers career list. Hopefully he can maintain that through another season.
2. You may have gotten one of the two. Paul Molitor's 1987 season, which included his 39-game hit streak, ranked first all-time in batting average (.353), OBP (.438) and OPS (1.003); surprisingly, it also ranked fifth in slugging (.566). The second player/season? Sixto Lezcano's 1979 campaign. The right fielder hit .321 (10th) with a .414 OBP (third), a .573 slugging mark (third) and a .987 OPS (second). And you thought he just had a memorable name.
3. OK, trick question. No Brewers hitter has ever drawn 100 bases on balls in one season. Jeromy Burnitz came closest with 99 in 2000.
4. The seventh-highest single-season run total in Brewers history (and best ever by a guy not named Molitor or Yount) was John Jaha's 108 in 1996. Mark down that season along with Lezcano's in 1979 as among the most underrated in franchise history. Jaha hit .300 with 34 homers, 118 RBI and a .941 OPS. Bear in mind, those are pre-steroids numbers (I think).
5. This one struck me as interesting. The answer is eight. Eight of the 1982 Brewers rank in the top 10 in all-time games played for the club. They are Yount (1), Molitor (2), Jim Gantner (3), Cecil Cooper (4), Charlie Moore (5), Don Money (6), Ben Oglivie (7) and Gorman Thomas (8); the non '82ers in the top 10 are B.J. Surhoff (8) and Greg Vaughn (10). It's no wonder all Brewers fans still wax rhapsodic about that team.

Pitching Trivia

1. Jim Slaton's total of 117 wins tops the team's all-time list. His is a pyrrhic victory, however, as the longtime Crew member also leads in homers allowed, walks allowed, hits allowed, losses (with 121, so he wasn't even .500) and earned runs allowed. Obviously, he also led in games started and, to his credit, shutouts. As a further side note, the next two leaders in wins are Mike Caldwell (102) and Teddy Higuera (94), who also rank 1-2 (Higuera first) in career winning percentage.
2. Speaking of Caldwell and Higuera, they also compiled the top two single-season ERA marks. Caldwell had a 2.36 ERA in 1978 while racking up 22 wins, while Higuera was at 2.45 in 1988 while earning 16 victories. Jeff D'Amico's memorable 2000 season ranks third at 2.66.
3. This question was also tricky, as the pitcher in question also ranks first in career games and saves. Yes, it's Dan Plesac. Even though Plesac ("The beat goes on") shone during the heyday of my fandom, I didn't realize he was this prolific. However, Sheets' career marks of 7.47 K/9 and 11.22 BB+H/9 threaten to eventually overtake Plesac's records of 7.69 and 11.09, respectively.

Managing Trivia

1. From highest to lowest winning percentage, the four Brewers managers with career winning records (in at least 100 games) are Harvey Kuenn (160-118, .570), George Bamberger (377-351, .518), Buck Rodgers (62-55, .530) and Tom Trebelhorn (422-397, .515). You'll recall that Rodgers' firing led to Kuenn's hiring in 1982.
2. The first was the worst. Original Brewers manager Dave Bristol (1970-'72) compiled the lowest career winning percentage among Brewers skippers at .408 (144-209). It should be noted that Ned Yost (135-188, .418) isn't too far ahead of him.