Baseball Stuffings #1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker

None of the others listed played in that era together. In 1926, Tiger pitcher Dutch Leonard came forward with letters from Smokey Joe Wood, implicating those two along with Cobb and Speaker who bet on some games between the Indians and Tigers in 1919. Leonard had agreed to let the Indians win a numer of games so the Indians could beat the Yankees out of second place money. Speaker and Cobb agreed to retire instead of facing charges, but Leonard later refused to testify against them face-to-face.

The charges were dropped. Both Cobb and Speaker retired on their own in 1928.

Answer: Happy Chandler

The others were not baseball commissioners. Chandler was the commissioner in 1946 when Major Leaguers were also playing in the Mexican League. When a number of players defected south, Chandler threatened to ban the players until 1949, and did indeed ban some players until a flurry of lawsuits were filed.

The bans were lifted. New York Giants pitcher Sal Maglie and Giants' outfielder Danny Gardella were one of the first players banned, and both missed four seasons in the Major Leagues.

Answer: Berra

None of the others listed were father-son combinations in the Major Leagues. Dale Berra was managed by his father Yogi. After playing eight seasons in Pittsburgh, Dale came to the Yankees in 1985. The shortstop played in New York for two seasons, and in less than 50 games both seasons. Dale retired as an Astro in 1987 and never saw a postseason game in his career.

The Mack's, with father Connie and son Earle were the first combination in 1910 with the Philadelphia Athletics.

Answer: Jack Clements

Uecker was the only other catcher listed, and he only played in 297 career games, and only Clements was left-handed. Clements played from 1884-1900. He caught 41 games in the Union Association before becoming a Philadelphia Quaker in 1884 in the National League. Fergy Malone was the first left-handed catcher in history. In 1989, Benny Distefano caught left-handed for the Pirates.

Answer: Robin Ventura

In Nolan's final season in 1993, it was the 46-year old Ranger pitcher against the 26-year old White Sox Ventura. The third baseman didn't have a chance.

Answer: Cincinnati Reds

The Twins and Astros did not exist for at least another 20 years. In 1937, the Reds' ground managers dyed the burned orange/brown outfield grass green. The grass ceased to grow and stayed green, so the keepers continued to use the dye. It was named Redland Field when it opened in 1912, and the name was later changed to Crosley Field where they played until 1970.

Answer: Charley Sweeney

1884 was too early for the others listed. Sweeney pitched for the Providence Grays (NL) and did this on June 7, 1884. He threw a 17-8 record for the Grays before being traded mid-season to the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association. Charley finished out the season throwing a 24-7 record for the Maroons.

Answer: Denny McLain

Eddie Cicotte lost out in 1920 for betting on the 1919 World Series. Rose was not a player when he was banned in 1989. Denny McLain was suspended much of the 1970 season by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for being implicated in a bookmaking operation. McLain had pitched himself into the record books by going 31-6 in 1968. Upon his return in 1971 to a full season with the Senators after his suspension, McLain went 10-22.

He retired after the 1972 season.

Answer: Dale Mitchell

Too early for the others listed. October 8, 1956, went down in history as the Yankees faced the Dodgers in game five of the World Series. On the mound for New York was Don Larsen. The final out was made when Larsen struck out Dale Mitchell, who only had four at-bats in the series.

The Yankees defeated the Dodgers, four games to three. However, Dodger pitcher Sal Maglie was no slouch in the game either, allowing two runs on five hits.

Answer: Philadelphia Athletics

The other teams did not exist in 1914. Jack Dunn owned the rights to Ruth who was playing in the Minor Leagues. In 1914, Babe Ruth hit his only home run in the Minors. Dunn, who had hoped to hang on to Ruth for a couple more seasons, ran into financial problems in the Federal League with the Orioles.

The first person he approached to buy Ruth was Athletics' owner Connie Mack, but Mack wasn't impressed with Ruth at all. Boston owner Joe Lannin, who happened to be of Irish decent as was Dunn, was approached and the deal was made. John McGraw, a fellow Irishman with the New York Giants, was furious that he was not offered the Babe.