Baseball Logic Problems

I'm working on a major downsizing project in my house. My goal is to purge my domestic environment of as much extraneous stuff as possible. So far I've filled two large paper recycling containers with all kinds of printed stuff. However, I came across something I wrote almost 30 years ago that I'll preserve here.

These are baseball logic puzzles. All that is necessary to solve the puzzles is a knowledge of the rules of baseball. To engage the interest of fellow Mets fans at the time I wrote these puzzles, I used the names of real players. However, the situations described in the puzzles did not actually occur.

I hope you have some fun with these. Solutions are provided.

PUZZLES

1. One day, a fan turned on his radio and heard the broadcast of a Mets game already in progress. The first words he heard were: "Now Mookie Wilson will bat for the second time this inning."

What is the least number of runs that the Mets could have scored in this game?

2. Suppose that a Mets fan was in his car on his way to the supermarket. On his car radio, he heard that a game was about to begin and he noted that Mookie Wilson was in the starting lineup. The fan did his shopping and returned to his car more than an hour after the game started. When he returned to his car, he turned on the radio and again heard these words: "Now Mookie Wilson will bat for the second time this inning."

What is the greatest number of runs that the Mets could have scored during the inning which was in progress?

3. When Don Larson of the Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, he threw 91 pitches while retiring 27 consecutive batters.

What is the lowest possible number of pitches that can be thrown by a pitcher who pitches a complete game? The game is played to its conclusion. It is not shortened by rain, forfeit, or anything else.

4. How about a starting pitcher who retires 27 consecutive batters in a 9-inning game, but is the losing pitcher. Explain how that can happen.

5. Late in a game, Ken Dayley, a left-handed relief pitcher for St. Louis, was brought in to face two lefty Mets batters -- Hernandez and Strawberry. Then, with McReynolds and Carter due up, the Cards' manager replaced Dayley with Todd Worrell, a righty pitcher. While in the game, Dayley threw exactly 8 pitches -- 5 to Hernandez and 3 to Strawberry. Each and every pitch that Dayley threw was swung on and missed.

How could Hernandez have been allowed to remain at bat to swing at and miss 5 pitches?

6. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Mets trailing 6 to 1, Strawberry came to bat with the bases loaded and made the last out of the game, yet the Mets won the game 7 to 6.

How could that happen?

7. It was Mets 6, Cardinals 3 in the top of the ninth inning at Shea Stadium. The Cardinals had the bases loaded with two outs and Willie McGee batting. Davey Johnson, the Mets manager, brought in Randy Myers to pitch to McGee. Myers made no pickoff throws. He threw exactly one pitch and somehow he became the winning pitcher in that game.

What happened on that one pitch thrown by Myers?

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SOLUTIONS

1. At least 4 runs scored. To determine the minimum number of runs, create a worst case scenario. That means that Mookie led off the inning. As he comes to bat for the second time, 9 batters preceded him to the plate. Each one must be accounted for in one of three ways: an out, a man on base, or a run scored. At most, there are 2 outs and 3 men on base, so that leaves 4 men who can only be accounted for as runs scored.

2. The answer is 17. Here, we need to create a best case scenario. Mookie could have been the 9th man due up when the inning started. Then, on his second time up in the inning, he would be the 18th batter. Every batter reached base safely. No one was thrown out on the basepaths. The batter preceding Mookie hit a home run. 17 runs in. Nobody on. Nobody out.

3. If you answered "27" think again. The correct answer is 25. In a complete game, the home team may only have to bat 8 times. If they are leading after eight and a half innings, the game is over. A losing pitcher can get credit for a complete game with only 8 innings pitched. The 24 outs he must get can theoretically be accomplished with 24 pitches. Some time during the game he threw a pitch that resulted in the batter reaching base safely. And somehow that batter came around to score. Home team 1, Visitors 0 and the losing pitcher threw 25 pitches.

4. His streak of 27 consecutive outs did not begin with the leadoff hitter in the first inning. He could have yielded any number of first inning runs before mowing down 27 straight batters.

5. When Dayley came in there were two outs and a runner on base. On the second strike, the runner was thrown out trying to steal, ending the inning. Hernandez would then resume his turn at bat, leading off the next inning with no balls and no strikes.

6. The last out of a game is not always the third out of the last inning. A game can also end when the home team scores the winning run in the 9th inning or later. Therefore, after Strawberry's out, the Mets staged an incredible rally, scoring 6 runs to win the game.

7. McGee tripled, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to an inside-the-park homer. So that one play tied the score and retired the side. In the bottom of the ninth, the Mets scored, ending the game. Winning pitcher? That's right! Randy Myers.