Solo Feats in Baseball Quiz | Baseball

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. For the first time in history, Toby Harrah and this player hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs in the same inning.

Answer: Bump Wills

Never before even considered to happen, the two were Texas Rangers. Full of lucky number 7s, the game took place on August 27, 1977, and in the seventh inning both hit not just home runs but inside-the-park and back-to-back home runs off Yankee pitcher Ken Clay. Wills also hit another home run in the fourth inning off pitcher Mike Torrez.

The Rangers won the game 8-2 giving pitcher Bert Blyleven his 15th win of the season.

2. No team has ever come close to losing 134 games in a season like this team did.

Answer: Cleveland

After the 1898 season, the Cleveland Spiders sold off all their good players including Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young when the team owner decided to close the doors on his team after the 1899 season. That left nobody to play who knew what they were doing. The Spiders won only 20 games in that 1899 season with 134 losses in their 154 games.

3. This pitcher with no right hand threw a no-hitter.

Answer: Jim Abbott

Abbott overcame the odds and made it to Major League Baseball in 1989 with the California Angels. Abbott went 18-11 in 1991 with the Angels getting him a third place finish for the Cy Young Award. After the 1992 season the Angels traded Abbott to the Yankees for Jerry Nielsen, J.T. Snow, and Russ Springer. Jim paid the Angels back by throwing a no-no as a Yankee on September 4, 1993, against the Cleveland Indians in a 4-0 win. Abbott retired in 1999.

4. This team accomplished two triple-plays in one game and still lost the game.

Answer: Minnesota

The Twins were clicking on defense in the game on July 17, 1990 against the Red Sox. Scott Erickson and John Candelaria kept the Red Sox to a combined five hits in the game while allowing Erickson only one run. That was all that Boston needed to win the game 1-0 even after suffering two triple-plays, one in the fourth inning and one in the eighth inning.

5. He hit two grand slams in the same inning of a game.

Answer: Fernando Tatis

Tatis was a St. Louis Cardinal third baseman in 1999. On April 23, the Dodgers hosted the Cardinals. Tatis hit his grand slams in the third inning of the game both off Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park. Park also gave up another third inning home run to Eli Marrero. St. Louis won the game 12-5. Tatis hit 34 home runs in the season.

6. Mike Cameron and this player hit back-to-back home runs in the same inning, and did it again in that same inning of that same game.

Answer: Bret Boone

An outrageous event if it is ever duplicated, the two sluggers were Seattle Mariners on May 2, 2002, in a game against the Chicago White Sox. In the first inning of the game, the Mariners beat up White Sox pitcher Jon Rauch pretty bad. They tagged him for six runs and continued with reliever Jim Parque.

Not only did Cameron and Boone go back-to-back, the Mariners batted around the order in the first inning and both players did it again in the same inning. The Mariners hit Chicago up for 10 runs in that first inning and won the game 15-4.

7. In a league record that can never be duplicated, this player committed 122 errors in a season.

Answer: Billy Shindle

It was the 1890 season with Shindle belonging to the Philadelphia Athletics of the Players League. The Players League existed only in 1890 so Billy's record is in concrete. Shindle committed 119 errors at shortstop and three as a second baseman in the season. Billy batted .324 and had 189 hits for the fifth place Athletics of eight teams.

After the Players League closed their doors, he joined the Phillies of the National League in 1891 and then retired in 1898.

8. With all the absolute superstar pitchers in baseball, this pitcher threw two no-hitters in consecutive starts.

Answer: Johnny Vander Meer

It was the year of Vander Meer in 1938. As a Cincinnati Red he threw a no-hitter on June 11 against the Boston Braves in a 3-0 win. In his next start on June 15 he threw another no-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a 6-0 win. Vander Meer was only in his second season of Major League Baseball when he accomplished this feat.

He went 15-10 in the season and pitched only one other shutout. He retired in 1951 as an Indian.

9. In his first-ever Major League at-bat, this player hit a grand slam.

Answer: Kevin Kouzmanoff

Kouzmanoff appeared in his very first game on September 2, 2006 as the Cleveland Indian designated hitter. In the first inning off Ranger pitcher Edinson Volquez he hit the grand salami to make history. Kevin played in only 16 games in 2006 and hit only two other home runs in the season. He retired in 2014 with the Rangers and hit 87 career home runs.

10. Early in the 21st century, this team established a team record by losing 119 games in a season.

Answer: Detroit

The 2003 season was pretty dismal for the Tigers with their 43-119 record. The team was 'led' by first-year manager Alan Trammell. Their bats didn't shine as no starter batted .300 and no pitcher won 10 games. The leading pitcher was Mike Maroth who won nine games but lost 21 in the process. Nate Cornejo went 6-17 and Jeremy Bonderman went 6-19.

The Tigers finished last in runs, hits, batting average, strikeouts, and slugging percentage. They finished in last place behind the Central Division winner Minnesota Twins by 47 games.

Source: Author dg_dave

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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Solo Feats in Baseball Trivia Quiz

A look back at some players, events, and teams that accomplished something that nobody else could. Strike the match! Have fun.

Questions		Choices
1. For the first time in history, Toby Harrah and this player hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs in the same inning.		Johnny Vander Meer
2. No team has ever come close to losing 134 games in a season like this team did.		Jim Abbott
3. This pitcher with no right hand threw a no-hitter.		Minnesota
4. This team accomplished two triple-plays in one game and still lost the game.		Bump Wills
5. He hit two grand slams in the same inning of a game.		Kevin Kouzmanoff
6. Mike Cameron and this player hit back-to-back home runs in the same inning, and did it again in that same inning of that same game.		Fernando Tatis
7. In a league record that can never be duplicated, this player committed 122 errors in a season.		Cleveland
8. With all the absolute superstar pitchers in baseball, this pitcher threw two no-hitters in consecutive starts.		Bret Boone
9. In his first-ever Major League at-bat, this player hit a grand slam.		Detroit
10. Early in the 21st century, this team established a team record by losing 119 games in a season.		Billy Shindle