Test Your Knowledge With Some Baseball Trivia
Today, we take a lighthearted approach to the newsletter and pose various baseball-themed questions to our readers.
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Pregame Pepper - So Much Baseball
Leading Off
Kicking Off The 2023 Season With Some Baseball Trivia
By Brian Harl
I’m a sucker for trivia. I enjoy couch competing on Jeopardy! and have played my fair share of Trivial Pursuit and other similar board games over the years. I am also a fan of local craft brewery trivia nights, frequenting them as much as I can. History, movies, music, pop culture, you name it and I’m game. But most of all - I absolutely love baseball trivia. One of my favorite things about baseball trivia is that there is so much depth and breadth about the game to be discovered and so many factoids to challenge even the most die-hard of baseball fans.
As baseball continues to ramp up with Spring Training, the World Baseball Classic, and collegiate baseball well underway, I figured now would be a fun time to challenge the Here’s The Pitch crowd with some baseball trivia questions. Hopefully this helps us get even more in the baseball spirit, and recognize just how much there is to know and learn about this great game.
The answers will be posted below the Extra Innings section at the end of today’s newsletter. Feel free to share your score in the comments!
What was the title of the notable 1970 book by former big league pitcher Jim Bouton that chronicled his 1969 season with both the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros?
What was the name of the pitcher who led the National League in strikeouts for seven straight seasons, from 1922-1928?
Who was the first pitcher to win a Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award in the same season?
Who was the first player to win a league MVP award while playing for a team that finished the season in last place?
Which player was named MVP of the 1960 World Series despite playing on the losing team?
In what year did the Cardinals and Browns meet in the only all-St. Louis World Series?
Who was the Detroit pitcher who finished the 1952 season with a 5-19 record and two of his wins coming as no-hitters?
During the 1968 “Year of the Pitcher,” who was the only AL batter to hold a batting average over .300?
Who holds the dubious honor of being the 3,000th strikeout victim of both Bob Gibson and Nolan Ryan?
Who was the first major league baseball player to be featured on a United States postage stamp?
Brian Harl is a freelance baseball writer and an editor for the IBWAA Here’s The Pitch Newsletter. He is a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and enjoys baseball history and trivia. He is actively involved in IBWAA and SABR groups. You can find him on Twitter at @cubs_corner.
Extra Innings - Revolutionary (Baseball) War
Trivia Answers
Ball Four was the title of the controversial 1970 book. It gave readers an intimate insider’s view of baseball, both on and off the field.
Dazzy Vance led the NL in strikeouts from 1922-1928 as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Robins. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1955.
Fernando Valenzuela won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young as a pitcher for the Dodgers in 1981.
Hall of Famer Andre Dawson won the 1987 NL MVP Award playing for the last-place Chicago Cubs. If you are interested in more on this story, I wrote an article on this feat for Here’s The Pitch in 2020.
Bobby Richardson tried his best to propel his Yankees to victory in New York’s seven-game loss to the Pirates. He hit .367 and drove in 12 runs over the course of the Series, earning him the MVP.
In 1944, the Cardinals defeated the Browns four games to two to win the World Series. I also wrote about this event for one of our very first Here’s The Pitch issues back in 2020.
Virgil trucks tossed no-hitters against the Washington Senators on May 15 and against the New York Yankees on August 25 in 1952.
Carl Yastrzemski posted a .301 average in 1968. He also won the AL batting title that season.
Cesar Geronimo was rung up for the 3,000th strikeout of Bob Gibson (July 17, 1974) and Nolan Ryan (July 4, 1980).
In 1982, Jackie Robinson became the first major league baseball player to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp