Around The Horn: Infield Combos Online Quiz | Sports

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1. One of the first great infield combinations of the 20th Century was dubbed "The $100,000 Infield" by the press of the day. They played for the Philadelpia A's from 1910 to 1914. Stuffy McInnis played first base, the great Frank "Home Run" Baker played third, and the under-rated Jack Barry was the shortstop. Which Hall of Famer played second base?

Answer: Eddie Collins

$100,000 was a fair bit of coin in those days so the sobriquet given this infield unit was high praise indeed! In today's terms, it might be called "The Billion Dollar Infield". This stellar infield was among the main reasons why the A's won the AL pennant in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1914, and the World Series in 1910, 1911, and 1913. With the formation of the Players League in 1914, a salary war between the new league and the two established older leagues ensued. Connie Mack, the manager and co-owner of the team at the time, refused to play along.

In 1915, having lost some players to the rival league already, Mack decided to undertake a salary dump. Collins and Barry were the first to go, traded to the White Sox and Red Sox respectively. Baker protested Mack's tactics and sat out the entire season "retired", before being traded to the Yankees in 1916. McInnis languished with the now last place A's until 1918 when he too was peddled to the Red Sox. With the purging of its best players, the A's were cellar dwellers in the American League for seven years, and would not win another pennant until 1929.

This might be one of the first examples of how a "small market" team had difficulties in keeping up to wild spending, rich, large market teams.

2. From 1906 to 1910, the Chicago Cubs had a double play combo that was revered, Tinker to Evers to Chance. One of the great pub trivia questions from the days of yore was, "Who was the third baseman that rounded out this trio?" I'm asking that question today.

Answer: Harry Steinfeldt

"These are the saddest of possible words
Tinker to Evers to Chance
Trio of bear cubs and fleeter than birds
Tinker and Evers and Chance
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble
Making a Giant hit into a double
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble
Tinker to Evers to Chance"

The Cubs won the NL pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, and invariably, the N.Y. Giants would finish second. These words, written by New York sports columnist Franklin Pierce Adams in 1910, aptly describe the feelings of a Giants fan during that era. Strangely enough, this immortalizing poem may have been the very thing that earned Tinker, Evers and Chance a berth in the Hall of Fame together in 1946. A look at their statistics suggests that it wasn't their bats that earned them the privilege, although Chance was at least an above average batsman and also the manager of the team during those halcyon days. And from the poem one would think that these guys were the best double play combo of all-time. In fact, statistically they were average, at best, in comparison to others at the time. Probably the Cubs won because of their superior pitching corps led by the likes of Three Fingers Brown, Orval Overall, Jack Pfeister, and Ed Reulbach more than anything else. Harry Steinfeldt was traded to the Cubs by Cincinnati in 1906 and he went on to have his best season in the majors, leading the league with a .327 average. He would tail off into the .260 range for the next four seasons, but was a steady player on the field and at bat. He was certainly statistically comparable to his Hall Of Fame colleagues. Is it because he wasn't immortalized in a poem that he wasn't inducted into the Hall himself? He passed away at the age of 36 in 1914 just two years after hanging them up, a victim of an illness that caused his paralysis then death, perhaps polio.

3. Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in the mid 1970s featured an infield of third baseman Pete Rose, SS Dave Concepcion, second baseman Joe Morgan, and first baseman Tony Perez. Who was traded in late 1976 to break up that old gang?

Answer: Perez

Tony Perez was traded to Montreal to allow Danny Driessen to assume the first base job. Rose was next to depart in 1979, joining the Phillies as a free agent, then Morgan used the same route to rejoin his first team, the Astros, in 1980. Concepcion was a true blue Red, playing 19 seasons with them from 1970 to 1988.

4. From 1917 to 1919, the Chicago White Sox had a sparkling infield that contributed to two World Series appearances in '17 and '19, and the championship in 1917. Unfortunately, three of the four were also implicated in "the Black Sox" scandal as well. Who was the first baseman for the ChiSox during that period, and the purported leader of the group who agreed to throw the Series?

Answer: Chick Gandil

Gandil was at first, Eddie Collins played second, Swede Risberg was the shortstop, and Weaver manned third base. Collins was the only infielder not in on the fix. Shoeless Joe played rightfield for the team during those years. Hal Chase was another first baseman who played for the NY Giants in 1919. Gandil was always regarded as a shady character and it is noteworthy that he at one time was a professional boxer, and became familiar to bookies via that sport.

A bookie named "Sport" Sullivan apparently was the prime mover in trying to fix the 1919 Series, and he had made the acquaintance of Gandil earlier.

He enticed Gandil to recruit other members of the club. Following their loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the Series, an inquiry absolved the players of criminal activity, but the eight players who were part of the coalition to throw the Series were suspended from playing organized baseball for life. To complete the circle, Jackson was among the eight suspended, and Chase also got the boot after the 1919 season.

He was a very fine player but another who played under the suspicion that he was throwing games for money. He was suspended for life when it was discovered in a separate investigation that he was betting on his own team to lose. It is speculated that he was probably somehow implicated in the Black Sox scandal, perhaps as a go between, but those allegations were never proven.

5. It is a certainty that the infield for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1959 to 1962 will not go down in posterity as "great". However, they did last as a unit for four years and won a Series together in 1960. Who was the first baseman to complete this group: 3rd - Don Hoak, SS -Dick Groat, 2nd - Bill Mazeroski. A hint - he was undoubtedly won of the worst glovemen in the annals of baseball.

Answer: Dick Stuart

Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart was the man, and although he had some pop in his bat, he could have used some glue in his glove! In the five years he played with Pittsburgh, he hit 117 HR and committed 90 errors, leading the league in that stat four times. On one occasion, he was accorded a standing ovation by home fans for cleanly fielding a hot dog wrapper that had blown onto the field. Mazeroski on the other hand, was truly one of the great fielders at second base in the history of the game, and good batsman with underrated power.

He's the only one of this group to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Groat was an adequate shortstop defensively, having also led the NL in errors on three occasions during his nine year stint with the Pirates. But he was magic in turning the double play with Mazeroski, was a dependable hitter and was a quiet, confident leader among his teammates.

His value was later acknowledged when he won MVP honors with the Cardinals in 1964. Hoak was a battler and the inspirational leader of the Pirates.

6. During the early 1930s, The St. Louis Cardinals, known as "The Gas House Gang", were perennial contenders for the NL pennant and were World Series winners in 1934. The manager of the team also played 2nd base - Frankie Frisch. Pepper Martin played third, and Ripper Collins first. Who was the shortstop and captain of this motley bunch that played together as a unit from 1933 to mid 1936?

Answer: Leo Durocher

Durocher epitomized the spirit of the Cardinals during this era. He was feisty, belligerent, and a total irritant to play against. Martin was just as edgy a player and the team, as a whole, followed in the combative instincts of their leader, Frisch. Joe Medwick in the outfield was cast in the same mold and of course, the redoubtable Dizzy Dean headed up the moundsmen.

It would have been a fun team to watch.

7. The 1927 New York Yankees have been widely regarded as the best team in the history of professional baseball. Most people identify Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig with this squad, but just two players don't make a great team. Among the members of this infield which played together from 1926 to 1928 were Joe Dugan at third and Mark Koenig at shortstop. Gehrig of course played first, but who was the Hall of Fame second sacker and integral member of the famed "Murderers Row"?

Answer: Tony Lazzeri

Lazzeri joined the team as a 22 year old rookie in 1926, and remained in the Yankee pinstripes for eleven years. A notorious clutch hitter, he had over 100 RBIs in seven of those seasons. He was known to be friends to both Gehrig and Ruth, but noted that the two stars weren't that close themselves. From Lazzeri's perception, Gehrig thought Ruth was a loudmouth and Ruth thought Gehrig was cheap.

His opinion- they both were right! He died in 1946 of a heart attack at the age of 42. Of the others, Gehrig's fate is well known. Dugan's career was winding down by 1928.

He was shipped off to the Red Sox in 1929, and he retired in 1931 after playing just eight games with the Tigers. He died in 1982 at the age of 85. Koenig was traded to the Tigers in mid season 1930 and he retired after a dozen years in the big leagues, a solid if not spectacular performer.

He died in 1993 at the age of 89, the last surviving member of that great 1927 Yankees team.

8. Another Yankee team that had a long standing infield unit was the squad of 1962 to 1965, one that won pennants from 1962 to 1964 and the World Series in 1962. However, by 1966 the Yanks would be cellar dwellers for one of the few times in their history. The infield consisted of Bobby Richardson at second, Tony Kubek at short and Clete Boyer at third. The first baseman was whom?

Answer: Joe Pepitone

Pepitone was a different sort of Yankee. He was as brash as most of them but he used a hair blower for crying out loud! Yankees don't use hairblowers, they're real men! Well, that was the sentiment of the old guard at the time. He played for the Yankees for eight seasons and wound up his twelve year career in the big leagues in 1973 with the Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile, after terrorizing the American League for what seemed like eons, they would not win another pennant until 1976, 11 long years.

9. From 1948 through to parts of 1953, the Brooklyn Dodgers featured the same infield, vital components to a team that became perennial contenders for the NL pennant after years of languishing near the basement. I'll give you the easy ones - Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese. You identify the missing third baseman.

Answer: Billy Cox

Cox broke in with the Pirates in 1941, missed the next four years while he was in the service, then was traded to the Dodgers for whom he toiled from 1948 to 1954. He wound up his career with the Orioles the following year. A steady .260 hitter with "warning track" power, he was deemed to be a valuable defensive stalwart at the hot corner.

10. An infield unit from 1974 to 1981, an incredible eight years, for which team did Steve Garvey at first, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at short and Ron Cey at third, play for?

Answer: Los Angeles Dodgers

Russell and Cey actually played together for ten years, from 1973 through 1982. Garvey replaced Bill Buckner in 1974, and Steve Sax replaced Lopes in 1982. During their eight year tenure, the Dodgers would win three West Division pennants, represent the NL in three World Series and were World Champs in 1981.

Source: Author maddogrick16

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nightmare before going online.
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Around The Horn: Infield Combos Quiz

Over the history of baseball, it hasn't happened very often where one infield unit played together for more than three years. This quiz will recall those rarities during the 20th Century.

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