Chicago media person David Kaplan got into it a bit with Cubs fans on the Twitters today because they didn’t overwhelmingly think it a grand idea to trade Starlin Castro to the Yankees for Brett Gardner:
Later, he apparently sought to demonstrate what a wonderful idea it was by setting up a trivia question that proved what a singular talent (the aging) Gardner is:
The guesses came in quickly, including multiple times from Cubs fans who thought Cubs leadoff hitter Dexter Fowler had accomplished the not-all-that-rare feat.
Kaplan dismissed the very notion:
Unfortunately for Kaplan, Baseball Reference exists – and anyone with a Play Index subscription can check for the answer in roughly 27 seconds.
Here’s the answer:
| Rk | Player | HR | SB | BB | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manny Machado | 35 | 20 | 70 | 2015 | 22 | BAL | AL | .286 | .359 | .502 | .861 | *5/6 |
| 2 | Paul Goldschmidt | 33 | 21 | 118 | 2015 | 27 | ARI | NL | .321 | .435 | .570 | 1.005 | *3/DH |
| 3 | Ryan Braun | 25 | 24 | 54 | 2015 | 31 | MIL | NL | .285 | .356 | .498 | .854 | *9/HD |
| 4 | A.J. Pollock | 20 | 39 | 53 | 2015 | 27 | ARI | NL | .315 | .367 | .498 | .865 | *8/H |
| 5 | Dexter Fowler | 17 | 20 | 84 | 2015 | 29 | CHC | NL | .250 | .346 | .411 | .757 | *8/H |
| 6 | Brett Gardner | 16 | 20 | 68 | 2015 | 31 | NYY | AL | .259 | .343 | .399 | .742 | *78/H |
Oh well. Back to the drawing board.
Update:
Kaplan shifts the goal posts:
And:
Unfortunately, words mean things and his original Tweet explicitly says “this season”:
Carry on.
