Author Archives: Diane

Father’s Day Baseball Crossword Puzzle

I’ve got a Father’s Day-themed baseball crossword puzzle over at ESPN’s Sweet Spot. I hope all the dads (and their kids) had a great day!  

Posted in crosswords | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Who Needs all 26 Letters Anyway?

When the Royals selected Sean Manaea in the recent MLB First-Year Player draft, the VORG noticed the paucity of unique letters in his name.  You could spell his entire ten-letter name with only five distinct letters (a,e,m,n,s). Previously, we had … Continue reading

Posted in Names | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Fun with the names in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft

Just as we did with the 2012 version of this post, I’ll leave the sophisticated analysis of the recently-concluded 2013 Draft to the real experts. There were 1,216 players drafted. Most popular last names: Miller, Smith and Williams (each 11). … Continue reading

Posted in alliteration, draft, Names | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

2013 Pi Young Award – May Update

May is in the books, so let us see which hurlers are leading their respective leagues in the race for the annual “Pi Young Award“. First up . . . the American League/no innings requirement.  Detroit’s Al Alburquerque and the … Continue reading

Posted in Awards, frivolity, pitchers | Tagged | Leave a comment

Players with Alphagrammatic Names

An alphagram of a word (or of any group of letters) consists of the word’s letters arranged in alphabetical order. For example, the alphagram of marlins is ailmnrs (no, its not “LOSING” . . . quiet down in the peanut … Continue reading

Posted in Names, parts of speech, Scrabble | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

He’s batting Cleanup?

Cleanup hitters . . . generally your most powerful hitters.  Baseball history (and the Hall of Fame) is full of legendary cleanup hitters.  Here are the players with most games batting cleanup in their careers: Player Games Started Eddie Murray … Continue reading

Posted in factoids, lineups, Play Index mining, records | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Three Homers for You, A Loss for your Team

Miguel Cabrera’s three-homer game last night was the 86th instance of a player hitting three or more homers in a contest that his team lost.  This is the second time Cabrera launched three homers in a loss.  Johnny Mize had … Continue reading

Posted in homeruns, Play Index mining, records | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment