Big Time Rookies! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tony Oliva

Oliva spent his entire career with the Twins. Taking the Rookie of the Year Award in 1964, he led the league with his .323 average. The following season he won another batting crown by hitting .321, and was runner-up for the AL MVP Award to teammate Zoilo Versalles.

However, Oliva had three more hits than Zoilo, 22 more RBIs, and .048 more points in batting. Ichiro Suzuki also won a batting title as a rookie with the Mariners in 2001. The others listed all began their careers in 1958.

Answer: Mark McGwire

1987 saw this Oakland Athletic hit 49, and later go on to break Roger Maris' season record of 61 when he hit 70 in 1998. Mark also won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1987.

Answer: Tom Browning - Reds

Browning went 20-9 with the Reds in 1985. It would be the only time in his career that he won 20. Tom retired with a 123-90 record. Marichal won six, Maloney two, and Lonborg nine.

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates were the last team to have a Rookie of the Year Award winner. Jason Bay finally won it for the Bucs in 2004. The Phillies watched pitcher Jack Sanford win it in 1957. The Mets' first winner was Tom Seaver in 1967. The Expos had pitcher Carl Morton win it in 1970, then Andre Dawson took the honors in 1977.

Answer: Joe Jackson

The others never hit .400 in their career that qualified for a batting title. Jackson was a Cleveland Indian in 1911 and batted .408 to finish fourth in the MVP voting. After being involved with the Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 World Series, Jackson was banned from baseball by Judge Landis. Joe took his career average of .356 home with him in 1920.

Answer: Ted Williams

The others had not started their Major League careers yet in 1939. Williams finished fourth in the AL MVP voting in his rookie season, and would have been a cinch for the rookie award if they had one then. Ted had 185 hits with 44 doubles, 11 triples, and hit 31 home runs in 1939. He also batted .327 in the season.

Answer: Dodgers

The others listed didn't have any. The Dodgers ran a streak of five consecutive award winners. They were Eric Karros in 1992, Mike Piazza in 1993, Raul Mondesi in 1994, Hideo Nomo in 1995, then Todd Hollandsworth in 1996.

Answer: Minnie Minoso

Saturnino Orestes Armas (Arrieta) Minoso was runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1951. He split his season between the Indians and White Sox. His first season was in 1949, but didn't have enough stats to qualify as a rookie. He first retired in 1964 at the age of 38, then came back 12 seasons later in 1976.

He once again returned to the White Sox in 1980 at the age of 54 and played in two games.

Answer: Lloyd Waner

In the 1927 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Lloyd joined brother Paul in the outfield. Lloyd had 223 hits in the season, but still fell short of Paul's 237. Four times in his career, Lloyd would top the 200-hit mark in a season.

Answer: Casey Stengel

Stengel began as a manager for the Dodgers in 1934. He would not take the helm of the Yankees until 1949, when he took the team to 10 American League pennants in 12 seasons. After replacing manager Walter Alston in the last four games of the 1976 season, Lasorda took the Dodgers to the NL pennant in 1977. Anderson took the Reds to the NL crown in 1970. Yogi guided the 1964 Yankees to the American League crown.