Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Bill Freehan was a 15-season Detroit Tiger. He caught for some pitching greats such as Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich, and Steve Carlton when the team took the American League by storm in 1968. With McLain's 31-6 record, and Lolich's World Series MVP, the Tigers could do no wrong.
2. The Chicago White Sox ended their World Series drought by defeating the Houston Astros in the 2005 series. Their last series title was in 1917, and their last appearance was in 1959. In that 1959 season, even though winning the most games in the Major Leagues, the Sox couldn't get it down against the Pirates, and lost four games to two. It took the White Sox over 80 years to fly the banner again in 2005.
3. Ty Cobb sat on the stolen base record for almost 50 years after he stole 96 in 1915. Maury Wills of the Dodgers finally broke it with his own 104 in 1962. 12 years later it was Rickey Henderson who took Wills' glory away in 1974 with 118. When Henderson retired, he owned the record of 130 steals in a season, and the top thief spot with 1406 career steals.
4. Cornelius Alexander 'Connie' Mack will be remembered as being the most durable manager in baseball history. After managing the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1894-1896, he took on the new AL Philadelphia Athletics in 1901 for 50 more years, finally retiring in 1950. He took the Pirates to two World Series losing both, and the Athletics to nine, winning five of those. He was a 1937 Hall of Fame inductee.
5. The great Ted Williams was a 19-season career Boston Red Sox outfielder. Winning two Triple Crown and two MVPs, Williams lost a portion of his baseball prime to WWII. Upon his return, he appeared in his only World Series where he batted .373 with two home runs. After 17 all-star games, he retired in 1960, and was an easy induction into the hall in 1966. He died in 2002.
6. There have been many 'unreachable' records throughout baseball history. The Babe's 60 home runs in a season, Ruth's 714 career home runs, Maury Wills' 100 stolen bases in a season, over 4000 career strikeouts by Nolan Ryan, etc. All these unreachable marks set by many baseball greats were eventually broken, including Ichiro Suzuki's breaking of Rogers Hornsby's 257 hits in a season. Where is the line drawn between unreachable records, and those absolutely unbreakable records, or is there any? Charley Radbourn winning 59 games in a season?
7. In the mid to late 1980s, the Oakland Athletics had a big one-two punch in Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. Both winning Rookie of the Year and MVP awards, they tore up the American League with their bats, resulting in three consecutive World Series for Oakland from 1988-1990. Canseco was later traded to the Texas Rangers, while McGwire found a new home in St. Louis. They both retired in 2001, and later were both engulfed in steroid investigations.
8. Although Pete Rose has had some issues off the field, the fact remains that he was an all-around great player. He started off right as a rookie in 1963 when he took the rookie award. Still strong after 10 seasons, he won the NL MVP in 1973. He was also the 1968 MVP runner-up to Tiger Denny McLain who won 31 games in the season. At any rate, he led the league seven times in hits, and to show his nickname of Charlie Hustle, he led in doubles five times. He played mostly for the Reds, but also played with the Phillies and part of a season with the Expos. When he retired in 1986 at age 45, he was the oldest player in the season.
9. Some avid baseball fans might know that the American League began in 1901 with many new teams in baseball. Some of the those teams were the Baltimore Orioles (later NY Yankees), Cleveland Blues (later Indians), along with other new franchises from Boston, Chicago, and Detroit. This new American League creation brought multiple franchises to many cities. While the AL had the new White Sox, they joined the already Cubs of the NL in Chicago. Boston had the AL Pilgrims while the NL had the Braves. Philadelphia had the AL Athletics and the NL Phillies. This merger helped the new Major League become America's sport.
10. Throughout baseball history there have been many humorous nicknames in the game. Some names that fans have come across have been Lawrence 'Yogi' Berra, Leo 'The Nose' Durocher, Mickey 'The Commerce Comet' Mantle, Bob 'Hoot' Gibson, Carlton 'Pudge' Fisk, Harry 'Stinky' Davis, and Harvey 'Kitten' Haddix, to name some. One of the most eye-opening nicknames may have belonged to Baltimore's pitcher Jim Palmer, whose nicknames was 'Cakes'. Wasn't he the pitcher that modeled underwear on television?
Source: Author
Nightmare
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