Baseball for Dummies No. 13 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Honus Wagner

All the players listed were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Honus, nicknamed the "Flying Dutchman" played for Louisville and Pittsburgh of the National League from 1897 to 1917. He was one of five players who were the first to be inducted into the Hall in 1936, in the Awards inception. The other 4 greats were Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson.

Answer: True

This American League club went from the original Boston franchise 'Americans' in 1901, to the Boston Somersets in 1902, before they became the Pilgrims in 1903. This is where the Pilgrims won their first World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 3, in the first official World Series.

They were guided by the managing-great Jimmy Collins. In 1907, they became the Boston Red Sox for the remainder of the century. They had 4 managers in their inaugural Red Sox season in 1907.

Answer: New York Mets

Yogi retired as a Yankee in 1963 after 18 pinstripe seasons. He came back in 1965 at the age of 40 and played in only 4 games as a Met. In those 4 games, Yogi had 9 at-bats with 2 singles. None of the other teams listed, existed in 1965.

Answer: Satchel Paige

Paige has won over 2,000 wins in professional baseball, however, only with a record of 28-31 in the Major Leagues. This pitching great was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971. Paige died in Kansas City, Missouri in 1982, one month short of reaching his 76th birthday.

Answer: Nolan Ryan

Ryan did this an amazing 6 times. The first time was with the California Angels in 1972 when he K'd 329 batters. The following year he tapped out 383, which broke the great Sandy Koufax's record of 382 K's in a season. Another great year in 1974 with the Angels, he struck out 367.

He did it again in back-to-back years in 1976 and 1977 again with the Angels. His final hammering with 300+ was in 1989 with the Texas Rangers when he K'd 301. He played with 4 teams during his career and retired in 1993 after 27 seasons.

Answer: New York Yankees

The Yankees appeared in 8 World Series in the 1950's. Starting with 1950, the New York club had an all-star cast of Berra, Rizutto, DiMaggio, and Mize, along the arms of Whitey Ford and Allie Reynolds. They beat the Phillies 4 games to 0. This was the second year of a 5 consecutive World Series winning streak.

In the 1950's, the Yankees showed up for 8 Series, winning 6 of them. No other teams listed, existed in the 1950's.

Answer: Tony Gwynn

All these great batters except for Gwynn reached the .400 plateau. 1994 saw Tony come the closest ever with a .394 average with the San Diego Padres. After 20 seasons, Gwynn retired with a .338 lifetime average. Cobb and Hornsby reached the milestone 3 times in their career, and Terry did it once when he hit .401 in 1930 with the New York Giants.

Answer: False

Durocher was given the nickname of "Leo the Lip" by most Major League umpires because of the antics that Leo would pull on the field as a manager. Durocher ranked 7th amongst 20th century managers with 2008 career wins. He managed for 24 seasons, starting in 1939 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, to 1973 with Houston.

Answer: Detroit Tigers

The Tigers lost the 3 consecutive, shortly after the inauguration of the World Series in 1903. They lost 3 from 1907-1909 under the helm of manager Hughie Jennings. The Tigers were led by Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford. In 1907 and 1908 they lost to the Chicago Cubs, and in 1909, the Pirates pulled the hat-trick with them.

Answer: Montreal Expos

Johnson began his career in 1989 with the Expos, but only appeared in 4 games where he went 3-0. In mid-season of 1989 Randy was traded to the Seattle Mariners until the mid-season of 1998, when he left for Houston. After only a few months with the Astros, he packed his bags again for Arizona in 1999.