Question 6: The players not yet eliminated include some well-known figures. This question is therefore designed to narrow the field. There are 25 names of legitimate Hall of Fame sluggers below. None have yet been eliminated. May we assume the correct answer is none of the following:
Jeff Bagwell, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Hank Greenberg, Gabby Hartnett, Ralph Kiner, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, Mike Piazza, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Willie Stargell, Bill Terry, Larry Walker, and Hack Wilson.
Answer: Yes, you may eliminate all 25 of them. And yes, we’ve killed off some pretty likely suspects in that group. Greenberg, for instance, hit 331 career home runs, and four times led the American League. But in his debut, a Sept. 14, 1930 game at Navin Field against the Yankees the 19-year-old popped to second as a pinch hitter for Tigers pitcher Charlie Sullivan in the eighth inning of a 10-3 Tigers defeat.
Larry Walker’s introduction during an Aug. 16, 1989 Expos game with the San Francisco Giants at Stade Olympique was at least a bit better. Facing Mike LaCoss, he drew a one-out base on balls in the second inning, and although stranded on the bases, Walker later collected his first hit and came around to score as the Expos won 4-2.