Obscure sports trivia

Who is the only US-born player to win an MLB MVP Award in his first full season in the major leagues?

Hint: As of 2011, he was also the only player to play in 150 or more games in 13 consecutive seasons (that may have changed since).

 

Chicago native Fred Lynn is my guess.

 

Is it Barry Bonds?

 

I first thought of Lynn but figured he was too injury prone to play that many games for that many seasons.

 

Fred Lynn did win the MVP, but apparently the source I had (the answer's authorized biography) was incorrect. There was another player before Lynn who won the MVP in his first full season, who meets both criteria.

Lou Gehrig never played more than 150 games in more than nine seasons because the 1932 Yankees played only 149 games.

 

I'm going to answer this now.

Willie Mays. Only 2/3 of a season in 1951, very short season in 1952 before he entered the Army, which took him out of 1953. He was the 1954 MVP.

Ripken Jr. played in 160 or more games in his first 12 years, but was derailed by the 1994 strike to 112, and was limited to 144 games in 1995 because the strike shortened the season.

I think Willie Mays was the best all-around baseball player ever. Other's mileage may vary.

 

Which former college football coach had three college fields/stadiums named in his honor?

 

I’ll guess Amos Alonzo Stagg, who coached at Chicago, Pacific, and some other places. The former Stagg Field in Chicago was an important place during the Manhattan Project.

 

Yes. Chicago and UOP. Tougher to name the third!

 

I began my college football coaching career while playing minor league baseball in the summers. My second head coaching gig in college football was at a school that helped form the ACC. I quit when the college president refused to pay me more than $10,000. Two years later, I was coaching in the CFL. Who am I?

 

Bud Grant? I believe he played baseball and coached in the CFL.

 

A good guess, but no.
Like Henry Peter Grant, he was known by his nickname. But it wasn't Bud.