Swing and a Miss Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

Bill Dinneen began his career in 1898 with the Washington Senators, also playing for the Boston Beaneaters before joining the Boston Americans. After five full seasons with the Americans, he played his last three seasons with the St. Louis Browns. Honus Wagner started with the Louisville Colonels in 1897, playing with them for three years before joining the Pirates, the team with which he finished his 21-year career.

Three-times-in-a-row NL pennant winners Pittsburgh faced an AL Boston team that had won their pennant by 14 1/2 games over their nearest competitor. The Pirates shot to a 3-1 game lead, and then things turned around dramatically for the Americans, who took the next four straight to win the series. Bill Dinneen and Cy Young were the pitchers for the Americans (along with Tom Hughes who started game 3), but it was Dinneen who threw the final pitch to win a game 8 shutout and the first World Series for his team.
Game 1: 7-3 Pittsburgh
Game 2: 3-0 Boston
Game 3: 4-2 Pittsburgh
Game 4: 5-4 Pittsburgh
Game 5: 11-2 Boston
Game 6: 6-3 Boston
Game 7: 7-3 Boston
Game 8: 3-0 Boston

Answer: 'Red' Oldham and 'Goose' Goslin

'Red' Oldham began his professional career with the Detroit Tigers in 1914 at the age of 21. He played five seasons with the Tigers before being relegated to the minors. He made it back to the big leagues for two more years (1925-26) with the Pirates. 'Goose' Goslin joined the Washington Senators in 1921, spending half of his career with them, along with the St. Louis Browns and Detroit Tigers. He earned the AL batting title in 1928.

The 1925 World Series was a close-fought affair, with the Pittsburgh Pirates managing to come from behind to defeat the 1924 Champion Washington Senators in seven games.
Game 1: 4-1 Washington
Game 2: 3-2 Pittsburgh
Game 3: 4-3 Washington
Game 4: 4-0 Washington
Game 5: 6-3 Pittsburgh
Game 6: 3-2 Pittsburgh
Game 7: 9-7 Pittsburgh

Answer: False

It was actually the Giants who won the 1933 World Series in five games, with Dolf Luque striking out Senators first baseman Joe Kuhel. It was the Giants' fourth World Series win, while the Senators were making their third appearance, having won it once before in 1924.

Dolf Luque started out with the Atlanta Braves in 1914 before moving to the Cincinnati Reds in 1918, where he spent 12 years. In 1930 and '31 he played for the Brooklyn Robins, then finished the last four years of his 20-year career with the Giants.

Beginning in 1930, Joe Kuhel played in the majors for 17 years, alternating between the Washington Senators and the Chicago White Sox (two stints with each team).

Despite having the better season batting average and a higher number of productive batters, the Senators could not outgun the New York Giants, who finished them off in five games.
Game 1: 4-2 New York
Game 2: 6-1 New York
Game 3: 4-0 Washington
Game 4: 2-1 New York
Game 5: 4-3 New York

Answer: Ted Wilks

Ted Wilks, as mentioned in the question, began his major league career in 1944 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was 28 at the time, and he went on to play 10 years in total, mostly with the Cardinals. His last three years were split between St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Mike Chartak only played in the big leagues for four years, starting with the Yankees in 1940, splitting 1942 between the Yankees, Senators and Browns, then finishing off his last two years with the Browns. His last game was the final game of the 1944 World Series when he struck out to Wilks.

This was the one and only year that St. Louis faced off against St. Louis in the World Series. It was the third year in a row in the World Series for the Cardinals, who had won it in 1942 over the Yankees, then lost it the next year to those same Yankees. They managed to redeem themselves in 1944 against their state rivals.
Game 1: 2-1 Browns
Game 2: 3-2 Cardinals
Game 3: 6-2 Browns
Game 4: 5-1 Cardinals
Game 5: 2-0 Cardinals
Game 6: 3-1 Cardinals

Answer: New York Yankees

Allie Reynolds kicked off his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1942 at the age of 25, moving over to the Yankees six years later, where he remained until the end of his big league career in 1954. Stan Lopata played a total of 13 years in the majors, 11 of them with the Philadelphia Phillies, who he started with in 1948. He finished out the last two years of his career with the Atlanta Braves.

This was the second World Series win in a row for the Yankees of what would eventually be five straight. This 1950 win marked their 13th World Series title.
Game 1: 1-0 New York
Game 2: 2-1 New York
Game 3: 3-2 New York
Game 4: 5-2 New York

Answer: Sandy Koufax

While all great L.A. Dodgers pitchers of the 1960s, Sandy Koufax happens to be the only lefty on the above list. Sandy Koufax played his entire career with the Dodgers, beginning in 1955 and going until the end of the 1966 season. Over 397 career games he had a record of 165-87 with a 2.76 ERA. Bob Allison started out with the Washington Senators in 1958, moving over to the Twins for the 1961 season, where he stayed until 1970.

The '65 series marked Minnesota's first time in the World Series, and they faced a Dodgers team that had won it only two years previously. They put up a good fight, but in the end L.A. prevailed four games to three.
Game 1: 8-2 Minnesota
Game 2: 5-1 Minnesota
Game 3: 4-0 Los Angeles
Game 4: 7-2 Los Angeles
Game 5: 7-0 Los Angeles
Game 6: 5-1 Minnesota
Game 7: 2-0 Los Angeles

Answer: Philadelphia Phillies

'Tug' McGraw started with the New York Mets in 1965, moving to the Phillies for the 1975 season. In total he played in the majors for 19 years, retiring in 1984. Willie Wilson played with the K.C. Royals from 1976 to 1990 before splitting his last four years playing between the Oakland Athletics and the Chicago Cubs. During the 1980 World Series, he set a (then) record of 12 strikeouts during the series. That mark was beaten in 2009 by Ryan Howard of the Phillies.

1980 marked the Philadelphia Phillies' third appearance in the World Series since they formed in 1883; the lost in 1915 to the Boston Red Sox and in 1950 to the New York Yankees. Third time proved to be the charm as they defeated the Royals in six games.
Game 1: 7-6 Philadelphia
Game 2: 6-4 Philadelphia
Game 3: 4-3 Kansas City
Game 4: 5-3 Kansas City
Game 5: 4-3 Philadelphia
Game 6: 4-1 Philadelphia

Answer: New York Mets

Jesse Orosco played for nine different teams during his 24-year career, but he started with the Mets in 1979 and stayed with them for his first eight years before going to L.A. Orosco came into that final '86 World Series game as the third relief pitcher of the game during the 8th inning, following starter Ron Darling, and relievers Sid Fernandez and Roger McDowell.

Marty Barrett spent nearly his whole career with the Red Sox, from 1982 to 1990. His last year playing in the majors was a short 12 games with the San Diego Padres. In his minor-league career, Barrett played in the (then) longest game in professional baseball in 1981, scoring the winning run in the 33rd inning for the Pawtucket Red Sox over the Rochester Red Wings.

The disappointing series for the Boston Red Sox was all the more so because of holding 2-0 and 3-2 series leads, then losing game six in the 10th inning.
Game 1: 1-0 Boston
Game 2: 9-3 Boston
Game 3: 7-1 New York
Game 4: 6-2 New York
Game 5: 4-2 Boston
Game 6: 6-5 New York
Game 7: 8-5 New York
The 'curse of the Bambino' ended in 2004 World Series when the Red Sox beat the St Louis Cardinals, for their first World Srries win since 1918.

Answer: Yes

The 2008 World Series was the 16th occasion that it was decided by a strike out. Before these three World Series 2006-07-08, there was only one instance when it happened two years back to back (1949 and 1950). The three consecutive times that it happened from 2006 to 2008 were each done by different teams:

2006: St. Louis Cardinals 4, Detroit Tigers 1 (Adam Wainwright striking out Brandon Inge in the final game).
2007: Boston Red Sox 4, Colorado Rockies 0 (Jonathan Papelbon striking out Seth Smith to complete the sweep).
2008: Philadelphia Phillies 4 , Tampa Bay Rays 1 (Brad Lidge striking out Eric Hinske to give the Phillies their second title).

Answer: Nelson Cruz

Brian Wilson began his career with the Giants in 2006. In 2010, Wilson had his first season ERA of under 2.00 (his number was 1.81) in 70 games played. Nelson Cruz was originally signed by the New York Mets in 1997, but didn't begin playing in the majors until 2005 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was acquired in a trade by the Texas Rangers the following year. He promptly hit his first career grand slam on August 16th (2006) against the Los Angeles Angels.

The 2010 World Series was the first for the Texas Rangers, who were disappointed by the Giants in a somewhat lopsided five games.
Game 1: 11-7 San Francisco
Game 2: 9-0 San Francisco
Game 3: 4-2 Texas
Game 4: 4-0 San Francisco
Game 5: 3-1 San Francisco