I Gave Them the Finger! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Buck Ewing

Ewing's NL teams listed mostly existed pre-1900 baseball, and the other players weren't born yet for another 30 years. Buck also played in the Players League in 1890 with the New York Giants. Ewing retired from baseball in 1897 after 18 seasons. He was a 1939 hall inductee, 33 years after he died in 1906.

Answer: Ernie Lomardi

The others weren't born until at least 1950. Most of Ernie's career provided services for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. His first batting title and MVP came with the Reds in 1938, then his second as a Boston Brave in 1942, his only season as a Brave.

He retired in 1947 after 17 seasons. He gave the finger to some pitching greats in the names of Johnny Vander Meer, Johnny Sain, Jim Tobin, Bill Voiselle, and Larry Jansen.

Answer: Johnny Bench

The others were all catchers, but played for more than one team in their careers. Bench was the 1968 Rookie of the Year with the Reds. He won a NL MVP in 1970 and 1972, ironically over the same player. This backseater was Billy Williams of the Cubs both times. Johnny went to four World Series, winning two, and was the series MVP in 1976 against the Yankees.

He went into the hall in his first year of eligibility in 1989.

Answer: Connie Mack

The others listed never existed. McGillicuddy changed his name to Cornelius Alexander Mack. He played most of his games with the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and also played with the Buffalo Bisons of the Players League in 1890 with Buck Ewing. With the Bisons, he led a category for the only time in his career, by being HBP 20 times in the season.

His final three seasons as a player saw him actually as the player-manager of the Pirates. He took over the new Philadelphia Athletics when the American League began in 1901.

He finally stepped down in 1950, then died in 1956. The Hall of Fame took Mack in 1937.

Answer: John Roseboro

Roseboro joined the team in 1957, just prior to Campanella's accident. John took over the duties for the Dodgers from 1958-1967. The incident with Marichal was the result of a long-standing feud between the Dodgers and Giants. With Koufax on the mound, he watched Marichal intentionally club a bloodied Roseboro over the head which started the brawl.

Answer: Wilbert Robinson

Robinson was winding down his career of 17 seasons when he caught for the Baltimore Orioles, the original name of the Yankee franchise in 1901 and 1902. In those two seasons, he caught 154 games from pitchers such as Joe McGinnity and Harry Howell. In the latter part of 1902, Wilbert took over the team from manager John McGraw, who later would spend four decades at the helm of the New York Giants. Robinson later went on to manage the NL Brooklyn Robins from 1914-1931. Robbie was inducted into the hall in 1945.

Answer: Chris Cannizzaro

Cannizzaro caught a whopping 56 games in the season. Their other catchers were Sammy Taylor, Hobie Landrith, and Harry Chiti. The Mets would find out in later seasons that it was not the fault of their catchers, but their pitching staff who was Jay Hook (10-19), Roger Craig (10-24), Al Jackson (8-20), and their other starter Bob Miller who went 1-12.

The Mets would have a record of 40-120 in the 1962 season, getting many fingers of their own from fans. The Mets were weak at the catcher position until Jerry Grote joined the team in 1966, then played 12 seasons for them.

Answer: Ed Phelps

Phelps was in his second season in baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903. The Pirates went up against the Boston Americans in baseball's first World Series. Pittsburgh won game one 7-3, but went on to lose the series, five games to three. Criger was the catcher for the Americans. Both Schalk and Hartnett are Hall of Fame catchers.

Answer: Mike Piazza

Piazza was a fluke for Major League baseball. Drafted in the ridiculous 62nd round of the 1988 draft by Tommy Lasorda as a favor to Mike's father, Lasorda and the Dodgers liked what they saw. He spent seven seasons wearing Dodger Blue, then played most of his career with the Mets. Mike surpassed the 400-mark in 2006. Fisk hit 376, Yogi hit 358, and Carter 324.

Answer: Carlton Fisk

Fisk played from 1969-1993. One of his famous at-bats was in the 1975 World Series, where in game six he hit a walk-off 12th inning home run to give Boston the win over the Reds. However, the Reds would win game seven and the series, four games to three. That would be Carlton's only World Series. He also hit one in game three.