Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2018 May 6

= May 6 =

Last 13 error game
Speaking of unlucky number 13, when was the last time a team committed 13 errors in an MLB game? I've never seen 13 error games when I was watching baseball games and highlights for years—the highest number of errors I've seen was 7 or maybe 8. The team's defense would have to be biblically bad for it to have 13 errors in a ballgame. Planet Star  07:23, 6 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Here is a claim that it has not happened at all since 1900. However, that is a posting "one decade old".  So even if it's correct it only covers the period from 1900 to about 2008. --69.159.62.113 (talk) 10:49, 6 May 2018 (UTC)


 * My 2007 edition of The Sporting News Baseball Record Book, which is the last one TSN published, has these records for most errors by one team in a game:
 * NL - 24 - Boston vs. St. Louis, June 14, 1876
 * NL since 1893 - 11 - St. Louis vs. Pittsburgh, April 19, 1902
 * Boston vs. St. Louis, June 11, 1906
 * St. Louis vs. Cincinnati, July 3, 1909, 2nd game
 * AL - 12 - Detroit vs. Chicago, May 1, 1901
 * Chicago vs. Detroit, May 6, 1903
 * The reason for the 1893 distinction would likely be that that's when the current pitching distance of 60 feet 6 inches west established. That 1876 game must have been played under some kind of adverse conditions at Boston, as it also set the all time record for errors by both teams: 40. For what it's worth, St. Louis won the game 20-6. Second baseman Andy Leonard made 9 errors all by himself, and that's still the all-time record for second basemen. His more normal position was outfield, and maybe he was having some trouble adjusting. Or maybe it's that the Boston pitcher was just serving up batting practice. In addition to all the gains by errors, St. Louis got 23 hits on the day. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:05, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Errors have been on a steady decline curve since the first National League season in 1876. This article has some charts. In 2017, MLB teams averaged 95 errors per 162 games (the length of a season)  so we're getting close to one error every two games. In other words, it would have to take absolutely exceptional circumstances for a team to get anywhere near 13 errors in a game now. --Xuxl (talk) 12:57, 7 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Equipment has also improved over time. Baseball glove has some info, and it's possible the majority of the men in the field in 1876 wore minimalistic or no gloves at all. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:31, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

gold connection
In America the Beautiful, there happens to be the line, 'May God thy gold refine'. How is gold connected with American patriotic colors?2604:2000:7113:9D00:E489:B375:36EB:1AC5 (talk) 08:20, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
 * The imagery is Biblical - there are several references, but Malachi 3:3 is a good example. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord." Refining is the image of purifying, of making perfect, of removing anything which spoils the perfection. Wymspen (talk) 10:11, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
 * That entire stanza celebrates true heroes and smacks the robber-barons of that era. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:55, 6 May 2018 (UTC)