10,000th Win Contest Closed

The entry deadline for the Pirates 10,000th win contest has passed.  A total 21 entries were received and will compete for the (mythical) Jim Haller Trophy and a small, as yet to be determined, prize with a small monetary value.

Here is a look at the names of the entrants and their prediction as to what game the magical 39th win will occur:

Name	Game Number
Don Lancaster	65
Mike Jones	76
Ted Knorr	77
Meg Minard	78
Mark Ecklund	79
Jim Haller	80
Dan Bonk	80
Gale Suwalski	81
Dave Cicotello	81
Jerry Frissora	82
Bill Evans	82
Pat Jones	82
Fred Shugars	83
Bob Sproule	83
Ron Loshelder	83
John Coley	83
Roger Hansen	86
Dave Jones	88
Bill Montrose	88
Jim English	90
Bill Sproule	93

As you can see, 13 different games were chosen by the entrants, with Don Lancaster being the most optimistic, and Bill Sproule the most pessimistic.  The most popular game chosen was the 83rd game (four guesses), which, barring rainouts, will take place on July 2 against the Phillies.  The most interesting reasoning for a selection came from Dan Bonk.  Game #80 will take place (again, barring rainouts) on June 28, which will be the 43rd anniversary of the last game played at Forbes Field.  He likes the mojo associated with that date.

I am choosing not to list all the tie-breakers here, but here are some interesting facts about them:

• A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez were selected by five people as the winning pitcher for the game.  J-Mac and Gerrit Cole were selected by three, and Jason Grilli, Francisco Liriano and Jeff Karstens by one.  Most interesting, to me anyway, were the two votes for Jared Hughes.
• Ten people thought that Starling Marte would get the first hit, which appears to be a good selection based on early returns.  Eight votes here for Andrew McCutchen.
• As for the first home run, the leading vote getter here was "no one".  Eight people think the Bucs will be kept in the yard on this night. Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez each received four votes.
• As for the number of Bucco hits in the game, here's how it breaks down: 5 votes for 7 hits, 2 for 8, 6 for 9, 3 for 10, and 5 for 11.

Thanks for participating.  I guess that this contest will now go into hibernation until mid- to late June, and then we will start tracking this seriously.

Good luck.