Living the Postseason Dream Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kirk Gibson

Kirk Gibson, while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, hit a game winning two-run home run against the Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series. He was named the 1988 National League MVP, and deservingly so. Even though Gibson had injuries to both of his legs, he was sent in to pinch-hit for his Dodger team.

The Oakland Athletics were winning with a score of 4-3. With two men out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Gibson hit the home run. The Dodgers won that game, with a score of 5-4 as Gibson limped to home plate due to his leg injuries.

The Dodgers ended up winning the 1988 World Series in 5 games. This was the sixth World Series title for the Dodgers.

Answer: Bill Mazeroski

Despite a career batting average of just .260, Mazeroski was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2001, largely because of his defensive abilities. His walk-off home run off Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry in game 7 of the 1960 World Series lifted the Pirates to a 10-9 win.

In 1971, his next-to-last season in the majors, he was a member of yet another Pirates championship team.

Answer: Carlos Ruiz

Carlos Ruiz provided the game-winning single, which was the first walk-off infield single in World Series history. Ruiz came up with the bases loaded and proceeded to hit a weak grounder halfway up the third base line. The hit caught everyone by surprise, including Rays third basemen Evan Longoria. Longoria fielded the ball, but was unable to throw out the advancing runner at home, thus sealing the walk-off victory for the Phillies.

The Phillies took a 2-1 lead for the series, en route to winning the World Series 4 games to 1. Prior to game 3, country music superstar Tim McGraw spread some ashes of his father Tug McGraw over the pitching mound. McGraw was a popular relief pitcher for the Phillies when they won their first World Series in 1980.

He died of complications from a brain tumor in 2004.

Answer: Gene Larkin

Game 7 turned out to be a pitching duel between Jack Morris and John Smoltz, and the game was in a scoreless tie after 10 innings. The Braves had a chance to take the lead in the eighth inning when National League MVP Terry Pendleton hit a double with the quick-footed Lonnie Smith on first base.

However, Smith hesitated rounding second base which prevented him from scoring on the play. Morris was able to work out of the jam without yielding a run. In the 10th inning, the Twins were able to load the bases with one out when Gene Larkin came up to the plate.

He promptly delivered a single to score Gladden and win the series for the Twins. This was the highlight of Larkin's seven-year career (all with with the Twins) and he retired with a .266 career batting average.

Answer: Devon White

It was the 1992 World Series which pitted the Toronto Blue Jays against the Atlanta Braves. David Justice was at-bat for the Braves with Terry Pendleton on first and Deion Sanders on second base. When Justice hit a fly ball, White made a spectacular catch while jumping into the wall which retired Justice for the first out. White threw the ball to Roberto Alomar at second base, and then Alomar threw the ball to John Olerud at first base to tag Pendleton out, even though Pendleton had already been called out for running past Sanders. The Jays had a double-play and kept going for a triple-play. Olerud threw the ball to Kelly Gruber who was on third base, in order to chase Sanders down. Gruber dove and tagged Sanders on his heel, but the umpire did not see the tag and called Sanders safe. When the umpire watched the video later, he agreed that it was a triple-play and would have gone down in the history books as the second triple-play in World Series history.
Eventually in game 6 of this World Series, White was one of the two runs that made it to home plate when Dave Winfield hit a double in the 11th inning. The Jays won the World Series.
While with the Toronto Blue Jays, Devon White won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993. He also won five Gold Gloves and had a postseason batting average of .336.

Answer: Bob Gibson

Gibson was the starting pitcher in nine World Series games and recorded eight complete games with seven wins throughout his career. Gibson also set a World Series record by posting 17 strikeouts during game 1 of the 1968 World Series, and striking out 35 batters in the series.

The 1968 World Series pitted Gibson and his St. Louis Cardinals (who had previously won the 1967 World Series) against the upstart Detriot Tigers. Despite Gibson's masterful performance in the series, Detroit prevailed in the seven game series. Mickey Lolich out-dueled Gibson in the final game, to win his third game of the series and the World Series MVP Award.

Answer: Sandy Koufax

In game 1, Sandy Koufax pulled off a complete game as well as striking out 15 Yankees, winning the game by a score of 5-2. Koufax had also fanned the first five Yankee players that came up to bat in that first game, tying a World Series record. As the series progressed, Koufax pitched a complete game again in game 4, winning for the second time and sweeping the Yankees.

The Dodgers won the World Series in four games and this was the first time that the Yankees had been swept in a World Series. Koufax won the World Series MVP for his outstanding performance. In baseball, a "K" represents strikeouts.

Some newspaper headlines after the 1963 World Series had 15 K's followed by Sandy's surname, "KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK Koufax".

Answer: Manny Ramirez

"Manny being Manny" is a popular phrase to describe Ramirez's somewhat bizarre behavior, but there is no denying his amazing postseason prowess. In 2009, Manny hit his 29th postseason home run as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has also hit postseason home runs for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. Manny's 23rd postseason home run broke a tie with Bernie Williams to set a record for most postseason homeruns. Jackson and Mantle both hit 18 postseason home runs, while Ruth hit 15 postseason home runs. Both Mantle and Ruth hit all their home runs in World Series play, as the they played prior to establishing of the League Championship and League Divisional playoff rounds.

This is why most postseason records are held by more current players since they have three rounds of playoffs, while older players only had one or two rounds.

Answer: Christy Mathewson

In the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics, Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants twirled three shutouts, two of them against fellow future Hall of Famers Eddie Plank and Chief Bender. Mathewson had an impressive 17-year career with the New York Giants, in which he won an astounding total of 373 games (one of those wins came with the Cincinnati Reds).

He averaged 21 wins a season, including a career high 37 wins in 1908. Along with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner, Mathewson was one of the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Answer: Josh Beckett

Beckett was relatively unknown around baseball until his break-out performance in the 2003 World Series. He pitched extremely well in a game 3 loss, but came back to pitch a complete game shutout to clinch the title for the Marlins. The 2003 World Series was also notable for several historical reasons.

It marked the 100th year anniversary of the first World Series played back in 1903. Overall it was the 99th time the World Series was played, since there was no World Series competition in either 1904 or 1994. Additionally, Major League Baseball had adopted a new rule in 2003 stating that home field advantage in the World Series would be determined by the league who won that season's All-Star Game.

In previous years, the American and National Leagues alternated home field advantage. Under the old system, the Marlins would have had home field advantage, but the Yankees received it by virtue of the American League winning the All-Star Game. Of course, Josh Beckett and the Marlins were able to overcome this disadvantage by winning the series.