So I was out caching on the last day of the 2014 MLB regular season - and grabbing a pic of a STL 250 cake, which I texted to sgt. In the back and forth, I find this question:
"So do we need to place a bet on the Cards-Dodgers series?"
Well, I'm up for a friendly wager - especially when the proposed terms were the placement of a geocache "extolling the virtues" of the opponent's winning team. (In hindsight, I'm pretty sure I have never won a bet when it comes to baseball.)
It took me a while to figure out how I was going to do this, but evenutally I found a spot that made some sense - and why not make it a puzzle cache? Last week I did some research and this week I did the math. So now it's your turn - if you are into caches like this, that is.
The final is at N 38 0S.LOU, W 089 CA.RDS
I knew that the Cardinals were first in the NL with 11 World Series victories. What I didn't know was that the club is also first in the number of Triple Crown batting titles with four - which requires a player to rank first in batting average (BA), runs batted in (RBI), and homeruns (HR).
The first came back before they joined the National League and before they were the St. Louis Cardinals. Tip O'Neill (not the Congressman who was Speaker of the House in the 1980s) won the Triple Crown playing left field for the St. Louis Browns (not the American League team who moved to Baltimore in 1954 after moving here from Milwaukee in 1902, but the American Association team that started in 1882, was renamed the Perfectos for a season, and then renamed the Cardinals when – as the story goes – a woman in the stands noted the cardinal red color of their uniforms.)
Next comes Rogers Hornsby, the first player in either league to win two Triple Crowns. Amazingly, the second one happened while he was also managing the team! In our days, league home run leaders tend to play outfield or first base – but Rogers played second base.
The fourth Triple Crown for the Cards was won by Joe Medwick (who went on to play for the Dodgers – which means I need to hide another ADiRN cache in the future.)
Stan Musial had the batting average, but not the homers. Still, he came rather close one year, leading the NL with a .376 average and knocking in 131 RBI, and bopping a career-high 39 roundtrippers. Unfortunately for him, both Johnny Mize (NY Giants) and Ralph Kiner (Pirates) edged him out by getting 40.
Wally Moon was the first Cardinal to win Rookie of the Year. He did not come close to getting a Triple Crown – even amongst the candidates for Rookie of the Year, getting edged out in homeruns by some guys named Ernie Banks and Hank Aaron – BUT I needed the math to come out right, so I mention him here.
Albert Pujols led the NL in batting average, homeruns and RBIs, but never the same season. Also, if you total the 2001-2010 decade, Albert did come in first for each. As impressive as that is, and while an interesting statistic, the Triple Crown is not awarded for a whole decade's accomplishments. However, he came very close one year when he led the NL with 42 HR and 118 RBI, and coming in sixth with a .312 batting average.
No St. Louis Cardinals pitcher has won the pitching Triple Crown by leading the league in Wins, Strikeouts, and Earned Run Average. You probably will not be surprised to learn that Bob Gibson came awfully close in 1968 when he came in second in wins to San Francisco Giant Juan Marichal and led the other two categories.
To find SLOU, add the years described for Medwick, Musial, Moon, and Pujols to the strikeouts Gibson threw in 1968. Now subtract the number of wins Gibson had in 1968. (Also, note that in the North coords, a ZERO precedes SLOU, not another letter O.)
To find CARDS: C = Hornsby won his second Triple Crown in 192C
AR = O'Neil won his Triple Crown in 18AR
D = Hornsby's RBI total in 1922 was 1FG. F+G = D
S = Hornsby's RBI total for his second Triple Crown was HIJ. H+I+J = S
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.