The Ultimate Baseball Nightmare! Online Trivia | Sports

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In what year were foul balls first counted as strikes?

Answer: 1903

The foul ball rule changes in 1903 were made to help create more strikeouts, as baseball officials deemed they were too infrequent. This was in contrast to early days when pitchers ruled the mound, which was only 50 feet away from home plate. Matt Kilroy of the Baltimore Orioles in the American Association, once struck out 513 batters in a season. With so many rule changes for pitchers, the field belonged to the batters.

Some changes in the 1880s gave some authority back to the pitchers, allowing the pitcher to throw overhand, letting their hand come above their waste when the ball was released.

Another change was that a batter struck out with three strikes, instead of four.

2. There are a handful of members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who also played Major League baseball. Some include Jim Thorpe, Paddy Driscoll, Ernie Nevers, George Halas, Red Badgro, Johnny Beall, Greasy Neale, and Ace Parker. Which of these hit a home run in their first Major League at-bat?

Answer: Ace Parker

Parker did it on April 24, 1937. He played in two seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics as an infielder. Halas was the right fielder for the 1919 New York Yankees, a position that he vacated for Babe Ruth the following season. Ernie Nevers was a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns in 1927, and gave up two of Ruth's record-setting 60 home runs in the season. Neale batted .357 in the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds, known as the Black Sox Scandal.

3. Which two pitchers in the 1970s played in a season without a contract, causing a major change to the reserve clause of free agency?

Answer: Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally

Messersmith pitched for the Dodgers in 1975, and without ever signing a contract. McNally played all but one season with the Orioles, and pitched in 1975 with the Expos with no contract. It was arbitrator Peter Seitz who handled Catfish Hunter's free-agency endeavors, that represented both Messersmith and McNally.

The changes to the reserve clause gave much more power to players while taking some away from the owners.

4. In which playoff season did Major League baseball see for the first time, all division winners repeat as their division champions in the following season?

Answer: 1978

1977 saw the Yankees, Royals, Dodgers, and Phillies all win their respective divisions. 1978 saw the same teams do it again. It would also be a repeat of the World Series, with the Yankees and Dodgers going at it in both seasons, and the Yankees being victorious both times, four games to two.

5. Babe Ruth was in the Minor Leagues in 1914 with a Baltimore team. When the team's owner tried to shop Ruth around for a Major League deal, which team was given the first opportunity to buy his contract?

Answer: Philadelphia Athletics

Jack Dunn, owner of the Minor League Baltimore team, first went to Connie Mack of the Athletics. It came very close to a contract, but Mack backed away because he did not like the attitude of the Babe. Dunn then went to Boston's owner Joe Lannin, who came to an agreement for the sale. John McGraw of the Giants was outraged, being Irish persuasion and a friend of Dunn, because he was not offered a deal at all.

The rest is history.

6. Which shortstop set a position record for playing in 110 consecutive games without committing an error?

Answer: Mike Bordick

Bordick was a 2002 Baltimore Oriole when he set this record. He retired after the 2003 season with the Blue Jays. In 1577 games at shortstop in his career, Mike committed 128 errors, averaging one error every 12 games.

7. Which Major League team was the last to wear collars on their uniforms (it happened in 1915)?

Answer: Detroit Tigers

It was the 1915 season when the Tigers finally abandoned the collars, as the rest of the leagues had already done it. It must have had some effect as the Tigers won 100 games in the season, their first time in history with a 100-54 record. 1915 also saw the Yankees wear pinstripes for the first time.

In the early 1980s the White Sox teams had uniforms with shorts and a white shirt with a black collar.

8. Who was the first National League pitcher to throw both complete games of a double-header in one day, and win them both?

Answer: Candy Cummings

It was the very-first season of the National League in 1876, when Cummings of the Hartford Dark Blues won both games of the doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds, 14-4 and 8-4 on September 9. Cummings went 16-8 in the season. Candy and Tommy Bond were the only pitchers on the team. Hartford finished second to the Chicago White Stockings, who took the first-ever National League pennant.

9. Which pitcher debuted in the Major Leagues, shutting out his opponent and getting four hits of his own in the game?

Answer: Russ Van Atta

Nicknamed "Sheriff", Van Atta was a rookie New York Yankee in 1933. On April 25th, he shutout the Senators 16-0. He had another shutout in the season, and had only one more in the rest of his career. Russ batted a career .228 as a pitcher.

10. Which American League pitcher in the 1960s, set a league record for throwing 84-1/3 consecutive innings without giving up a walk?

Answer: Bill Fischer

Fischer was in his seventh season in 1962 and played for the Kansas City Athletics at the time. For the entire season, Bill gave up eight walks in 127-2/3 innings. He also hit one batter. He pitched in 831 innings in his career while walking 210. This averaged one walk every four innings.

Source: Author Nightmare

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

The Ultimate Baseball Nightmare! Quiz

Warning! Although in all multiple choice about baseball, do not play this quiz if you are not willing to accept less than five answers correct. It was written for the hardcore and true dedicated baseball trivia nuts. :-)

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>