Most career walk-off home runs in MLB history (answer key)

Jim Thome

There are 18 players in MLB history who have hit 10 or more walk-off home runs in their careers.

Here are the answers to Saturday's quiz:

13 walk-off home runs (1)

1. The all-time leader in walk-off homers, this hitter is the only player to hit a walk-off blast for his 500th career homer.

Jim Thome

12 walk-off home runs (6)

2. This player is the active leader in walk-off homers -- one of only two active players on this list.

Albert Pujols

3. This former Yankee was the first player to reach double-digits in walk-off homers.

Babe Ruth

4. This former Cardinal had nine bases-empty walk-offs, the most in MLB history.

Stan Musial

5. This player hit five walk-off homers while his team was trailing, tied for the most in MLB history.

Frank Robinson

6. This former Yankees had 12 walk-offs in the regular season, plus one in the postseason.

Mickey Mantle

7. This three-time MVP led the AL in home runs three times in four years from 1932-35.

Jimmie Foxx

11 walk-off home runs (3)

8. This former Red hit a record seven walk-off homers with two outs.

Tony Perez

9. This active player won a World Series ring in 2019 with the Washington Nationals.

Ryan Zimmerman

10. Two outs and two strikes with his team trailing? This player hit two walk-offs in that situation.

David Ortiz

10 walk-off home runs (8)

11. This longtime Philadelphia Phillies slugger won his lone MVP award with the White Sox.

Dick Allen

12. This player once was drafted first overall by the White Sox.

Harold Baines

13. This player is baseball's all-time home run king. (Duh.)

Barry Bonds

14. This player was with the White Sox earlier this decade, and was considered a bust.

Adam Dunn

15. This former MVP had a record three walk-offs with two outs and two strikes.

Jason Giambi

16. This slugger has 10 career World Series home runs, in only 27 games.

Reggie Jackson

17. This former White Sox player is the only man to hit 60-plus homers in three separate seasons.

Sammy Sosa

18. This Philadelphia slugger hit four home runs in a game at Wrigley Field on April 17, 1976.

Mike Schmidt

Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr. win Rookie of the Year awards

Shohei Ohtani

Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. have been named Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues.

The vote was not close in either league, and it was not expected to be.

Ohtani won the AL award after becoming the first player since Babe Ruth in 1919 to have at least 20 home runs and 10 pitching appearances in a single season. He is the first player to hit at least 20 home runs and record 50 strikeouts as a pitcher in the same season.

The right-handed pitcher went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts before a torn elbow ligament shut him down. Ohtani will not pitch during the 2019 season.

Despite the injury, he played 104 games as a designated hitter, slashing .285/.361/.564 with 22 home runs, 21 doubles, 10 stolen bases and 61 RBIs.

Ohtani received 25 of a possible 30 first-place votes. The other five votes went to second-place finisher Miguel Andujar of the New York Yankees. Another Yankee, Gleyber Torres, placed third.

In case you were wondering, White Sox outfielder Daniel Palka received one third-place vote after  his 27-homer season.

Acuna, the NL honoree, was called to the majors April 25 and delivered 55 extra-base hits in his first 100 games. His season helped propel the Braves to an 18-game improvement and the NL East Division championship.

In 111 games, the 20-year-old hit .293/.366/.552 with 26 home runs, 26 doubles, 16 stolen bases and 64 RBIs.

Acuna's performance netted him 27 out of a possible 30 first-place votes.

Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals received two first-place votes and finished second. Right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers earned one first-place vote and finished third.

Talk about Yoan Moncada masks slow starts by other White Sox players

Avisail Garcia

White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada has put together two good games in a row this week against the Oakland Athletics.

The Sox have been outscored, 18-3, in the first two games of the three-game set, but Moncada has been a bright spot. He has gone
3 for 7 with a double, a home run, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, two RBIs and two stolen bases.

There's no denying the fact that Moncada is off to a slow start this season. He's struck out a lot -- 28 times in 66 plate appearances -- and his .214/.323/.393 slash line is well below par.

However, I think all the Moncada talk has deflected some criticism away from a couple other Sox hitters who deserve more blame for the team's 4-10 start.

Let's take a look at what happened in the first inning each of the past two nights in Oakland.

On Monday night, Moncada hit the first pitch of the game for a base hit to right field. He stole second base to put himself in scoring position with nobody out.

Did he end up scoring a run to give the Sox an early lead? Of course not.

Avisail Garcia grounded out to move Moncada to third. But Jose Abreu struck out swinging at a bad pitch, and after Matt Davidson walked, Nick Delmonico popped out to the catcher.

Missed opportunity. The Sox lost, 8-1.

On Tuesday night, Moncada saw six pitches and opened the game by drawing a walk. Once again, he stole second base to put himself in scoring position with nobody out.

Did he end up scoring a run to give the Sox an early lead? Of course not.

Garcia struck out, while Abreu and Davidson grounded out.

Missed opportunity. The Sox lost, 10-2.

Moncada set the table. The alleged RBI men are not doing their jobs.

Abreu is hitting .200/.250/.600 with runners in scoring position. Granted, two of the three hits he's had in those situations are home runs, but he's also grounded into two double plays and failed to pick up the easy RBI with a man at third and less than two outs, such as the first-inning situation in Monday's game.

That said, Abreu's clutch numbers make him look like Babe Ruth when compared to Garcia.

Thus far, Garcia is 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position this season. His slash line is .067/.118/.067 in those situations.

Small sample sizes, yes, but let's not point too many fingers at the young Sox second baseman at this stage. If you want to know why the offense is struggling, look no further than the slow starts by the Sox's two most established run producers -- Abreu and Garcia.

Giancarlo Stanton has 56 home runs -- do we care?

Giancarlo Stanton

Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton has a chance to become only the sixth man in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a season.

With 10 games to play, he has 56 home runs.

No doubt, Stanton's chase for history gives Marlins fans a good reason to watch the final week and a half of the season, despite their team being out of postseason contention. And really, as a baseball fan, I feel as though I should be interested in this. However, in all honesty, I can't bring myself to care.

The steroids era has made it impossible for me to get excited about home runs. Sixty-home run seasons were once almost unheard of in the game. Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927, and nobody touched that figure for 34 years, when Roger Maris broke Ruth's record with 61 home runs in 1961.

Another 37 years passed, and all of a sudden we had this rash of 60-homer seasons between 1998 and 2001. Mark McGwire hit 70 in 1998 and 65 more in 1999. Sammy Sosa hit 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999 and 64 in 2001. And, of course, Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001, a "record" that still stands.

But as we all know, everything that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa accomplished is complete crap. They were aided by drug enhancements. All three men are cheats and liars, and hopefully none of the three ever gets elected to the Hall of Fame.

What does that have to do with Stanton? Well, absolutely nothing. I have no reason to believe that Stanton is cheating or on steroids. But unfortunately, when I think of 60 home runs, I don't think of Ruth and Maris and the great feats they accomplished. I instead think of those three drug cheats -- Bonds, McGwire and Sosa -- who left a stain on the game forever.

If Maris still were the single-season home run record holder, I think I would feel much differently about Stanton's pursuit. I would be following his at-bats carefully. Perhaps I would even be cheering for him.

However, thanks to the steroids era, the mystique surrounding 60-homer seasons is long gone, As a fan, I'm now indifferent to big home run totals, and probably always will be.

Frank Thomas should be elected to the Hall of Fame ... this year

As we noted on Tuesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America has announced its 2014 Hall of Fame ballot.

There are three slam-dunk, no-brainer choices who were added to the ballot this year: pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and former White Sox 1B/DH Frank Thomas.

Well, at least I think those guys are locks for enshrinement this year. They should be, but I awoke this morning to a front page story in the Chicago Tribune sports section that questioned whether voters will allow Thomas in on the first ballot. Frankly, I can't believe this is even up for debate. But since it is, let me make the case for Thomas:

1. He is 18th on the all-time list with 521 home runs. He hit over 30 home runs in a season nine times and topped the 40 mark on five occasions.

2. He finished with lifetime career batting average of .301. Only five players in the history of the game have hit more home runs and had a higher batting average. Those players are Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Manny Ramirez and Jimmie Foxx. 

3. He hit .300 or better in nine seasons, including seven consecutive years from 1991 through 1997.

4. His career on-base percentage is .419. He had 10 seasons where his on-base percentage was over .400, and his on-base was never lower than .426 during his seven years of dominance from '91 to '97. He led the league in walks three times.

5. He finished with 1,667 RBIs, including 11 seasons of 100 RBIs or more. He had 100 RBIs or more in eight consecutive seasons from 1991 to 1998. After a rare down season in 1999, he posted a career-high 143 RBIs in 2000.

6. He is a two-time MVP (1993, 1994) and finished in the top four of MVP voting on three other occasions. Nine times, he placed in the top 10 in the MVP balloting. 

7. His .974 career OPS ranks 14th all-time. He had seven seasons where his OPS was over 1.000, including a sick 1.217 mark in his MVP season of 1994.

8. If you're into the new-age statistical analysis, Thomas' lifetime war is 73.6. By way of comparison, the average WAR of first baseman already in the Hall of Fame is 65.7.

The evidence is overwhelming. How can anyone not vote for Frank Thomas for the Hall of Fame? If voters are willing to enshrine Tony Perez with his .279/.341/.463 career slash line, then they cannot ignore Thomas and his .301/.419/.555 career slash line.

I've heard arguments about Thomas being "one-dimensional." I've heard people pooh-pooh his candidacy because he had over 5,000 plate appearances as a DH. Well, I think the "purists" can take a leap. Designated hitter is a position in baseball now. It's been around for 40 years. It's not going anywhere. I see no reason why players like Thomas and Edgar Martinez, who defined greatness at that position, shouldn't be enshrined in the Hall.

One-dimensional? Pffftttt. The Hall is already full of one-dimensional players. They are called pitchers. Nolan Ryan couldn't hit his way out of a brown paper bag. Neither could Tom Seaver. And neither of those two men were winning a bunch of Gold Gloves for their fielding prowess either. But who cares? They were quite rightfully elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot because they rank among the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen.

Likewise, Thomas should be elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot because he ranks among the greatest hitters the game has ever seen. The numbers don't lie.

Miguel Cabrera has 40 and 120 -- with a quarter of a season left

If Miguel Cabrera played for a team that wasn't in the American League Central, I would really like him. Come to think of it, the only reason I dislike him is because he plays for the Detroit Tigers -- a hated rival of the White Sox.

The guy is just an awesome hitter, and as a fan of baseball, I respect just how good Cabrera is at his craft. The reigning Triple Crown winner slugged his 40th home run of the season Sunday in the Tigers' 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. Cabrera also had an RBI single in the game, lifting his season RBI total to 120.

Cabrera, who leads the American League with a .360 batting average, became just the third player since 1921 to have at least 40 homers and 120 RBIs while batting .350 or better through 116 games. The other two names on that list are Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx.

As baseball fans, I think the Steroid Era made us all feel like 40 home runs and 120 RBIs in one season isn't much of an accomplishment anymore. In recent weeks, I've heard two different radio commentators in Chicago opine about how one day Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo is going to "hit 40 home runs and drive in 120 runs every year."

Really? Even if Rizzo develops into an All-Star hitter, he isn't going to do that. I don't think people respect just how hard it is to put up 40 and 120 in a single year.

For Cabrera, as great as he is, this is only the second time he's had 40 and 120 in the same season. Frank Thomas accomplished the feat just three times in his brilliant 19-year career. Albert Pujols, who preceded Cabrera as the best hitter in the game, has done it four times. Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto, who is beloved by statheads as an OPS machine, has never totaled 40 and 120 in the same season.

Even noted steroid cheats Alex Rodriguez (six times), Sammy Sosa (four times) and Barry Bonds (three times) didn't hit 40 homers and drive in 120 every year.

Those are difficult plateaus to reach, and that makes what Cabrera is doing this year all the more impressive. At the rate he's going, 50 home runs and 150 RBIs are well within his reach.