Oops, Did I Do That? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jimmie Foxx

The three-time American League MVP winner led the league an amazing seven times in strikeouts with both the Athletics and Red Sox. He retired with 1311 strikeouts. Reggie had a bad run with the Athletics as he led the league in four consecutive seasons in strikeouts from 1968-1971. To put a cherry on the cake, he also led the league with the Angels in 1982. Jackson was the first player to reach 2500 strikeouts and retired with 2597. Yankee great Mickey Mantle also led the league five time in strikeouts, but retired with almost 900 strikeouts less than Jackson. Vince DiMaggio was another who led the league five times.

Answer: Cleveland Spiders

The Spiders were a good team and finished in second place three times in the NL during the 1890s. Going through financial difficulty after the 1898 season, the owner sold or traded all his high priced (but great) players which left the team with no chance of winning the NL pennant or anything else.

The team finished the 1899 season with a dismal 20-134 record. No starter batted .300 and no pitcher won more than four games. They averaged 199 fans in attendance in their first 16 home games, then it got worse.

The team finished a record 84 games behind the league champion Brooklyn Superbas. The franchise closed its doors after the season.

Answer: A. J. Burnett

The others listed all won 18 games in 2014 and tied for the American League lead. Burnett was in his 16th season in 2014 after signing with the Phillies as a free agent. He went 8-18 with an ERA of 4.59. After the season he packed his bags and moved to Pittsburgh as a free agent again.

Answer: Gene Mauch

Dykes managed the White Sox, Athletics, Orioles, Reds, Tigers, and Indians in a span from 1934-1961. Mauch managed for 26 seasons. Gene had the helm of the Phillies, Expos, Twins, and Angels between 1960-1977. Mauch was also an infielder for nine seasons and still never went to a World Series game. He died in 2005 at the age of 79.

Answer: Seattle Mariners

The other three teams had the highest attendance for the decade in the American League. The Mariners in the Kingdome was the only team in the decade not to reach the 10 million fan mark. The Mariners could not finish better than fourth place and finished last in their division four times in the 1980s. The Los Angeles Dodgers led all teams with almost 39 million fans in attendance.

Answer: Tony LaRussa

LaRussa was in a infielder and played part-time in six seasons between 1963-1971. With no stolen bases or home runs, Tony batted a career .199 for the Athletics, Braves, and Cubs. Comiskey batted .264 in 13 seasons. Stengel, the elite manager of the Yankees batted .284 over 14 playing seasons. Even the 29-year Braves and Blue Jays manager Bobby Cox batted .225 for the Yankees in two seasons. Mendoza never liked the term that he had to live with.

He later became a coach for the Angels organization.

Answer: Anthony Young

Young was a New York Met in 1992 and went 2-14 in the season. In 1993 he went 1-16. Straddling the two seasons he ran a streak of 27 straight losses. Young pitched for only six seasons and retired in 1996 as a Houston Astro. His career record was 15-48.

Answer: 3-5

McLain was suspended after the 1970 season began by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after an investigation into illegal gambling by McLain. The Tigers did not like it and created a four player each trade with the Washington Senators. McLain was allowed to pitch in 1971 but his underworld dealings and jail time had taken their toll.

He went 10-22 in 1971 and was out of baseball the following season.

Answer: Chick Gandil

After being fed up with low player salaries and no bonuses for making it to the World Series, Gandil and gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan began talks about throwing the World Series. After Gandil recruited some other players to throw it for money, things went sour after the Reds were up four games to one in the best-of-eight game series.

The players in on the fix wanted their $20,000 payoff after each White Sox loss instead of $100,000 at the end of the series. The heavy gamblers said no, and the White Sox decided to call off the 'fix' and win the World Series.

When they won game six and game seven, they started getting death threats for their families if they didn't come through. Succumbing to pressure, the White Sox lost game eight and the series to the Reds.

The investigation started later with many players being banned from baseball. Some experts say that Joe Jackson initiated the investigation by going Charles Comiskey and telling him what he knew to tip him off before the series began.

Answer: Philadelphia Phillies

The other teams did not exist in the 1960s. The Phillies with Gene Mauch at the helm went 47-107 for the second worst record in the decade. Even the Mets learned their lesson although they finished in last place five times in the 1960s. The Phillies had only one pitcher win in double-figures with John Mahaffey winning 11 games but losing 19 in the process. Teammate pitcher John Buzhardt also lost 18 games along with Frank Sullivan going 3-16 in the season.