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Originally Published: May 14, 2005

Top Cinco Useless Reader Info Nuggets

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By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
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Out there in the Useless Information portion of the universe, you readers have been watching. And thinking. And emailing. So we honor your efforts with the top five Useless Reader Info Nuggets of the Week:

5. GIMME FIVE: For the third straight year (since Omar Vizquel did it in 2002), nobody got cinco hits in a game on Cinco de Mayo. But loyal reader Dan Frank didn't give up his celebration of cinco-mania that easily.

	Wright

Frank reports that in the Mets' 5/5/05 game against the Phillies, the fifth batter of the fifth inning for the Mets was -- who else? -- No. 5 in your program, David Wright. Who then hit one of the Mets' five doubles that day. Give that man a nickel.

4. TWO-WAY THREAT DEPT.: In last week's Sunday Night Baseball game on ESPN, Eric Milton didn't merely extend his league lead in home runs allowed (to 13). He also hit a home run -- which tied him with Mike Hampton and Livan Hernandez for the league lead in most homers hit (by a pitcher).

So loyal reader Mike Ebersol wondered how many pitchers have ever led their league in home runs hit and served up in the same season. Your answer -- courtesy of the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent -- would be seven in history, one since 1928 and none since 1961. Here's the whole list:

So in case you've always wondered what Walter Johnson and George Blaeholder had in common, now you know.

3. THE NAME GAME: Loyal reader Quint Lange noticed that Milton was responsible for an even more fabulously useless development in that same game: He allowed a home run to his namesake, Milton Bradley.

That led Lange to ask: How often has a pitcher given up a homer to a hitter with the same first name as his last name?

Dangerous question, folks -- especially when there's someone in the world like David Vincent. The Sultan was ready with a list of every time that's ever happened:

Aug. 10, 1887 -- George Myers off Bill George
June 27, 1965 -- John Orsino off Tommy John
Sept. 26, 1970 -- Paul Blair off Mike Paul
June 8, 1973 -- John Milner off Tommy John
June 14, 1978 -- John Stearns off Tommy John
Aug. 18, 1978 -- John Stearns off Tommy John
June 29, 1979 -- Lee Lacy off Bill Lee
May 20, 1980 -- John Wockenfuss off Tommy John
Aug. 4, 1980 -- Lee Mazzilli off Bill Lee
April 28, 1981 -- John Wockenfuss off Tommy John
July 25, 1983 -- John Shelby off Tommy John
May 4, 1985 -- Nelson Simmons off Gene Nelson
June 7, 1986 -- John Shelby off Tommy John
Aug. 7, 1999 -- Henry Rodriguez off Doug Henry
April 25, 2000 -- Henry Rodriguez off Doug Henry
June 23, 2000 -- Marquis Grissom off Jason Marquis
June 17, 2001 -- Henry Blanco off Doug Henry
June 10, 2002 -- Ryan Klesko off B.J. Ryan
Aug. 19, 2003 -- Julio Lugo off Jorge Julio

Grissom once looked at the boxscore line from his homer -- "HR: Grissom (off Marquis)" -- and told us: "It's like I homered off myself."

By the way, we'll spare you the companion list, of hitters who homered off pitchers with the same first name as their last name. But it's hard to beat Manny Lee off Lee Guetterman. And you'll be happy to know that Jeff Kent has homered off both Kent Bottenfield and Kent Mercker.

	Beltran

	Martinez

2. JOINED AT THE PAYCHECK: It only makes sense that Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez should have a special bond in exotic Flushing Meadow, N.Y. But as the Westchester Journal News' Pete Abraham reports, they've gotten a little carried away.

" Beltran in Pedro's starts (going into Friday):

7 games: 15 for 31 (.484), 6 HR, 17 RBI

" Beltran in all his other Mets games:

28 games: 28 for 110 (.255), 0 HR, 6 RBI

Pedro has even been making jokes about writing his name on the clubhouse lineup card every day to see if that produces a few more homers for the rest of the staff. But loyal reader Scott Sisson had a more useful (or useless) suggestion:

What, he wondered, is the record for most home runs hit by one man in games started by one pitcher on his team?

It's a hard one to research. But fortunately, Dave Smith -- founder of the amazing retrosheet.org -- volunteered to travel back all the way to 1960 and see what turned up. He found five men who hit at least 17 homers in a season in support of a single pitcher:

1996 Mo Vaughn, 19, for Tom Gordon -- homered in 15 of Gordon's 34 starts
1997 Ken Griffey Jr., 18 for Jeff Fassero -- homered in 14 of Fassero's 35 starts
2003 Javy Lopez, 17 for Russ Ortiz -- homered in 13 of Ortiz's 34 starts
2001 Barry Bonds, 17 for that same Russ Ortiz -- homered in 15 of Ortiz's 33 starts
1976 Mike Schmidt, 17 for Steve Carlton -- homered in 13 of Carlton's 35 starts

Incidentally, Beltran isn't even a lock to lead the league in this category this year. Smith reports that Richie Sexson has hit six homers in Jamie Moyer's starts and Derrek Lee has homered five times in Mark Prior's starts. This, friends, is one fun note.

1. AND OUR GRAND PRIZE WINNER -- STILL CYCLING: It still amazes us how many readers were caught up in the electricity of A-Rod's near-home-run cycle last month. But loyal reader Colin Miller thought outside that box to come up with the best note of all.

OK, so A-Rod may have been a solo homer away from completing the home-run cycle -- but he did complete the RBI cycle (slam, 2-run HR, 3-run HR, RBI single). So Colin Miller asked a question that no one we know has ever asked:

Is there any chance anyone else has ever hit for that RBI cycle?

Well, yes -- but not in HALF A CENTURY.

According to Elias, there has been only one other RBI cycle in history, since RBI became an official statistic in 1920. It came from Boston's Norm Zauchin, on May 27, 1955 (via a slam, 3-run HR, 2-run HR and RBI double). Whoah.

Think you've run across an almost-unprecedented feat like that one? You know where to find us -- at uselessinfodept@yahoo.com.

Trivia answer
Question: Now that Jon Garland and C.C. Sabathia have turned 25, just six active pitchers 24 or younger reached mid-May with at least 30 career wins. Can you name them? (Hint: Four of the six consist of two sets of teammates.)

Answer: Carlos Zambrano (37), Jake Peavy (35), Mark Prior (33), Brett Myers (32), Dontrelle Willis (31) and Josh Beckett (31).

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Send your Useless Information to: uselessinfodept@yahoo.com