This test is not for the faint of heart, or the casual fan. See how your knowledge of the sport holds up in our fourth annual holiday baseball quiz.
This test is not for the faint of heart, or the casual fan. See how your knowledge of the sport holds up in our fourth annual holiday baseball quiz.
The New York Times
Baseball|The 2020 Baseball Trivia Extravaganza
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Baseball
The 2020 Baseball Trivia Extravaganza
ByTYLER KEPNERDEC. 24, 2020
This test is not for the faint of heart, or the casual fan. See how your knowledge of the sport holds up in our fourth annual holiday baseball quiz.
The baseball community lost some of its proudest pillars in this year of sorrow, six Hall of Famers whose careers enchanted us from the early-1950s til the mid-1980s: Al Kaline in April, and then, in a six-week stretch starting Aug. 31, Tom Seaver, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Whitey Ford and Joe Morgan.
An off-the-field original also died this fall: Jack Scheuer (pronounced “Shore”), 88, a long-time Philadelphia sportswriter for the Associated Press. Jack’s first love was Big 5 basketball — he had his own key to the Palestra — but I knew him as the trivia guru of the Phillies press box, first at Veterans Stadium and then at Citizens Bank Park.
You couldn’t miss Jack: shock of white hair, tanned face as weathered as a catcher’s mitt, perpetual twinkle in his eye. I’d usually catch him strolling through the box, clutching a cup of Turkey Hill ice cream, and I tended to skip past the pleasantries.
“What do you got for me tonight, Jack?” I’d ask. He’d cock his head, smile and within seconds come up with a trivia question to consume me for the next couple of innings. I’d see him off and on for 30 years, and he never let me down. Jack had a bottomless baseball brain, and he taught me the difference between a good and bad trivia question.
How many career wins did Cy Young have? That’s a bad question. You know right away that the answer is 511, or you don’t know it at all.
A great question is one that can be answered with a little bit (or a lot) of logical thinking. Here’s a favorite of Jack’s: who is the only player to collect 500 hits for four different teams?
You narrow the answer into subcategories, because you know the player had at least 2,000 hits and moved around a lot, likely within the last 50 years or so, when player movement escalated. Then it becomes a test of remembering the careers of well-traveled players who spent at least three and probably four years in four different spots. Maybe Roberto Alomar? What about Scott Rolen, Gary Sheffield or Dave Winfield? (The answer: Rusty Staub, with the Astros, Expos, Mets and Tigers.)
Hopefully, some of the questions in this annual 50-question holiday spectacular would have made Jack proud. This one’s dedicated to him, and features categories on the greats we lost in 2020; the number 21; the pennant-winning Dodgers and Rays; retired numbers and more. Lift a glass of eggnog and enjoy!
Goodbye to the Greats
1 of 5Whitey Ford faced 18 batters at least 100 times. Only one had a .300 average off him, at .339. Who was it?
Luis Aparicio
Larry Doby
Al Kaline
Brooks Robinson
2 of 5Lou Brock led the N.L. in stolen bases each year from 1966 through 1974 — except for 1970, when he was runner-up. Who won the N.L. stolen base crown that season?
Bobby Bonds
Bert Campaneris
Willie Davis
Bobby Tolan
3 of 5Besides Bob Gibson, how many Hall of Fame pitchers have 3,000 career strikeouts as a pitcher while batting over .200 with at least 24 career home runs?
Zero
1, Walter Johnson
2, Walter Johnson and Don Drysdale
3, Walter Johnson, Don Drysdale and Steve Carlton
4 of 5Joe Morgan was one of seven Hall of Famers who played in the 1983 World Series between the Orioles and the Phillies. Who were the other six?
Eddie Murray
Reggie Jackson
Jim Palmer
Ryne Sandberg
Cal Ripken
Steve Carlton
Dennis Martinez
Tony Perez
Mike Schmidt
Submit Answer
5 of 5Only one batter hit more than eight career home runs off Tom Seaver — a left-handed-hitting outfielder who connected 11 times while batting .349 off Seaver for the Cubs and Dodgers. Who is he?
Answer
Award Winners
1 of 5Last month, the Marlins’ Don Mattingly became the fifth former M.V.P. to win the Manager of the Year award (first given in 1983). Can you name the other four? (Hint: two are Hall of Famers.)
Joe Torre
Paul Molitor
Frank Robinson
Kirk Gibson
Mike Scioscia
Don Baylor
Lou Piniella
Submit Answer
2 of 5Which of these M.V.P. winners never played for the Yankees?
Jose Canseco
George Foster
Jim Konstanty
Ivan Rodriguez
3 of 5Which is the oldest franchise to never have a player win the M.V.P. Award?
Diamondbacks
Indians
Mets
Padres
4 of 5This year’s Cy Young Award winners — Cleveland’s Shane Bieber and Cincinnati’s Trevor Bauer — both played for teams in Ohio. In 1997, both winners came from Canadian teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos, and both players would win at least two more Cy Youngs in the next few years. Roger Clemens won it for Toronto. Who won it for Montreal?
Answer
5 of 5Three players won the Rookie of the Year Award between 2001-2010 and won the World Series that same season. Who were they?
Albert Pujols
Dontrelle Willis
Dustin Pedroia
Ryan Howard
Buster Posey
Submit Answer
Twenty-One
1 of 5Which pitcher was wearing No. 21 when he threw the final World Series pitch at the old Yankee Stadium?
Answer
2 of 5Three players retired with exactly 521 career home runs. All are Hall of Famers who won at least one M.V.P. award — but none of them played in the World Series for the winning team. Who are they?
Willie McCovey
Ernie Banks
Eddie Mathews
Frank Thomas
Ted Williams
Submit Answer
3 of 5Who was the only player in the majors to hit more than 21 home runs in 2020?
Jose Abreu
Freddie Freeman
Marcell Ozuna
Luke Voit
4 of 5Only three active pitchers have ever earned more than 21 victories in a season. Two played in the N.L. East in 2020, and the other played in the A.L. West. Who are they?
Felix Hernandez
Jake Arrieta
Rick Porcello
Max Scherzer
Justin Verlander
Submit Answer
5 of 5Which pitcher set the single-game record for strikeouts with 21 (in 16 innings!) on Sept. 12, 1962, for the Washington Senators?
Answer
World Series
1 of 5Before Stephen Strasburg in 2019, who was the last World Series M.V.P. who did not play in the final game?
Tom Glavine, 1995
Livan Hernandez, 1997
Don Larsen, 1956
Steve Pearce, 2018
2 of 5Which is the last World Series matchup to feature two teams that had never previously appeared?
1906: White Sox/Cubs
1920: Indians/Dodgers
1944: Cardinals/Browns
1980: Phillies/Royals
3 of 5Which is the only franchise that has never appeared in the World Series?
Answer
4 of 5Which is the last World Series winner to clinch the championship in its home park?
2011 Cardinals
2013 Red Sox
2014 Giants
2017 Astros
5 of 5Which of these players did not play in the World Series in three different decades?
Dwight Gooden
Roger Clemens
Willie Mays
Matt Williams
Different Sport, Same Last Name
(enter just the last name for each answer)
1 of 5Yankees’ 1978 World Series M.V.P. | Bears’ Super Bowl XX M.V.P.
Answer
2 of 5M.L.B. home run derby champion in 1985 | N.B.A. finals M.V.P. for Spurs in 2007
Answer
3 of 5Managed Pirates in the first World Series (1903) | Won three N.H.L. M.V.P. awards for Flyers in the 1970s
Answer
4 of 5General manager of the 1996 World Series champion Yankees | Won the Masters in 2012 and 2014
Answer
5 of 5First Rangers pitcher to win a World Series game | British-born three-time heavyweight champion
Answer
Retired Numbers
1 of 5Who is the only non-Hall of Famer to have his number retired by the Detroit Tigers?
Mickey Lolich
Willie Hernandez
Willie Horton
Lou Whitaker
2 of 5Which of these players does NOT have his number retired by two teams?
Hank Aaron
Wade Boggs
Rollie Fingers
Randy Johnson
3 of 5Every number from 1-29 is retired by at least one team. But only  one number in the 30s has never been retired. Which is it?
Answer
4 of 5Only one of these Hall of Famers has had his number retired by a team. Which one?
Goose Gossage
Mike Mussina
Lee Smith
Jim Thome
5 of 5This one comes from Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post: Five men have a) played for the Mets, b) are not in the Hall of Fame and c) have had their number retired by a current team (in other words, not the Browns or Expos). Who are they?
Ken Boyer
David Cone
Jim Fregosi
Randy Jones
Mike Scott
Bobby Bonilla
Don Zimmer
Submit Answer
Dodgers
The Dodgers have won six titles since moving to Los Angeles, and this year's was their fifth to be clinched away from Dodger Stadium. In which road cities did they clinch the other four?
1 of 51959:
Answer
2 of 51965:
Answer
3 of 51981:
Answer
4 of 51988:
Answer
5 of 5Which Dodgers pitcher both won and lost a World Series clincher at the old Yankee Stadium?
Burt Hooton
Tommy John
Johnny Podres
Jerry Reuss
Rays
1 of 5Which former Yankee pitched for the 1998 expansion Devil Rays and served as a body double for Kevin Costner in “For Love Of The Game”?
Jim Mecir
Dave Eiland
Tanyon Sturtze
Scott Aldred
2 of 5Which pitcher did Tampa Bay choose with its first pick in the 1997 expansion draft, a month after he’d started in the World Series for the Marlins?
Wilson Alvarez
Alex Fernandez
Chad Ogea
Tony Saunders
3 of 5Who were the only players in the Rays’ lineup for Game 1 of the 2020 World Series who started their pro careers in Tampa Bay’s farm system?
Randy Arozarena and Willy Adames
Brandon Lowe and Kevin Kiermaier
Willy Adames and Brandon Lowe
Mike Brosseau and Kevin Kiermaier
4 of 5Which of these team’s baseball operations departments is not run by a former Tampa Bay executive?
Boston Red Sox
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Dodgers
Minnesota Twins
5 of 5The Rays wore light blue jerseys in Game 5 of the 2020 World Series. Which was the last team before then to wear light blue jerseys in a World Series?
Answer
And “final”-ly …
1 of 5With a Game 7 World Series victory, Randy Johnson won the final game of the Major League Baseball season  in 2001. In what other season did he win the season's final game?
Answer
2 of 5Which Mets playoff hero was also the final batter in Montreal Expos history, in 2004?
Answer
3 of 5Who is the only pitcher in the 2000s to throw the first and last pitch of the same World Series?
Answer
4 of 5Three players made the final out of a World Series in the division play era (1969-present) and also share a last name with a U.S. president. Who are they?
Gary Carter
Davey Johnson
Reggie Jackson
Claudell Washington
Willie Wilson
Otis Nixon
Submit Answer
5 of 5Two of the following players have both made the final out of a World Series and been named M.V.P. of a World Series in the last 10 years. Which two?
David Freese
Salvador Perez
Pablo Sandoval
Corey Seager
George Springer
Ben Zobrist
Submit Answer
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