Native Soil Trivia Quiz

Left-handed pitcher Graeme John Lloyd was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 1967 and made his major league debut in 1993 with the Milwaukee Brewers with whom he spent four years. Thereafter he spent time with six more different teams, making his final appearance in September 2003 with the Kansas City Royals. His career earned run average (ERA) was just over four, and his won - loss record was 30 and 36.

Internationally, he represented Australia at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Born in Berne, Switzerland in 1878, Otto Hess was both a left-handed pitcher and a left fielder. In his first stint in the majors he played for the American League Cleveland Bronchos/Blues/Naps and in his second go around he was with the Boston Braves in the National League. His career won-loss record as a pitcher was 70 and 90, with an ERA of 2.98. His career batting average was .216.
He died in Tucson, Arizona in 1926.

Lance Telford Painter was born in Bedford, England in 1967, and made his major league debut with the Colorado Rockies in 1993. A left-handed pitcher, he was used mainly in relief, ending his career with 25 wins and 18 losses, as well as three saves. He pitched for four different teams during his career, making his last appearance in 2003 with the St Louis Cardinals.

He went on to a coaching career, including as pitching coach of the Great Britain national team in the 2005 European Baseball Championships.

Alessandro "Alex" Liddi was born in San Remo, Italy in 1988 and attended the Major League Baseball International European Academy after completing high school in Albenga, Italy. When he made his MLB debut in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners, he became the first graduate of the International Academy to reach the big leagues.

He played parts of three seasons with Seattle, as a corner infielder and left fielder, both batting and throwing right. His career average was .208. He went gone on to play in the Chinese Professional Baseball League for one season (2019) and a variety of minor league teams.

Mpho' Gift Ngoepe was born in Pietersburg, South Africa in 1990. When he made his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in April 2017 he became the first African to play in the major leagues. An infielder who could play second, third or short, he played in 28 games that year with the Pirates, followed by a brief stint with the Toronto Blue Jays the following year.

He was known as a good defensive player, but a batting average below .200 made his stay in the majors a short one.

Rik Aalbert Blyleven, known as Bert, was born in Zeist, Netherlands in 1951. A right-handed pitcher, he was just 19 years old when he made his major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 1970. By the time he played his last game (with the then-California Angels) at age 41 in 1992, he had amassed a won - lost record of 287-250 and a career ERA of 3.31.

He played for 11 years with the Twins, and with a total of five teams. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2011.

Right-handed power pitcher, Chan Ho Park was born in Kong Ju City, Chungcheong, South Korea in 1973. He attended both high school and university in his native country, before making his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994. He played for seven teams in his 17 year career, with a won-loss record of 124-98 and an ERA of 4.36. Playing in the National League before it adopted the designated hitter, Park became the first South Korean born player, ever, to hit a home run (24 August 2000). He's also remembered as the pitcher who gave up two grand slams in one inning to Fernando Tatis (23 April 1999) and Barry Bonds' record breaking 71st home run on 5 October 2001.

Born in Tainan, Taiwan in 1980, Chien-Ming Wang broke into the majors in 2005 with the New York Yankees, sticking with them for five years. His career had some gaps thereafter, and he had brief stints in Washington, Toronto and Kansas City. On July 28, 2006 he became the first Taiwanese-born pitcher to record a shutout, holding the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to just two hits, whilst pitching a complete game for New York.

Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1923, and made his debut as a right hand hitting outfielder with the New York Giants in 1946. He played for several other teams later in his career, retiring with a .270 batting average and 264 career home runs. He is best remembered for one of those home runs, known as the Shot Heard Round the World. This was the homer that won the 1951 National League pennant for the Giants, prompting announcer Russ Hodges to repeat "The Giants win the pennant!" multiple times in his excitement.

Thomson passed away in Georgia in 2010, aged 86.

Prior to making his major league debut with the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Ichiro Suzuki (sometimes simply, "Ichiro") had played for nine seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in his home country. He was born in 1973 in Aichi prefecture, Japan and was a left hand hitting right fielder with an MLB career average of .311, over 3000 hits and 117 home runs. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2001 and also the league Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was an all star ten times, won multiple Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards and was generally an all around good player.

After over a decade in Seattle, he moved on to play with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, before returning in 2018 to finish out his career in Seattle.

He also won two World Baseball Classic gold medals with the Japanese national team, in 2006 and 2009.