Grandpa's Baseball: Vol. 1 Quiz | MLB Historical

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which league folded just one year before the National League began in 1876?

Answer: National Association

The National Association had a run from 1871-1875. They are credited to having the first professional organized league in baseball. The NA began with five teams in 1871, and finished with 13 in 1875. A total of 25 teams tried to stay afloat in the league in those five seasons. Philadelphia won the first crown, then the Boston Red Stockings (later Braves) won the remaining four.

2. In which year did the great Cy Young begin his baseball career?

Answer: 1890

Young played for nine seasons with the Cleveland Spiders, and they had a good team. He left just in time from the no-talent, no-money team in 1899, and went to the St. Louis club for two seasons. Cy then joined the new American League and the Boston Americans in 1901, and stayed their for eight seasons.

His final two seasons were in a Cleveland Indians uniform. Winning 511 games in his career, baseball named the Cy Young Award after him, and presented the first award in 1956 to Dodger Don Newcombe. Young died a year earlier.

3. In 1884, National Leaguer Charley Radbourn of the Providence Grays went beserk in the season, winning 59 games. Ironically, this was the first season that a batter would walk on four pitches instead of seven. Which hardluck American Association pitcher also won over 50 games in the season, but took a backseat to Radbourn?

Answer: Guy Hecker

Other than Clarkson, the others weren't born yet. Radbourn went 59-12 in the season. Charley also threw 11 shutouts with 441 strikeouts and won the Triple Crown. Hecker was with the Louisville Colonels, and had his own 52-20 record in the season. He was the only pitcher in the AA to win 40+ games in the season, and saw Tim Keefe and Jack Lynch of the New York Metropolitans both finish second with a 37-17 and 37-15 record, respectively.

4. Baseball fans could have had a tremendous World Series in 1904, but because of disputes between the two leagues, it was not to be. The series would have pitted a second consecutive trip by the Boston Americans against which NL Club that set a new record for winning 106 games in the season?

Answer: New York Giants

Of the others, only the Phillies existed in the NL in 1904, but they went 52-100 in the season. The Giants went 106-47 and won the NL pennant by 13 games over the second place Cubs. The Boston Beaneaters (later Braves) were the first team in history to reach the 100-win mark, going 102-48 in 1892.

5. Paul Hines was the first player in history to bat for the Triple Crown. He did this in 1878 with the Providence Grays of the National League. How many season MVPs did Hines win in his entire career from 1872-1891?

Answer: 0

The season MVP award did not begin until 1911, with Frank Schulte of the Cubs and Ty Cobb of the Tigers winning it in their leagues. The first American League Triple Crown was hit by Nap Lajoie in 1901, then Cobb duplicated the feat in 1909. Tip O'Neill was the only player in the American Association to bat for a Triple Crown. He did it with the St. Louis Browns in 1887.

6. Since the American League began, which team had the unfortunate image to be first to lose 100 games in a season?

Answer: Washington Senators

The others were all teams in the Federal League. The dismal Senators went 38-115 in 1904. With no starter batting over .275, and only one pitcher winning in double-figures, the unfortunate reputation was created. Pitcher Case Patten led the team with 14 wins, but also lost 23 in the process. No other pitcher on the roster won more than six games.

It would not be until 1907 before some Seanator rookie named Walter Johnson would join the team.

7. By the 1930 World Series, which team had shown its domination in both leagues for appearing in the most World Series, by being in nine of them?

Answer: New York Giants

The first World Series was in 1903, pitting Boston of the AL against Pittsburgh of the NL. Boston won the very first World Series. However, the New York Giants would dominate the National League and appear in nine World Series over the next few decades.

They would win the 1905 series over the Athletics, then the 1921 and 1922 series over the Yankees. That and history would change in 1923 as the Yankees won their first World Series against the Giants. The Athletics of Philadelphia were in seven World Series, and pulled five World Series crowns from it all.

8. Pitcher Nolan Ryan played for 27 seasons in his baseball career. He was the first pitcher to throw in 27 Major League seasons and retired at the age of 46. Which of the following players did 27 seasons like Ryan, but as an everyday player, retired at age 45, and was a Hall of Fame inductee?

Answer: Cap Anson

Williams retired after 19 seasons at the age of 41. The others listed retired before the age of 37 and didn't play for more than 17 seasons in Major League baseball. Anson played from 1871 to 1897. He was with the National Association from 1871-1875 with the Rockford Forest Citys and the Philadelphia Athletics. From there it was on to the Chicago White Stockings/Colts in the National League until he retired in 1897.

The first baseman player-manager won five National League championships. Cap played the game until he was 45 years old. Anson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939, 17 years after he died in 1922, and just three days shy of his 70th birthday.

9. Appearing in 1000 games for a pitcher is almost like having a escalator directly from the bullpen to the pitchers mound. Who was the first pitcher ever to appear in 1000 games?

Answer: Hoyt Wilhelm

The other greats never reached the 1000 appearance plateau. From 1952-1972, Wilhelm appeared in 1070 career games, and was at the top for mound appearances when he retired. Hoyt played for many teams, but mostly with the Giants, Orioles, and White Sox. Of his 1070 games, he started only 52. The hall took Wilhelm in 1985 along with Arky Vaughan, Lou Brock, and Enos Slaughter.

10. In 1946, Jackie Robinson played in his first organized professional game with the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team. He went 4-for-4 with three singles and a home run in the game. When he joined the Dodgers' Major League team in 1947, Jackie went ______ in his first five games. He would go on to win the Rookie of the Year award in the season.

Answer: 8-for-20

Jackie had zero hits in his first game. He batted .297 for the season. The biggest problems that interfered with his batting were the racial slurs that he was getting, and also his terrible fielding. He had four errors at first base in his first five games, and finished the season with 16.

The Dodgers moved him to second base for most of the 1948 season, where he committed another 13 errors. Jackie won the NL MVP in 1949 also. In 1947, Robinson won his rookie award in a very close balloting over pitcher Larry Jansen of the New York Giants.

Source: Author Nightmare

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Grandpa's Baseball: Vol. 1 Trivia Quiz

The first in a series of three all multiple choice quizzes, designed for your Grandpa. I hope that you have fun with it! :-)

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