Five Hundred Miles from Cooperstown Quiz

Answer: New York Mets

George Thomas (Tom) Seaver was born in Fresno, California in 1944. He played for the Mets twice in his career, from 1967-77 and again in 1983. In between he played for the Cincinnati Reds, and he finished out his career with two years in Chicago with the White Sox, finally moving to the Boston Red Sox for part of 1986. He had a career won-lost record of 311-205 and a career earned run average (ERA) of 2.86. Inducted along with him in 1992 were pitchers Rollie Fingers (Oakland Athletics) and Hal Newhouser (Detroit Tigers), and umpire Bill McGowan.

The Mets play just under 200 miles away from Cooperstown, according to directions found using a popular web-based map site (which has been used for all distances quoted herein).

Answer: New York Yankees

Richard Michael (Goose) Gossage was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1951. He played for nine different teams during his career, beginning with the Chicago White Sox (1972-76) and ending with the Seattle Mariners in 1994. He did two stints with the Yankees, from 1978-1983 and again for part of 1989. In 1002 games he had a won-lost record of 124-107, with 310 saves. His career ERA was 3.01. He was the only player inducted into the Hall in 2008, along with three executives and two managers.

The Yankees play about 185 miles from Cooperstown.

Answer: Montreal Expos

Gary Edmund (Kid) Carter was born in Culver City, California in 1954, and died in Florida in 2012. He came up with the Expos at age 19 (hence "the Kid") and played for them from 1974-84, and again to close out his career in 1992. He also spent time with the Mets, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a three time Gold Glove winner at catcher, had a .262 batting average and 324 career home runs. Also inducted in 2003 was Baltimore Orioles first baseman Eddie Murray.

The Montreal Expos played about 265 miles away from Cooperstown, a bit more than a hundred miles closer than their successors, the Washington Nationals.

Answer: Cleveland Indians

James Howard (Jim) Thome was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1970. He had a way of pointing his bat at the opposing pitcher that said "I'm going to hit this next pitch out of the park", and he did just that 612 times in his career. He played in Cleveland from 1991-2002, and again, briefly, in 2011 before splitting his final season (2012) between the Phillies and Orioles. He also played for three other teams. His career batting average was .276 and slugging % was .554. Five other players were also inducted into the Hall in 2018, including Vladimir Guerrero (Angels) and Chipper Jones (Atlanta Braves).

Cleveland plays about 420 miles away from Cooperstown.

Answer: Toronto Blue Jays

Roberto (Robbie) Alomar Velazquez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1968, into a baseball family that included his father Sandy and brother Sandy, Jr. (with whom he played on three different major league teams). Though he played for a total of seven different teams, Robbie became the Toronto Blue Jays first player representative in the Hall of Fame, at least in part because of his role in their two World Series victories. He was with Toronto 1991-95, in a career spanning 1988-2004. His career batting average was an even .300, with 210 home runs and 474 stolen bases. He also won multiple Gold Gloves at second base. His fellow inductees in 2011 were pitcher Bert Blyleven (Minnesota Twins) and Toronto executive Pat Gillick.

The Blue Jays play about 330 miles away from Cooperstown.

Answer: Philadelphia Phillies

Michael Jack (Mike) Schmidt was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1949, and played his entire career with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1972-89. When the Phillies won the World Series in 1980, he was named most valuable player (MVP) of the series. He won multiple Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers and was MVP of the National League three times. He had 548 career home runs. The 1995 "class" of inductees included another Phillie, centre fielder Richie Ashburn, and Negro Leagues pitcher Leon Day of the Newark Eagles.

The Phils play their home games about 260 miles away from Cooperstown.

Answer: Baltimore Orioles

Calvin Edwin (Cal) Ripken, Jr was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland in 1960 and played his entire career (1981-2001) with the Baltimore Orioles, moving from shortstop to third base towards the end of that time. He was dubbed "Iron Man" due to his consecutive game playing streak of 2632 games, that broke the decades-old record of the "Iron Horse", Lou Gehrig by over 500 games. The other inductee in 2007 was Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres.

Baltimore's home games are played about 340 miles from Cooperstown.

Answer: Boston Red Sox

Carl Michael (Yaz) Yastrzemski was born in Southampton, New York (about 275 miles from Cooperstown) in 1939. He played his entire career, mostly in left field, for the Boston Red Sox, 1961 to 1983. He won the triple crown (batting average, home runs and runs batted in) in the American League in 1967, was a multiple Gold Glove winner and many times an All Star. His career totals included 3419 hits and 452 home runs. Being inducted alongside Yaz in 1989 were catcher Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds), second baseman Red Schoendienst (St Louis Cardinals) and umpire Al Barlick.

Fenway Park in Boston is about 240 miles from Cooperstown.

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

Lloyd James Waner was born in Harrah, Oklahoma in 1906 and died in Oklahoma City in 1982. He was known as "Little Poison" to differentiate him from his brother Paul, also a Hall of Fame outfielder, who was "Big Poison". They played together for Pittsburgh from 1927-1940. Most of Lloyd's career (1927-45) was with Pittsburgh, in two stints, with brief stays with four other teams. He wasn't a home run hitter, but set a record in 1927 by hitting 198 singles. His career batting average was .316. The "class" of 1967 included pitcher Red Ruffing (Yankees) and executive Branch Rickey.

The Pirates' games were played about 395 miles away from Cooperstown.

Answer: Detroit Tigers

Albert William (Al) Kaline was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1934. He arrived in the Tigers' lineup aged 18, straight from high school and didn't leave for over 20 years, spending his entire career (1953-74) in Detroit. (His baseball card seemed to turn up in every pack I bought as a kid!) During his career he hit .297 with 399 home runs and 3007 hits. Also inducted in 1980 were right fielder Chuck Klein (Phillies), centre fielder Duke Snider (Brooklyn Dodgers) and Boston Red Sox executive Tom Yawkey.

Detroit only just qualified for this quiz, being exactly 500 miles from Cooperstown, by one route.