Baseball for Dummies: 1300 Trivia Quiz

Answer: New York Yankees

27 World Series titles, a feat that will probably never be equaled for another century. The Yankees won the 2009 World Series with manager Joe Girardi at the helm. It all began in 1923 against the New York Giants with their first, when manager Miller Huggins was still trying to deal with Babe Ruth.

The Yankees ran off four consecutive World Series crowns from 1936-1939. They ran another five consecutive World Series from 1949-1953 under the management of Casey Stengel.

Answer: Hank Aaron

It was a shame that "Hammerin' Hank" fell short of Ruth's record with only 713 home runs at the end of the 1973 season. Aaron received many deaths threats and totally uncalled for racial letters over his possibility of breaking Ruth's record. On April 4, 1974, Hank tied Ruth's record against the Reds with his 714th home run against the Cincinnati Reds and pitcher Jack Billingham. Four days later on April 8th, Aaron shrugged off all the threats against him and his family by hitting number 715. The pitch was provided by Al Downing of the Dodgers.

The Braves won the game, but nothing more important than Hank breaking Ruth's all-time record. Ironically, Downing gave up only seven home runs in the season.

Answer: Dodgers and Giants

The Dodger franchise had been in Brooklyn beginning in 1884 as the Atlantics in the American Association. They moved to the National League in 1890. The Giants had already been there in the National League in 1883 as the New York Gothams. The Giants won their first World Series in 1905 against the Athletics, and won four more in New York.

However, they spent the rest of the 20th century in San Francisco with no World Series crowns. The Dodgers won their first World Series from Brooklyn in 1955, then their first in Los Angeles in 1959 against the White Sox.

The Angels and Padres were expansion teams in California, and the Athletics moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968.

Answer: Joe Mauer

It was Mauer's third batting crown in four seasons. Joe was in his sixth season of baseball in 2009, and was presented the American League MVP for his efforts in the season. Mauer was Minnesota home grown, and was a first round first pick by the Twins in the 2001 Amateur Draft.

Answer: Nolan Ryan

Williams was a career Boston Red Sox great which spanned 19 seasons, Ripken with the Orioles for 21 seasons, and Gehrig with the Yankees from 1923-1939. Ryan began his career with the New York Mets in 1966. After pitching five seasons with the Mets, they traded him and three other players to the Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi. Nolan spent eight seasons with the Angels, and by career victory number 100, had already thrown four no-hitters.

In 1979, he signed as a free agent with the Astros, and pitched for them in nine seasons. Ryan's final stop was with the Texas Rangers, who he also signed with during free-agency.

After five seasons with the Rangers, Nolan retired after 27 seasons, 5714 strikeouts, seven no-hitters, and a season strikeout record of 383.

In January 2009, Ryan became co-owner of the Texas Rangers.

Answer: 0

Mack also played the game for 11 seasons before taking the reins of the Philadelphia Athletics. He took the Athletics to nine World Series at the helm. However, he would not win a Manager of the Year Award because it did not exist until 1983. Tom Lasorda of the Dodgers won it for the National League, and Tony LaRussa of the White Sox won it for the American League.

Answer: Boston Braves

After spending time with the Red Sox, then many seasons with the Yankees, the Babe was released from the Yankees in 1934. He signed with the Boston Braves of the National League in hopes that he would have the opportunity to manage them. That never happened, but Ruth went out with a bang by hitting three home runs in one game with the Braves, then retired with 714 home runs over 22 seasons. Whoever hits how many home runs in their career, the Babe's number 3 will always be immortal.

Answer: The players went on strike

The strike lasted 232 days from August 1994 to April 1995. It was the first World Series cancellation since 1904, when the American and National League could not agree to terms of the formatted games. After approximately 110 games played in 1994, the season was over. On the day of the shutdown in August, the Montreal Expos had the best record in baseball at 74-40, while the San Diego Padres were at the other end of the spectrum at 47-70.

Answer: New York Yankees

Mickey was a career Yankee from 1951-1968. In addition to batting for the Triple Crown, he won the American League MVP in 1956 also. He won another AL MVP in 1957, and yet another in 1962. 1960, 1961, and 1964 saw Mantle as the MVP runner-up in each season.

He also went to 12 World Series with the Yankees and hit a record 18 World Series home runs. The Hall of Fame took Mickey in his first year of eligibility in 1974. He died in Dallas in 1995.

Answer: Bob Welch

Welch began his career with 10 seasons as a Dodger in 1978. He was part of a three-team trade with the Athletics, Dodgers, and Mets, and he landed in Oakland in 1988. 1990 saw Welch go 27-6 and win the American League Cy Young Award. He retired in 1994.

Answer: Montreal Expos

The Tigers won the 1984 World Series against the Padres. The Royals won their first-ever World Series in 1985 against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies won their first-ever World Series in 1980 against the Royals, then reappeared in a loss in 1983 to the Orioles.

The Expos began their franchise as an expansion team in 1969. Throughout the rest of the century, they appeared in only one postseason series (NLCS) and never made it to the promised land. The franchise moved in 2005 and became the Washington Nationals.

Answer: Sandy Koufax

The Cy Young Award began in 1956, and Koufax of the Dodgers won three before any other pitcher had won two. Sandy won them in 1963, 1965, and 1966. He retired after the 1966 season after only 12 years of pitching. In a run from 1963-1966, Koufax went 97-27 with 1228 strikeouts.

Answer: Randy Johnson

The others were all right-handers and never won 300 games in their careers. Randy began his career with the Montreal Expos in 1988 and went 3-0. By 1989, Randy found himself in a Seattle Mariners uniform. He finished as runner-up for the Cy Young Award in 1993, finished third in 1994, then won the award in 1995.

After being runner-up for the award again in 1997, Johnson split his 1998 season between the Mariners and the Astros. In December 1998, the Astros let him file for free-agency. What were they thinking? He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, then won four consecutive Cy Young's from 1999-2002. Randy pulled off the runner-up spot again in 2004, then was traded to the Yankees for three players and cash.

The Yankees traded him back to the Diamondbacks in 2007, then he played his final season with the Giants in 2009. Johnson's career record was five Cy Young awards, a 2002 Triple Crown, a World Series MVP Award, a 303-166 career win/loss record along with being the number one left-handed pitcher in career strikeouts with 4875.

His 4875 took a backseat to right-hander Nolan Ryan who struck out 5714.

Answer: George Brett

In a very well publicized incident, Brett's "bat incident" involved pine-tar, which the opposing Yankees manager Billy Martin complained about after George's home run for the Royals in a game in July 1983. Many video clips show George, with his wad of chewing tobacco, charging home plate when umpire Tim McClelland called him out after hitting the home run.

The rule stated that pine-tar could be used only within 18" of the knob of the bat. Brett's bat had 24" of pine-tar. For charging home plate in the manner that he did, George was ejected from the game.

The game was later protested by the Royals to the league, and it was upheld. The Royals won the game, 5-4.

Answer: 2003

In game six of the NLCS against the Marlins, and the Cubs up three games to two, the incident happened in the eighth inning. With numerous fans trying to catch this foul ball off the bat of Luis Castillo down the left field line, Alou accused fan interference.

The umpire was Mike Everitt and declared no fan interference was there. It didn't matter to Cubs fans, as Bartman, who was later identified, unfortunately received death threats from many fans. The Cubs imploded in the NLCS after that incident, which could not be blamed on the actual Bartman incident.

They just lost focus on the game after that. The Cubs would lose that game and also game seven to the Marlins. Florida would go on to defeat the Yankees in the World Series, four games to two.

Answer: Mickey Mantle

The others were all pitchers and already retired. Maris broke Ruth's record in a 162-game season, while Ruth hit his 60 in a 154-game season. Both Yankees, Maris and Mantle gave the fans a run for their money with both battling for the home run crown. Mantle played in 'only' 153 games in the season due to injuries and hit 54. Maris played in 161 games and hit 61. Nobody will ever know what might have been.

In an extremely close balloting for the MVP in 1961, Maris beat Mantle by only four points.

Answer: Mets

In a slap in the face, the Giants traded Mays for Mets rookie pitcher Charlie Williams who went 5-6, along with a frivolous amount of cash. Mays won a Rookie of the Year Award and two National League MVPs with the Giants, while hitting 646 home runs for the team.

His final 14 came with the Mets, then he retired in 1973. He was inducted into Cooperstown in 1979. Williams retired with a 23-22 record after eight seasons in the Majors.

Answer: Phillies

In trades involving the Blue Jays, Mariners, and Phillies, Halladay signed a three-year deal with Philadelphia. Roy won the American League Cy Young Award in 2001, then was runner-up for the award in 2008 behind Cliff Lee. Halladay went 17-10 in 2009 with the Blue Jays.

Answer: Chicago White Sox

The American League began it all in 1901 with the (in order of finish) Chicago White Sox, Boston Americans, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, Cleveland Blues, and Milwaukee Brewers. The Yankees were the Orioles and Highlanders, and both the Braves and Dodgers were National League teams.

Answer: Ty Cobb

When Cobb retired in 1928 with the Athletics, he was the only player in history to reach the 4000-hit milestone with 4189. He held the career record until some player named Pete Rose came along and broke it in 1985. Rose retired in 1986 with 4256 hits.

They both played for 24 seasons in Major League Baseball. Cobb retired with a .366 average, and Rose a .303 average. The others listed were pitchers.

Answer: 1930s

The Hall of Fame began in 1936 with five player inductions. Ty Cobb was the leader with 98.2% of the balloting. He was followed by Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner who tied with 95.1%, Christy Mathewson was inducted with 90.7%, and Walter Johnson with 83.6%. Strangely enough, the great Cy Young was inducted in 1937 with 76.1% of the ballots.

Answer: Willie Mays

Mays hit 660 home runs throughout his career, while smacking 646 for the Giants. His final 14 were with the New York Mets in his final two seasons. Banks was a career Chicago Cub, and McGwire played with the Athletics and Cardinals. Piazza never played for the Giants either.

Answer: Walter Johnson

Johnson was a Washington Senator from 1907-1927. He started 14 times on Opening Day, winning nine by shutout and losing five. Amongst all the tremendous records that Walter set, he also threw a career 110 shutouts.

Answer: 0

Barry also led the league in home runs twice. Bobby didn't lead the league at all, or take a season MVP. The only major award that father Bobby won was the All-Star MVP in 1973.

Answer: Brooklyn Dodgers

Jackie broke the Major League color-barrier in the 20th century in 1947. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, then won the NL MVP in 1949. Robinson played for only 10 seasons, and retired in 1956. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962, and died in 1972.