Hall of Fame Greats! Trivia Quiz

Answer: 7

Berra came so close to signing with his hometown team Cardinals but passed on it because he wanted the same bonus that his close friend Joe Garagiola received when he signed with St. Louis. Both Joe and Yogi agreed that Yogi was the better player of the two but the signing did not come about and Berra signed with the Yankees instead. From 1950-1956, Berra had the greatest seven-season run in history with the Yankees by winning the MVP three times, being a runner-up twice, and finishing third once.

He also finished fourth in the balloting. That was seven times in the top five in seven consecutive seasons. His MVPs came in 1951, 1954, and 1955. He was the runner-up to Al Rosen of the Indians in 1953, then teammate Mickey Mantle in 1956. His third place finish came in 1950 behind teammate Phil Rizzuto and Billy Goodman of the Red Sox, and his fourth place came in 1952.

Answer: 33

Like Hank Aaron, Eddie was one of those consistent home run hitters over the years and topped out at 33 in 1983. He hit 504 in his career. After winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1977 with the Orioles, Murray was the MVP runner-up twice in his career.

He took a backseat in 1982 to Robin Yount of the Brewers, then teammate Cal Ripken Jr in 1983. His Hall of Fame induction in 2003 was shared with catcher Gary Carter who played mostly with the Montreal Expos.

Answer: Orlando Cepeda

Nicknamed "Stretch", McCovey played in only 52 games as a rookie but still won the Rookie of the Year Award. Cepeda who was the Giants' star first baseman injured his knee and totally opened the door for McCovey for more playing time. In Willie's first full season in 1963 he banged out 44 home runs.

He also hit 45 in 1969 earning him the National League MVP Award over pitcher Tom Seaver of the Mets. Cepeda was inducted into the Hall in 1999 while McCovey beat him to the podium in 1986.

Answer: Dazzy Vance

The others were all American League pitchers. Deserving the MVP honors as well was Vance of the Brooklyn Robins (later Dodgers) who went 28-6 in the 1924 season. It was Dazzy's only MVP Award. Hornsby would come back in 1925 to win the NL MVP, then win another one with the Cubs in 1929. Rogers retired with an outrageous .358 career batting average, second only to the great Ty Cobb by .008. Hornsby was a Hall of Fame inductee in 1942, and Vance would later walk into the Hall in 1955.

Answer: Robin Roberts

The great Ryan Express had a season high of 22. Bunning of the Detroit Tigers was a 20-game winner only once in his career going 20-8 in 1957. Cardinal great Bob Gibson was a 20-game winner five times and topped out at 23 in 1970. Roberts was a 20-game winner six times and had a sensational season in 1952 with the Phillies by winning 28 games.

Answer: Tony Gwynn

Gwynn was the only National League player listed and played his entire 20-season career with the San Diego Padres from 1982-2001. He won his four consecutive batting titles from 1994-1997 ranging from .353 to include his career high of .394. He won a total of eight batting crowns in his career. Gwynn went to two World Series while batting .371 but lost them both to the Tigers and Yankees. Tony was an easy Hall inductee in 2007, but later died in 2014 at the age of only 58.

Answer: Seattle Mariners

The incident occurred on was September 22, 1993. The Texas Ranger Nolan heard the pop and felt the tremendous burn in his elbow and immediately knew that his career was over. He retired while holding 53 Major League records. The batter during the incident was the Mariners' Dave Magadan. Strangely enough, the final completed batter of his career was the batter just before Magadan. That batter was Dann Howitt who had just hit a grand slam for Seattle prior to Ryan's career-ending injury. Ryan was credited with the 7-4 loss and finished his career with a 324-292 record. Unfortunately amongst all the accomplishments of Nolan, he never won a Cy Young Award. An easy induction into the Hall of Fame, he walked through the door in 1999 with an amazing 98.8% of the ballots.

Answer: Nap Lajoie

The others listed were all inducted in the 1940s. Lajoie played from 1896-1916, mostly as a second baseman with Cleveland of the American League. Needing 75% of the ballots, Nap garnered only 64.9% of the vote in 1936. He was the leading inductee in the following round in 1937 with 83.6% of the ballots. Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Connie Mack, John McGraw, and George Wright also joined Lajoie as inductees into the Hall in 1937.

Answer: Sam Thompson

None of the others listed ever had 200 hits in a season or were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thompson was an outfielder with the Detroit Wolverines of the National League in 1887 when he had 203 hits in the season. It was the first of three 200-hit seasons that Sam provided and he topped out at 222 in 1893. Thompson was a 1974 Hall inductee.

Answer: Ralph Kiner

The other players listed won only one season home run title. From 1946-1955, Kiner played eight of his 10 seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirate outfield. He started his streak as a rookie in 1946, hit a career high of 54 in 1949, then closed out the streak in 1952 with his seventh crown. To the absolute amazement of Pirate fans in 1953, the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs made a multi-player trade which included Kiner. Ralph retired in 1955 having hit 369 home runs for an average of 36.9 big ones per season.

He was inducted into the Hall in 1975.