So you think you know baseball

[frankbmd]

If you open Baseball Reference, you have probably seen a dozen pics of a random selection of player’s mug shots on the home page. Different players though every time you open the page. Using only the pictures provided, I’m willing to bet (not much) that no board member has ever been able to identify all twelve in a single grouping. You can’t look at your cards and no google searches.

Prove me wrong.

[GaryPassamonte]

5 for me.

[BobbyStrawberry]

That's quite a challenge! I only got 3...

[DaveW]

Wow! Zero for me. I’ve only heard of 2 of them and they weren't big names.

[MVSNYC]

Got only like 3 or 4.

On a Mac, careful not to roll your cursor over the images, as it labels the players' names.

[John1941]

I was only able to get 4. Definitely pretty tough.Gil Hodges was easy, and Wayne Granger I recognized from his 1970 Topps. Joe Hoerner and Billy Pierce were the only more obscure guys I just recognized.

I'm guessing that sometime there will be an easy set of players, and somebody will be able to get 12.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by DaveW

Wow! Zero for me. I’ve only heard of 2 of them and they weren't big names.

Same here!

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Got only like 3 or 4.

On a Mac, careful not to roll your cursor over the images, as it labels the players' names.

Same for a desktop. Roll over the photos, and you will get the player ID

[egri]

I only got one (Gil Hodges). I’m surprised I missed Trot Nixon and Vern Law, then most of the rest I’d never heard of.

[Cliff Bowman]

Better than I usually do, five. Gil Hodges, Joe Hoerner, Wayne Granger, Lance Johnson, and Billy Pierce. If they just did late 50’s to early 80’s I would tear it up, non star players from before and after those time frames always clobber me.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Funny, I play this game all the time. My record is 8, I'm normally around 4. Today I got 2.

[JollyElm]

Wait, the pics are different, and not the same for everyone? I was wondering why no one was warning "Spoiler alert!" in their replies.

Nobody mentioned so far has appeared on 'mine.' Got only three - Schilling, Hough and Holtzman.

[Tabe]

2 for me. I'd at least heard of a few of the others. But "Sadie McMahon"? Nope. 9 years in the bigs, though, leading the league in wins twice (1890 and 1891).

[h2oya311]

I had 5 relatively easy ones on mine...I think most baseball fans would have recognized them...1 old-time HOFer and 4 stars of the game from the 80s-now.

I would have struggled on the other 7. Maybe 1 other I should have gotten. The others were very obscure. *Spoiler Alert* - George Highpockets Kelly, Matt Williams, Carlos Zambrano, Juan Soto, and Justin Verlander.

[Fred]

Yikes, only 4 for me. Tough...

[vthobby]

Ugh... only 2!

Mike

[Mountaineer1999]

I've done this 100s of times, I do at least daily, and I think 8 is my high score.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

I had 5 relatively easy ones on mine...I think most baseball fans would have recognized them...1 old-time HOFer and 4 stars of the game from the 80s-now.

I would have struggled on the other 7. Maybe 1 other I should have gotten. The others were very obscure. *Spoiler Alert* - George Highpockets Kelly, Matt Williams, Carlos Zambrano, Juan Soto, and Justin Verlander.

We got the same ones except I didn't get Matt Williams. Crap, now I'm going to be doing this every day. Thanks Frank...

[Belfast1933]

Love this challenge… a great new way to waste time.

I got 5 including 2 easy, 3 less so

[iwantitiwinit]

Dos, no bueno. Who is this Hi Myers you speak of?

[clydepepper]

I got only five.


With 20,010 possible players, the odds are stacked against a perfect twelve.

Speaking of - MLB announced that one Jose Godoy debuted as the 20,000th player.

BBR has him at 19,998 and I haven't found who they credit it to.

[frankbmd]

I’m not sure how frequently the next crew comes up. If daily, we will know in the morning. Think of how much time you can waste without reading posts on the forum.

[Tao_Moko]

I got one, Jim Thome. Embarrassing.

[frankbmd]

We don’t have to wait. I have a new set now. They all look like ballpayers. I didn’t know the tip of my tongue could hold 12 names.

[MVSNYC]

When did they start doing this on the site? I feel like several ago they weren't doing that.

[chadeast]

Another 1 here, Jim Thome. I thought I had two, but Lefty Grove was actually Mule Haas. It may be the distinctive period A's jersey that fooled me, but damned if they don't look alike! Ironically, I finally got my '33 Goudey #219 Mule Haas today

[Sean]

I usually get 2 or 3. I think that 5 is my best.

[egri]

I'm surprised that they don't show players on teams that they're primarily associated with. I got Daisuke Matsuzaka as a Met and Evan Longoria as a Giant; I would've thought of them was Red Sox and Rays, respectively.

[commishbob]

This was a thing for awhile among baseball card Twitter friends of mine. I’d guess my average was around four, maybe five if I guessed right. I killed it on guys from the 50s through the 80s but drew mostly blanks on all but the most famous players later than that.

It was embarrassing to whiff on guys wearing Orioles caps. My usual guess was David Segui. I figured eventually I be right!

[earlywynnfan]

Been doing this forever, best I got was maybe 8

[BobbyStrawberry]

Some of the pictures of more recent players seem to be from very early in their career, causing me to fail to recognize them.

[philliesfan]

I got 5!
But.....they were real easy. McCovey, Arod, Piazza, Honus Wagner and T Stottlemyre.

[chadeast]

Originally Posted by philliesfan

I got 5!
But.....they were real easy. McCovey, Arod, Piazza, Honus Wagner and T Stottlemyre.

Wow, nice! I was not nearly that lucky. 1 again, this time Koufax. I thought I had a good guess on guy with a beard in an Indians cap, Paul Assenmacher, but it turned out to be an aging Terry Mulholland. They don't really look alike at all I am not good at this game. I predict a zero in my immediate future.

[John1941]

I got lucky and set a new personal high score with 7 this morning. Though I missed Trevor Bauer and Bill Walker (thought he was Bill Hallahan), there were 5 really easy ones (McCovey, T. Stottlemyre, Piazza, Honus, and Arod), plus I got lucky on Travis Fryman, and then I got insanely lucky on one of the 19th century guys. I had no idea, so I just randomly guessed Phenomenal Smith and somehow it was him.

[John1941]

I just got a sort-of perfect record, going 8 for 8 with the none color photo guys , but 0-4 with the black and white guys . I thought Bill Walker had been Bill Hallahan earlier, but when Hallahan actually showed up I had no idea.So if there can just be one time without black and white guys, someone should be able to get it.

[wolf441]

Nice game Frank!!

I got 4: Rick Reuschel, Mark Clear, David Henderson and Vlad Guerrero.

[Cliff Bowman]

Dang, got six. I was shocked I missed Dave Martinez, he’s like a different person from his late 80’s Cubs Don Juan days to the current gruff manager look.

[frankbmd]

When the photo ID Ear Guys find out about this thread, we will all be humiliated? Mum’s the word.

[Cmvorce]

I lucked out and got an easy pull. 7 for me:

Armando Benitez
Jackie Robinson
Tyler Clippard
Don Newcombe
Gary Gaetti
Vida Blue
Lew Burdette

I missed:

Ginger Beaumont
Charlie Lea
Fielder Jones
Tom Brown
Lyn Lary

[MuncieNolePAZ]

2.

[brob28]

Identified 5 of 12, good for an "F". Missed a layup in Ray Boone.

[chadeast]

3, sadly my best yet. Caminiti, Devo, and Kevin Brown.

[nineunder71]

I got my boy, Todd Helton, kinda a gimme for me, but that was it. I had only heard of two of the others, ouch

[hammertime]

2/12 for me...got Bresnahan and Dave Henderson...should've known Smoky Joe Wood too...

[DaveW]

I got another zero. I’m apparently not good at facial recognition. I hope that woman in the other room is my wife.

[stlcardsfan]

Got three. Joe Girardi, Blue Moon Odom, and Jim Perry.

[Econteachert205]

I’ve been playing this game for about three years. I check probably 3-4 times a day. I think of it as a good memory exercise. I average about 8 each time and have gotten all twelve in the past. I have started doing the same with the nba recently and average about 4. Glad to see I’m not alone.

[clydepepper]

Hey. I knew EIGHT today!

[John1941]

Adding the Negro Leagues as Major Leagues is making this game even harder. Today there was a NL player from the 1920s, Ed Rile, who I'd never even heard of before.

[John1941]

On the current one, Jose Bautista is featured three separate times. Which I think is weird enough to justify resurrecting this thread.