Q is for Quest

Cubs Homerun hitters from Aramis to Zimmermanan 

Joe Quest 1852 - 1924

Cleveland Forest Citys. Indianapolis Blues, Chicago Cubs as White Stockings, Detroit Wolverines, St. Louis Cardinals as Browns , Pittsburgh Pirates as Alleghenys, Philadelphia Athletics

Q:  If your last name or first name began with the letter Q, how many homers as a Cub would you need to own the outright record?

A: 2

Joe Quest played  second base for the Chicago Cubs  in the 19th century, back when they were called  the Chicago White Stockings.  Quest,  a very good defensive player, was not much of a hitter. In his 10 year professional career, he batted .217 and hit 1 HR in 2295 at bats. This is an average of 0 homers in a 162 game season.  By comparison of the 250 major leaguers who played from 2005 to 2014 and had 2295 AB or more, 54%  had 100 or more homers,  83.6 % had 50 or more and all 250 had at least 7 more homers than Quest over the same time period.   

Quest did win back to back to back pennants with the White Stockings from  1880 to 1882.  Quest is most famous for coining the phrase Charlie Horse as a term for a muscle cramp.  There are several version of how this came to be, one states that he and several of his teammates were at a horse race and all his teammates wagered money on a horse with Charlie in his name.  Quest had  not wagered on that horse.  During the race, the horse pulled up lame, and Quest made a quip about that Charlie horse not doing so well.  The next day, as one account has it, one of his teammates had the same type of injury in the course of the game, and Quest said he's just like that Charlie Horse.  

Quest's nickname for cramp is now forever etched in the English language,  but his Cubs Q homerun record is just 2 long balls from extinction. 

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