Out of the Box Baseball Quiz | MLB Mixture

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In the 1960s, the regulation for a pitcher's mound was 18 feet in diameter, 60 feet 6 inches from home plate, and a height no taller than 15 inches. Which team was caught by Major League Baseball for having a pitcher's mound that was 20 inches in height?

Answer: Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodger Stadium was built and opened in 1962. The violation was discovered in late 1966 during Sandy Koufax's final season of baseball. It was never learned how many seasons that the Dodgers' mound was elevated, but it was suspected that the stadium was built with a 20" pitcher's mound height.

Some say that over-powering pitchers such as the tall Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were able to get more downward power and speed from the ball as a result. Drysdale won the NL Cy Young in 1962, and Koufax took three Cy Young Awards from 1963-1966.

After Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, it was also later discovered by Major League Baseball in 1963 that the foul poles were also placed not in accordance within the Major League Baseball regulation dimensions of a ballpark and the dimensions of the ballpark were eventually adjusted to meet those regulations.

2. The Cleveland Spiders of the 1890s in the National League was owned by two brothers, Frank and Stanley Robison. When another National League team was going bankrupt, they bought it too which was a direct conflict of interest with the league. With pressure from league officials for owning two teams, they "traded" all their star Cleveland Spider players after the 1898 season to their other team, and watched the Spiders go 20-134 in its final season in 1899 before closing its doors. Which National League team was the other team that the Robison brothers owned?

Answer: St. Louis Perfectos

The team that was going bankrupt was the National League St. Louis Browns. The Robison brothers bought them out and changed the team name to St. Louis Perfectos in 1899. The star Spider players were traded to the Perfectos all "in-house" and it seemed to be an all-star roster including pitcher Cy Young.

The 1899 Perfectos team still finished in fifth place behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Superbas (later Dodgers) by 18.5 games. In the following season, the Robison brothers changed the team's Perfectos name to Cardinals and still finished fifth behind Brooklyn.

3. Jersey number 20 was the first uniform number that the Arizona Diamondbacks retired for their franchise. This number was retired in honor of which player?

Answer: Luis Gonzalez

Nicknamed "Gonzo", the outfielder played for eight teams over his 19 seasons from 1990-2008. After a trade from the Tigers for Karim Garcia in late 1998, Gonzalez was now a Diamondback. He started things off with a new season high by hitting 26 home runs in 1999, then 31 in 2000, then another 57 in 2001 which gave him a number three spot for the MVP voting behind Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. Luis hit 224 home runs in eight seasons for Arizona.

He retired as a Florida Marlin in 2008 with 354 career four-baggers.

4. Some baseball fans remember the George Brett pine tar incident in 1983 when he hit a home run, then the home run was denied by the home plate umpire for having too much pine tar on his bat. Who was the opposing manager that protested the bat after Brett hit the home run?

Answer: Billy Martin

It happened at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983. With the Kansas City Royals down 4-3 to the Yankees in the top of the ninth inning with two outs, Brett hit the two-run home run to put the Royals ahead by a run. That's when Martin immediately came out of the Yankee dugout and protested the bat.

After a lengthy discussion amongst all the umpires with the bat, they nullified the home run, called Brett out, and watched Brett charge out of the dugout and argue in a rage. As there was already two outs, Brett was declared the final out and the game was officially over.

The Yankees won the game 4-3. Sometime later, the Royals appealed the ruling, and the game was resumed with the home run counting and the score 5-4 in favor of the Royals, however, Brett was ejected from the game after resumption.

The Royals would shut the Yankees out in the bottom of the ninth, and officially won the game by the final score of 5-4.

5. The Los Angeles Angels came into existence as an expansion team in 1961. They shared the newly built Dodger Stadium in 1962 with the Dodgers for four seasons, then moved into their new Anaheim Stadium in 1966. Where did the Angels play their home games in 1961 as a 'rookie' team?

Answer: Wrigley Field in Los Angeles

Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was built in 1925, and it closed down after the Angels' 1961 inaugural season. The Angels then shared Dodger Stadium for four seasons with the Dodgers which must have resulted in not only a boom for concession stand traffic, but a major headache for Major League Baseball scheduling. Anaheim Stadium was completed near Disneyland in late 1965, and coincidentally the Disney Corporation years later purchased the team.

In their inaugural Anaheim Stadium season in 1966, the franchise led all other American League teams in attendance with an amazing 1,400,321 fans.

6. Prior to the Cleveland Indians being called the team name "Indians", what were they named immediately prior?

Answer: Cleveland Naps

The franchise started in the new American League in 1901 as the Blues. In 1902 they changed their team name to the Bronchos. That didn't seem to work well so they changed the name to Naps in 1903, and kept that name until the end of the 1914 season.

The Indians name was born for the 1915 season. They finished in seventh place in that season. In 1920 it all came together for them winning the AL pennant, then going on to win the World Series against the Brooklyn Robins, five games to two.

7. Which ballpark experienced Babe Ruth's first-ever Major League home run?

Answer: Polo Grounds

Ruth debuted on July 11, 1914 as the starting Boston Red Sox pitcher in a game against the Indians. He and his Red Sox won the game 4-3. His historic home run came early in the following season on May 6. In his second pitching start of that season, his bat went 3-for-5 with a home run and two singles, but still lost to the Yankees 4-3. Who knew this would be number one of 714? Number one was hit in the Yankees' Polo Grounds off New York Yankee pitcher Jack Warhop.

8. Baseball was great to the fans throughout the 20th Century. That did not change at the millennium. Which Major League team was the first to win three World Series in the 21st Century?

Answer: Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox blanked the Cardinals four games to none in 2004, then downed the Rockies by the same count in 2007. Their triple was made in 2013 when they downed the Cardinals again, four games to two. The Giants received their triple the following season in 2014 when they defeated the Royals. The Giants' first two World Series wins of the century came in 2010 and 2012.

9. The American League started it all in 1901. Which AL team drew the most fan attendance in their ballpark in that inaugural season?

Answer: Chicago White Sox

The White Sox fans were engaged into the game because their team led the league most of the season, and ended up winning the AL pennant. They drew 354,350 fans at South Side Park. They took the first American League pennant by four games over the Boston Americans.

In 1902, the White Sox drew 337,000+ fans, then really dropped in 1903 to just over 286,000 fans while watching the Boston Americans dominate the American League in the season.

10. This New York Yankee pitcher almost threw the first-ever World Series game no-hitter in history. He took the game into the ninth inning with two outs, then lost the game. Who was this pitcher?

Answer: Bill Bevens

It was game four of the 1947 World Series which pitted the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. An unlikely starter who went 7-13 in the season, Bevens was the selected starter against Brooklyn pitcher Harry Taylor for game four. With the Dodgers down 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Brooklyn had two runners on base with two outs. Up to the plate came Cookie Lavagetto as a pinch-hitter sent in by manager Dodger manager Burt Shotton. Cookie's drive to right was off the fence which scored two Dodger runs and they won the game on a walk-off, 3-2.

The Yankees would go on to win the 1947 World Series, four games to three.

Source: Author dg_dave

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Out of the Box Baseball Trivia Quiz

Not your run of the mill mixture of questions for baseball. This might be a bit of a challenge if you don't think about the answer options. I hope you enjoy it.

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