Tuesday Trivia: First 30-30 players
 

Some top MVP candidates are chasing feats of power and speed. Ohtani is vying for the first 50 HR, 50 SB year ever. Both Francisco Lindor and Bobby Witt Jr. are hoping to be the first players with back-to-back 30-30 seasons since Ryan Braun in 2011-12.

Question: Who where the first 6 (different) players to have at least 30 HRs and 30 SBs in the same season?

Bonus Question: Which franchise has the most 30-30 players?

(As always, please guess, rather than looking up the answer)

Mays and Aaron have to be on that list.

Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb (the reason for my guess is that I just recently read on MLB.com that if Ohtani finishes in the top two in the league in both HRs and SBs, he would be the first to do that since Wagner and Cobb).

Bobby Bonds

For the Bonus Question, I think it's a toss up between the Braves and the Giants. I'll choose the Giants.

Ken Williams was the first 30/30 player.

Correct! Ken Williams was the first in 1922 with 39 HRs and 37 SBs

It would be another 34 years until someone else went 30/30 after Ken Williams.
In 1956, Willie Mays had 36 HRs and 40 steals and in the following year he had 35 HRs and 38 steals.

6 years later, Hank Aaron had 44 HRs and 31 steals.

Well done.

6 years after Aaron, Bobby Bonds became the 4th player to go 30/30 when he recorded 32 HRs and 45 steals. Bobby Bonds would go on to record the feat 4 more times ('73, '75, '77, '78) becoming the first to do it 5 times. His son Barry would match him in 1997 as the only other player to do it 5 times.

Wagner and Cobb certainly had enough steals, but Wagner topped out at 10 HRs and Cobb at 12.

So we still need the 5th and 6th different players to achieve a 30/30 season.

Great guess! I believe the Giants have had the most total seasons going 30/30 with Mays, Bobby and Barry Bonds combining for 10 total seasons.

You are correct about the Braves, but I can't reveal all of them yet, as one is an answer to the original question about who was the 5th or 6th player to 30/30.

There is one other franchise besides the Braves that have had 4 different players record 30/30 seasons.

Obviously I whiffed completely on my knowledge of Wagner and Cobbs as players. I thought they had a bit more slug in their game.

Your responses contained some helpful clues. When I was a kid, the two players who visited Shea and gave me an autograph were Ozzie Smith and Dale Murphy. So they became my favorite players. I know for a fact that Dale Murphy is in the 30-30 club. I'm going with him.

As an aside, I think it is a travesty that Dale Murphy isn't in the Hall of Fame.

Yes! Dale Murphy was the 6th different player to go 30/30. In 1983 Murphy had 36 HRs and 30 steals in his 2nd consecutive MVP campaign. So it took 61 years after Ken Williams for 5 different other players to achieve the milestone. Now it happens multiple times a year.

We just need the 5th player to have a 30/30 season.

Aaron, Murphy, Gant and Acuna have all achieved 30/30 seasons for the Braves. Only one other franchise has had 4 players.

Andre Dawson
Gotta be a 1970s slugger that could run

As a Mets fan, I would guess them, but I can only name three members of the 30-30 club. HoJo definitely, Strawberry and Lindor. Maybe Nails did it.

Yeah, that's a great guess. Or maybe Dave Winfield?

YES! The Mets are the other franchise--Howard Johnson did it 3 times ('87, '89' and '91), Strawberry once (1987), David Wright (2007) and Lindor last year and hopefully this year!

Joe Morgan?

Dawson is a great guess, as he stole at least 30 bases 3 times early in his career, but his power didn't really get going until a little later in his career.

Winfield is a great guess as well, but he never got to 30 steals.

Joe Morgan is another great guess, but the most HRs he had was 27.


Hint: the 5th player to have a 30/30 year, stole a lot of bases in his career, but only hit 30 HRs once. The next most he hit was 18 HRs in a season.

Also, the only time the player was an All Star was his 30/30 year.

How does Dave Winfield, the guy who gets drafted by the NFL, NBA, and MLB not get to 30 steals? That's shocking to me. He must have been fast.

Winfield stole over 20 bases 4 times but never got to 30. I think when he was playing, power hitters (especially ones his size) weren't expected to steal bases.

Makes sense. But I wonder whether Dave Winfield could have been the original Ohtani if the old school baseball guys back then let him.

Id imagine sliding and quickly stopping would be hard on a player his size .
Anyhow it’s not a slugger so it’s gotta be somebody like Reggie Sanders except he didn’t play until about 1990 - No way it’s Bert Campaneris

Grich. Amos Otis.

Grich topped out at 30 HRs in 1979, but only had 1 steal that year.

Amos Otis topped out at 26 HRs.

Hint 1: the 5th player to have a 30/30 year, stole a lot of bases in his career, but only hit 30 HRs once. The next most he hit was 18 HRs in a season.

Hint 2: The only time the player was an All Star was his 30/30 year.

Hint 3: The player shares the last name with a 2-time MVP that won his MVPs for different teams.

3 gives it away, Tommy Harper. Never would have guessed without that clue.

Wow what a forgotten player (least for me)
In 1969 Tommy Harper stole 73 bases for the Seattle pilots ,
Stole 408 bases and scored nearly 1000 runs (972)

Well done Peter! Tommy Harper had 31 HRs and 38 steals in 1970.

And then no one had a 30/30 year again until Dale Murphy in 1983.