Grandpa's Baseball: Vol. 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates

The others were all American League teams. The Pirates defeated the Reds in this game, 9-5 at Forbes Field. Strangely enough, the Phillies, the Pirates' sister city, never had an issue with playing on Sunday.

Answer: 1899 Cleveland Spiders

The others all won the World Series in that season. A record not to be duplicated, the Cleveland Spiders won only 20 games in that 154-game season in 1899. After seven previous seasons with a winning record, and after the previous year with Patsy Tebeau, Cy Young, Jesse Burkett, and Chief Zimmer in 1898, all the money was gone. Thus, so were the players for 1899.

In the last season of the franchise in 1899, they were so bad that no starting player batted over .290, nor did they have a pitcher win five games.

Answer: Connie Mack managed his first of 7755 games

Mack was in his ninth season as a player, and was the catching player-manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1894. 53 managing seasons later, Mack finally stepped down after 50 consecutive seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics. His career managing record was 3731 wins and 3948 losses. He took the Athletics to nine American League titles.

Answer: Jack Graney

Graney was a career Cleveland Indian from 1910-1922. He became the voice of the Indians in 1932, and retired his voice after the 1954 World Series. Jack had another first in Major League baseball. He was the first player in history to hit a home run off the great Babe Ruth in 1914. It was Jack's only home run of the season. Graney died in 1978 at the age of 93.

Answer: Otis Clymer

Clymer, a member of the Senators, hit for the cycle on October 2, 1908. The outfielder played for only six seasons and never led the league in anything. He did get his blurb in baseball's record books for this feat.

Answer: Carey Selph

Ironically, Selph was also a White Sox player. He played for only two seasons in his career. In 1932, he appeared in 89 consecutive games without being fanned. In 396 at-bats, Carey struck out nine times in the season. After his 89-game streak was stopped, the White Sox released him from his contract. He never played again.

Answer: 0

The MVP did not begin until 1911, with Ty Cobb winning it for the American League, and Frank Schulte of the Cubs taking it for the National League. The Beaneaters had some greats on their rosters, including Harry Stovey, John Clarkson, Kid Nichols, Bobby Lowe, Jimmy Collins, Billy Hamilton, and Vic Willis.

Answer: Bill McGowan

McGowan worked the American League fields from 1925-1954. His streak covered over 16 seasons. Bill began his umpiring career at the age of 17 in 1913 in the Tri-State League. He was a 1992 Hall of Fame inductee.

Answer: 1917

On May 2, 1917, the Reds had Fred Toney on the mound against the Cubs' Hippo Vaughn. Through nine innings, both teams were hitless and it went into extra innings. The Reds' Larry Kopf was the first batter of the game to get a hit in the 10th inning.

Then followed by two Cubs errors, Kopf scored and the Reds won 1-0. Ironically, the Reds were in the middle of a losing streak, and hadn't scored a run in almost four games.

Answer: Chicago and Cleveland

On the inaugural day of April 24, four games were scheduled but three were rained out. This left the White Sox to go against the Blues. The White Sox won the game at the Chicago Cricket Club, 8-2. Roy Patterson took the first American League win.