MLB Very Difficult Trivia

1. Who was the first player in baseball history to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded?

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 9

Answer: Nap Lajoie

Lajoie was a Philadelphia Athletic on May 23, 1901, in a game against the Chicago White Sox. With Chicago ahead in the top of the ninth inning with a 11-7 lead, the Athletics had the bases loaded and nobody out with Lajoie coming up to the plate. With Lajoie ahead of any other player in the league for the Triple Crown Award, White Sox manager Clark Griffith put himself into the game as a relief pitcher. He intentionally walked Lajoie, then got three outs with the next three batters while allowing another run to end the game 11-9.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 8

Answer: Pete Alexander

The other pitching greats won two Triple Crown Awards from the mound. Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander was a pitching wonder in the early 20th Century. Pete was a National League pitcher from 1911-1930. His three consecutive Triple Crowns came in 1915, 1916, and 1917 as a Philadelphia Phillie. Six times in Philadelphia he won 20+ games in a season including three 30-win seasons. Ironically, the Phillies traded him to the Chicago Cubs in December 1917 in a two-for-two player trade and cash. In 1918 with Chicago he went 2-1. Strangely enough that Alexander never won the league MVP, he led the league in strikeouts and wins during six seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938. Pete died in 1950 at the age of 63.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 7

Answer: Athletics

The Philadelphia Athletics had a gem of a pitching staff in 1931. They were led by the arms of Lefty Grove (31-4), George Earnshaw (21-7), and Rube Walberg (20-12). The Athletics won 107 games against only 45 losses in the season and went to the World Series but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals four games to three. The Baltimore Orioles were the first team in history to have four 20-game winners. In 1971 they had Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Dave McNally, and Jim Palmer who all won at least 20 games in the season. The Orioles went 101-57 but lost the World Series to the Pirates four games to three. The first NL team to have three 20-game winners was the Chicago White Stockings in 1886 (John Clarkson with 36 wins, Jim McCormick with 31 and Jocko Flynn with 23).

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 4

Answer: Ed Delahanty

Delahanty played in 13 of his 16 seasons with the Philadelphia Quakers/Phillies from 1888-1903. All three times of batting .400 he was with the Phillies. His .400 seasons were in 1894, 1895, and 1899. He just missed a fourth .400 season in 1896 when he batted .397. "Big Ed's" career average was .346. He died before his career was over in 1903 when he fell off Niagara Falls in an unsolved mystery. Cobb and Hornsby also batted .400 three times in their career but many seasons after Delahanty. Tip O'Neill batted over .400 only one time in his career with the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. Ross Barnes of the Boston Red Stockings in the National Association batted over .400 four times but in two of his seasons did not meet the minimum requirements to be official.

From Quiz Baseball's Mixed Nut Challenge

Answer: Kansas City Royals

Kansas City was not marked as any royalty. In decades past all the Kansas City baseball teams had their name related to cowboys. The new franchise in 1969 had the public submit suggestions and it was voted on "Royals" to depict and show off the fine beef in cows and horses from the cattle industry in Kansas City.

From Quiz Baseball Unstitched [5]

Answer: Tommy Tucker

The first baseman was in his third season with the Baltimore Orioles in 1889 when he batted .372 to win the batting crown. He played the following eight seasons with the Boston Beaneaters, played with four teams in four seasons, then retired in 1899 with one of the worst teams in history, the Cleveland Spiders. He retired after 13 seasons with only a .290 average.

From Quiz Baseball Unstitched [1]

Answer: Paul Waner

All four Pirates are members of the Hall of Fame. Waner played 15 of his 20 seasons with the Pirates, and also played next to his brother Lloyd in the Pirate outfield. Paul won the MVP in 1927 for the National League, while Lou Gehrig of the Yankees won it for the American League.

From Quiz The Big Challenge

Answer: Christy Mathewson

In his Hall of Fame career, Mathewson won 20+ games in each season from 1903-1914 for the New York Giants. If not for winning only 14 games in 1902, Christy could have strung together 14 consecutive seasons of winning 20+ as he went 20-17 in 1901. He retired after pitching in only one game with the Reds in 1916, taking his final win total to 373. Spahn was a pitcher for the Braves and ran off two consecutive streaks of six 20+ win seasons. Warren could have run both those streaks together into 13 straight seasons, had it not been for his 1955 season of going 17-14. The great Cy Young had a streak of nine 20-win seasons. Welch didn't win 20+ in more than seven consecutive seasons in his career.

From Quiz The Nightmare Challenge of Baseball [2]

Answer: Ken Johnson

Johnson was a Houston Astro on April 23, 1964, when he went up against Joe Nuxhall and the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds scored in the top of the ninth when a Vada Pinson ground ball was bobbled and the third out could not be made. Pete Rose scored in the process. The Astros and Johnson lost, 1-0.

From Quiz Old School Baseball

Answer: Cy Young

Young was with the Boston Americans in 1904 in his 15th baseball season. On May 5, he threw his perfecto against the Philadelphia Athletics and won 3-0. Young retired in 1911 with a record 511 wins, and would see the Hall of Fame in 1937.

From Quiz Hold On To Your Hats!

Answer: 1906

1906 was the third World Series. It pitted the Chicago Cubs against the Chicago White Sox. The Cubs finished the season with a huge surge, going 50-8. They ended the season with 116 wins. Up against the White Sox, known as "The Hitting Wonders", Chicago couldn't do much of anything in the first four games of the series. The Cubs allowed only five runs in those four games. The Cubs then allowed 16 White Sox runs in the next two games, and lost the series four games to two. However, the Cubs would go on to win the 1907 and 1908 series against the Tigers.

From Quiz Totally Random Baseball

Answer: Diego Segui

All the choices had successful sons play Major League baseball, but only Diego Segui played for the Seattle Mariners in 1977. The combination of his age and team earned him the nickname, 'The Ancient Mariner'. He was also the only player in Major League history to play on both the Mariners and the previous Seattle team, the Pilots in 1969.

From Quiz 10 Degrees of Babe Ruth

Answer: Most home runs in a season

In 1884 Williamson, playing for the Chicago White Stockings (1879-89), set the single season home run record with 27. Ruth broke the record with 29 home runs as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

From Quiz The Ultimate Baseball Challenge

Answer: Brooklyn

The Superbas (later Dodgers) won the pennant under the managerial guidance of Ned Hanlon. Their record was 84-54, 4.5 games ahead of the Pirates.

From Quiz A Real Baseball Nightmare [5]

Answer: 1

The only time in the entire century this happened was in 1965 when they went 102-60 under manager Sam Mele. They were led by the bat of Harmon Killebrew and the arm of Jim Kaat. However, they would lose the World Series to the Dodgers.

From Quiz A Real Baseball Nightmare [1]

Answer: Claudell Washington

Washington was struck out 39 times in his career by Nolan. He played for seven teams throughout his 17-season career, and retired as a Yankee in 1990. He struck out 1266 times. Fred Patek, who played for 14 seasons mostly with the Royals, was Ryan's second victim with 31 strikeouts.

From Quiz Sweating to the Oldies

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

As a 23-year old, Moises played in two games in a Pirates uniform before being traded to the Expos. The Alou transaction was one of those "a player to be named later" type of deals, and he was it. The trade completed a Zane Smith/Willie Greene trade a week prior. In Montreal, Moises made the Pirates regret the deal without giving him a realistic view.

From Quiz Electro-Shock Baseball: Treatment 1

Answer: Cy Seymour

The 16-season Seymour was a Cincinnati Red in 1905. He led the league in batting average, RBIs, and fell short in the home run department by hitting eight. Outfielder and teammate Fred Odwell hit nine for the season. Ironically, Odwell would never hit another home run again.

From Quiz Sweating Baseballs

Answer: New York Mets

The Mets had the unfortunate opportunity to have the worst one-run games record in the season. Appearing in 43, they won only 15. They finished the 2003 season with a record of 66-95, a last place in finish in the National League Eastern Division.

From Quiz Random Baseball Facts

Answer: Roger Connor

Roger Connor hit the first grand slam on September 10, 1881. Roger played from 1880 to 1897 as a member of the Troy Trojans, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals.

From Quiz Diehard Baseball - Nightmare 72

Answer: 47

Gehrig and Ruth were competitive almost the entire season in the home run department. When Gehrig went into a slump, he was overshadowed the rest of the season by the King of Swat. The year was 1927 and the Yankees were 110-44 for the season.

From Quiz Baseball 57

Answer: Hugh Nicol

Nicol stole 138 bases in 1887 for Cincinnati and was the first to break the 100 barrier. He stole 103 the following year.

From Quiz Some Baseball Oddities

Answer: Ted Williams

Rickey Henderson did it in 2000, so Williams now has company in this odd accomplishment.

From Quiz Advanced Baseball [2]

Answer: Yankees

Dave Tobik, former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, faced the Yankees in his first big league start, October 4, 1980.

From Quiz Advanced Baseball [1]

Answer: Twins

Luis Gomez was drafted in by the Twins in 1973.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 9

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

Robinson was the first African-American in modern-day baseball to enter the Major Leagues. He debuted with the Dodgers in 1947. After retiring in 1957, Major League Baseball retired the number 42 on April 15, 1997 in honor of Jackie. On September 17, 2006 the Cardinals co-retired the number 42 in honor of pitcher Bruce Sutter. Sutter was a relief pitcher from 1976-1988. He never started a game in the Major Leagues. In his 12 seasons he played for the Cardinals only in four seasons from 1981-1984. In three of those four seasons he won the Rolaids Relief Award. He also won the NL Cy Young Award in 1979 with the Cubs. The only major category that Sutter led the league in was saves. Bruce retired as a Brave in 1988 with a 68-71 career record. He was inducted into the Hall in 2006.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 8

Answer: Brooklyn Atlantics

The Atlantics were in the National Association from 1872-1875. In their four seasons in the league they never had a winning season. The league closed their doors in 1875 but Brooklyn got the last word in by going a pathetic 2-42. Among those 42 losses were 31 consecutive. Their 'star' starting pitchers were John Cassidy who went 1-21 and Jim Clinton who went 1-13. Even with Brooklyn's extremely poor performance, the Keokuk Westerns finished by winning only one game in the season with their 1-12 record. The Boston Red Stockings won the final pennant of the National Association by 15 games over the Athletics. The Phillies set a National League record in 1961 by losing 23 games. The Orioles set an American League record by losing 21 in 1988.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 7

Answer: Jack Clements

Clements began his career with the Philadelphia Keystones of the Union Association in 1884. Midseason he slid over to the National League with the Philadelphia Quakers. He played with the Quakers/Phillies 14 seasons until 1897 when he moved to St. Louis Brown territory. Jack was not only the only left-handed catcher to play behind the plate in 1000 games, he was the only left-hander to even play in 300 games. He played behind the plate in 1076 games. The law of physics dictate that a left-handed catcher is taboo, unlike the preferred left-hander at first base. Clements never led the league in any offensive category and retired in 1900 with the Boston Beaneaters and his .287 career batting average. Jack died in 1941 at the age of 76.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 4

Answer: George Selkirk

After a glorious career with the Boston Red Sox, then the Yankees from 1920-1934, Ruth signed with the Boston Braves of the National League in hopes of getting a foot in the door to become manager. Although he wore the number 3 of the Braves in 1935, his managing hopes didn't come to be and he retired. Selkirk was a rookie Yankee in 1934 and wore the number 1 in the outfield in only 46 games. After Ruth left the Yankees at the end of the 1934 season, Selkirk took Ruth's number 3 and continued to wear it until he retired in 1942. Metheny wore the number 3 with the Yankees after Selkirk, then Clark wore it after Metheny. Ruth's number 3 was retired in 1948 shortly after the organization made Yankee Cliff Mapes give up the uniform to give way to the Babe. Ruth also died in 1948.

From Quiz Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 1

Answer: Andre Dawson

Andre Dawson played for 21 seasons from 1976-1996 with four teams. In 1990, he was a Chicago Cub when he set this record. On May 22, in a game against the visiting Reds, Dawson was walked intentionally five times, twice by Tom Browning, twice by Scott Scudder, and once by Tim Birtsas. Dawson did have a single and a stolen base in the 2-1 win over the Reds.

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