Your Toughest Baseball Experience! Quiz

Answer: Jack McCarthy

McCarthy and his elderly arm was challenged by the Pittsburgh Pirates in April 1905. Even after this feat, Jack still lost his job to Frank Schulte. McCarthy came to the Cubs in 1903, left in 1905, and missed out on four World Series appearances in five seasons beginning in 1906 for the Cubs.

Answer: Detroit Tigers

In exactly 1900 games during the period, it was the Detroit Tigers that gave them fits. The Yankee franchise lost 895 games to the Tigers. The Red Sox were a close second with winning 856 against the Yankees, compared to losing 1027. The Yankee franchise began as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901, then the New York Highlanders, then the infamous pinstriped Yankees.

Answer: Red Ruffing

Ruffing took the unfortunate honor in 1928 and 1929 with the Boston Red Sox. He went 10-25 and 9-22 respectively.

Answer: Cy Seymour

The 16-season Seymour was a Cincinnati Red in 1905. He led the league in batting average, RBIs, and fell short in the home run department by hitting eight. Outfielder and teammate Fred Odwell hit nine for the season. Ironically, Odwell would never hit another home run again.

Answer: 28

The first unfortunate miss was by the great Cy Young, who in 1908 missed a perfect game by one pitch with the Boston Red Sox. Cy went 21-11 in the 33 games that he started. The last pitcher in the first 100 years to miss one, was Kevin Brown with the Florida Marlins in 1997. Brown went 16-7 in the season.

Answer: Jack Russell

Jack Russell of Washington was selected in 1934. He was never called on to pitch. The first reliever to ever actually pitch in an all-star game was Mace Brown of the Pirates in 1938.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The unfortunate 1949 St. Louis Cardinals held this distinction. Their second baseman, Red Schoendienst, had almost half their total with eight thefts. The great Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter had three each themselves. Amazingly, the Cardinals still finished with 96 wins, only one game behind the NL Champion Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost the World Series to the Yankees four games to one.

Answer: Erve Beck

1901 witnessed this Cleveland Blues second baseman hit four in one game on April 25th. He hit six in the season and that was his career high. Beck played professional baseball from 1899-1902.

Answer: Willie McGill

McGill in 1890 as a 16-year old, defeated the Buffalo Bisons while pitching for the Cleveland Infants of the Players League. As a 17-year old in 1891, Willie went 21-15, winning 19 of those with the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. McGill retired in 1896 as a Philadelphia Phillie, with a career record of 72-74.

Answer: Guy Hecker

Hecker was truly a one-of-a-kind ballplayer. In 1882 with the Louisville Eclipse of the American Association, he went only 6-6 as a pitcher, but one of those wins was a no-hitter, the second in the history of the AA. In 1884, Hecker threw the pitching Triple Crown, the only Triple Crown thrown in the American Association history.

In 1886, he ballooned to win 52 games in the season. Also in 1886, Guy hit three home runs a game, the first player in any league to ever accomplish this feat. He hit four home runs in the season, but more importantly, won the batting title by hitting .341, and winning it over teammate Lou Browning of Louisville (then Colonels) by .001.