Hold On To Your Hats! Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1906

1906 was the third World Series. It pitted the Chicago Cubs against the Chicago White Sox. The Cubs finished the season with a huge surge, going 50-8. They ended the season with 116 wins. Up against the White Sox, known as "The Hitting Wonders", Chicago couldn't do much of anything in the first four games of the series.

The Cubs allowed only five runs in those four games. The Cubs then allowed 16 White Sox runs in the next two games, and lost the series four games to two. However, the Cubs would go on to win the 1907 and 1908 series against the Tigers.

Answer: Leo Durocher

Mack managed the Pittsburgh Pirates for three seasons before taking the new Philadelphia Athletics in 1901 for the next 50 seasons. Mack finished in last place 17 times, and seven of those being consecutive from 1915-1921. Stengel managed for 25 seasons, mostly with the Yankees, and finished in last place four times. All Casey's last place finishes were with the Mets in the 1960s. McGraw managed for 34 seasons, and all but three with the New York Giants.

He finished in last place only three times. Leo's only cellar finish was with the 1966 Cubs.

Answer: Tommy Tucker

Tucker won the title while playing with the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association in 1889. He won the crown over Tip O'Neill and Denny Lyons. Except for leading the league five times for being hit by a pitch in the AA and NL, Tucker didn't lead a league in any other major category. Hornsby was not a switch-hitter, but Mantle and Rose were. Mantle won a batting title in 1956, the season of his Triple Crown, and Rose won it in 1968, 1969, and 1973.

Answer: Jeff Innis

Innis wasn't very productive in his fifth season with the Mets in 1991. As a matter of fact, he had appeared in 145 games at that point and had a record of 2-8 with only one save. The Mets kept him on for another two seasons, and he retired in 1993. His career record was 10-20 with five saves in 288 games. That was Jeff's seven-year career.

Answer: Hugh Nicol

Nicol stole 138 bases with the 1887 Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association. There were three others in the season who reached that 100-mark for the first time also. They were Arlie Latham of the St. Louis Browns who stole 129, Charlie Comiskey of those same Browns who stole 117, and Pete Browning of the Louisville Colonels who stole 103. Hamilton stole 100 for his first time in 1889 with his Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association. Ty Cobb never reached the 100-plateau. Henderson stole 100+ three times in his career, with the first being in 1980 with the Oakland Athletics.

Answer: Mickey Welch

October 2, 1873, with the Philadelphia Whites of the National Association, the fans saw Jim Devlin bat for a teammate and get a single in the game, and was the first pinch-hitter in baseball history. He was not a pitcher for another two seasons though. Mickey Welch, a pitcher for the NL New York Giants was the second pinch-hitter in history in 1889, and the first NL pitcher to pinch-hit. 1889 also saw baseball's third pinch-hitter with Jack Stivetts with the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. Jack was a pitcher, but was with the AA.

Answer: 1910

Ty Cobb won the batting title in 1910 for batting .383 with the Detroit Tigers. The controversy was over Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians. In the last game of that season, the management of the St. Louis Browns had instructed their third baseman, Red Corriden, to play deep on every Lajoie at-bat.

This was so Nap could beat out every bunt and take the batting title away from Cobb. Although manager Jack O'Connor was banned from baseball for this, Cobb still won the batting title. 70 seasons later, it was found that Cobb was given double-credit in a 2-for-3 batting game in a doubleheader, which in fact, he had gone hitless in two extra at-bats.

In 1980, Major League Baseball reversed the decision and gave Lajoie the batting title for 1910 for batting .384. Lajoie died in 1959, and Cobb in 1961.

Answer: St. Louis Browns

The Browns had a history of not doing really anything notable, but they set a league record in 1929. The Browns went 79-73 in the season for a fourth place AL finish. Their three pitchers who tied for the league lead in shutouts were Dolly Gray, Alvin Crowder, and George Blaeholder.

The Browns threw a total of 15 shutouts in the season. Danny MacFayden of the Boston Red Sox also tied the other three in the season.

Answer: Red Schoendienst

Schoedienst was the Braves' second baseman for the Braves, and came to them midseason 1957. He had been instrumental in their first two World Series endeavors. In 1959, he came down with tuberculosis and played in only five games. The Braves tried seven different second basemen to take the place of Red, and finally settled for 35-year old Bobby Avila to finish the season out.

The Braves finished in second place in the NL behind the Dodgers.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals were shutout an unfortunate 33 times in 1908. 11 of those shutouts were with Bugs Raymond on the mound for the Cardinals. He didn't get much support in the season, and finished it with a record of 15-25. He did throw five shutouts of his own in the season.