Baseball for Dummies #72 Trivia Quiz

Answer: 0

Ruth's first season was in 1914 with the Red Sox. He only appeared in 5 games, 4 of them as a pitcher, and was 2-for-10. He had a single and a double. His first 5 seasons saw him hit a total of 20 home runs. In 1919 he surpassed that by hitting 29 in the season. In the pinstripes in 1920, he awed the world by hitting 54, and the following season hitting 59.

Answer: Boston Red Sox

He began with the Red Sox in 1984. After 13 seasons in Boston, and 3 Cy Young Awards later, he went to the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2 seasons with the Blue Jays in 1997 and 1998, he won 2 more Cy Young's. From there he went to the Yankees, and won another Cy Young in 2001.

Answer: Sandy Koufax

The other two were batters with the 1961 Angels. Koufax did this in 1965, by striking out 382 batters with the Dodgers. Nolan Ryan broke this record in 1973 by striking out his last batter of the season, fanning 383. Rube Waddell almost reached this plateau by striking out 349 with the 1904 Philadelphia Athletics.

Answer: Reggie Jackson

Although all Hall of Famers, 20 years later, Jackson was the lone inductee. Jackson, who loved the limelight, and probably could not have had it better. Jackson played for 4 franchises during his 21 seasons, and retired with 563 home runs. He also set a Major League record for striking out 2597 times in his career.

Answer: 1919

All these years the Reds won the World Series. 1919 was the first, and was one of the most famous World Series in history. This was the year of the 'Black Sox Scandal', where some Chicago White Sox players 'fixed' the World Series. Amongst the 'defendants' were Joe Jackson. The Reds won the Series 5 games to 3.

Answer: 0

Surprisingly, nobody did it. David Wells went 19-7, Mike Mussina was 18-10, Roger Clemens was 13-6, and finally, Andy Pettitte was 13-5. The offense more than made up for it by hitting 223 home runs.

Answer: Mark Fidrych

The others listed were batters from the 1976 Tigers. Mark 'The Bird' Fidrych was 19-9 in his rookie season, throwing 4 shutouts in his 24 complete games. He would win only 10 more games in the next 4 seasons, before retiring in 1980 at the age of 25.

Answer: Catcher

Dickey played his entire career with the Yankees from 1928-1946. He was an All-Star 11 times, and helped take the Yankees to 8 World Series, winning 7 of them. He caught for some Yankee greats in the names of George Pipgras, Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, Monte Pearson, and Spud Chandler.

Answer: Pat Burrell

Left fielder Burrell smacked 37 well ahead of runner-up Bobby Abreu who hit 20. Burrell was in his 3rd in the Majors, and with the Phillies. The other players listed, did not play with the Phillies, but did lead their team in home runs in 2002.

Answer: 1936

The Hall opened in 1936 and inducted its first 5 baseball greats. They were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner. Ty Cobb led the group by receiving 98% of the vote, to 95% for Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. The great Cy Young, inducted the following year, only received 76% of the vote.