Cooperstown First Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: George

George Herman Ruth, Jr., was born in 1895 in the Baltimore neighborhood named Pigtown. His birth home is now a museum. Both of his parents were of German ancestry and Ruth spoke German as a child. After the age of 7, Ruth spent most of his childhood in a reformatory named St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys.

Although Yankee Stadium is called "The House That Ruth Built", Ruth began and ended his career in Boston, playing his first six seasons with the Red Sox and his final season with the Braves. In between he spent 15 years with the Bronx Bombers. He helped the Bosox to three World Championships and the Yanks to four.

Answer: Lewis

Lewis Robert Wilson was born in 1900 in Ellwood City, a steel mill town located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. His relatively short, 12-year career with four teams was highlighted by a six-year span with the Chicago Cubs. He spent his first three seasons with the New York Giants and played with the Dodgers following his Chicago years, finishing his last season split between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, with the Phillies.

Wilson's 1930 season in Chicago was remarkable, as the Cubs won 90 games and finished just two games behind the Cardinals. He hit 56 home runs, which stood as the National League record for the next 68 years. His 190 runs-batted-in was changed to 191 by the Commissioner of Baseball in 1999. Only Lou Gehrig's 184 RBIs in 1931 and Hank Greenberg's 183 RBIs in 1937 have come close to Wilson's total.

Answer: Lynn

Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr., was born in 1947 in Refugio, Texas. He played for four different teams during his 27-year career, the longest of any MLB player in the 20th Century. He played in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

He became only the second player to have his number retired by three teams for which he played (the Angels, Astros, and Texans), Frank Robinson having been the first (the Reds, Orioles, and Indians). He was the first pitcher to throw 7 no-hitters and to notch 5,714 strike outs.

Answer: Albert

Albert Fred Schoendienst was born in 1923 in Germantown, Illinois, 40 miles east of St. Louis, where he played baseball for 16 years and managed another 14. Schoendienst was with the St. Louis Cardinals for four seven-game World Series championships. He played second base for the 1946 champs, managed the 1967 champs, and was a coach on the 1964 and 1982 Cardinal world champions.

While most often identified with the Cardinal organization, Schoendienst also played for the Milwaukee Braves for four seasons, including the 1957 campaign when the Braves won their only World Series title in Milwaukee, in a seven-game defeat of the New York Yankees.

Answer: Henry

Henry Louis Gehrig was born in 1903 in the Manhattan immigrant neighborhood named Yorkville. Both of his parents were born in Germany, but first met in the USA. As a high schooler Gehrig hit a baseball completely out of Chicago's Wrigley Field in a game between his Manhattan team and a Chicago team.

Gehrig began playing for the Yankees, his only major league team, in 1923 and in 1932 he became the first 20th century MLB hitter to hit four home runs in one game. On 1 June 1925, Gehrig began a streak of playing in 2,130 games, a record which would last for 56 years. At the age of 36, Gehrig's career and life were brought to an abrupt end by ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which henceforth became known as "Lou Gehrig disease".

Answer: Harold

Harold Peter Henry Reese was born in 1918 in Ekron, Kentucky. He picked up his nickname of Pee Wee due to his prowess as a marble player. His first professional team was the Louisville Colonels, where his diminutive size caused his teammates to call him "The Little Colonel". His 16-year career with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers was interrupted by three years of service in the Navy from 1943 to 1945. He was a 10-time All Star and won two World Series with the Dodgers, in 1955 and 1959.

Despite his southern upbringing, Reese was one of the players most supportive of bringing Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers, and he served as a pallbearer at Robinson's funeral in 1972. Following his playing career, Reese was a prominent baseball announcer, most notably teamed up with Dizzy Dean on CBS from 1960 to 1965, and later on NBC partnered with Curt Gowdy from 1966 to 1968.

Answer: Larry

Larry Wayne Jones, Jr., was born in 1972 in DeLand, Florida. A rarity in modern major-league baseball, Jones spent his entire professional career in the Atlanta Braves organization, including 19 years in Atlanta. In 1990 he was MLB's number one draft selection and was the youngest player in the National League when he was first called up to Atlanta in September of 1993.

When he retired in 2012, he was the only switch hitter with 5,000 at-bats, a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage, and .500 slugging percentage, and was second only to Eddie Murray for RBIs as a switch hitter, but with the most RBIs of any third baseman ever.

Answer: Jay

Jay Hannah Dean was born in 1910 in Lucas, Arkansas. He would sometimes also call himself Jerome Herman Dean, which was the name of a Lucas childhood friend who died when Dizzy was 7. Dizzy stopped attending school regularly after the second grade and would claim a fourth-grade education in later life. He joined the Army at age 16 following the death of his mother.

Dean's best years on the mound came with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was league MVP, two-time wins leader, and two-time World Series champion. In 1934 when his younger brother Paul joined the team for his first season as a major-league pitcher in 1934, Dizzy bragged that the two pitchers would win 45 games. With Dizzy winning 30 games and Paul winning 19, he made his word good. That was the last time a National League pitcher won 30 games in a season.

Answer: Edward

Edward Charles Ford was born in 1928 in Queens, New York. He spent his entire pitching career from 1947 to 1967 in the New York Yankee organization. While in the Yankee farm system he earned the nickname Whitey for his light blond hair. In his rookie season in 1950, Ford won his first nine decisions before his first loss and was named AL Rookie of the Year. Following that first year, Ford spent two years in the Army during the Korean War. Ford pitched on six Yankee World Series champions, winning the Cy Young Award and World Series MVP in 1961.

Following his retirement, Ford admitted to doctoring the baseball at times late in his career, including having his catcher Elston Howard put mud on the ball and cutting the ball with his wedding ring or belt buckle. He said he doctored the ball while facing Willie Mays in the 1961 All Star game.

Answer: Denton

Denton True Young was born in 1867 in Gilmore, Ohio. His nickname comes from the idea that fences he damaged when they were hit by his fastball looked like they had been damaged by a cyclone. Eventually "Cyclone" was reduced to "Cy." His major-league career ran from 1890 to 1911. With names not recognizable to today's MLB fan, the teams he played for included the Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos / Cardinals, Boston Americans / Red Sox, Cleveland Naps, and Boston Rustlers.