Baseball With a Hard Core Trivia Quiz

Answer: Washington DC

The first organized and professional league was the National Association which existed from 1871-1875. The Washington Olympics joined the league in its first season in 1871, and finished fourth out of nine teams. 1872 saw another new team in Washington named the Nationals. Both teams finished 10th and 11th of 11 teams in the 1872 season. Both teams went defunct after the 1872 season, then a new team emerged separate from both in 1873, named the Washington Blue Legs.

The Blue Legs folded after the 1873 season.

While 1874 saw no Washington team, the 1875 Washington Nationals gave it another go, but won only five games in the season. The second city to have two teams was Philadelphia, whose Whites and Athletics emerged in the 1873 season.

Answer: Every game was a shutout

Three pitchers threw more than 10 strikeouts in a series that took six days. They were Christy Mathewson of the Giants, then Chief Bender and Eddie Plank of the Athletics. The Athletics shutout the Giants in game two for their only win, and the Giants shutout the Athletics in the other four games. The Giants out-scored the Athletics 15-3 in the series.

Answer: Chicago Cubs

The other teams listed were not in the top contention for this. The Phillies had seven different managers in the decade, and both the Padres and Braves had six. The Dodgers had Tom Lasorda for the entire decade. The Cardinals had four diffferent managers, and they were all seen in the 1980 season.

The Expos had four also. Chicago had nine different managers in the 1980s. The Cubs went from Preston Gomez to Joey Amalfitano in 1980, then Lee Elia to Charlie Fox to Jim Frey in 1984. 1986 split the Cubs' season between Frey, John Vukovich, and Gene Michael. Frank Lucchesi replaced Michael midseason 1987, then Don Zimmer took over to begin the 1988 season. Zimmer would finish out the decade.

Answer: Walter Johnson

In 1913, Johnson was in his seventh season with the Senators and the American League. He had just won the MVP for going 36-9 and throwing for a Triple Crown in the season. The American League could not afford to lose him, and the league gave him incentives from the league itself, in addition to Senators owner Clark Griffith providing him with a huge raise. Johnson threw two more Triple Crowns and won another MVP for the Senators before retiring in 1927 with 417 wins. Nobody will know what might have been for the existence of the Federal League.

Answer: Solly Hemus

Hemus was the player-manager for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959. It was his only season as a player-manager. Torre retired as a player after the 1977 season, and dedicated his life to continue managing. Joe went on to take the Yankees to six World Series, and in 2008, took over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Answer: Fred Odwell

It was 1905 with the Cincinnati Reds that Seymour just missed out. In 1905, Cy led the league by batting .377, 219 hits, 40 doubles, 21 triples, and 121 RBIs. He hit eight home runs, but it was his teammate, Fred Odwell, who kept the Triple Crown away from Seymour by hitting nine. Hugh Duffy hit the first National League Triple Crown in 1894 with the Boston Beaneaters (later Braves).

Answer: Detroit Tigers

After 22 loyal seasons with the Tigers, they traded him to the Athletics for the 1927 season. It was that season that Cobb smacked his 4000th hit, and it was a double. The historical pitch came off Tiger pitcher Sam Gibson. Pete Rose surpassed Cobb's 4189 career record mark in 1985 with the Reds.

Answer: John Smoltz

From 1988-2008, Smoltz played all his seasons with the Atlanta Braves. His career was put on hold in 2008 with shoulder surgery pending. When he went down, his career numbers were 210 wins against 147 losses, with 154 saves along with 3011 strikeouts.

Answer: St. Louis Browns

The 1951 Browns had eight starting pitchers in the rotation for the season. The team finished with a team ERA of 5.18. From the lowest of Stubby Overmire who went 1-6 with his 3.54 ERA, to Bobby Herrera with his 27.00 ERA, the Browns were far worse than just their ERA in 1951.

This was the same season that Bill Veeck came up with his Eddie Gaedel pinch-hitting incident. The Browns went 52-102 for another last place finish.

Answer: Paddy Livingston

Livingston played with the Cleveland Indians in 1901. Then, after a four-year hiatus, came back to play baseball with the Reds in the National League in 1906. After another three years away from baseball, Paddy came back with the Athletics of the AL in 1909.

He finally retired as a Cardinal in 1917 after sevens seasons. Paddy died on September 19, 1977, in Cleveland. Parent, the so-called runner-up, played his first season with the NL St. Louis Perfectos in 1899. He quit, but then came back to baseball with the new American League and Boston Americans in 1901.

He played for seven seasons with the Americans, then four with the White Sox before retiring in 1911. Freddy died in November 1972.