Not-So-Basic Nightmare Baseball [11] Quiz

Answer: St. Louis Browns

Gaedel was twenty years old when he participated in his only MLB game -- St. Louis at Chicago -- and it was August 19th, 1945 when pitcher Bob Cain of the White Sox walked Gaedel on four pitches. He was laughing so hard on the first three pitches before he realized that it was not a joke. American League President Will Harridge was so appalled by this that he had the at-bat initially stricken from the record books.

He was re-added a year later.

Answer: Pedro Ramos

Though Ramos wouldn't end up having the record forever, he gave up forty-three home runs in 1957 while playing for the Washington Senators. Ramos would, nevertheless, have a successful but occasionally volatile MLB career shifting back and forth between the Senators and other teams, even making it to an All-Star game in 1959.

This said, he led the American League in losses four years in a row, between 1958-59-60-61. He ended his sixteen-season career where he started, with the Senators, in 1970.

Answer: This feat was never accomplished

No catcher ever did this in the American League, but it ended up happening three times in the National League. Bubbles Hargrave of the Cincinnati Reds claimed the title in 1926, Ernie Lombardi, also of Cincinnati, got his in 1938 and then accomplished the feat again with the Boston Red Sox in 1942.

Interestingly, the backstop role had never been represented with this title in the American League until the 21st century when Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins won it not once, but three times, doing so in 2006, 2008, and 2009.

Answer: Duke Snider

Snider never reached the fifty-hit milestone in his 'hey day' years with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers though he would have other noteworthy achievements, winning two World Series and becoming an eight-times All-Star in his long career. He would also manage to be a home run leader for the National League in 1956, but he wouldn't manage to hit fifty. George Foster hit fifty-two in 1977 with the Cincinnati Reds and Johnny Mize hit fifty-one while playing for the New York Giants in 1947.

Answer: Artificial leg

Bert Shepard lost his leg in WWII and signed on as a coach with the Senators in 1945, though he initially hoped to resume his pitching career after his time fighting abroad. After pitching a few exhibition games, he ended up pitching in relief in the regular season, going five innings and giving up one run.

He also batted three times in that game. He would continue playing in the minor leagues after this season and then have a modestly successful career in amputee golf despite the handicap.

Answer: Max Carey

A player for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brooklyn Robins across a twenty-year career as an MLB switch-hitter, Max Carey hit for the cycle on June 20th, 1925, the same year in which he became a World Series Champion with the Pirates. Carey also managed the feat of becoming the National League's top base-stealer ten years of his playing career.

On the American League side, Mickey Mantle was the first to do this, achieving the feat during one of his twenty All-Star years in 1957.

Answer: 4

In his debut with the New York Yankees on April 25th, 1933, he collected four of his own hits while shutting out the Washington Senators with a score of 16-0. Van Atta would only play three seasons with the Yankees before moving into the St. Louis Browns for another five, but his beginner's luck wouldn't stick.

He ended out his career before the decade wrapped up, leaving sports entirely to become a New Jersey sheriff. He passed away in 1986.

Answer: Walter Johnson

Johnson wasn't only feared as a pitcher, but ripped the opposing teams ending the 1925 season with a .433 average. Johnson would play with the Washington Senators all twenty-one seasons of his playing career in the 1920s and he would subsequently make the jump to management in 1929, leading the Senators and then the Cleveland Indians into the mid-1930s.

He'd end up taking the World Series once (in 1924) and be regarded as one of the best pitchers in MLB history, breaking records throughout his time in the sport.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, the year after he retired.

Answer: 1960s

An almost career-long player for the Detroit Tigers, Norm Cash, also known as 'Stormin' Norman', hit .362 in 1961 to win the American League batting title. The following year he batted .243, signifying the largest drop in batting average from any batting title winner in the 20th century. Cash would, nevertheless, become a five-time MLB All-Star player and he'd take a World Series win in 1968.

He played in the MLB from 1958 to 1974.

Answer: Atlanta Braves

The Braves did so in 1973 and became the first team to ever have three big guns. Davey Johnson hit 43, Darrell Evans hit 41, and Hank Aaron hit 40 during this major year. Despite this, the Braves finished fifth in the National League's season. Notably, at the end of this season, Hank Aaron was only one home run away from beating Babe Ruth's all-time record.
The second team to accomplish this feat was the Colorado Rockies. They did so in 1996.