A Slice of Baseball Trivia Quiz

Answer: Angels

Arizona joined the ranks in 1998, Florida in 1993, and the Houston club in 1962 as the Colt .45s. The Angels inaugurated their spot in baseball in 1961 as the Los Angeles Angels. The team was led by manager Bill Rigney, whose 70-91 record was good enough for the eighth spot of 10 teams.

The Angels were led by outfielder Leon Wagner and pitcher Ken McBride. The team changed its name to the California Angels in 1965, then the Anaheim Angels in 1997. 2005 saw another name change that not even the fans of Southern California wanted, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Answer: Roger Craig

None of the others listed ever lost 20 games in a season, and didn't play in the 1960s. After a consistent career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, the new Mets must have seen something they liked in Craig, as the new team took him in the expansion draft after the 1961 season. Roger showed his appreciation by going 10-24 in 1962, then 5-22 in 1963. 1964 saw him in a Cardinal uniform where he went 7-9. Craig retired in 1966 as a Phillie, with a 74-98 career record.

Answer: John McSherry

The others were all Pittsburgh Pirate pitchers in the 1920s. The game in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium against the Montreal Expos had only seen seven pitches in the game when the tragedy happened. Reds' owner Marge Schott, being Marge Schott, commented after the game that she felt cheated because the game had already been delayed due to a snowy morning.

She later sent flowers to the McSherry funeral as an apology, but a Cincinnati newspaper reported those same flowers were given to Schott days earlier by someone else.

Answer: Casey Stengel

The others never managed either the Yankees or Mets. Yogi Berra, Joe Torre, and Dallas Green were other managers who managed on both sides of the tracks. Stengel won 1149 games with the Yankees, but only 175 with the Mets against 404 losses. Those 404 losses came in four Met seasons from 1962-1965.

It had to have been a tough adjustment for Stengel after taking the Yankees to 10 World Series, then finishing last in all four of his Met seasons.

Answer: Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr.

The other fathers never existed. In the first portion of Junior's career, he played for the Mariners from 1989-1999. His father, Ken Sr, came to the Mariners in his 18th season in 1990. Griffey Sr. retired after the 1991 season as a Mariner. They were 19 years apart in age. While Ken Jr. hit over 500 home runs in his career, his father hit only 152.

Answer: Mel Ott

Ott beat the others to the door by at least 25 years. Mel's 500th of 511 career shots came in 1945. Ott was a 22-season New York Giant. His season-high was in 1929 when he hit 42. Banks, a.k.a. 'Mr. Cub', joined the club in 1970, while Killebrew of the Senators and Twins entered it in 1971, and McGwire of Oakland and St. Louis in 1999.

Answer: There was only one hit in the entire game

What a dandy of a duel on September 9, 1965. It was Dodger Sandy Koufax against the Cubs' Bob Hendley. Both pitchers had a perfect game going into the fifth inning, then Hendley walked Dodger Lou Johnson. In the seventh inning, it was Johnson who broke up Hendley's now no-hitter with a single. Lou later scored in the inning on a throwing error, and this was the only run of the game.

This was the only hit of the game also. The game also set a record for having only two base runners.

Answer: New York / San Francisco Giants

No franchise that played throughout the entire century was free from this terrible statistic. The San Francisco Giants' only poor memory came in the 1985 season when they went 62-100. The National League Philadelphia franchise did it an amazing 14 times.

The Pirates had five seasons that they would rather forget. The Tigers fell victim to this four times in the century. Even the Yankees' franchise experienced this in 1908 and 1912 as the New York Highlanders. The Cincinnati Reds experienced this only once also in their great franchise history in 1982.

The Dodger franchise did this only twice in 1905 and 1908 as the Brooklyn Superbas.

Answer: Johan Santana

The others were all National League pitchers in 2004, but they didn't receive any first place votes either. Santana of the Twins took 28 first place votes and 140 points of a maximum of 140 points. Curt Schilling of the Red Sox finished second with 82 points, and Mariano Rivera of the Yankees had 27. Santana was in his fifth season, all with the Twins, and went 20-6 with 265 strikeouts.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The others listed did not reach the 90-game marker. The Yankees were the only other team to reach the century mark in 2004. The Cardinals bettered their previous season by 20 wins. In 2003, the team went 85-77, and followed it with 105-57 in 2004. It was all for not as they lost the World Series to the Red Sox, four games to none.