# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 99
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1961 "2024-05-01T15:02:36Z")
Does it have anything to do with the nickname “Murderer’s Row”? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1962 "2024-05-01T15:03:55Z")
Not at all ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1963 "2024-05-01T15:04:14Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Did these players come from the same school or small town or something? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1964 "2024-05-01T15:09:30Z")
Did they all go on a streak at the same time, with each one breaking each other’s records? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1965 "2024-05-01T15:10:28Z")
Not that complicated ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1966 "2024-05-01T15:54:21Z")
Did they all play in his first game of the streak and last game? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1967 "2024-05-01T16:28:24Z")
Did they bat consecutively? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1968 "2024-05-01T16:30:19Z")
I think I kind of asked this…but maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1969 "2024-05-01T16:39:13Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Did they all play in his first game of the streak and last game? 50% right. But which 50%? And then the question of why those 3 and not all 9 players? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1970 "2024-05-01T16:39:27Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Did they bat consecutively? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1971 "2024-05-01T16:40:49Z")
We were told earlier that they didn’t retire after the same game. But from the opposite direction, did they all make their MLB debut in the same game? ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1972 "2024-05-01T16:42:01Z")
Did they start their pro baseball careers together? Did they start playing for the Yankees together? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1973 "2024-05-01T16:55:34Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > We were told earlier that they didn’t retire after the same game. But from the opposite direction, did they all make their MLB debut in the same game? Very close. I don’t know if it was their debut but it was a start. And with that I think this has been teased out enough. On June 2, 1925, manager Miller Huggins decided his team needed a shake up to get them out of their funk. He decided to replace three established starter with three bench players for the game. Benny Bengough replaced Wally Schang at catcher, Howie Shanks replaced Aaron Ward at second and Lou Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp at first. Since Gehrig had pinch hit for Pipp in the previous game it was the 2nd game in his streak but his first start as the Iron Horse. We all hear the story of how Gehrig replaced Pipp because of a headache but it was more than that. Huggins pointed to those three players and said we need to change things up so you guys start today. And that is what started The Streak. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1974 "2024-05-01T19:34:19Z")
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I looked up the players: Benny was a young catcher, about the same age as Gehrig, and played his whole career as a Yankee, while Howie was at the tail end of his career, and only played that one year in pinstripes before retiring. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1975 "2024-05-03T04:26:14Z")
**Why did Amazon misrepresent a classic work of literature as being about butts?** (Note: This has proven surprisingly hard to check, since googling “Amazon” and the book’s title just brings up the actual book for sale. So enjoy this half-remembered maybe-apocryphal rumor, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1976 "2024-05-03T04:53:19Z")
Butt as in: - buttocks? - cigar stubs? - barrels? - something else? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1977 "2024-05-03T04:56:22Z")
**Butt as in your rear end.** ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1978 "2024-05-03T05:16:26Z")
Does the title simply involve a word for ‘butt’ — like, say, HOWARDS END, or maybe THE GOLDEN ASS? ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1979 "2024-05-03T09:38:55Z")
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumbass [![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_13VoR7VVFHk/TDuIn_zm92I/AAAAAAAAAJw/VCJk1GBM-oQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/dumas.jpg) ](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_13VoR7VVFHk/TDuIn_zm92I/AAAAAAAAAJw/VCJk1GBM-oQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/dumas.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2024, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1980 "2024-05-03T11:54:11Z")
Did it have anything to do with [Chuck Tingle](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=chuck+tingle+pounded+in+the+butt&crid=1Q4L85NGZB1AN&sprefix=chuck+tingle+pounded+in+the+butt%2Caps%2C104&ref=nb_sb_noss_2)? Sometimes weasely, small-time “writers” use book titles and/or pen names that look remarkably similar to well-known writers or books to take advantage of readers who don’t know, or don’t notice, the difference between, for example, Stephen King and Steven King. Is it anything in that general category? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=98) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=100)