Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The first pitcher to win two all-star games was Bob Friend, who in 1956 and 1960 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, won the bragging rights for the National League in each game. Friend also appeared in the 1960s World Series in which Bill Mazeroski's game-seven home run won it for the Pirates. Bob played for 16 seasons, all with the Pirates, and retired with a 197-230 career record.
2. At the beginning of the 1948 season, Comedian Lou Costello asked Indians' owner Bill Veeck why there were no games that honored anyone other than players such as, "Babe Ruth day", "Lou Gehrig day", etc. Veeck in turn, created a wide variety of 'fan appreciation days' throughout the season which shattered every attendance record for baseball, with over 2,600,000 attendees in the season.
3. The last World Series in history to be played all in the same ballpark occurred in 1936 at the Polo Grounds in New York. The Giants lost the World Series to the Yankees four games to two. Babe Ruth was not in a Yankee uniform at the time, but the Yankees still had Lou Gehrig, who hit two home runs, and Lefty Gomez who won two games in the series.
4. Earl Battey was confused. With the Washington Senators in 1960, he made the move to Minnesota with the franchise to become the Twins. In 1971, he found himself with the Senators again as a new American League expansion team, then moved with the franchise again to become the Texas Rangers in 1972. He was a two-time all-star in his career.
5. Pitchers Sam McDowell, Tom Seaver, Curt Schilling, and Bill Hutchison all threw 300-strikeout seasons in their careers. Although McDowell and Hutchison never saw a league championship game, they both had great careers of their own. McDowell retired with over 2400 strikeouts.
6. In the 1970s, Curtis Brown played for only one season in his Major League career. He set a record in 1975 for playing his entire career of one season by going a 0-for-41 with his batting endeavors. However, the Mets finished third in the NL Eastern Division in the season.
7. Playing in only one season as a 'regular' in my baseball career, I set a record for my batting average by hitting .370 in that season. I am Wilbert Robinson, who with the Baltimore Orioles of the National League in 1894, set this record for a one-season starting player that stood throughout the entire 20th century.
8. The 1990 World Series which pitted the first bay area series with the Oakland Athletics facing the San Francisco Giants, was needless to state uneventful, except for the earthquake that delayed the series for 10 days. This was the Giants' first World Series play in 27 seasons. This was indicated by the Giants never having led in any of the four games of the series. The Giants lost the series four games to none, and Oakland's pitcher Dave Stewart was the World Series MVP.
9. Even after closing out two centuries of baseball, Guy Hecker was still one of a kind. He was the only pitcher to win a batting title in the era. Hecker was a rookie in 1882 with the Louisville Eclipse of the American Association. He set an AA record by winning 52 games in a season in 1884, was the only AA player to hit three homes in a game, and was the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the league also. In 1887, Guy also played an entire game at first base without ever touching the ball in 1887.
10. Only three shortstops in the National League won batting titles in the first 100 years of Major League baseball. The first was Rogers Hornsby, then Arky Vaughan, then Dick Groat in 1960. They were all Pittsburgh Pirates when they won the crown.
Source: Author
Nightmare
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