Thursday Quickie Quiz & Single Digits: Maikel Franco, Andy Seminick, and Brooklyn Becomes No. 26
THURSDAY’S QUICKIE QUIZ
>>> The Brooklyn Nets, who used to be the New Jersey Nets and before that the New York Nets (ABA), weren’t even the Nets in their first ABA season (1967-68). What was the franchise’s first nickname?
(Answer Below)
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
THURSDAY’S SINGLE DIGITS
>>> Maikel Franco leads the Phillies in home runs with six, all of them coming while batting in the eighth spot in the batting order. That total is almost halfway to the Phillies record for HR from that spot (13), held by two players. According to the Play Index at baseball-reference.com, these are the Phillies HR leaders out of No. 8 since 1908:
13 . . . Spud Davis, 1930
13 . . . Andy Seminick, 1948
11 . . . Luis Aguayo, 1987
10 . . . Mike Lieberthal, 2005
9 . . . Cameron Rupp, 2017
9 . . . Jorge Alfaro, 2018
● ● ●
>>> If the timer on our DVR is to be believed, the Phillies’ 10-run bottom of the first inning Tuesday night lasted from 7:18:52 (first pitch) to 17:48:41 (third out). That’s 29 minutes, 49 seconds . . . and Exhibit A that someone has way too much times on their hands.
● ● ●
>>> By the way, we ran a list Wednesday of the six times since 1900 that the Phillies scored 10 or more runs in the first inning. According to reports, it seems they also did it twice before that, although we could not find the exact dates.
● ● ●
>>> Exhibit B . . .
The Sixers are facing the Nets in the postseason for the third time in their history, and each time the Nets have had a different home.
In 1979, they were playing out of the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, N.J., and had moved into Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., when they met again in 1984.
Now, they are in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., which we know is technically a burough of New York City. But since the arena’s mailing address is “Brooklyn, N.Y.” we are listing it separately below as it becomes the 26th different city in which the Sixers’ have had a road playoff contest since moving to Philadelphia and becoming the Sixers in 1963:
Atlanta, Ga.
Auburn Hills, Mich.
Baltimore, Md.
Boston, Mass.
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Buffalo, N.Y.
Charlotte, N.C.
Chicago, Ill.
Cincinnati, Ohio
East Rutherford, N.J.
Houston, Texas
Indianapolis, Ind.
Inglewood, Calif.
Landover, Md.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Miami, Fla.
Milwaukee, Wisc.
New Orleans, La.
New York, N.Y.
Orlando, Fla.
Piscataway, N.J.
Portland, Ore.
Richfield, Ohio
San Antonio, Texas
San Francisco, Calif.
Toronto, Ont.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
QUICKIE QUIZ ANSWER
>>> The Nets franchise started in the ABA as the New York Americans in 1967-68. Take a kazillion dollars out of petty cash if you knew Tony Jackson (19.4) was their leading scorer that season.