Take this Baseball Hall of Famers Quiz! Average Trivia | Baseball

Answer: Carl Yastrzemski

Carl Yastrezemski debut for the Boston Red Sox on April 11, 1961, the year after the retirement of Ted Williams. He spent the next twenty three years as a member of the Sox, patrolling left field and guarding the Green Monster for most of that time, although late in his career he did play a bit of first base and was a designated hitter as well. "Yaz" was a lifetime .285 hitter, stroked 452 home runs during his career, and won the American League Triple Crown as well the Most Valuable Player Award in 1967.

He also has the dubious distinction of winning the American League batting title in 1968 with a .301 batting average, the lowest winning average in the major league history.

Answer: Mel Ott

This little guy spent his entire career with the New York Giants and was one of the most prolific power hitter in the first half of the 20th century, with a career mark of 511 home runs. He also hit for average, compiling a .304 lifetime batting average to go with over 2800 hits.

He led the National League in home runs six times and held the National League career home run record for 29 years, from 1937 until he was passed by Willie Mays in 1966. He also managed the team for seven seasons, as a player-manager for the first six, and then strictly a manager in his final season, 1948. Ott died in an automobile accident in 1958.

Answer: Bob Gibson

There are some that say that Gibson's 1968 season will never be equaled. He was virtually unhittable that season with an earned run average of 1.12 and pitched 13 shutouts. He had a 22-9 won loss record that year. It is said that his 1968 season was almost single handedly responsible for the decision to lower the pitching mound from 15 to 10 inches to give batters a little better chance.

But Gibson was so much more than a one season pitcher. He won 251 games during his 17 year career, struck out 3,117 batters and pitched to a career 2.91 earned run average.

He also had 56 shutouts during his career and 255 complete games.

Answer: Monte Irvin

All the players listed were greats in the Negro League, but it was Monte Irvin that signed a contract to play for the New York Giants and spent parts of seven seasons with them. He was a good player in the Negro League and did well with the Giants too.

He had a .293 lifetime batting average, and led the National League in runs batted in 1951. That year, he was part of the first all black outfield in the major leagues, along with Hank Thompson, and a rookie named Willie Mays.

Answer: Wade Boggs

Wade Boggs was one of the most prolific hitters of the 20th Century. He won five batting titles between 1982 and 1988 as a member of the Boston Red Sox, as well as two Gold Glove awards for fielding excellence at third base later in his career with the New York Yankees. During his 18 years in the majors, there were only three seasons in which he failed to have at least a .300 average, and he reached the 3000-hit plateau in 1999 while a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, for whom he played his final two seasons.

He had a lifetime batting average of .328 and collected 3010 hits during his illustrious career.

Answer: Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley came to the Cleveland Indians in 1975 and was a starting pitcher for them for three seasons before being traded to the Boston Red Sox. His first season in Boston (1978) he was a 20 game winner. He pitched for the Red Sox for the next seven seasons and then was traded to the Chicago Cubs during 1984.

He spent three seasons with the Cubs and in 1986 it appeared that his career was winding down after a 6 win 11 loss season. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics for the 1987 season, and manager Tony LaRussa decided to try "Eck" as a relief pitcher. Well, he became so dominant that in 1990, he became the first relief pitcher in major league history to pitch more innings than base runners allowed when he pitched 48 innings and only allowed 45 total base runners for the season. During nine seasons between 1987 and 1995 Eckersley went on to have 321 saves while winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award as well as the Cy Young Award during his 1992 season in which he recorded 51 saves.

He spent two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals after that in which he recorded another 66 saves, before retiring with the Red Sox during the 1996 season. He was the first pitcher in history to record both a 20 victory season and a 50 save season during a career, a mark that was later tied by John Smoltz. Eckersley won 197 games during his career and saved a total of 390. Add them up and he was responsible in one way or another for more wins than Cy Young.

Answer: Brooks Robinson

Brooks Robinson made his debut in late 1955 for the Baltimore Orioles. Over the course of the next 23 seasons through 1977, he developed the nickname of "The Human Vacuum Cleaner". Imagine winning 16 straight Gold Glove Awards for fielding excellence. Imagine being selected to the All-Star team 15 times. Imagine being selected as the American League Most Valuable Player as he was in 1964. Imagine being selected as the World Series Most Valuable Player as he was in 1970. Brooks did all these things during his career, despite a lifetime batting average of only .267, meager by Hall of Fame standards. Brooks was so much more than that though.

He saved as many games with his glove as any home run hitter could win games with his bat. Brooks still managed 2848 lifetime hits and 268 home runs during his career, but his glove was the best ever according to some.

Answer: Jim Rice

Jim Rice came to the Boston Red Sox in August of 1974 and spent his entire 15 year career with them. He had a lifetime average of .298 and cracked 382 home runs. He was an eight time All-Star, with his finest season coming in 1978 when he hit 46 home runs and drove in 139 runs with a .315 batting average being named the American League's Most Valuable Player that year. During Rice's career he batted .300 or better seven times and at one point had eight straight seasons of 100 RBI or better. Sounds like a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame right? Not so fast.

It took Rice his full fifteen years of eligibility to make the Hall of Fame and he made it in his final year. This stemmed in part from his statistics, which were perceived to be borderline in some circles, but it is also believed that since he had a difficult time with some members of the press during his career, many of which vote for Hall of Fame eligibles, that this was part of the reason it took so long for him to gain entry, which finally happened in 2009.

Answer: Walter Alston

All of these men are Hall of Fame managers but it was Walter Alston who got into the Hall of Fame with these credentials. Alston's one at bat in the majors came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936 when he replaced another Hall of Famer, Johnny Mize, who had been ejected from a game. Alston began his stint with the then Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954, and managed them to their only World Series championship in 1955.

He went with the team to Los Angeles in 1957 and continued to manage them until 1976. Along the way he won seven pennants and a total of four World Championships with the Dodgers, while never signing a managerial contract for more than one year at a time.

His managed his teams to 2040 wins over the course of his career, with a .558 winning percentage.

Answer: Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is one of the most lovable characters ever to play the game of baseball. He came to the New York Yankees in 1946 and played with the tem through the end of the 1963 season. He finished his playing career with the New York Mets in 1965, and later became their coach and manager. Yogi was a 15-time All-Star and was part of 13 World Series winning teams while with the Yankees.

He had a .285 lifetime batting average along with 358 home runs and over 1400 RBI. He was noted as one of the best "bad ball" hitters ever, sometimes even swinging at pitches in the dirt and coming up with base hits. Of course over the years he has come up with his own language of sayings affectionately known as "Yogi-isms" with such gems as "When you get to the fork in the road, take it", and "Baseball is 90% physical and the other half is mental", "You can observe a lot just by watching", and "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours" among his many comical witticisms.