An Opening Day Quiz for Baseball Fans | Washington Post

“There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow. The 2 o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will leave at 5 o’clock.” — Dave Bristol, Milwaukee Brewers manager, 1972

I hit .487 on this but I suspect most Primates will do considerably better. Also, copy-editing fun: I spotted two misspelled player names. How many can *you* find!

Puckett’s Toledo number turns up in Maumee basement

The great Toledo baseball mystery has been solved.

Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett indeed wore No. 28 during his time with the Mud Hens, a reader armed with proof confirmed Friday.

The Toledo Mud Hens roster card from an April 29, 1984 game against the Maine Guides at the Lucas County Recreation Center.

With the Hens planning to hold a Puckett bobblehead night this season, the search for Puckett’s number touched off an exhaustive yet inconclusive quest that entangled team officials, historians, and fans.

But for Maumee resident Guy Lammers, the answer proved just a trip to the basement away. Upon reading our column, he found the cardboard box labeled, “Programs and Scorecards,” and unearthed the evidence.

Inside were rosters from Puckett’s cameo here in 1984, along with scorebooks kept by his wife, Linda Marckel. Both verified our numeric suspicions.

“My wife is very organized, and she doesn’t throw away anything,” said Lammers, a 59-year-old research manager for a software company. “Linda knew where the boxes were and went right to it. Didn’t take longer than 10 minutes.”

Some backstory: the club needed to know what number Puckett wore as a Mud Hen and they had no record thereof.  So the public was invoked.

This is perhaps the definition of the trough of the baseball news cycle :-D

Stark | Strange But True 2017

Our favorite Chevy Chase look-alike puts on his Twilight Zone lens and looks back at the wonderful, wacky 2017 season.  Baseball card totals may be great, but it’s things like this that make baseball such a fun sport to follow.

Got any other oddball observations?  Do share!