Dave's Diamond Hardball Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pete Alexander

Alexander pitched for 20 seasons all in the National League from 1911-1930. He threw two Triple Crowns for the Phillies in 1915 and 1916, then threw one for the Cubs in 1920 for good measure. Pete won 20+ games in a season nine times and had a season high of 33 in 1916.

A domineering pitcher on the mound, Alexander led the league in shutouts seven times and strikeouts six times. Amazingly, Pete never won the National League MVP Award. The Hall of Fame inducted him in 1938. Koufax was the only other pitcher to throw three Triple Crowns in the 20th Century. Both Clemens and Johnson threw two each.

Answer: 3

The eight initial teams (in order of their 1876 inaugural season finish) were the Chicago White Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Stockings, Louisville Grays, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia Athletics, and Cincinnati Reds. New York and Philadelphia folded by the end of the first season in 1876. Hartford, Louisville, and St. Louis shutdown at the end of the second season leaving the league with the three initial teams.

In 1878, the Indianapolis Blues, Providence Grays, and the Milwaukee Grays joined the league and that season was played with only six teams.

Answer: Rick Monday

The first-ever MLB draft occurred in 1965 with the Kansas City Athletics having the first pick and made the selection from ASU. Arizona State University was the first college to have a player drafted into the Major Leagues in the name of Rick Monday. Monday was an outfielder and played six seasons with the Athletics, five with the Cubs, and eight with the Dodgers. Rick was a two-time All-Star and retired in 1984.

After his retirement he became a baseball radio and television announcer.

Answer: Cristobal Torriente

The first organized Negro National League came in 1920 with eight teams. It was Torriente of the Chicago American Giants who batted an amazing .417 in the season. The runner-up for the batting crown in the inaugural season was Koke Alexander of the Dayton Marcos who batted .371, almost .050 points behind Torriente. Rube Foster managed the Chicago American Giants in that season.

Answer: Kansas City Athletics

It was behind the mind of Athletics' owner Charles Finley. The MLB Rules Committee gave Finley special permission to wear the non-white colors in 1963. What Finley came up with was a concoction of gold, white, and kelly green. The Athletics wore gold pants, gold vests with a green kelly green undershirt, green stirrups, green caps, and kangaroo-hide white leather shoes. Finley kept the colors when he moved the team to Oakland in 1968.

Answer: Christy Mathewson

Mathewson was a New York Giant in all his 636 career games except for one. He pitched for the Giants from 1900-1916, then appeared in a Cincinnati Reds uniform for one game which he won. That win gave him win number 372 on the record books. In 1930, another Hall of Fame great in the name of Pete Alexander retired with 373 career wins, besting Mathewson by one game. One year later in 1931 it was discovered after going through official game records that Mathewson did not get credit for one win in 1902.

After the validation the official statistics were changed and Christy retired with 373. This put Mathewson and Alexander tied for third all-time with wins behind Cy Young and Walter Johnson when they retired. Mathewson died in 1925 just nine years after he retired.

He was 45 years old and never experienced the statistical adjustment.

Answer: Lou Brock

In 1977 Brock was in his 17th of 19 seasons mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals when he passed Cobb by stealing his 898th base. Lou retired in 1979 with a career total of 938. Ironically, also in 1979, when Brock retired, there was a rookie by the name of Rickey Henderson.

Henderson would later surpass both Cobb and Brock, becoming the first player to ever reach 1000 stolen bases and retired with 1406 in 2003.

Answer: Kirby Higbe

Higbe played for five teams in his 12-season career from 1937-1950 including five seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers. After his retirement he fell on hard times and was sentenced to 60 days in jail for writing a bevy of bad checks in South Carolina. The warden who loved baseball and gained the confidence of Higbe, gave him a job as a guard after he was incarcerated, then gave him a job at the state penitentiary.

It was there where Higbe smuggled drugs inside baseballs and throwing them over the fence into the recreation yard to inmates.

He was fired and given three years probation for the offense.

Answer: Christy Mathewson

Mathewson pitched for the New York Giants from 1900-1916. His final game was a solo game with the Reds. He began his streak in 1903 and it ended in 1914 topping out with 37 wins in 1908. He also won 20 games in 1901. Amazingly, the closest that Christy came to the MVP Award was as a runner-up in 1911 to Frank Schulte of the Chicago Cubs. Mathewson was a Hall of Fame inductee in 1936 as one of the first five inaugural inductees. Spahn won 20+ games in a season 13 times but no more than six consecutive. Grove was a 20-game winner eight times with seven of those in consecutive seasons. Young won an amazing 20+ games 15 times in his career with nine being in consecutive seasons.

Answer: Ted Lyons

After attending Vinton Louisiana High School, Ted was given a scholarship for playing the trombone at Baylor University in Texas. After the brawl in which he helped some Baylor players in the fight, the college revoked his scholarship in 1922. Lyons then tried a shot at the big leagues and ended up signing as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox in 1923.

He would spend his entire 21-season career with them and was a 20-game winner three times. Showing that one never knows how things turn out, Lyons was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955, then died in 1986 at the age of 85.