Trivia - Hits per Decade. With a Prize!

[Bliggity]

I just saw an offshoot of this on my local Facebook B/S/T page, and thought it would make an interesting trivia question here. Of course, there must be NO CHEATING or it will be ruined for everyone. Starting in the 1880s and running through the 2000s, which baseball player had the most hits per decade? Some of these answers are fairly easy, while others are pretty surprising.

Reply using the format below. Answers may be discussed and amended through Friday at 9pm eastern, and then all entries become final. Whoever has the most correct answers out of the 13 possible will win a prewar card of my choosing (which will probably be a well-loved common worth about $10...so don't get too excited). If the winner does not want the card, it will be randomed off to all participants.

Tiebreaker question: What was the average number of hits per decade that the top player had? Please include the answer to this question in your entry.

1880s:
1890s:
1900s:
1910s:
1920s:
1930s:
1940s:
1950s:
1960s:
1970s:
1980s:
1990s:
2000s:
Tiebreaker:

[Peter_Spaeth]

1880s: Anson
1890s: Delehanty
1900s: Wagner
1910s: Cobb
1920s: Hornsby
1930s: no clue, Waner?
1940s: Boudreau (thanks Mike H)
1950s: Musial
1960s: Aaron or Clemente, guess I will go with Aaron
1970s: Rose
1980s: hmmm... Yount or Brett, I will say Yount
1990s: Grace (ok I will take Ben's word for it)
2000s: Ichiro
Tiebreaker: 1800

[Rookiemonster]

1880s cap anson

1890. Cap anson

1900s Wagner

1910 Cobb

1920 Hornsby

1930 Gehrig

1940 DiMaggio

1950 asburn

1960 Clemente

1970 rose

1980 young

1990 grace

2000 Suzuki

2010 pujols

[Sean]

1880 Anson
1890 Delahanty
1900 Wagner
1910 Cobb
1920 Hornsby
1930 Gehringer
1940 Mize
1950 Musial
1960 Aaron
1970 Rose
1980 Murray
1990 Gwynn
2000 Suzuki

Edit: Tiebreaker: 1875 hits

[KCRfan1]

1880 Anson
1890 Delhanty
1900 Wagner
1910 Cobb
1920 Hornsby
1930 Gehringer
1940 Williams
1950 Ashburn
1960 Clemente
1970 Rose
1980 Henderson
1990 Grace
2000 Suzuki

Total Hits 2100

[Peter_Spaeth]

DiMaggio missed three years he can't be right, but Musial (my choice so far) didn't play the whole decade either.

[bnorth]

The only one I know is the 1990's and 2 have already got it right. Great question and I can't wait to learn the answers.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Gwynn obvious choice for 1990s based on batting average but if memory serves he was injured all the time and missed a ton of games, so probably not him especially if some answers not obvious.

[vthobby]

1880s Anson
1890s Brouthers
1900s Wagner
1910s Cobb
1920s Hornsby
1930s Gehringer
1940s Joe DiMaggio
1950s Ashburn
1960s Kaline
1970s Rose
1980s Yount
1990s Grace
2000s Suzuki
2010s Cano

Tiebreaker: 1775

[Peter_Spaeth]

2010s HAS to be Miggy, no?

[vthobby]

Was solid for most of the 2010s but slacked this past year or two. Miggy might be the obvious answer and the correct one. Not sure, there are many to choose from! Plus, we all just lived through the past 5 years and I do not know about you but I just forgot what I ate for breakfast!

Peace, Mike

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

2010s HAS to be Miggy, no?

I'm not sure, Cabrera missed some time with injuries. Maybe McCutchen?

But you're right about Gwynn missing too much time in the '90s.

[Mikehealer]

1880s: Anson
1890s: Delehanty
1900s: Wagner
1910s: Cobb
1920s: Hornsby
1930s: Paul Waner
1940s: Boudreau
1950s: Ashburn
1960s: Clemente
1970s: Rose
1980s: Yount
1990s: Grace
2000s: Suzuki
Tiebreaker: 1850

[Peter_Spaeth]

I bet nobody has the 40s right yet. The war really messes things up. The answer is probably some decent player who didn't get drafted, and spent his most productive years in the 40s, because all the superstars seem to have missed years. Somebody said Mize but if I am remembering his stats right he was out 2-3 years, in fact I'm pretty sure because I remember him now on a mental list of players whose stats were really detracted from by the war. Can't think of who that might be though.

EDIT TO ADD I see Boudreau was just named. Now that is a smart choice assuming he didn't lose time to service.

[Mikehealer]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I bet nobody has the 40s right yet. The war really messes things up. The answer is probably some decent player who didn't get drafted, and spent his most productive years in the 40s, because all the superstars seem to have missed years. Somebody said Mize but if I am remembering his stats right he was out 2-3 years, in fact I'm pretty sure because I remember him now on a mental list of players whose stats were really detracted from by the war. Can't think of who that might be though.

He's a HOFer.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mikehealer

He's a HOFer.

Right, but not a huge hit total I would bet. Still, with the big guys all missing multiple seasons, it wouldn't take a huge steady total to lead the decade. I may amend to adopt him.

[Mikehealer]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Right, but not a huge hit total I would bet. Still, with the big guys all missing multiple seasons, it wouldn't take a huge steady total to lead the decade. I may amend to adopt him.

I would if I were you. I admit I "borrowed" some of my answers from previous posters, not this one.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mikehealer

I would if I were you. I admit I "borrowed" some of my answers from previous posters, not this one.

I picked Waner originally and I think that has to be right. I'm less sure about Musial over Ashburn and Aaron over Clemente, will give those some more thought. Musial had a much higher average but then again I assume he started to fall off in the late 50s and Ashburn was probably in his prime the whole decade. Ugh. Aaron and Clemente I just don't know, Clemente makes sense because he did get to 3000 and so much of his career was the 60s, but then again Aaron had a much higher hit total. Again ugh. I think I am on the same page with you on the rest and pretty confident in them.

[Mountaineer1999]

This is fun.... i have no idea but fun reading thru the responses. I would have thought Molitor for the 80s but Yount is the popular choice so probably right.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer1999

This is fun.... i have no idea but fun reading thru the responses. I would have thought Molitor for the 80s but Yount is the popular choice so probably right.

I thought Molitor as well, but I think that he was injured too often.

[Mikehealer]

Grace is the one I'm least confident in, I originally thought Frank Thomas.

[RaidonCollects]

1880s: Anson
1890s: Brouthers
1900s: Wagner
1910s: Cobb
1920s: Hornsby
1930s: Ott
1940s: DiMaggio
1950s: Musial
1960s: F Robinson
1970s: Rose
1980s: Rose?
1990s: Ripken
2000s: Ichiro
Tiebreaker: 1900

Owen

[KCRfan1]

One of the surprise hit leaders is Mark Grace in the 90's. Boudreau is a great choice for the 40's, I never thought of him though.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

One of the surprise hit leaders is Mark Grace in the 90's. Boudreau is a great choice for the 40's, I never thought of him though.

Grace was pretty consistent if not spectacular, it makes sense to me particularly where Gwynn had so many injuries, Boggs/Ripken/Rickey had some years toward the end of their careers in there, etc. I am pretty confident in that one based on that, and Ben's certainty. Still undecided about 50s and 60s though.

[KCRfan1]

Clemente really came into his own during the 1960's. Became a star. Ashburn was a top of the order batter, and healthy. Ashburn is another surprise. Grace and Ashburn I know, the others I made educated guesses about.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I know Ashburn had a couple of batting titles, so I can see it. But I'll go down swinging with Musial I guess.

[btcarfagno]

Haven't looked at other answers, but off the top of my head I would say:

1880s: Cap Anson
1890s: Billy Hamilton
1900s: Honus Wagner
1910s: Ty Cobb
1920s: Rogers Hornsby
1930s: Paul Waner
1940s: Stan Musial
1950s: Nellie Fox
1960s: Roberto Clemente
1970s: Pete Rose
1980s: Eddie Murray
1990s: Tony Gwynn
2000s: Ichiro
Tiebreaker: 1750

Tom C

[rats60]

1880s:Anson
1890selahanty
1900s:Wagner
1910s:Cobb
1920s:Hornsby
1930s:Paul Waner
1940s:Boudreau
1950s:Ashburn
1960s:Clemente
1970s:Rose
1980s:Yount
1990s:Grace
2000s:Ichiro

[Bliggity]

Thanks to everyone who played! Here are the answers:

1880s: Anson
1890s: Delahanty
1900s: Wagner
1910s: Cobb
1920s: Hornsby
1930s: P. Waner
1940s: Bodreau
1950s: Ashburn
1960s: Clemente
1970s: Rose
1980s: Yount
1990s: Grace
2000s: Ichiro

Incidentally, although the 2010s wasn't part of the question, the leader so far is Miggy, with just under 1000 hits.

Congrats to Mikehealer and rats60 who both went 13/13 with their answers. However, rats60 did not include a tiebreaker answer, so Mikehealer is the winner by default. PM me your address and I'll get the prize to you.

I had a PM asking me to do this for pitchers/wins by decade, so I'll post that in a couple minutes.