Dummies Baseball #53 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Don Drysdale

The others never wore the #53, and never played for the Dodgers. Drysdale began his great career in 1956, one season after the great Sandy Koufax began his Dodger reign. At 6'6", Drysdale controlled batters, as he averaged 177 strikeouts per season in his career. He appeared in 5 World Series, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Answer: Joe Morgan

The others never played 2nd base. The Cincinnati Reds' Morgan, won his first MVP in 1975. Not only did he double the feat, he won them back to back, as he copped the award in 1976 also.

Answer: Nobody

The others listed had not started their Major League career yet. Like 1943 due to World War II, no inductees made it in 1950 due to the Korean Conflict.

Answer: Barry Bonds

The others listed were all pitchers. Bonds batted .370 in 2002 for the Giants of San Francisco. Barry was 38. He surpassed the record of Charlie Gehringer, who set the record at the age 34 in 1937 with the Tigers. Bonds won the NL MVP Award in 2002 for his efforts.

Answer: Sandy Koufax

Grove and Wynn won exactly 300, and Sutton retired with 324. Koufax, arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher of all-time, retired in his prime in 1966 with the Dodgers. In 1966, he won his 3rd Cy Young Award in 4 seasons. He quit baseball due to arthritis, with only 165 wins.

Answer: Frank Robinson

The others played for only one team in their career. Robinson won a MVP in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds. After being traded to the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the 1965 season, he thumbed his nose at the Reds by winning it again in 1966. He also won the Triple Crown, and was the World Series MVP the same season.

Answer: Barry Bonds

The others were American Leaguers in 2003. Bonds won his 6th MVP Award. There was much debate between him and Albert Pujols of the St.Louis Cardinals. In 2003, Barry hit 45 home runs and batted .341. His first MVP came in 1990 as a Pittsburgh Pirate.

Answer: David Cone

The others never pitched a perfect game. Cone of the Yankees perfected one over Montreal 6-0, in July 1999. Before that, another Yankee in the likes of David Wells did it the season prior. The first perfect game in history, came in June 1880, with Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs of the National League. Amazingly, Richmond was a 23 year old rookie.

Answer: Carl Hubbell

The others were not pitchers. The Hall of Famer Hubbell, spent his entire 16 seasons with the New York Giants. This 9 time all-star, won the season MVP in 1933 and 1936.

Answer: 1903

The first World Series took place in 1903, pitting the Boston Pilgrims vs the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston won the Series 5 games to 3. 1903 was the 3rd season of the franchise, after being initialized with the name Americans, and then the Somersets in 1902. In 1908, they became the Red Sox, who won their first Series in 1918.

Answer: Jack McKeon

McKeon's Florida Marlins won their 2nd World Series in their history, since joining baseball in 1993. They defeated the Yankees 4 games to 2. McKeon was one month short of his 73rd birthday. He shared the duties in 2003 with Jeff Torborg.

Answer: 9

Maroth could only muster 9 wins in 2003. He did however muster 21 losses in the season. The next pitcher with the most wins had 6. The Tigers' 2003 season was dim, as they finished with a 43-119 record, 47 games out of first place in the AL Central Division.

Answer: William Hoy

William 'Dummy' Hoy was an early baseball great. He began his career in 1888 with the Washington Nationals, and retired with the Cincinnati Reds in 1902. His career batting average was .278, with 594 stolen bases. He led the league in stolen bases in his rookie season with 81.

Answer: Eric Gagne

Gagne was the only pitcher in the mix. This Dodger set a record of consecutive saves in a season. The Cy Young for Eric, broke Randy Johnson's streak of 4 awards. This was the first Dodger Cy Young winner since Orel Hershiser in 1988.

Answer: 3

The New York later San Francisco Giants, then the Brooklyn to Los Angeles Dodgers, and of course, the New York Mets.

Answer: Neal Ball

None of the others listed were born yet. Ball, the Cleveland Indians shortstop, did it all by himself on July 18 against the Boston Red Sox. Ironically, the season before while playing for the Yankees, he led the Major League in errors with 80.

Answer: Don Newcombe

Robinson and Doby never pitched, and Satchel won only 28 games in his MLB career. Newcombe went 27-7 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. He also won the NL Cy Young Award and MVP. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series, but were defeated by the Yankees 4 games to 3.

Answer: Herb Pennock

The others listed were not born yet. Pennock, in game 3 was perfect until he had one out in the 8th. Pittsburgh's Pie Traynor spoiled his perfecto, but the Yankees still won the game 8-1, and the Series 4 games to 0.

Answer: Bob Gibson - Nolan Ryan

Gibson and Ryan never played for the same team. The others listed won big for their team in a season. Koufax (26) and Drysdale (23) of the Dodgers, won 49 games between them in 1965. Welch (27) and Stewart (22) of the Athletics won 49 in 1990. Finally, Cuellar and McNally won 48 in 1970 for Baltimore.

Answer: Reggie Jackson

This was one of few milestones that Reggie never reached. The first player in history to do this was Ron Northey of the Chicago Cubs in 1950, playing in only 53 games. Willie Mac did it for the Giants, and Reese with the Minnesota Twins.

Answer: Ty Cobb

The others were not born yet. In September 1923, Cobb broke Wagner's career mark in a game against the Red Sox at Fenway, going 4-for-4. After adding to his career mark, Cobb finally had his record broken by the immortal Pete Rose.

Answer: Miller Huggins

Although all these managers took the Yankees to a World Series title, it was Huggins who won it at least 25 years earlier. In 1923, with the Babe, Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and company, the Yankees defeated the New York Giants 4 games to 2. Ruth hit 3 home runs and batted .368.

This was the Yankees' 3rd consecutive trip to the promised land. In 1921 and 1922, the Giants defeated them for the crown.

Answer: Willie Mays

After 20 seasons of baseball with the Giants, Mays went to the New York Mets for a season and a half. He retired in 1973, and hit 14 of his 660 career home runs as a Met. Robinson was an Oriole, Clemente a Pirate, and Concepcion was a Cincinnati Red.

Answer: Dontrelle Willis

The others were not rookies. Willis came out of nowhere with the Florida Marlins to win the award. This left-handed pitcher was called up from Double A in May. He won 14 games, made an All-Star game appearance, and won the World Series. What a dream year.

Answer: Ted Williams

The others were not even in the top 25. The great Ted Williams from 1939-1960, compiled an amazing .483 percentage. At the time of Williams' retirement, he edged out the Babe who had a .474, and 19th century players John McGraw and Billy Hamilton, who were both over .450. Eddie Gaedel achieved an OBP of 1.000 when he was walked at his single at bat appearance