Description
The answers to the questions are not shown on the illustration, but would have been provided to the reader on a subsidiary page in the newspaper. From our research they are as follows: [1.] The last player to hit .400 (at the time of this quiz, before Ted Williams broke that record in 1941) was Bill Terry. [2.] The four kings are said by some to be King David (Spades), Alexander the Great (Clubs), Charlemagne (Hearts) and Julius Caesar (Diamonds). Nonetheless, contemporary scholars while acknowledging that French cards during the reign of Henry IV (1553-1610) were somewhat standardized as such, have found that this practice faded by the late 18th century and today’s playing cards are too generically drawn to support these attributions. “Whichone” was a two-year old thoroughbred owned by Harry Payne Whitney (1872-1930), referred to on its blinker hood as “HPW,” which won (no pun intended) $105,730 in the Belmont Stakes in 1929, then a record purse.
As a working drawing, the illustration is readied for publication with extraneous marks overpainted in white and the pencil inscription “3 col. full for Sat” in the lower margin, indicating that it was slated to appear in the Saturday edition of the newspapers that subscribed to the feature. The Newspaper Enterprise Association “NEA” insignia is pasted over the signature lower right.
Art Krenz was a sports cartoonist, illustrator and golf writer for the Newspaper Enterprise Association, a large syndicator of content to newspapers throughout the United States, including editorial cartoons and comic strips. In the 1930s, he both reported on golf and wrote and illustrated Great Golf, a syndicated column on tips for golfers, and also produced a sports quiz feature called Do You Know…? An article published in 1936 introducing his column to the Abilene Daily Reporter stated that Krenz had been “following golf for 10 years, during which time he has made the rounds of all the major tournaments.”
William Harold “Bill” Terry (1898-1989), also known as “Memphis Bill,” played first base for the Giants from 1923 to 1936 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. His achievements included batting over .320 nine years in a row, amassing 200 hits in six seasons, and retiring with an average of .341, a modern National League record for left-handed batters. In 1930, he batted .401 and was the National League MVP. He remained the last player to bat over .400 for eleven years, until Ted Williams batted .405 in 1941 in the American League, but still is the last National League player to bat over .400 in a single year.
References:
“Bill Terry.” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. http://baseballhall.org/hof/terry-bill (20 November 2012).
“Do You Know…? By Art Krenz.” Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden, UT. 11 July 1940. p. 8. Online at NewspaperArchive.com: http://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-standard-examiner/1940-07-11/page-8 (20 November 2012).
“Golf Pointers from the Stars.” Abilene Daily Reporter, Abilene, TX. 16 April 1936. Online at NewspaperArchive.com http://newspaperarchive.com/abilene-daily-reporter/1936-04-16/page-3 (20 November 2012).
“United Media.” Wikipedia. 27 October 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Media (20 November 2012).