Snapshots of the 1960s Quiz | MLB by Season

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which Major League team in the 1960s changed their team logo after filed lawsuits and pressure from their own fans?

Answer: Houston

The Houston Colt .45s (later Astros) began their franchise in 1962. The logo depicted the side view of a hand gun with the letter "C" designed from smoke coming out of the barrel, then 'OLTS' in large block letters. The team changed from the gun to a shooting star.

2. Baseball lost some great people during the 1960s. Amongst those were Hall of Famers Fred Clarke, Ty Cobb at the age of 74, Philadelphia Athletic Mickey Cochrane, home run king Jimmie Foxx, and which baseball pioneer?

Answer: Branch Rickey

Rickey made history by signing Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers in 1947, the first African-American player to sign in modern-day history. Robinson played with the Dodgers for 10 seasons, winning the Rookie of the Year Award, MVP Award, and went to six World Series. Robinson died in 1972. Rickey was both a player and a manager before creating great hope for many with the signing of Robinson. Rickey died as a result from a heart attack in 1965 at the age of 83.

3. This catcher was born in 1968, and when it came time to put the feelers out for Major League Baseball in the draft, nobody wanted him. He was only drafted in the 62nd round of the draft because his father knew the manager, and it was done as a favor. Who was this all-star and potential Hall of Fame inductee?

Answer: Mike Piazza

Mike's father was friends with Dodger manager Tom Lasorda. With no intentions of giving Mike a tryout, both agreed to draft him so he could say that he was drafted by a Major League team. Lasorda did give Mike two tryouts and was impressed with what he saw, and seasons later signed with the team. Piazza was Rookie of the Year in 1993, was the 1996 All-Star Game MVP, and won 10 Silver Slugger awards.

The catcher hit 427 home runs in career. Not bad for a player that had 1389 players selected before him in the 1988 MLB Draft.

4. Which pitcher in the 1960s threw the most strikeouts in the decade?

Answer: Bob Gibson

Gibson of the Cardinals didn't pull any strings from the Gibson guitar line, but did throw 2071 strikeouts in the decade. He played his entire 17-season career with St. Louis from 1959-1975. After winning the 1964 and 1967 World Series MVP, Bob had a stellar 1968 season.

He won the NL MVP and Cy Young Award. Even with his leading the herd in strikeouts for the decade, Gibson led the league only once in strikeouts in 1968. Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers had the highest season tally in the decade with 382 in 1965.

5. Which 1960s Cleveland Indian had what Major League Baseball called an unofficial nickname of, "Who the Hell"?

Answer: Joe Azcue

A catcher throughout his 11 seasons, Joe "Who the Hell" Azcue led the league twice in a negative category of passed baseballs in 1967 and 1970. Joe averaged 10.6 passed balls per season. Azcue also played for the Reds, Athletics, Red Sox, and Angels.

6. This future Hall of Fame great was born in 1960, and went on to lead the league eight times in batting of his 20 seasons, and all with the same team. He was selected to the All-Star Game 15 times. Seven times he was in the top 10 for the MVP Award. Who is this player?

Answer: Tony Gwynn

Although actor Fred Gwynne played Herman Munster in the television series, Tony was no monster himself as he batted over .300+ in 19 of his 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres. In 1994, Gwynn came the closest than anyone else to batting .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941 with the Red Sox. Tony batted .394 in the season.

He retired in 2001, then was inducted in his first year of eligibility in 2007. In 2011, Tony had temporarily beaten mouth cancer with therapy and surgical procedures due to his chewing tobacco throughout his baseball career.

This left him without the ability to use muscles in his face to produce a smile.

7. Which Major League team drew the most home attendance during the 1960s decade?

Answer: Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers took the most attendance in a season and in the decade of all Major League teams. The new opening of Dodger Stadium in 1962 helped their cause also. For the decade, 21,781,262 fans walked through the turnstiles, while 2,755,184 came to their home games in 1962. Those numbers did not include the Los Angeles Angels who shared Dodger Stadium for a few seasons also. With two Major League teams playing home games in the same venue, the sale of hot dogs must have set some sort of record also in addition to making the lunch meat company Farmer John very profitable.

8. This all-around sportsman was a 12-sport letterman in high school and college in football, basketball, and baseball. He was a member of the 1969 Amazin' Mets when they won the World Series. Who was this World Series MVP Award winner?

Answer: Donn Clendenon

Donn went from the Pirates' ship in Pittsburgh in the 1960s to being traded in 1969 to the Expos, then the Mets. He was just in time to experience his only World Series of his career. He made it count by receiving the World Series MVP Award with his three home runs, four RBIs, and .357 batting average. Donn worked closely with Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, and Roy Campanella to help make his Major League career work.

He also received contract offers from the NFL Cleveland Browns and basketball's Harlem Globetrotters before deciding to stick with baseball. Clendenon died in 2005 at the age of 65.

9. Which of these teams never made a World Series appearance in the 1960s?

Answer: Philadelphia

The other teams all made one appearance in the decade. Unlike the filly horse Moonraker who was born in 2009 as daughter of New Moon Girl, the Philadelphia Phillies weren't seen in a world light between 1950 and 1980. With the help of manager Dallas Green and the bat of Mike Schmidt and pitcher Steve Carlton, the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980 against the Kansas City Royals, four games to two.

The Phillies made other World Series appearances in 1983, 1993, 2008, and 2009.

10. This 1968 Rookie of the Year played his entire career with one team. He went to four World Series with this team, won two season MVP awards, and was a World Series MVP also. What was the first name of this catcher who later was inducted into the Hall of Fame and became a baseball broadcaster?

Answer: Johnny

Bench played his entire career with the Reds from 1967-1973. Johnny won the NL MVP in 1970 over Billy Williams of the Cubs and teammate Tony Perez. He won another MVP in 1972 over Williams again and Willie Stargell of the Pirates. He was also the 1976 World Series MVP as a member of the Big Red Machine.

In addition to his 10 Gold Glove awards, Bench retired with 389 home runs. He was inducted into the hall in his first year of eligibility in 1989.

Source: Author Nightmare

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Snapshots of the 1960s Trivia Quiz

Another look back at the 1960s. The pictures are clues that will help only for the devious thinking ones. I hope you have fun with it. :)

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