Major League Baseball's Athletics Quiz

Answer: Connie Mack

Mack had the team from 1901-1950, a remarkable dedication to baseball. He managed the Pittsburgh Pirates prior from 1894-1896 also. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1937, 13 years before he stepped down from baseball.

Answer: Nap Lajoie

In 1901, in the first season of the franchise, Lajoie batted .426 and jumped on the first Triple Crown in the American League. Lajoie had played with the Phillies from 1896-1900 before joining the new Philadelphia Athletics in 1901. Nap retired after 21 seasons batting a .338 career average.

Answer: 1955

The franchise played for 50 seasons in Philadelphia, giving their fans eight World Series appearances along with five wins. Their final season in Philadelphia was not a good one in 1954, going 51-103 and finishing in last place in the American League.

Answer: Eddie Collins

The MVP Award began presentations in 1911, and Collins was there in 1914 to win it for the Athletics. He batted .344 with 122 hits, beating out Sam Crawford and teammate Frank "Home Run" Baker for the MVP. After Eddie's 1914 MVP season, his contract was purchased by the Chicago White Sox.

After 12 seasons in Chicago, he played his final four seasons back with the Athletics and retired in 1930. Six times in his career, Collins was in the top five for the MVP voting. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Answer: 1905

The first World Series was played in 1903. There was no World Series played in 1904, mainly due to New York Giants John McGraw intent to boycott the series. The second World Series played was in 1905, and pitted the Athletics against the New York Giants in a four games to one loss for Philadelphia.

Answer: 3

The Oakland Athletics won three consecutive World Series from 1972-1974 with a remarkable roster of Catfish Hunter, Bert Campaneris, Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Gene Tenace, and Ken Holtzman. They defeated the Reds, Mets, and Dodgers, respectively.

Answer: Rollie Fingers

Fingers made his money coming out of the bullpen from 1968-1976 for Oakland. In 1977 he was a San Diego Padre and won the Rolaids Relief Award in 1977, 1978, and 1980. In 1981, Rollie was a Milwaukee Brewer, and not only won the Rolaids Relief Award, but also bagged the 1981 AL Cy Young and AL MVP Award.

He retired in 1985 with the Brewers, and his number 34 was retired by the Athletics in 1993. Athletic retired numbers to follow were the number 27 of pitcher Catfish Hunter in 1991. The number 9 of Reggie Jackson followed in 2004, and the 43 of pitcher Dennis Eckersley in 2005.

Answer: Columbia Park

They played at Columbia until 1909 when they moved into Shibe Park. Shibe was renamed Connie Mack Stadium, and the Athletics played there until the franchise moved to a different city.

Answer: Vida Blue

The Cy Young Award began in 1956 with only one award presented amongst all of baseball. Major League Baseball decided to give each league their own award beginning in 1967. Blue won it in 1971 in his first full season in the big leagues. He went 24-8 along with 301 strikeouts and a ERA of 1.82.

He won the American League award over Mickey Lolich of the Tigers and Wilbur Wood of the White Sox. Blue also won the AL MVP Award in the 1971 season.

Answer: 1989

Named the "Earthquake Series" because a massive earthquake hit the central California area in game three with a magnitude of 7.1 The World Series was delayed 10 days, then the Athletics picked up where they left off. After winning games one and two 5-0 and 5-1, Oakland finished the Giants off with a 13-7 and 9-6 win to skunk the Giants four games to none.