MLB 2005 Season Highlights Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dmitri Young

'Meat Hook' became the 1st player from the Tigers to hit 3 dingers during an Opening Day game and only the 3rd in Major League history. The 1st player was George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays on April 4, 1988, and the 2nd was Karl Rhodes of the Chicago Cubs on April 4, 1994. Other players that hit 3 home runs in a game in 2005 were; Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, Morgan Ensberg of the Houston Astros, Hee-Seop Choi of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kevin Mench of the Texas Rangers, and Jonny Gomes of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Answer: Trevor Hoffman

On May 6, 2005, Trevor closed out a 6-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals for his 7th save of the season and his 400th of his career. He became the 3rd pitcher to reach this goal. Lee Smith and John Franco were the first two, respectively. Jose Mesa picked up his 300th career save on April 27, 2005.

Answer: Andruw Jones

Andruw Jones hit 51 homers and drove in 128 runs leading the Majors in both categories. Jones' power surge in 2005 helped the Braves win the National League East Division and put a stop to Derrek Lee's chases for a Triple Crown. Lee led the Majors with a .335 batting average, as well as leading the National League with a .662 slugging percentage, 1.080 OPS, 199 hits, 50 doubles, 393 total bases, 164 runs created, and 99 extra-base hits. Derrek Lee finished 2nd behind Jones in home runs with 46 and 7th in RBIs. Hank Aaron hit 755 career home runs, but the most he's ever hit in a season was 47 in 1971.

Answer: Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod hit 3 home runs and drove in 10 runs on April 26, 2005, against the Anaheim Angels. All 3 came off pitcher Bartolo Colon as the Yanks won 12-4, and he came a solo home run away from becoming the first player in history to hit for a home run cycle. Rodriguez hit a 3-run home run, 2-run home run, and a grand slam in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th innings, respectively.

He later in the bottom of the 8th inning, just missed a solo home run, lining out to Jeff DaVanon in deep centerfield. On June 8, 2005, he became the first 29-year old player (29 years and 316 days old) and 40th player to hit 400 career home runs. Pitcher Jorge de la Rosa gave up A-Rods 400th HR as the Yankees beat the Brewers 12-3 at Miller Park. A-Rod won the 2005 American League Most Valuable Player Award.

Answer: Texas Rangers

There were 7 Texas Rangers that hit 20 or more homers in 2005; Mark Teixeira 43, Alfonso Soriano 36, David Dellucci 29, Kevin Mench 25, Hank Blalock 25, Michael Young 24, and Rod Barajas with 21. Although the Rangers led the Majors with 260 home runs and 153 in their own stadium, they finished in 3rd place in AL Western Division with a 79-83 record. The 2005 Texas Rangers also became the 1st American League team to have the fewest sacrifice bunts with 9.

Answer: Manny Ramirez

Manny Ramirez hit is 400th career home run off Gil Meche on May 15, 2005. Despite his milestone, the Boston Red Sox lost 5-4 to the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Manuel Aristides (Onelcida) Ramirez finished the 2005 season with 45 home runs, 144 RBIs, and a .292 batting average.

Answer: Zach Duke & Roger Clemens

Duke made his Major League debut in 2005 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and proceeded to pitch 14 games, giving up only 17 earned runs in route to a 1.81 ERA and an 8-2 record. Clemens gave up 44 earned runs in 211.3 innings in route to a 1.87 ERA. Despite the "Rocket's" Major League leading 1.87 ERA, he only went 13-8 for the Houston Astros, who struggled to score runs all season.

Answer: Chipper Jones

Washington's Brad Wilkerson hit his 2nd career cycle on April, 6, 2005. His first was a natural order cycle on June 24, 2003, with the Montreal Expos. Mark Grudzielanek hit his cycle on April, 27, 2005, with the St. Louis Cardinals. Randy Winn started the 2005 season with the Seattle Mariners, but was traded on July 30, 2005, to the San Francisco Giants for Yorvit Torrealba and Jesse Foppert. He hit his cycle for the Giants on August 15, 2005.

Answer: Rafael Palmeiro

When Rafie got his 3000th career base hit off of Joel Pineiro during a game against the Seattle Mariners on July 15, 2005, he became the 4th member of the 500 home run and 3000 hit club. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray were the first three to accomplish this feat.

Answer: A base runner was put out by the hidden ball trick

In the top of the 8th inning with the Florida Marlins leading 6-5 and Todd Jones pitching for the Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks' Luis Terrero led off the inning with a bunt single down the third base line. Pinch hitter Quinton McCracken sacrifice bunted Terrero to second base. Pinch hitter Tony Clark singled to left field and Terrero moved up to third base. With Craig Counsell coming up to bat, Luis Terrero did not notice that when left fielder Miguel Cabrera throw the ball in to third baseman Mike Lowell, Mike held on to the ball. With no timeout called, Terrero took a walking lead off third base and Lowell tagged him out. Craig Counsell struck out to end the inning. Similar to the trickery in the movie, "The Rookie of the Year". Marlins pitcher Todd Jones knew about the pick-off attempt and stayed off the mound rubber.

In the movie, Henry Rowengartner, the 12-year old pitcher was on the rubber on the pitching mound during the hidden ball trick and therefore, making the play illegal and a balk would have been called by the umpire.