Nightmare Baseball XXVIII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Matt Davidson

The first to do it was George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1988. Seventeen years later, Dmitri Young of the Detroit Tigers went for the hat trick. Then, in 2018, Matt Davidson of the Chicago White Sox blasted off three times to start the campaign, at the Royals' expense.

Incidentally, all three of these players went on to lead their teams in homers hit that year. So at the very least, Kansas City wasn't being taken deep by a bunch of nobodies.

Answer: Cleveland Spiders

All the way back in 1899, the Spiders had what was, and should always remain, the worst, most pitiful season for a professional baseball team ever. The record of 20-134 doesn't do it justice. For one, owners Frank and Stanley Robinson had also purchased the St Louis Cardinals, and opted to literally transfer all of Cleveland's best players to the Cardinals, leaving a complete skeleton crew of a baseball team in their wake.

To give an idea of just how sad this season was, other teams around the league literally refused to play games in Cleveland because attendance was so bad that ticket sales wouldn't pay for the travel. As such, the Spiders infamously played 112 road games in this season, a mark which should never, ever again be reached, ever.

Since 1899, obviously, the MLB has changed a lot for the better. It is now impossible for owners to own two teams, preventing a blatant conflict of interest as was seen with the Spiders. As well, teams can't just simply refuse to play road games without forfeiting their game entirely. How teams collect revenue is way different anyhow, so no professional club would be even tempted to refuse a game.

As such, it can be safely concluded that the 1899 Cleveland Spiders were the most pathetic franchise in MLB history. Fitting that they were the first to lose 100 games in a season.

Answer: Boston Beaneaters

What a heck of a name! The Beaneaters went 102-48 in the 1892 season, and they were in the NL at the time they did it.

Incidentally, the Beaneaters franchise went on to eventually become the Atlanta Braves. Technically then, one could argue Atlanta is host to the franchise that won 100 games first, not Boston. Then again, the team was in Boston at the time, so there are arguments both ways.

Answer: 44

At 44 doubleheaders, more than half (88/154) of the White Sox games this year were twinbills. At least you know the players sure were well conditioned to have survived all of that!

Despite the turmoil, Chicago finished with a very respectable 82-72 record. They won slightly more than they lost during the grueling doubleheader madness, going 46-42 in their 88 twinbill games.

In the 21st century, the MLB does not "schedule" doubleheaders anymore. Doubleheaders are played as a means of making up games that were rained out. The White Sox 1943 season took place during World War II, where travel was heavily restricted, necessitating a staggering amount of doubleheaders.

Answer: Don Larsen

Larsen achieved this in October of 1956. He was absurdly dominant, needing only 97 pitches to carve up the Brooklyn Dodgers like a Thanksgiving turkey. It couldn't have come at a better time, as it was a pivotal game five of the World Series.

Answer: Jesse Orosco

Orosco was truly a long time MLB player, with a career spanning 24 entire years (1979-2003). He would go on to actually set the record for most appearances, retiring while having a sizable lead of 1,248 relief appearances to go with four starts, culminating in 1,252 total appearances.

Answer: Texas Rangers

This was the season in which Texas had newly penned superstar Alex Rodriguez to a ten year contract. He didn't disappoint, posting 52 homers. The Rangers as a whole blasted off 246 times, by far and away leading the league. While they posted plenty of runs on a nightly basis, they frequently found themselves entering slugfests, as their own pitching staff could never keep the opposition off the board. The team had an ERA of 5.71, which wasn't just the worst in the MLB: it also set a new record low in the Texas Rangers franchise history.

The 2001 Rangers truly embodied the concept of a glass cannon.

Answer: Boston Bees

This approach led to mixed results for the then-Boston Bees in 1937. The team did win more games than they lost with a 79-73 record, though this was only good for fifth in the NL. In total, the Bees sure stung a lot more on the mound than at the plate. The team posted a collective 2.87 ERA, best in the MLB, while batting a putrid .216 as a team.

Answer: Jack Quinn

Quinn was the first fifty-year-old to regularly appear in games while he was fifty years old. He did so in his final season in 1933, at the big 5-0.

Satchel Paige is well known for pitching in a single game for the Kansas City Athletics, at the age of 59 years old.

Minnie Minoso also appeared in two games at age 54 and then in one game at age 57 for the Chicago White Sox.

Julio Franco almost made it to the half century mark, retiring in 2007 at the age of 48 years old.

Answer: Jesse Burkett

Burkett did this a total of 55 times between 1890-1905 when he played. Of course, that was a very long time ago, so baseball has changed a ton in that time. Modern baseball stadiums are enclosed and athletes are simply more athletic than they were in the 19th century.

As such, an inside the park homer is a lot more rare. It is likely Burkett's 55 inside the park homers will remain an MLB record indefinitely.