Dave's Baseball, Ghost Pepper Style 9 Quiz

Answer: Nap Lajoie

Lajoie was a Philadelphia Athletic on May 23, 1901, in a game against the Chicago White Sox. With Chicago ahead in the top of the ninth inning with a 11-7 lead, the Athletics had the bases loaded and nobody out with Lajoie coming up to the plate. With Lajoie ahead of any other player in the league for the Triple Crown Award, White Sox manager Clark Griffith put himself into the game as a relief pitcher.

He intentionally walked Lajoie, then got three outs with the next three batters while allowing another run to end the game 11-9.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

Robinson was the first African-American in modern-day baseball to enter the Major Leagues. He debuted with the Dodgers in 1947. After retiring in 1957, Major League Baseball retired the number 42 on April 15, 1997 in honor of Jackie. On September 17, 2006 the Cardinals co-retired the number 42 in honor of pitcher Bruce Sutter. Sutter was a relief pitcher from 1976-1988.

He never started a game in the Major Leagues. In his 12 seasons he played for the Cardinals only in four seasons from 1981-1984.

In three of those four seasons he won the Rolaids Relief Award. He also won the NL Cy Young Award in 1979 with the Cubs. The only major category that Sutter led the league in was saves. Bruce retired as a Brave in 1988 with a 68-71 career record.

He was inducted into the Hall in 2006.

Answer: Jeff Bronkey

Born in Kabul in 1965, Bronkey was a rookie Texas Ranger in 1993 from the mound. He went 1-1 in 21 games of relief. In January 1994 the Rangers traded Jeff to the Brewers for Minor Leaguer Dave Pike. With the Brewers he went 1-1 in 16 games of relief. Milwaukee released him after the 1995 season. Bronkey threw 36 strikeouts in his three seasons of 69 innings pitched.

Answer: Matt Stairs

Stairs played in both the American and National League in 19 seasons between 1992-2011. He played with 12 teams during his career. Matt was primarily an outfielder. He hit four pinch-hit home runs for Oakland, four for the Padres, but came up big with the Phillies by hitting seven.

He was with the Phillies for only two seasons in 2008 and 2009 when he hit his seven. Matt hit 235 career homes with 23 as a pinch-hitter. Although Matt played with 12 teams in his career, he found only two World Series both with the Phillies in 2008 and 2009.

The Phillies won it all in 2008 against Tampa Bay but lost to the Yankees in 2009.

Answer: They started a left-hander for the first time in 474 games

On August 19th the Brewers started rookie left-hander Brent Suter in his Major League debut. Normally this would not be a big deal, but the Brewers hadn't started a left-hander since August 28, 2013. The span involved 474 games of right-hand starters.

The Brewers were being hosted by the Mariners at Safeco Field. Suter allowed four earned runs along with seven hits in his 4.1 innings of work. The Brewers finished out the game with three right-handers. Seattle won the game 7-6.

Answer: Jamie Moyer

The others never reached the 500 home run marker. Moyer was a long term 25-season pitcher from 1986-2012. Jamie pitched for eight teams during his career including 11 with the Mariners. He led the league only one time in home runs by giving up 44 in 2004 with Seattle.

Although giving up so many home runs in his career, he finished fourth, fifth, and sixth one time each in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Moyer retired with a 269-209 record from the mound along with allowing 522 career home runs.

Answer: Texas Rangers

Somehow the 1977 Rangers ended the season with a 94-68 record and finished in second place. Having four different managers in a season would more than upset the balance of any team but the Rangers prevailed. They began the season with Frank Lucchesi, then went with Eddie Stanky who only lasted one game. Up next was Connie Ryan who lasted only six games, and then Billy Hunter finished out the season with 93 games on his clipboard.

Answer: Bill McKechnie

McKechnie had the helm of the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates in his fifth season of managing in baseball. His Pirates won the World Series over Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators. In 1928 Bill was in his first season with the St. Louis Cardinals when they won his second NL pennant, but the Cardinals lost the World Series to the Yankees four games to none. McKechnie found his third team's NL pennant in 1939 with the Reds. Cincinnati lost the World Series to the Yankees four games to none. In 1940, Bill and his Reds defeated the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

He managed for 25 seasons between 1915-1946 with his teams of the Newark Pepper, Pirates, Cardinals, Braves/Bees, and the Reds. McKechnie retired with a 1896-1723 career record and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1962.

He died in 1965 at the age of 79.

Answer: Bob Meusel

Both DiMaggio and Gehrig hit for the cycle twice. Meusel played with the Yankees from 1920-1929 in the outfield in New York. Being constantly over-shadowed by the great Gehrig and Ruth, Meusel hit for the cycle in 1921, 1922, and 1928. In his 10 seasons with the Yankees, Bob hit over .300 seven times.

He went to six World Series in the 1920s with the Bronx Bombers and won three. He finally got a home run to his credit in the 1928 World Series against the Cardinals. Meusel retired as a Cincinnati Red in 1930.

He died at the age of 81 in 1977 in Southern California near where he was born.

Answer: Guy Bush

Bush was a pitcher for 17 seasons with 12 being as a Chicago Cub. The Cubs first wore numbers in 1932 and Bush selected the number 14. Both Bush and Root were with the 1932 NL Champion Cubs who went up against the Yankees in the World Series. This was the series that the world witnessed the infamous but never verified home run shot 'gestured' by Babe Ruth in the fifth inning of game three of the series. Did the Bambino point to centerfield to call his shot, or was he gesturing at the Cub dugout who had been heckling him? A baseball mystery that will never be solved.