Baseball Unstitched [3] Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cleveland Indians

The season was 1997, and the Indians were looking for their first World Series crown since the 1948 win against the Boston Braves. With one out in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, Indian closer Jose Mesa gave up a sacrifice fly to the Marlins Craig Counsell to tie the game at two runs each. Two innings later, Edgar Renteria hit a walk-off single with the bases loaded that gave the Marlins the World Series crown.

The MVP of the series was Florida pitcher Livan Hernandez.

Answer: Brady Anderson

Anderson set this record with the Baltimore Orioles in 1996. It was also Brady's career high for home runs with 50, and many still question why he led off the game for the Orioles so many times in the season. Although he hit 50, he still finished runner-up for the home run crown to Mark McGwire of the Athletics who hit 52.

Answer: Pedro Ramos

Blyleven gave up the 50 in his record-setting 1987 season, then tried to break his own record the following season by giving up 46. He broke the record in 1987 by surpassing the 43 given up by Pedro Ramos of the 1957 Senators. Ramos gave up 316 over his 15 seasons, while Blyleven gave up 430 in his 22 seasons. Morris never allowed more than 40 home runs in a season, and Roberts never gave up more than 35 as an American League pitcher.

Answer: Bob Nieman

Brought up from the Texas League, Nieman made his debut with the St. Louis Browns on September 14, 1951. He smacked two home runs in his first two at-bats off pitcher Mike McDermott of the Red Sox. The Red Sox still won the game, 9-6. Nieman played for 12 seasons and retired with 125 home runs.

Answer: Clint Courtney

Courtney played in only one game in his first season of 1951 for the Yankees on September 29. That was the only game that he appeared in the pinstripes, as the Yankees traded him to the St. Louis Browns for pitcher Jim McDonald. Courtney played in over 100 games for the Browns in 1952, and ended up as the runner-up for the MVP Award to Harry Byrd of the Athletics. Clint played for 11 seasons with five teams, and unfortunately never saw a World Series game.

Answer: Bobby Lowe

Lowe was in his fifth season of baseball in 1894 with the Boston Beaneaters of the National League. Not only was he the first to hit four home runs in four consecutive at-bats, Bobby was the first in history to hit four home runs in a game. He finished the season with 17 home runs, a large amount for early day baseball.

Answer: Sportsman Park

In 1944, the AL Champion St. Louis Browns met the NL Champion St. Louis Cardinals. They both used Sportsman Park IV during the season. The AL Champion Browns still finished sixth of eight AL teams for attendance, while the NL Champion Cardinals finished fifth of eight teams. Managed by Billy Southworth, the Cardinals won the series four games to two, with the help of Walker Cooper's .318 batting average.

In a rather low-scoring series, the Cardinals scored 16 runs against the Browns' 12.

Answer: 2001

The 2001 World Series pitted the NL Cy Young Award winning Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks against the AL Cy Young winner in Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees. Every game in the series was won by the home team. Arizona would win the first two games at Bank One Ballpark, then the Yankees would win three straight at Yankee Stadium. Arizona won games six and seven at home to win the World Series. Curt Schilling and Johnson shared the award with Randy winning three games and striking out out 19 in 17 innings. Schilling won only one game while striking out 26 in 21 innings.

Answer: Joe McGinnity

McGinnity of the New York Giants achieved this feat in August 1908. He led the league in wins with 31, games started with 48, and complete games with 44. Eight times in McGinnity's 10-season short career, he was a 20+ game winner, including winning 25+ six times. Joe retired in 1908 with a 246-142 career record, then was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.

Answer: Eddie Morgan

Morgan of the St. Louis Cardinals debuted in the Majors on April 14, Opening Day for the 1936 season. He faced pitcher Lon Warneke of the Chicago Cubs who let this one go. The Cubs still won the game against opposing pitcher Dizzy Dean, 12-7. Morgan played in only two seasons, and that was his first and only home run of his career.