Math Loves Baseball! Quiz | MLB Challenge

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Barry Bonds donned the number 25 for a jersey as a Giant. Clayton Kershaw was once number 22. Which former player's jersey number would need to be subtracted from Bonds to get Kershaw's number?

Answer: Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez was number 3 during his career. Of course, Bonds' 25 minus Rodriguez's 3 would give us Kershaw's 22. Bonds did wear different jersey numbers of 24 and 7, but as a San Francisco Giant, he was 25.

2. Chipper Jones started his career wearing 16, but he later became jersey number 10 in recognition of his father Larry. What player's jersey number would we have to take away from 16 to reach 10?

Answer: Stan Musial

Stan Musial wore the number 6 for his entire twenty two year career with the Cardinals. Musial, of course, went on to be an automatic first ballot Hall of Famer and is thought of as one of the greatest baseball players ever. He had a statue erected of him in his honor in 1968 right outside of Busch Memorial Stadium where the Cardinals once played.

3. Cleveland great Jose Ramirez donned the number 11 for the vast majority of his career. Ramirez's inspiration for baseball was Miguel Tejada. Tejada wore the number 7 for the first seven years of his career, but wore a different number the entire rest of the way. What number would be subtracted from Ramirez's 11 to reach the number Tejada wore for most of his career?

Answer: One

Tejada did wear the number 10 for the slight majority of his career, notably wearing 10 exclusively after his first stint with the Baltimore Orioles. It was actually Tejada's number 10 which inspired Ramirez to choose 11, a number he wore almost exclusively as a professional baseball player.

4. Ted Williams is one of the greatest to ever wear the number 9 in a professional sport, period, let alone baseball. Derek Jeter's number is quite famous as well, as an all time Yankee great. What must be added to Derek Jeter's number to reach Ted Williams' number?

Answer: Seven

Derek Jeter's number 2 was so well known, that the Yankees' home PA would anunciate Jeter's number in a very specific way: "Numbah Two: Derek Jeter" to the delight of hometown faithful everywhere. During Jeter's final season, other ballparks he played in began to do this too as a send off to one of MLB's all time greats.

5. Mike Trout is an LA Angels legend who wore the same number his entire career. Vladimir Guerrero was also very successful with the Angels. What number must be added to Guerrero's jersey to reach Mike Trout's jersey number of 27?

Answer: Zero

Both players wore the same exact number! Guerrero spent time with a number of different ballclubs, but his time with the Angels was the most significant, as he signed his largest contract in his career in both years and compensation with the team ahead of the 2004 season. After the deal, he spent abbreviated periods of time with a litany of other ballclubs, before retiring in 2014, formally signing a one day deal with the Angels so he could officially go out as a member of the team he spent the most time with.

Trout's debut with the Angels came in 2011, two years after Guerrero had left the team, explaining how he was able to wear the same number Guerrero had once worn with the team.

6. Tom Seaver's appreciation for his jersey number was so great that his hometown honored him by renaming part of a highway after him. Madison Bumgarner once paid a new teammate of his so he could retain his number from playing with the Giants. What would need to be added to Mad-Bum's jersey to reach Seaver's jersey number?

Answer: One

In 2022, Seaver's hometown in Fresno, California renamed a part of Highway 41 the "Tom Seaver Memorial Highway". Seaver spent time with four different teams across his career, but he never once donned a different number, explaining his connection to the number.

Madison Bumgarner spent most of his career with the San Francisco Giants and won multiple World Series with them with jersey number 40, most notably putting the team on his back and willing them to a Game 7 victory against the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 World Series. However, ineffective play from Bumgarner years down the road prompted the Giants to move on, and he would later sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Once here, he paid reliever Andrew Chafin an unspecified amount of money so that Chafin would relinquish the number 40

7. Mickey Mantle and Roger Clemens are two incredibly iconic baseball names. What would have to be done to Mantle's number to reach Clemens' number as a member of the Red Sox?

Answer: Multiply by three

Mickey Mantle famously wore the number 7 for the majority of his career, to the extent that the Yankees retired the number outright in 1969. Clemens wore a few different numbers, but exclusively donned 21 for Boston. Notably, the team would not issue this number to anyone else following his final season with the team in 1996. Though the number was not formally retired, the team simply never gave it out again/

8. Pittsburgh Pirates great Andrew McCutchen's jersey number, minus Colorado Rockies great Todd Helton's number, gives you whose jersey number?

Answer: Albert Pujols

McCutchen wore 22 for his entire career as a Pirate, while Helton consistently donned 17 as a Rockie. Finally, as a Cardinal and an Angel, Pujols wore the number 5. He became 55 as a Dodger, but he was in the twilight of his career at this point and will definitely not be remembered anywhere near as much in 55.

9. Which two players wore the same number?

Answer: Carlos Beltran - Tim Hudson

Beltran and Hudson both wore the number 15 for the majority of their careers. Justin Masterson spent the entirety of his MLB career wearing 63, compared to Ramirez's 11. Gehrig wore 4 versus Bonds being 25, while Molitor was also a 4 compared to Tony Gwynn's 19.

10. Which of the following did NOT wear the number 24 at some time during their baseball career?

Answer: Clayton Kershaw

Kershaw spent his career wearing 22, not 24, for the Dodgers. On retirement, Kershaw easily became the greatest #22 ever with 223 wins as a starting pitcher with an incredible lifetime era of 2.53, to go with eleven All-Star Game appearances and three World Series Championships. Kershaw retired following the 2025 season.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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Math Loves Baseball! Trivia Quiz

This will involve jersey numbers added, subtracted and more, to make other players. This is likely going to be very difficult if you don't follow the MLB very, very closely. Best of luck!
This is a renovated/adopted version of an old quiz by author Nightmare

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Math Loves Baseball! Trivia Quiz

This will involve jersey numbers added, subtracted and more, to make other players. This is likely going to be very difficult if you don't follow the MLB very, very closely. Best of luck! This is a renovated/adopted version of an old quiz by author Nightmare

This will involve jersey numbers added, subtracted and more, to make other players. This is likely going to be very difficult if you don't follow the MLB very, very closely. Best of luck!
This is a renovated/adopted version of an old quiz by author Nightmare