For Baseball Freaks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tom Zachary

Out of the three Lefties,(Zachary, Grove and Johnson) it's interesting Tom went undefeated. Zachary played for the rapidly declining 1929 New York Yankees. Face achieved his 18-1 season with the lowly 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates. Johnson, who went 18-2 for the 1995 Seattle Mariners, finished up his season with a loss up in the ALCS to the eventual champs, the Cleveland Indians. Grove pitched like the ace he was for the Pennant winning Philadelphia A's, going 31-4. Yet the A's still lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games. Zachary is #1 in this category, and he didn't win only a few games.

He ended up 12-0 with a 2.48 ERA and 119.2 innings pitched. Face had a .947 Career-high WP, Johnson a .900 Career-high WP, Grove a .886 WP.

Answer: Charley Radbourn

"Old Hoss" went 59-12, with 73 games started, 11 shutouts, and even a save. Not only that, but he pitched 678.2 innings, and had a 1.38 ERA. He led his 1884 Providence Grays to a World Championship, sweeping the NY Metropolitans in 3 Games. Some background on why he would pitch so much: Charley was suspended without pay by manager Frank Bancroft.

But then the other Providence pitcher jumped to the Union Association, forcing Bancroft to reinstate Charley. But he only would return on 2 conditions; Being allowed his release at the end of the season, and to pitch every game for the rest of the season.

The rest is history. Chesbro only won 41, yet lost the pennant on a wild pitch against the Red Sox. Keefe's high was 42, and McClain's high was 31.

Answer: True

Keefe went 6-6 for the 1880 Troy Trojans as a rookie. Later in his career, he once lost 20 games, yet still finished 22 games over .500.

Answer: Matt Kilroy

Kilroy performed the outstanding feat of fanning 513 batters, for the 8th place 1886 Baltimore Orioles of the American Association. Toad Ramsey had 499 for the 4th place Louisville Colonels, also of the American Association, also in 1886. Daily K'd 483 in 1884, splitting his time between Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Radbourn had 441 during his historical 1884 campaign. Dupee Shaw was actually in 4th place on the 'K list' with 451, also in 1884 for the Detroit Wolverines of the National League, and the Boston Reds of the Union Association.

Answer: Joe Sewell

Believe it or not, but Sewell only had three in 1930 (and again in 1932). Bobby Bonds struck out 189 times for the most in this group. Reggie had 2597 Whiffs to set a career record. The only other remotely close choice, Boudreau, had five as his lowest season total (in 1950, played 18 games).

Answer: Make the Hall of Fame

White went 229-166 with a 2.28 ERA and 1041 strikeouts. Had he pitched today, his 162 game average would have him as a yearly 20 game winner.

Answer: Bones Ely

Ely couldn't hit, and they needed a place to put the Flying Dutchman.
Clarke, the manager, actually played a game at shortstop, but wasn't a long-term solution. Leach was 3B, and Ritchey was the starting 2B.

Answer: Eddie Gaedel

Gaedel, a 3'7 foot pinch hitter had one plate appearance, in which he walked, and wore the number 1/8. Gaedel did appear again as a promotion on May 26,1959 with the 5'9" Nellie Fox and the 5'10" Luis Aparacio, emerging from a "spaceship". Interestingly, May 26th was the day of Harvey Haddix's fabled "no-hitter", and the day the Yankees acquired Ralph Terry who would win 73 games for the Yanks, and pitch in 5 consecutive World Series. Rauch is the tallest of this list at 6'11".

Answer: Duke Snider

Sievers only hit 40 once, in 1957, and had 114 RBI's. Kluszewski (Big Klu) hit 40 in 3 consecutive seasons (1953, 1954, 1955) and had 108, 141, and 113 RBI's in those 3 seasons. The Splendid Splinter hit 40 only once, in 1949 and had 159 RBI's. Duke Snider hit 40 five years in a row, but had only 92 RBI's in his final 40 home run season.

Answer: True

Ward had 164 lifetime wins, a .275 Batting Average. He once won 47 games and once stole 111 bases in one season. Although he had less than great career stats, had he devoted himself to either pitching or hitting, he would be one of the all-time greats in that category. He is a Hall of Famer.