Creams of the Crop Quiz | Baseball

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. From 1963-1966, I won nine pitching awards. They included three Cy Young Awards, three Triple Crowns, one National League season MVP, and two World Series MVPs. Who am I?

Answer: Sandy Koufax

Koufax had the most profilic four seasons in baseball than any other player had experienced. In 1963, Sandy won the Cy Young, Triple Crown, MVP, and World Series MVP. He repeated this feat in 1965, but failed to win the MVP because a Giant named Mays stood in his way.

In 1966, Koufax won the Cy Young and Triple Crown again, but somehow was runner-up MVP again, losing by 10 voting points to Pirate Roberto Clemente. Koufax retired after the 1966 season, throwing a 27-9 record along with 317 strikeouts.

2. In 1998, I took the glory away from Mark McGwire and his 70 home runs in the season, by winning the National League MVP Award. Who am I?

Answer: Sammy Sosa

McGwire of the Cardinals and Sosa of the Cubs battled it out for the season home run crown. While McGwire broke Roger Maris' home run record from 1961, Sosa finished the season by hitting 66 big ones, and topped Big Mac by 166 MVP votes. In 1999, McGwire hit another 65 while watching Sosa hit another 63.

3. In 1976, I was on top of the world. I won the Rookie of the Year Award, and was runner-up to the Cy Young Award. I threw a season record of 19-9 with the Tigers. Nicknamed 'The Bird', my wings fell off as I plummeted the rest of my career, which last only four more seasons. Who am I?

Answer: Mark Fidrych

Fidrych was only 21 years old when he took the ROY, and took a backseat to the great Jim Palmer of the Orioles for the Cy Young Award. 1977 ended with Mark going only 6-4, then following that up with a 2-0 record in 1978. Fidrych retired from baseball in 1980 as an unemployed 25 year old.

4. Which of the following awards did Hank Aaron win during his career?

Answer: National League MVP

Amazingly enough, Aaron only pulled off only one major award in his great 23 season career. He won the National League MVP with the Braves in 1957. He came close however, as he was in the top 10 MVP voting 13 times in his career. When he won the award in 1957, he topped four other greats in the names of Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Willie Mays, and Warren Spahn. Hank went on to the Hall of Fame as an inductee in 1982.

5. I was drafted by a manager who knew my father, and never had any intentions of me making the team. I was a Cinderella story because I became the 1993 National League Rookie of the Year! In my first 10 seasons in the big leagues, I was in the top 10 for MVP voting seven times. I played for the Dodgers and Mets. Who am I?

Answer: Mike Piazza

Michael Joseph Piazza entered the Major Leagues by a fluke. His father, a friend of Dodger manager Tom Lasorda, asked him to draft Mike just so he could say that he was drafted. Mike was picked in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, which was in oblivion. Lasorda liked what he saw in a few try-outs, so he gave Mike a shot. Lasorda's repayment was Piazza winning the ROY by batting .318 and hitting 35 home runs.

He took all 28 first place votes for the award, and topped Greg McMichael of the Braves by 100 points. Mike played for six full seasons with the Dodgers, then in 1998, shared the uniforms of the Dodgers, the Marlins for only five games, then was traded again to the Mets.

6. My name is Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, more commonly known as Connie Mack. After playing for 11 seasons in my career, then retiring as a Pittsburgh Pirate, I went on to manage the Athletics for 50 seasons from 1901-1950. How many Manager of the Year Awards did I win?

Answer: 0

Although Mack had some very deserving seasons, including taking his team to nine World Series and winning five of them, he never received the Manager of the Year Award because it was non-existent. The Award did not begin until 1983. He was the first manager to win 3000 career games, and retired with 3731. Along with those 50 seasons came a number of losses also. Mack's losing total was 3948 games.

7. My nickname was 'Cakes'. I won three Cy Young Awards in my career, and prevented Nolan Ryan from winning it in 1973. I pitched for 19 seasons, all with the same team. Who am I?

Answer: Jim Palmer

The others never pitched, therefore could not have won a Cy Young Award. Palmer, with his 19 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, won the Cy Young in 1973, 1975, and 1976. When he 'took' the Cy Young away from Nolan Ryan of the Angels, Palmer finished second in MVP voting himself, to the great Reggie Jackson. Jim was the Cy Young runner-up in 1977 and 1982, to Sparky Lyle and Pete Vuckovich, respectively.

8. In Rickey Henderson's 25 seasons in Major League baseball, he won only one major award. Which award was it?

Answer: American League MVP

'The Man of Steal' never pitched in his career. He played from 1979-2003. With the Oakland Athletics being his first team, he made 12 more moves in his career before retiring. He won the American League MVP in 1990 with the Athletics, nosing out Cecil Fielder of the Tigers for the award. Rickey was also the runner-up MVP to Rollie Fingers of the Brewers in 1981. Rickey retired in the number one spot for career stolen bases with 1406.

9. Which of the following never won a major award in their great career, including an All-Star MVP, World Series or season MVP, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year, or Rolaids Relief Award?

Answer: Nolan Ryan

Canseco was a ROY and MVP winner in 1986 and 1988 with Oakland. With Atlanta, Smoltz won a Cy Young in 1996 and a Rolaids Relief in 2002. Gibson, the great Cardinal pitcher, won two Cy Young Awards, one season MVP, and two World Series MVPs. It was Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. who was a 19 year old rookie in 1966 that came up empty-handed. Throughout his career he was known as the strikeout king of baseball.

It is hard to imagine that Ryan was never in the top 10 season MVP voting ever in his career. Ryan went to only one World Series in 1969 with the Mets, but only pitched in 2-1/3 innings. Nolan was a runner-up to the Cy Young Award one time. Retiring after 27 seasons, spread out with the Mets, Angels, Astros, and Rangers, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

10. This player was a great power-hitting shortstop in his career. He won two consecutive MVP Awards in 1958 and 1959. In those seasons he hit 47 and 45 home runs, respectively. He went on to join the Hall of Fame ranks in 1977. Who is he?

Answer: Ernie Banks

The others never played shortstop, although they did all win a MVP Award. It was 'Mr. Cub' who was depicted here. Banks, a 19 season all-career Cub, retired with 512 home runs, 2583 hits, and a Gold Glove Award in 1960. Unfortunately, Ernie Banks never saw a World Series game with the Cubs.

Source: Author Nightmare

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Creams of the Crop Trivia Quiz

A baseball award is given to the most outstanding person who did something. Let's see if you can recognize these award winners in this all multiple choice quiz. Good luck! :-)

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