Not-So-Basic Nightmare Baseball [12] Quiz

Answer: George Kell

George Kell, then of the Detroit Tigers, beat Ted Williams by .3429 to .3428, when they both vied for this title in 1949. The closest margin, to that point, was in 1945 when Snuffy Stirnweiss (of the New York Yankees) beat Tony Cuccinello by .30854 to .30845.

Kell managed to have a significant career in baseball, playing on multiple teams between 1943 and 1957, acting as an MLB All-Star for ten of those seasons. He would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. Ted Williams wouldn't suffer for his loss on this title; he won it in six other years.

Answer: Chicago Cubs

Koufax was, then, of the Los Angeles Dodgers and he would have a pretty significant year, winning the World Series, becoming an MVP (again) and getting a Triple Crown. The Chicago Cubs would finish the season in eighth place in the National League though they would celebrate their fiftieth year of playing at Wrigley Field.

Answer: False

After four seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Brock would have sixteen seasons with the Cardinals, claiming his second World Series win with them in 1969 and, inevitably, joining the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985. Though a celebrated All-Star player, Brock closed out his career with a total of 149 home runs.

A career-long left-fielder, his more impressive stats actually lie elsewhere-- he stole 938 bases in his career, being a National League leader in this for eight years of his career. He passed away in 2020.

Answer: The 1930s

Though it seems a bit unbelievable, Sewell, playing for the New York Yankees, accomplished this in 1932, a banner year for him and the team as they won the World Series. It would be Sewell's second World Series win; he took the title in 1920 in his first year with the MLB (playing for the Cleveland Indians).

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. His strike-out record is stellar, second only to Willie Keeler. He struck out only 114 times in fourteen series, doing so (on average) once every 62 times he was at-bat.

Answer: Babe Ruth

That was all Ruth could muster during this event as the New York Giants pounded the New York Yankees 4 games to 0. Miller Huggins, the Yankees manager at the time, was almost fired for the loss. Instead, he'd take the team to a World Series win the next year (and again in 1927 and 1928).

Though Ruth wouldn't take the World Series this year, he'd end his career with seven total World Series wins-- three with the Boston Red Sox and four with the Yankees. Notably, 1922 was the first year in which the World Series finals had a best-of-seven format (previously best-of-nine).

Answer: Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies were rained out ten games in a row with the streak ending August 18, 1909. The catch is that many of these games weren't at home, and the players managed to accomplish this feat by travelling with the storm unintentionally. After getting rained out in St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, they eventually made it home to play again.

The weather didn't affect their contention for the year's larger events-- they were out of the running for the pennant before the bad weather hit.

Answer: 4

First baseman for the New York Yankees for seventeen seasons, Lou Gehrig was considered amongst the best of his generation in the sport. Nicknamed "the Iron Horse", he would win the World Series six times, leading the league in home runs and RBI several times in his celebrated career.

His career in the MLB would end in 1939, the same year his number, 4, would be retired by the team. In the same year, he would also be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a special election. It was this year, after his 2,130th consecutive game in the MLB, that he would be diagnosed with MLS.

Answer: Plastic batting helmets

Brooklyn was the first to adopt this safety gear, doing so in 1941 after both Pee Wee Reese and Pete Reiser were hurt by beanings. This isn't to say that teams didn't wear headgear prior to this-- many teams wore baseball caps or, for a small bit of protection, leather and polo helmets once players started taking on career-ending head injuries.

The helmets used by the Dodgers, designed by a brain surgeon, were subsequently adopted by other teams in the National League and by the 1950s, they would be mandatory.

The American League would decide the same, but not until 1958.

Answer: Joe Mauer

Late in the game, eh? Joe Mauer accomplished this feat in 2008, playing as catcher for the Minnesota Twins. Before him, it had been accomplished three times by this role on the field, but all in the National League - Bubbles Hargave (playing for Cincinnati Reds) in 1926, and Ernie Lombardi in 1938 (for the Cincinnati Reds) and again in 1942 (for the Boston Braves).

He was a career-long Twins player, staying with them for fifteen seasons and becoming a six-times all-star. He retired from the sport in 2018.

Answer: False

Though this team was known as the Bees from 1936-1940, they became the Braves shortly after, eventually moving to Milwaukee and then Atlanta to become the Braves there.

Robinson did play against the Boston Braves on that day, however, and he went hitless in that game, ending up 0-20 after his first five games. Despite this, he ended the season with a .297 batting average and led the National League in stolen bases. Robinson would be a career-long Dodger, winning the World Series in 1955 and becoming a household name in the sport.