“Hey, Buddy! I’m willing to spot you 10 correct answers on a 41 item baseball trivia quiz and will even sweeten the spot with this additional offer: Five will get you Ten that you still don’t pass the thing with a grade of 70% or better!”
~ The Fictional Spirit of George Will
For several years, ardent baseball fan and political columnist George Will has been drafting trivia quizzes annually prior to the baseball season openers, just to help get the juices running. The new one for 2017 has yet to be released, but here are the answers to the 2016 quiz, Some of you may use a few of these in some of your own quiz constructions down the baseball trail. Don’t bother to ask how many people scored 100% on these answers in 2016. After all, the guy who thought them up was George “Plucking” Will.
1.) The 1916 New York Giants are the record holders of the longest consecutive game winning streak (26), but still finished only 4th in the 8-club 1916 National League season.
2.) Among those players with 3,000 or more career MLB hits, the 47 HR total for Eddie Collins is the lowest number in that category for any man in this group.
3.) Sam Crawford is the only player to have led both the American and National leagues in both triples and home runes, but not in the same season. Sam led both leagues as a 1901 Cincinnati Red with a grand total of 16 homers. Starting in 1902, also as a Red, Crawford took his first crown as the MLB triples leader with 22. He proceeded to win the triples title an additional 5 times as a member of the Detroit Tigers in 1903, 1910, 1913, 1914, and 1915.
4.) In 1960, Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit the only walk off home run in history to end a seven-game World Series.
5.) To date, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Murray, and Matt Williams are the only four players to have hit World Series home runs in three different decades of their own playing experiences.
6.) Bill McKechnie was the first manager to lead three different clubs to a pennant. He managed the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 1925 World Series title and the St. Louis Cardinals to a 1928 NL pennant. A decade later, he led the Cincinnati Reds to a 1939 pennant and a 1940 World Series championship.
7.) After Connie Mack (50 years, 1901-1950, Philadelphia Athletics) and John McGraw (34 years, 1902-1934, New York Giants), Walter Alston (23 years, 1954-1976, Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers) owns 3rd place on the list of longest continuous annual service to the same MLB franchise as field manager.
8) In 2012, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels became the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs, score 125 runs, and also steal 45 bases in the same season. Trout’s exacts totals were 30 HR, 129 Runs, and 49 Stolen Bases.
9) Since World War II, four MLB batters have posted five seasons in which they each batted .350 or more. Those four batters are Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, and Ted Williams.
10) Five players in history rank among the Top 25 in triples, doubles, and singles. Those five players are: Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Tris Speaker, Paul Waner, and Honus Wagner.
Now comes the fun part. Spot yourself 10 correct points on the first 10 correct answers in George Wills’ 2016 Opening Day Quiz and let’s see how you do on your own with his final 31 queries. And just try to bear in mind two factors all the way: (a) None of us have to be perfect to be OK and lovable as members of the baseball family we all have selected as our tribal community life on earth; and (b.) Never forget who designed this trivia fun, baby. As we noted earlier: It was concocted by George “Plucking” Will, for Chris-sake! – Do you really think that George Will wants us to come out of this test experience feeling greater affinity with him at his level of baseball wisdom?
Here’s the quiz link:
If you pass the “Mulliganed-Quiz” please leave a comment below. If you managed to pass, congratulations, but forget about collecting on that “passing bet” offer from our fictional spirit version of George Will. He left with the column muses once this business went to publications and does not speak either fot The Pecan Park Eagle or the real George Will, wherever he may be. 🙂
We’re simply glad that people like George Will are attracted to the idea of expending this much effort to the game of baseball. Keep those, quizzes coming, “Pluckin’ George!”
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The Pecan Park Eagle
Houston, Texas
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