Bucket of Baseballs Trivia Quiz

Answer: A pitcher hit two home runs

San Francisco Giant starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner not only brought his arm to the game, but his hot bat also. On Opening Day, April 2, the Giants were hosted by the Diamondbacks. Bumgarner greeted Arizona pitcher Andrew Chafin in the second inning with a home run to left field.

In the fifth, he shook his bat at Zack Greinke with a ball over the left-centerfield fence. The Giants still lost the game 6-5.

Answer: Philadelphia Athletics

The others listed were all National League teams. Strangely enough, from 1910-1914 the Athletics found themselves in four World Series (wonthree), then it seemed to fall apart by winning only 43 games in 1915. The Athletics were under the control of Connie Mack and then went a dismal 36-117 in 1916. Amos Strunk was the only starter who batted over .300, and no starting pitcher or reliever had a winning record.

Their bread-and-butter reliever was Tom Sheehan and he went 1-16. The Athletics found the World Series again from 1929-1931.

Answer: Babe Ruth

The Bambino fell more than 200 short compared to the other greats. While Ruth hit 506 in his career, he topped out in the 1923 season with 45. Rose left baseball with 746, Musial 725, and Cobb with 724. Tris Speaker retired the 20th Century with being on top with 792. Earl Webb of the Red Sox set a season record in 1931 by hitting 67. Webb retired with only 155 doubles for his career.

Answer: Giants

The Giants began their franchise endeavors in 1883 as the New York Gothams. From there it was the New York Giants until 1958, when they moved to San Francisco and became the San Francisco Giants. Through the storied history of the franchise, they became the first team to win 10,000 games in mid-season 2005. Only the Cubs and Cardinals were somewhat close behind at the time.

The Yankees' franchise didn't get the jump back in 1883 and won their 10,000th game in 2015.

Answer: Chicago Cubs

The other teams listed were all American League teams. The Chicago Cubs of 1935 ran a streak of 21 games from September 4-27, in a time when they really needed it, which gave them the National League pennant. They won 100 games against 54 losses in the season. They lost 4-2 to the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

Answer: Warren Spahn

All the others were pre-1920 pitchers. Spahn was a pitcher who rarely comes around in baseball. He started his baseball career with the Boston Braves in 1942 but was then drafted into World War II. He returned in 1946 and then took control over the National League in 1947 when he went 21-10, yet still finished 15th for the NL MVP. From 1949-1954 Warren was a 20-game winner another five times. From 1956-1961 he ran a streak of six seasons as a 20-game winner, finally being recognized by winning the Cy Young Award in 1957, then being runner-up in 1958, 1960, and 1961. Spahn retired with 363 wins and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

He died in 2003.

Answer: Dallas Green

The others all passed away in 1980 or 1981. Green started his career from the mound in 1960 with the Phillies. He played six of his eight seasons in Philadelphia and retired as a player in 1967. Dallas took over the helm of the Phillies near the end of the season in 1979.

The following season he took Philadelphia to a World Series Championship with the help of slugger Mike Schmidt and pitcher Steve Carlton. He went to the Yankees for one season in 1989, then finished his managerial career with the Mets from 1993-1996.

His career record at the helm was 454-478. He died on March 22, 2017 in Philadelphia at the age of 82.

Answer: Louisville Colonels

The other teams existed in the Federal League in 1914 and 1915. The Colonels set their record in 1889 by losing 26 straight games between May 27 and June 23 in the American Association. The Colonels' season record was 27-111 in the season. Their only win of the season which stopped the streak was against the St. Louis Browns in a 7-3 win in the final game of the season.

The Colonels had four different managers in the season and finished in last place of eight teams. No starting batter hit over .300 and no pitcher won over 10 games.

The Cleveland Spiders were probably the most dismal team in baseball and almost topped Louisville's record. In 1899 the Spiders went 20-134 in the season and ran a losing streak of 24 consecutive games.

Answer: George Sisler

The others were all career National League players with Banks and Mays starting their careers in the 1950s. Sisler was a St. Louis Brown in 1922 and was the franchise's only highlight. George ran off getting a hit in 41 consecutive games. Sisler broke the previous AL record set by Ty Cobb, who had a 40-game hitting streak in 1911. George played in 15 seasons from 1915-1930 and pitched in limited duty in 11 of those seasons.

He retired with a .340 career average and was inducted into the Hall in 1939.

Answer: Jim Thome

The others all died in the early 1990s. Thome played for 22 seasons from 1991-2012. In addition to his 13 seasons as an Indian, Jim played for the Phillies, Dodgers, White Sox, Twins, and Orioles. Thome hit 612 home runs in his career.