Blistery History [5] Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tug McGraw

The Phillies faced the Kansas City Royals, winning game one, two, five, and six. McGraw came into the game in the eighth inning to relieve starter Steve Carlton. The final three outs were provided by Amos Otis who struck out looking, Frank White's infield foul pop flyout, then Willie Wilson's strikeout. Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt was the World Series MVP.

Answer: Frank House

Frank played in 10 seasons from 1950-1961, missing two seasons to the Korean War. Playing with the Tigers, Athletics, and Reds, House never had the opportunity to go to a World Series. He died at the age of 75 in 2005.

Answer: A prizefighter

The first paid umpire in history was Bill McLean, calling games in the National Association in 1871. Being an ex-prizefighter, he didn't put up with anything from players to managers to fans. He had the nickname of "King of Umpires" because of the way that he took charge of the games. Bill later umpired in the National League until 1884.

He was also the first umpire to call the games from behind home plate.

Answer: Lou Say

Lou was a shortstop in seven seasons from 1873-1884. Being one of only a handful of players that played in four different leagues, he played in the National Association, National League, American Association, and Union League. Say committed 102 errors in the 1884 season split between the Baltimore Monumentals and Kansas City Cowboys of the Union Association. Committing 328 career errors, Lou averaged 46 errors per season. To put things in perspective, 2010 saw Ian Desmond of the Washington Nationals lead his league with 34 errors, while Cliff Pennington of the Athletics led the American League with 25 of his own.

Answer: Tim Raines

Raines set his record with the Montreal Expos in 1985 by stealing 70 bases in 79 attempts, averaging being caught only 11.28 percent of the time. He tied his own record the following season in 1986 with the same numbers of 70 for 79. He retired with 808 thefts in 954 attempts for a career average of 11.80 percent of the time being caught stealing, or a 88.20% success rate.

Answer: Montreal Expos

The Expos had only 773,277 home fans during the 1999 season. The franchise which began as an expansion team in 1969, drew 1,212,608 fans in that season with only 52 wins. Their 1999 season found them with only 68 wins. The franchise moved from Canada after the 2004 season to become the Washington Nationals.

In contrast, the Minnesota Twins who had the worst record in the Major Leagues in 1999, still drew 1,202,829 fans for their home games.

Answer: Enos Slaughter

Slaughter played most of his 19 seasons with the Cardinals from 1938-1959. He wore the number 9 from 1938-1953, then the 17, 33, and 25 to finish his career with the Braves. George Kell was most noted for beating Ted Williams by .0001 for the AL batting title in 1949.

He wore the number 1 for the Red Sox from 1952-1954. Richie Ashburn played for 15 seasons with three teams from 1948-1962, mostly for the Phillies, and donned the number 1 in every season in his career. Ozzie Smith, nicknamed "Wizard of Oz" played for 19 seasons between the Padres and Cardinals, wore the number 1 in his entire career also.

Answer: Billy Hamilton

Hamilton, who was also a base-stealing genius, played for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1894 season when he set this record. Red Rolfe of the Yankees in 1939 and Kenny Lofton of the Indians in the 2000 season, were the closest to match Hamilton's Major League record, scoring in only 18 consecutive games each. Hamilton also set a season record for scoring 198 times in that same 1894 season.

The only player close to Hamilton's season record in the 20th century was the great Babe Ruth, who scored 177 times in 1921.

Answer: Bob Feller

Feller was a rookie Cleveland Indian in 1936 at the ripe of age of 17. On August 25th in his first-ever start, he struck out 17 St. Louis Browns. His 'age' game record tied a nine-inning strikeout record of 17 in a game by anyone of any age. That pitcher tied was the Cardinals' Dizzy Dean from 1933. On September 13 in Bob's rookie season, he also threw a two-hitter against the Athletics.

When the 1938 season came around, Feller set a new game record by striking out 18 Detroit Tigers on October 2.

In 1940, he also became the first pitcher in baseball history to throw an Opening Day no-hitter against the White Sox. He also threw a Triple Crown in 1940. Feller somehow still finished as runner-up for the MVP in that 1940 season to the Tigers' Hank Greenberg.

Answer: New York Yankees

The 1936 Yankees World Series, without the great Babe Ruth, went up against the New York Giants. After the Giants and pitcher Carl Hubbell put the Yankees down in game one 6-0, the Yankees came back with vengeance in game two, winning 18-4 behind pitcher Lefty Gomez.

The series went six games with the Yankees winning the final 13-5. Although there was no World Series MVP until 1955, the Yankees had four batters with at least 20 at-bats who hit over .300 in the series. They were Joe DiMaggio (.346), Jake Powell (.455), Red Rolfe (.400), and George Selkirk (.333).

The Yankee win came all from their bats, as their pitching staff had a 4.17 ERA in the series.