Head Crusher Baseball Trivia Quiz

Answer: Baltimore Orioles

They began it all in 1901 with the new American League as the Baltimore Orioles. Managed by John McGraw, they finished in fifth place of eight teams. After their last place finish in 1902, the franchise packed up and moved to New York to become the Highlanders. Still without a league pennant to their name, they would change their name to the Yankees in 1913.

In 1921, the franchise finally won an American League crown, but lost to the New York Giants in the World Series.

Answer: Will White

White, nicknamed "Whoop-La", pitched from 1877-1886. In 1879, Will went 43-31 for the Cincinnati Reds in the National League. He encored his performance in 1880 by going 18-42. In his 10 seasons, White did win 30+ games in a season five times, including 40+ three times. Will retired in 1886 with a 229-166 record.

Answer: Erve Beck

Beck played for only three seasons in his career from 1899-1902, missing the 1900 season. He hit a career high six home runs in 1901, including the first AL home run on April 25. The Cleveland Blues' second baseman retired with nine career home runs.

Answer: Cy Seymour

Seymour played in five seasons for the Giants before becoming a Cincinnati Red for another five seasons. In 1905, Cy led the league in many categories with batting .377, 40 doubles, 21 triples, 219 hits, and 121 RBIs. He just fell short in home runs by one with his eight.

He lost the home run crown and Triple Crown to teammate Fred Odwell. Fred would never hit another home run in his career. Seymour retired in 1913 with the Boston Braves.

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

Mack managed the Pirates from 1894-1896. He just missed out on a superstar Pirate team in 1900, when the Louisville Colonels went defunct, and most of the Colonel greats came over to the Pirates. Honus Wagner was one of those Hall of Famers. After his stint with the Pirates, Mack took the helm of the new American League Philadelphia Athletics in 1901, and kept the reins until 1950.

He died in 1956.

Answer: Reggie Jackson

Jackson was the only inductee in 1993. With a cut-off of your name being on 75% of balloting, Reggie was on 93.6%, and was the only person to make the induction that season. Phil Niekro was the runner-up with only 65.7% and didn't make it. Jackson played for 21 seasons from 1967-1987, retired with 563 home runs, and was also the first player in history to strikeout 2000 times in a career.

He left baseball with 2597 strikeouts.

Answer: Marquis Grissom

Grissom played for the Expos, Braves, Indians, and Brewers in the 1990s. He led the league only twice while with the Expos in 1991 and 1992. He led the decade's season total for his 78 in 1992. He stole only 429 over 17 seasons, an average of 25 per season. The king thief of baseball, Rickey Henderson, averaged 56 per season over 25 seasons and retired with 1406.

Answer: Jesse Burkett

Nicknamed "Crab", Jesse played in 16 seasons from 1890-1905. He played most of his career with the great Cy Young and the Cleveland Spiders. Burkett had the speed as he averaged 24 stolen bases per season. For inside-the-park home runs, he hit one for the Giants, 23 for the Spiders, 19 for the Cardinals, eight for the Browns, and four with the Boston Americans. Jesse was inducted into the hall in 1946, then died in 1953 at the age of 84.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals were still a pretty good team in 1949, going 96-58 and finishing only one game behind the pennant-winning Dodgers. The Cardinals had ball and chains on their legs under manager Eddie Dyer, and stole only 17 bases in the entire season. Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst stole eight of those.

Answer: Pedro Martinez

The others never hit the 300-strikeout mark for Boston. Martinez had a stellar 1999 season, leading the league with 313 strikeouts and throwing for the Triple Crown with his 23-4 record. It was Pedro's second of three Cy Young awards, and also finished second to the MVP Award to catcher Ivan Rodriguez of the Rangers.