Braves Faves I: Milwaukee Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lew Burdette

Burdette won 173 games as a Milwaukee Brave out of 203 in his career, not counting the four wins in World Series play in 1957 and 1958. He led the league with 21 wins in 1959 and also won 20 in 1958.

Nichols won 361 games from 1890 to 1906, playing his first twelve years with the Boston Beaneaters, which became the Boston Braves in 1912. Johnny Sain was a Boston Brave between 1942 and 1951, but never played in Milwaukee. Joey Jay was a reliever from 1953 to 1957 and a part-time starter from '57 to '60 before being traded to Cincinnati.

Answer: Del Crandall

Crandall caught three no-hitters as a Brave, in 1954 for Jim Wilson, and two in 1960, for Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn. He hit over 20 home runs three times and retired with the fourth most home runs by a National League catcher. He also won four of the first five gold gloves given to a National League catcher.

Frank Torre was a Braves first baseman, Ed Bailey played mostly for Cincinnati and San Francisco (although he did spend 1964 with the Bravos), and Sherm Lollar spent his entire career in the American League and caught mostly for the White Sox.

Answer: Joe Adcock

On 31 July, 1954, Adcock's four homers and double off the top of the wall at Ebbets Field against the Brooklyn Dodgers set a record for 18 total bases in one game. That record stood for 48 years, until 2002. He also hit a home run (although later it was ruled as a double) which gave Lew Burdette a 1-0, 13-inning win over the Pirates' Harvey Haddix, who was pitching a perfect game through 12 innings. At his retirement, he held the third-highest fielding percentage by a first baseman at .994. Not bad for a guy who had never played baseball until joining the Louisiana State baseball team in college.

Joe Torre was primarily a catcher, and Bob Hazle was an outfielder. Ted Kluszewski played his first 11 years in Cincinnati before finishing his career with the Pirates, White Sox, and Angels.

Answer: Felix Mantilla

It was Mantilla in 1954 who broke up Harvey Haddix' no-hitter in the 13th-inning and then scored the winning run. Mantilla had only entered the game in the eleventh inning.

Tommy Aaron, Henry's brother, was an outfielder, while Del Rice, both of whom played in Milwaukee, was a catcher.

Answer: Tony Cloninger

OK, admittedly, the two grand slams were in a game in 1966, after the team had moved to Atlanta, but Cloninger was still a Milwaukee Brave for his first five seasons.

I really liked all of the incorrect answers, of course, since all were members of the Braves' 1957 World Series championship team. Oh, and by the way, Gene Conley finished third in the MVP voting in 1954. Guess who finished fourth... his teammate, Henry Aaron!

Answer: Johnny Logan

Logan finished his career with 93 home runs and was a four-time All-Star. After 11 seasons with the Braves he finished his career with three seasons as a Pittsburgh Pirate.

All of the incorrect answers were of Polish descent. Carl Sawatski was a Brave in '57, but he was a catcher. Bill Mazeroski, who famously ended the 1960 World Series with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 to give the Pirates the title against the New York Yankees, played his entire 17-year career in Pittsburgh. Carl Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year career with the Red Sox.

Answer: Bill Bruton

Bruton was in center field for the Braves' first game in Milwaukee on 14 April, 1953, as the Bravos topped the Cardinals, 3-2 in ten innings.

Dave Jolly was a pitcher, and Biff Pocoroba, whose 10-year career (1975-84) was spent entirely in Atlanta, was a catcher. Outfielder Wally Moon, the 1954 Rookie of the Year, spent five years with the Cardinals and seven with the Dodgers.

Answer: Bob Hazle

Bob Hazle only played parts of four seasons in MLB. He got a cup of coffee in Cincinnati in 1955 before playing in '57 and '58 with Milwaukee and finished the '58 season in Detroit. However, he definitely made a splash with the Braves in the last two months in 1957 and finished fourth in the NL MVP voting despite having only 134 at-bats.

Hurricane Hazel was the worst hurricane of 1954, killing at least 400 people in Haiti, 95 in the US, and another 81 in Canada.

Harry Hanebrink was a second baseman and outfielder who played in Milwaukee in 1953 and 1957-8 before finishing his career in 1959 with the Phillies. Randy Hundley was a catcher for the Cubs from 1966 to 1973 and in '76 and '77. He also played for the Giants, Twins, and Padres. Fred Haney played third base for the Tigers, Red Sox, Cubs, and Cardinals between 1922 and 1929 and managed the Braves from 1956 to 1959, leading them to their World Championship in '57.

Answer: Wes Covington

Wes Covington had a great second half in 1957 with 21 home runs and 65 runs-batted-in over the final 96 games. In the World Series he made two great defensive plays that saved wins for Series MVP Lew Burdette. In his final year in Milwaukee, he became one of a few players to ever play for four teams in one season, as he saw action with the Braves, White Sox, Athletics, and Phillies.

Ernie Johnson pitched for Boston and Milwaukee in 1950 and 1952-58 before finishing his career in 1959 with the Orioles. He then was a radio and TV broadcaster for the Braves from 1962 to 1999.

Neither Kuenn nor Kaline ever played for the Braves.

Answer: Bob Uecker

"Ball 4. Ball 8. ...and he walks the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches. How can those guys lay off pitches that close?" is another Harry Doyle quote from the movie "Major League" that I like. Following his player career, Uecker became the play-by-play voice of the Milwaukee Brewers, who play in his home town. He has received many honors and awards for his broadcasting, including the 2003 Ford Frick Award, presented by the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Harry Caray's first 25 years as a baseball broadcaster was on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals, with the last 16 years of a total of over 50 seasons in the booth being with the Chicago Cubs.

Both Tim McCarver and Dizzy Dean played for the Cardinals, with the latter being a Hall of Fame hurler in seven years in St. Louis. Both broadcast for individual teams as well as for national networks during their post-playing careers.