Great Grandpa Baseball Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pete Alexander

Although Alexander threw three Triple Crowns in his career, led the league five times in wins and four times in lowest ERA, he never threw a no-hitter. Playing mostly with the Phillies and Cubs, Pete retired with a 373-208 record in 1930. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938.

Answer: George Foster

Foster hit 52 in the 1977 season for the Reds. This helped George win the NL MVP. It would be the only time in his career that he would reach the 50-mark. Foster was also the MVP runner-up in 1976 to teammate Joe Morgan. He retired after 18 seasons with 348 home runs.

Answer: 1892

The National League began in 1876 with eight teams. After the 1891 season, the rival American Association closed its doors, and four of those teams were accepted into the National League in 1892. Those teams were the Louisville Colonels, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators.

Answer: 1906

1921 and 1937 saw the Yankees and Giants battle each other. 1944 gave St. Louis an uplift with the Cardinals and Browns taking the limelight. But it was the 1906 series first that contested both the White Sox and Cubs of Chicago. The Cubs won an amazing 116 games during the season and were heavy favorites to win it all.

The White Sox, led by the arm of Ed Walsh and the bat of George Davis, put the Cubs down four games to two.

Answer: Kid Nichols

Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols played for 15 seasons in the National League from 1890-1906. He had seven 30-win seasons all with the Boston Beaneaters (later Braves) from 1891-1898. They were all consecutive except for his 26-16 season in 1895. Nichols would wait 43 years before being inducted into the hall in 1949.

He died in 1953. Both Bond and White had four 30-win seasons while Johnson had two.

Answer: Two games, and both teams had one win each

The first so-called "championship series" between two leagues was in 1882. It saw the Cincinnati Red Stockings who won the first pennant of the American Association amongst six teams, go up against the Chicago White Stockings of the National League. In this unofficial series to show the fans which league was superior, both teams were tied at one game each. AA League President Denny McKnight wired the Red Stockings owner and told him that if the games continued, he would ban the team from the league for life.

The Cincinnati team was going to go ahead anyway for the third and final game of the best-of-three game series, but White Stockings manager Cap Anson pulled his Chicago team from the series, doing what he thought was best for both teams and both leagues.

Answer: Sal Maglie

In 1946, Jorge Pasquel, a wealthy broker in Mexico enticed many Major Leaguers to jump ship and play in his league. With Major League owners being more than concerned, they took their issues to commissioner Happy Chandler. Chandler came up with a five-year ban for any player who did this, but due to a bevy of lawsuits, the ban was lifted three years later. Maglie was most noted for throwing a five-hitter in game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Yankees. Most noted because his opponent was Yankee Don Larsen who threw a perfect game. Gardella, an outfielder for the Giants, was another one who was banned. Both Feller and Rowe lost Major League time due to WWII.

Answer: Heinie Reitz

Heinie was in his second season with the Baltimore Orioles in 1894 when he hit 31 triples in the season. This was after hitting 13 as a rookie in his season prior. After his record-setting 31, Reitz would not hit more than six in a season again. Orr also hit 31 in 1886, but it was with the New York Metropolitans of the American Association.

Answer: Pud Galvin

Galvin reached the 300-plateau in 1888 with the Pittsburg Alleghenys of the National League. He was in his 11th season. The great Cy Young took 12 seasons and reached his milestone in 1901 with Boston. Mathewson retired with a career record of 373-188. Christy took 13 seasons to reach 300 wins. Walter Johnson took 14 seasons, on his way to 417 career wins.

Answer: 1951

The Dodgers and Giants tied for the National League pennant in 1951, thus forcing a playoff between the two. The playoffs all came to a halt when the bat of Thomson met the ball from Ralph Branca, shutting down the Dodgers' hopes for a World Series meeting. The Giants went on to lose in the World Series to the Yankees, four games to two.