Yankees - Red Sox: THE Rivalry Quiz

Answer: Jack Chesbro

Chesbro won a major league record 41 games that season. But he started 3 games in the last 4 days of the season, helping New York blow a half game lead. He couldn't win the big one, throwing the errant pitch in the top of the 9th, allowing Boston to win the first game of a doubleheader and clinch first place. New York won the second game to finish 1 1/2 games behind in the first pennant race in their history.

The other players listed all played for NY that season.

Answer: Cy Young

Cy Young no-hit the Highlanders on June 30, 1908, in an 8-0 victory. He finished his career with a 511-316 won loss record, and a 2.63 ERA. Mogridge pitched a no-hitter against the Yankees on April 24, 1917. Wagner and Speaker were both Hall of Famers who played for Boston.

Answer: New York Highlanders

The Red Sox beat the Highlanders 7-6 on April 20, 1912, in extra innings. The Highlanders were officially renamed the Yankees one year later. The Red Sox would go on to win their third pennant, and their second World Series that season, 4-3 over the NY Giants. The odd thing about the timing of this game, is that it occurred in the same week that the Titanic sunk.

Answer: The owner wanted the cash to bankroll his Broadway plays

Red Sox owner Harry Frazee cared more about his Broadway production company than he did about his baseball team. He needed the money to produce his show "No No, Nanette", and told Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert that Ruth was for sale. The price was a cash sale and a loan against the mortgage on Fenway Park. Several more players were sold to the Yankees over the next few years, and even General Manager Ed Barrow jumped ship to the Yankees.

Answer: Babe Ruth

He hit the home run on April 18, in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox. The Yankees would go on to win their first ever World Series that year 4-2 over the Giants. They featured several players that they had aquired from Boston. This was during a stretch from 1921 through 1932, when the Yankees finished in first place 7 times, while the Red Sox finished in last place 9 times. That Ruth sale was certainly a one-sided deal.

Answer: Joe and Dom DiMaggio

Joe played centerfield for the Yankees from 1936 through 1951, missing 3 years because of WWII. Dom played centerfield for the Red Sox from 1940 through 1953, also missing 3 years for WWII. Joe was a Hall of Famer, hitting .325 for his career with 361 home runs. Dom was also a great player, hitting .298 and stealing 100 bases in his career, which was a lot for that time. One time Dom made a great running catch on a long drive hit by Joe. That evening, they went to dinner together, and Joe wouldn't talk to Dom.

Answer: Ted Williams

Even though Williams hit over .400 in 1941, DiMaggio won the MVP award largely because of his 56 game hitting streak that season. In 1947 the award was just as controversial. Williams and DiMaggio were the dominant players of their era. DiMaggio also won the MVP in 1939. Williams hit .344 with 521 homers and 1,839 RBI's for his career, in spite of missing 5 seasons because of two wars.

He won the MVP in 1946 and 1949. Many people call Williams the greatest hitter who ever lived.

Answer: Joe McCarthy

McCarthy resigned from NY in 1946 for ill health, then went to Boston in 1948. He led the Red Sox to a first place tie with Cleveland, but Boston lost the one game playoff. The Red Sox appeared in one World Series in the 40s in 1946. But they lost in 7 games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Answer: Roger Maris

Maris hit his 61st home run on October 1, 1961, in Yankee Stadium. It was on the last day of the season, right before the Yankees won the World Series in 5 games over the Cincinnati Reds. Even though it had since been passed by three other players, for the rest of the century, his 61 homers were still the American League record. Yankee and Red Sox fans are well known to have numerous derogatory chants, that they regularly use against the other team. "Nomar's better", by Red Sox fans, and "1918", by Yankee fans, are among the few that are fit to print here.

Answer: Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk

All through the 70s, these two players were constantly compared to each other. Carlton Fisk played for the Red Sox from 1969 through 1980. In 1981, he left them as a free agent and went to the White Sox. He played for 13 more seasons with Chicago, retiring after the 1993 season.

His best season in Boston was 1977, when he batted .315 with 26 homers and 102 RBI's. He hit 376 home runs in his career, good enough for election to the Hall of Fame. Thurman Munson played for the Yankees from 1969 until August of 1979, when he was tragically killed in a plane crash.

His best season was in 1976, when he won the AL MVP Award by hitting .302 with 17 homers and 105 RBI's. He was named the Yankees' first captain since Lou Gehrig.

Answer: Bucky Dent

With the Yankees trailing 2-0 in the top of the 7th inning, Bucky Dent hit a surprising 3 run home run to put them into the lead. The Yankees eventually won the game 5-4, and the division. To get to that playoff game, the Yankees had to mount an incredible comeback during the summer, after trailing Boston by 14 games in late July.

They eventually caught the Red Sox in a four game sweep in early September, known as the Boston Massacre. The Yankees beat the Dodgers in the 1978 World Series for the second straight year.

Answer: Carl Yastrzemski

Yaz got his 3,000th hit off of Yankee pitcher Jim Beattie, a single. Earlier that season, he had collected his 400th career home run. At the time, he was the only player in American League history to hit 400 homers and get 3,000 hits. He ended his career after the 1983 season, with a total of 3,419 hits and 452 home runs.

His best season was in 1967, when he led the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" to the AL pennant, with a triple crown season. He led the AL that year with a .326 average, 44 home runs, and 121 RBI's. Boston lost the 1967 World Series in 7 games to the Cardinals.

Answer: Dave Righetti

Dave Righetti, or Rags as he was sometimes called, threw his no-hitter on a very hot and sunny Fourth of July. The Yankees won it 4-0. The hitting star was Don Baylor, who homered in the game. The Yankees traded Baylor to the Red Sox a couple of years later. Wade Boggs struck out to end the game, and the Stadium crowd, which included me, went crazy. Righetti had some extra motivation for his no-hitter, because he had just been passed over for the AL All-Star team, even though he had a 9-1 record at the time.

He finished the season at 14-8. In 1984, the Yankees made him their closer.

Answer: Wade Boggs

Going into the final weekend, the Red Sox' Wade Boggs led the Yankees' Don Mattingly by several percentage points. The two teams had a four game series scheduled in Boston to end the season. But Boggs had a nagging leg injury which forced him to sit out the weekend. Mattingly tried his hardest to catch Boggs, getting several hits in the 4 games, but he finished five points behind Boggs to finish with a .352 average.

The Red Sox finished in first place that year, and went on to lose the World Series to the Mets in 7 games. Boggs finished his career with a .328 average, a certain Hall of Famer. Mattingly finished his career with a .307 average, but had to retire at the age of 34, because of a combination of a bad back, and wanting to be closer to his children as they grew up.

Answer: True

Before 1969, only one team from each league made it to the post season, when the first place finishers in each league played in the World Series. From 1969 to 1995, the Yankees and Red Sox were unable to both reach the playoffs because only one team from their division could qualify.

But in 1995, both leagues expanded to 3 divisions, with the best second place team, or the wild card, also making the playoffs. In 1995, the Red Sox won the AL East, and the Yankees were the wild card. But the Red Sox lost to the Indians in the first round, and the Yankees lost to the Mariners.

In 1998, the Yankees won the division, and the Red Sox were the wild card. The Yankees beat the Rangers in the first round, but the Red Sox lost to the Indians again. In 1999, they both repeated their places.

The Yankees beat the Rangers again, and the Red Sox beat the Indians, so they finally played each other that year in the ALCS.

Answer: Nomar Garciaparra

Garciaparra trailed Derek Jeter in the fan balloting by 30,000 votes with one week to go. When the final results were announced, Garciaparra had won by 20,000 votes. Apparently, a 25 year old Red Sox fan had developed a computer program to bypass Major League Baseball's 22 vote limit on it's web site.

He recorded 40,000 votes for Garciaparra. But he was caught, and the votes were nullified. The NY mayor got involved, accusing Boston fans of stuffing the ballot boxes, since the game was to be played in Boston that year. MLB officials claimed that no internet votes were counted until the last week, and that's why Garciaparra suddenly shot to the top. Both he and Jeter played in the game.

At the time that the votes were announced, the shortstops had almost identical numbers. Jeter was batting .377 with 14 homers and 58 RBI's. Garciaparra was at .366 with 14 homers and 57 RBI's.

At the end of the season, Jeter had a .349 avg, 24 HR, 102 RBI. Garciaparra had a .357 avg, 27 HR, 103 RBI.

Answer: Pedro Martinez

Martinez had 17 strikeouts in the game, where he missed a perfect game, only because Chili Davis hit a home run off him. A few sportswriters who were there said it was one of the best pitched games they had ever seen. Martinez finshed the 1999 season with a 23-4 record, a 2.07 ERA and 313 strike outs.

Answer: Orlando Hernandez

El Duque Hernandez won the award for his two starts in the series, going 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings. He led the Yankees to a 4-1 series victory over the Red Sox. The only game won by Boston was won by Pedro Martinez, who had 12 strikeouts in 7 innings in game 3.

The Yankees won game 1 with a walk off home run by Bernie Williams, in the bottom of the 10th inning off of Rod Beck. The Yankees went on to beat the Braves in the World Series.

Answer: Left the Red Sox and eventually won a World Series with the Yankees

The Yankees acquired Sparky Lyle through a trade with Boston in 1972. He won two World Series with the Yankees, in 1977 and 1978. He also won a Cy Young Award with them as their closer in 1977. Wade Boggs came to the Yankees as a free agent after the 1992 season, and won the 1996 World Series with them. Roger Clemens left the Red Sox as a free agent after the 1996 season, was traded by the Blue Jays to the Yankees before the 1999 season, and won the World Series with them in 1999 and 2000. Clemens also won a Cy Young Award with the Yankees in 2001.

Answer: Tris Speaker

These were all MVP winners. Speaker of the Red Sox won the Award first in 1912. Speaker batted .383 with 10 home runs, 222 hits, and stole 52 bases. He helped the Red Sox to a first place finish, 14 games ahead of 2nd place Washington. Boston went on to win the World Series 4-3-1 against the New York Giants. Among those listed, the Babe was the 2nd one to win the MVP in 1923, followed by Gehrig in 1927, and then Williams in 1946.