Baseball to Sweat For: Pt. 5 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nolan Ryan

Ryan did this all with the Angels from 1972-1978. Ironically, in 1973 when he led the league in walks, he also set a season strikeout record of 383. Nolan also led the National League in base on balls twice. Seven no-hitters and 5714 strikeouts later, Ryan retired after 27 seasons in 1993.

Answer: Sandy Koufax

Feller was the first to strikeout 18 in a game. His Indians defeated the Tigers in this game in 1938. Koufax of the Dodgers fanned 18 Giants in August 1959, then another 18 Cubs in April 1962. Sandy set a season strikeout record in 1965 by fanning 382 batters. The great Nolan Ryan would later break that mark in 1973.

Answer: Dallas Green

After winning a National League title in 1915 and 1950, both times falling short of the big pennant, Dallas Green took them all the way in 1980. The Phillies put down the Kansas City Royals four games to two. The series MVP was third baseman Mike Schmidt, and pitcher Steve Carlton won two games also.

Answer: Kansas City Monarchs

The first official series pitted the winners of the Negro National League against the Eastern Colored League Champions in 1924. The Monarchs defeated the Hilldale Club of the ECL with five wins, four losses, and one tie.

Answer: Kansas City

The Kansas City Athletics, owned by Charlie Finley, put together what seemed to be an outrageous color combination for his team. With special permission from Major League baseball, they did not even wear the traditional white home jersey. The wore gold pants, a green undershirt with a gold vest, green stirrups, and a green cap.

They were gold, white, and kelly green. Finley moved the team to Oakland in 1968.

Answer: Al Spalding

From 1872-1875, Al Spalding played for the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association, then in 1876 for the Chicago White Stockings of the new National League. He won 233 games in that span. In that stretch, he won 38, 41, 52, 55, and 47. He played a total of seven seasons with 253 career wins.

He walked away from the game at 27 years old in 1877. Nobody else has ever won 200 games in a five-season run.

Answer: Three Rivers Stadium

It was game four of the 1971 series between the host Pirates and the Orioles. Pittsburgh evened the series with a 4-3 win. Pirate Bruce Kison went into the record books for being the winning pitcher. The Pirates won the series over the Orioles, four games to three. The series MVP was Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente in his final World Series game. He was killed in December 1972.

Answer: Jimmy Collins

Wagner and Sewell were shortstops, and Sewell was a second baseman. Collins played for 14 seasons between the National and American League from 1895-1908. He was inducted into the hall in 1945. The only major category that he led was in 1898, when hit 15 home runs to help the Boston Beaneaters to a National League title. Jimmy died two years before his induction.

Answer: Fred Lynn

The year was 1975, and this Boston Red Sox outfielder finished with the highest slugging percentage, runs scored, doubles, second in batting average, and was second in home runs with 39. Lynn retired in 1990 after 17 seasons. Valenzuela of the Dodgers won the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young award in 1981.

Answer: Catfish Hunter

What a combined pitching staff, and the Athletics had the bats too. In those three seasons, Hunter won 21, 21, and 25. Former Cub Ken Holtzman was next by winning 19, 21, and 19. Five times in his career, Hunter won 20+ games in a season. He retired with 224 wins after 15 seasons in 1979. He retired as a Yankee.