Big Feats in Baseball Quiz | MLB Records

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Of Joe DiMaggio's fantastic 56-game hitting streak in 1941, how many times did he squeeze by with getting only one hit in a game to keep his streak alive?

Answer: 34

DiMaggio of the Yankees, ran his record-setting streak from May 15 to July 16. He hit 15 home runs, four triples, and 16 doubles during the streak. He also had 55 RBIs. He ended the season with a .357 average, and won the AL MVP over Ted Williams of the Red Sox who batted .406 in the season.

2. Many pitchers have started their career off right with a win in their first game. Only a few have initiated it with their bats. Which of the following pitchers did not hit a home run in their first Major League at-bat?

Answer: Don Drysdale

Drysdale was a hitting pitcher, but his first at-bat was not a home run. Don hit 26 doubles and 29 home runs in his Dodger career, along with his 209 wins from the mound. Bankhead of the 1956 Dodgers hit his first at-bat out of the park. Wilhelm of the Giants hit his in 1952, and Giant John Montefusco in 1974. On the other side of the coin, some pitchers who gave up a home run to the first batter they ever faced in their career were, Bob Gibson, Ken Holtzman, Kevin Rogers, Bert Blyleven, Dave Boswell, and others.

3. Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers set a consecutive save record in 2002 to 2003 by throwing 63 saves. In those 63 games, how many total innings did Eric pitch?

Answer: 66

In those 66 innings, Gagne struck out an amazing 108 batters. He also allowed only three earned runs in that stretch. The balance of his 66 (55 in 2003) also set a season record, earning him the National League Cy Young award.

4. Only a small handful of pitchers had their arm and eye going in one inning. Which of the following pitchers did not strike out the side in one inning with nine pitches?

Answer: Don Sutton

Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics did this twice in the same season in 1928. The great Nolan Ryan also did this twice. Pappas with the Cubs did it in 1971, and Dibble of the Reds in 1989. Sutton spent 23 seasons in the big leagues and retired in 1988.

5. In the first 100 years of the Boston Red Sox franchise from 1901-2000, how many Boston Red Sox players hit four home runs in one game?

Answer: 0

The Red Sox didn't have any, even with the great Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski to name a couple. The first Boston player ever to do this was Bobby Lowe, but he was with the Boston Beaneaters of the NL (later Braves) in 1894. There were a few Major League teams that saw this feat, but the Philadelphia Phillies were the only team in the 100 years to have two.

They were Chuck Klein in 1936, then Mike Schmidt who also hit four in a game in 1976. Schmidt's four home runs were in four consecutive at-bats.

6. It is an amazing feat to hit a grand slam, and even more to do it twice in one game. Which of the following hit two grand slams in the same inning?

Answer: Fernando Tatis

The others hit grand slams, but not even twice in the same game. Tatis, the third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals hit two in the third inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitcher Chan Ho Park on April 23, 1999. The Cardinals exploded for 11 runs in the inning, and won the game 12-5.

7. In Barry Bond's record-setting 73 home run season in 2001, how many times did he hit three home runs in one game?

Answer: 2

Bonds of the Giants hit two in many games, but hit three in a game only twice. They were against the Braves on May 19, then in an extra inning game on September 9 against the Rockies.

8. Only one shortstop in the history of baseball played in four different professional leagues during his career, and played in three different leagues in two seasons. Who was this player that nobody seemed to want?

Answer: Charlie Bastian

The others played in four different leagues but were all outfielders, and didn't play with three leagues in two seasons. Bastian was the only shortstop to do it all. Bastian played with two teams in the Union Association in 1884. From 1885-1889, he played with the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League. 1890 saw him with the Chicago Pirates of the Players League.

In 1891, Charlie split the season between the Cincinnati Kelly's Killers of the American Association and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League.

He played for eight seasons in his career, and retired with a .189 batting average.

9. Rickey Henderson stole everything except Fort Knox in the 1982 season with the Oakland Athletics. Henderson stole a record 130 bases in the 162-game season. How many times did Rickey steal four bases in one game?

Answer: 4

Rickey stole four bases in a game three times in the 1982 season. Once against the Blue Jays on May 13, against the Tigers on May 30, and once against the Brewers on August 27. Henderson played for 25 seasons with a career record 1406 stolen bases, also a record 2295 runs scored when he retired in 2003.

10. It is one thing to have a great career, but why not finish it off with a bang by hitting a home run in your final Major League at-bat. Which of the following did this?

Answer: Joe Rudi - Oakland

Rudi, after making a name for himself in the 1960s and 1970s with the Athletics, went to the Angels and Red Sox before coming back for a final season with Oakland in 1982. He hit five home runs in the season, and 179 in his career. Other notables who left the game with a home run with their last swing were Todd Zeile, Albert Belle, Ken McMullen, Tony Kubek, Ted Williams, and Mickey Cochrane to name a few.

Source: Author Nightmare

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Big Feats in Baseball Trivia Quiz

Some players in the Major Leagues throughout history made their foot-mark by only one outstanding achievement, and not necessarily a career's worth of feats. Let's see if you can pick some of them out. This is a challenge! Have fun. :-)

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