Knowledge Test No. 16

1.

Newly elected Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski is legendary for his magical skill at turning the double play. In fact, in his magnificent Gold Glove career, he compiled 100 or more double plays an astonishing 11 consecutive years. In his 17-year career, he averaged over 100 double plays per season. He holds the major-league career record for double plays by a second baseman. Can you name the Hall of Fame second baseman who holds the American League career record for most double plays?

2.

Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew slugged more homers (573) than any other right-handed batter in American League history. While taking those furious cuts that produced eight 40-homer seasons, Killebrew struck out 100 or more times in seven different campaigns. But Killebrew was also well known for his plate discipline and knowledge of the strike zone. He had seven seasons in which he tallied 100 or more walks, finishing with a career-high 145 in his MVP season of 1969. His career-high strikeout total also topped the 140 mark. He whiffed 142 times in 1962. Also in '69, there was a slugger who actually topped the 140 mark in strikeouts and walks in the same season! Can you name the slugger to claim this unique distinction?

3.

Mike Schmidt was an eight-time National League home run champ while playing exclusively for the Phillies. He finished his Hall of Fame career with 548 round-trippers. He also led his team in homers 13 out of 14 seasons during his prime. There was actually a Hall of Fame NL slugger who spent his entire career with one club and led the club in homers a record 18 consecutive times. Can you name him?

4.

Only four players in history hit home runs to give their team a 1-0 victory in a World Series game. Two of the men are in the Hall of Fame. One Hall of Famer's homer was the first World Series home run ever struck at Yankee Stadium. Two of the other 1-0 game-winners came in the same World Series. Can you name the four players, whose clutch homers were responsible for the only four 1-0 World Series decisions decided by a homer?

5.

In the 1905 World Series, the New York Giants' legendary hurler Christy Mathewson threw three shutouts in six days as John McGraw's club beat Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics four games to one. Matty's signature performance remains the most dominant week any pitcher enjoyed in the history of the Fall Classic. However, despite their inability to score in their games against Mathewson, Mack's A's do not hold the World Series record for the fewest runs scored in a World Series. That ignominious distinction belongs to another club. Can you name the team that scored the fewest runs in a World Series?

6.

In 1989, the Giants and Athletics met for the fourth time in history (they also met in the 1911 and 1913 classics). This time they were the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. That '89 classic will forever be best remembered, not for anything that happened between the lines, but for a major earthquake that rocked the San Francisco Bay Area as Game 3 was set to begin. As the two teams and better than 60,000 spectators scrambled to leave the blacked-out Candlestick Park before nightfall, little thought was given to how, when or if the series would resume. But 10 days later, the '89 World Series did resume at the infamous 'Stick. The stadium was rocked once again that night. But this time it wasn't a temblor, but two powerful teams combining for a World Series record seven home runs. Six different men homered that night. Which of those six men hit two bombs?

7.

In 1993, Dusty Baker took over the Giants from the retired Roger Craig, who guided them to the '89 World Series. Baker transformed a losing club that finished in fifth place, 26 games behind Atlanta in '92, into an overnight success. His reborn Giants club broke out of the gate and distanced themselves from the two-time NL pennant-winning Braves by winning 67 of its first 100 games. That made Baker the manager who won the most games of the first 100 of his career. His Giants finished with a remarkable 103 wins, but fell one game short of the division-winning Braves. By not winning the pennant, Baker never equaled the achievement of Sparky Anderson, who won the NL flag piloting the original Big Red Machine in his rookie season of 1970, or Tom Lasorda, whose Dodgers captured the flag in his first try in 1977. And by not winning the World Series, Baker fell short of matching the feat of this man. Can you name the last rookie pilot to win the World Series?

8.

From 1963 through '66, the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax had perhaps the most dominant four-year run of pitching in modern major-league history. In his last four years, he won 97 games and lost only 27. That's 70 games over .500 in four years! His innings pitched, minus hits plus walks allowed, was a mind-boggling 108, an average of 27 a year! He completed 91 of his 150 starts. Of those 91 complete games, 31 were shutouts and four were no-hitters, including one perfecto. His earned run averages were under 2.00 in three of the four years and 2.04 in the other. He had over 300 strikeouts in three of the four years, including a then-record 382 in 1965. (He missed a dozen starts in 1964, or he might have finished with 300 Ks all four years.) For good measure, Koufax helped lead his Dodgers to World Series appearances in 1963, '65 and '66, helping them to victories in '63 and '65. His lifetime World Series ERA was under 1.00. But as dominant as he was, due to the lost starts in '64, Koufax's regular-season win total of 97 for his last four years left him three short of the magic number of 100 for a four-year period. Can you name the Hall of Fame pitcher, who's the last man to win 100 games over a four-year period?

9.

There is another Hall of Fame pitcher, who was one of the most dominant starters of all time. But during one four-year stretch, he made 60 relief appearances, saving 27 games, winning 18 of 25 decisions and posting a 1.78 ERA in 146 relief innings. Do you know the name of this versatile Hall of Fame hurler?

10.

Mark McGwire finished the 1990s by slugging an amazing 245 homers in the decade's last four years. That's an average of 61 a year for four years! McGwire was injured for most of two seasons-1993 and '94-in which he hit only nine homers each season. He also saw limited action in '95, when he came to the plate only 317 times, but hit an eye-opening 39 home runs. As a result of all of the down time, McGwire hit only 160 homers in the decade's first six seasons, an average of 26 per year. He still became only the third man in baseball history to hit 400 homers in a decade with his 405 in the '90s. Babe Ruth hit 467 in the '20s and Jimmie Foxx hit 415 in the '30s. In the '40s through the '80s, there were only three other sluggers who clubbed as many as 300 homers in a decade. Can you name them?

11.

Since 1900, no teenager won 20 games in a season. In 1984, Doc Gooden hit the scene and won 17 games for the New York Mets. He was 19 at the time, and returned to post his career-high 24 wins the next year at age 20. Exactly 20 years before Gooden debuted, a 19-year-old AL right-hander nearly won 20 as a teenager. He won 19. Can you name him?

12.

In 1969, the Mets' first mound phenom, Tom Seaver, was rewarded for his brilliant 25-win campaign with a start in the World Series opener against Baltimore. Seaver was 24 years old when he strode to the mound to face the powerful Orioles. But Seaver was not the youngest pitcher to start a World Series opener. That distinction belongs to one of The Game's many other famous names. What 21-year-old 21-game winner was the youngest pitcher ever to start a World Series opener?

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