Baseball for Dummies #69 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ty Cobb

'The Georgia Peach', born in Narrows, Georgia, Cobb played his first season in the Majors when he was just 18. Retiring 24 seasons later, his lifetime average was .366, along with many records in baseball. Wagner was the Flying Dutchman, Haddix was nicknamed Kitten, and Banks was Mr. Cub.

Answer: Nap Lajoie

Napoleon Lajoie began his career in 1896 with the Philadelphia Phillies. In his first season with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901, he batted a whopping .426. Amazingly, after one game in the 1902 season, he was traded to the Cleveland Bronchos. He retired in 1916. None of the other players listed, batted .400 in a season.

Answer: Todd Helton

Helton was the only one listed who played for the Rockies in 2002. Todd smacked 30 big ones, along with 109 RBI's to lead the team. The Rockies finished 4th in the NL West.

Answer: Daffy

Paul 'Daffy' Dean was not in the limelight due to his brother's success. As did his brother, he too pitched for the St.Louis Cardinals in the 1930s. In 9 seasons, Paul won only 50 games. His highlight was winning the 1934 World Series against the Tigers, and had a 2-RBI single in the Series.

Answer: Lou Gehrig

Gehrig hit 30, along with 119 RBI's and batting .329. Lou would have only 3-1/2 seasons left in him, before his tragic disease took over. No other player listed, played for the Yankees in 1935.

Answer: None listed

In 1894, a record was set for scoring 192 runs in a season by Billy Hamilton. This Phillies player also had 220 hits in the season. This record stood throughout the entire 20th century, and has not been broken entering the 2003 season. 250 runs scored in a season may never be reached.

Answer: Los Angeles Dodgers

The skunk was delivered by the Dodgers in 1963. The Dodgers' pitching staff consisted of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres, Bob Miller, and reliever Ron Perranoski. The Dodgers only allowed 4 Yankee runs in the entire Series. The other teams listed were American League teams, and could not have played against the Yankees in a World Series.
In 1922, the New York Giants beat the Yankees 4-0-1 in the World Series (one game was a tie).

Answer: New York Giants

Mathewson played from 1900-1916 with the New York Giants, winning an amazing 372 games. In 1916 after being traded to the Cincinnati Reds, he appeared in one game, throwing it complete, and winning his final game of his career for number 373. The other teams listed, did not exist in 1916.

Answer: Steve Garvey

The other 3 were Giants, and all won the award. Garvey's rookie season was in 1970 in Dodger-blue. It would be 3 more seasons before Garvey had gotten into his groove with the Major Leagues. He won 2 All-Star MVP Awards, 2 NLCS MVP's, and a season MVP in 1974.

After 14 seasons with the Dodgers, he spent his final 5 seasons with the San Diego Padres, retiring in 1987. In Garvey's rookie season, pitcher Carl Morton of the Expos, won the Rookie Award for having a record of 18-11.

Answer: St. Louis Cardinals

The other 'Browns' were the St. Louis Browns from 1883-1898, before becoming the St.Louis Perfectos in 1899, and then finally, the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900. These Browns won four championships in their history. The team was led in 1886 by pitchers Dave Foutz and Bob Caruthers, who shared 71 victories between them.