Knowledge Test No. 9

Knowledge Test No. 9
1.	In 1934, Hal Trosky of the Cleveland Indians posted a brilliant rookie season, in which he hit .330 with 208 hits, 35 homers and 142 RBIs. It was one of the finest rookie campaigns in history. Two years later, Trosky had a season that ranks as one of the better seasons ever posted. He finished the 1936 campaign with a .343 batting average, 42 homers and 162 RBIs. Trosky went on to post an impressive run of seasons to complement his two finest campaigns, but he flamed out after only seven full seasons (he played parts of four others) due to severe migraines. Although eligible, Trosky didn't make the Hall of Fame as a result. His 42-homer season in '36 came at the age of 23, putting him in the select company of several of the most prominent sluggers in major-league history, who also recorded a 40-homer season before their 25^th birthday. It is a feat that Babe Ruth and Ted Williams didn't accomplish. Jimmie Foxx, Harmon Killebrew, Mel Ott and Chuck Klein did accomplish it. So did Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Ralph Kiner, Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Mathews, Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle. They are all Hall of Fame sluggers. All but Klein, Kiner, Gehrig and DiMaggio are in the 500 home run club. Of all the Hall of Fame-eligible sluggers who accomplished this feat, only two are not enshrined at Cooperstown. Hal Trosky is one. Name the only other Hall of Fame-eligible slugger to hit 40 homers before the age of 25 and not be elected to Cooperstown.
2.	In 1989, Roger Craig, who pitched in four World Series for the Dodgers and Cardinals, led the Giants to the National League pennant. His Giants got rocked by an earthquake and the mighty Oakland A's, and lost the World Series in a four-game sweep. One pitcher in major-league history actually pitched in the World Series and later managed a World Series champion. Can you name him?
3.	Recently, Colorado's Brent Mayne, who's a catcher by trade, was summoned from the bullpen in a tense 12-inning struggle with Atlanta. Generally position players make mound appearances in hopeless blowouts and rarely get a decision. But Mayne got a winning decision. The last pitching win by a position player was posted by the New York Yankees' Rocky Colavito in 1968. Colavito beat his old club, the Detroit Tigers, the eventual World Series champion in '68. Ten years earlier, while he was with the Cleveland Indians, Colavito faced the Tigers in another August mound appearance. Name the only player other than Colavito to play in both of those games.
4.	Eddie Murray won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1977. Andre Dawson won the NL Rookie of the Year award the same year. Murray will someday be enshrined at Cooperstown as Dawson should. That would make them the third pair of Rookie of the Year award winners from one season to eventually go to the Hall of Fame. Name the two pairs of Rookie of the Year winners to go to the Hall of Fame.
5.	In one of the strangest seasons ever recorded by a pitcher, this hurler tossed two no-hitters, but managed to win only three other contests that season, finishing with a 5-19 record. Can you name this hot-and-cold pitcher? Can you also name the three other pitchers in modern major-league history who tossed two no-hitters in one season?
6.	Recently the Seattle Mariners went through a stretch of games in which its pitching staff allowed nine or more runs in seven straight contests. Can you name the last team whose staff allowed nine or more runs in as many games?
7.	In 1984, Boston slugger Jim Rice grounded into 36 double plays to set the all-time single-season record. In fact, four of the top five all-time single-season GIDP totals belong to members of the Red Sox. Name the only lead-footed slugger to crack the top five who wasn't a member of the Red Sox.
8.	When Pirates pitcher Elroy Face posted an incredible 18-1 record in 1959, he broke the major-league record for the best single-season won-lost percentage by a pitcher with a .947 mark. Whose record did he break?
9.	In early 1925, the Yankees tried to acquire first baseman Phil Todt from the Boston Red Sox, but the Red Sox refused to part with Todt and turned them down. What player was New York trying to unload on Boston?
10.	Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, who hails from the Dominican Republic, recorded 243 wins in his brilliant career. His record for wins by a Latin American pitcher was broken by Dennis Martinez of Nicaragua, who finished with 245 wins. But there's another foreign-born pitcher with more career wins than Martinez. What pitcher posted the most career wins of any pitcher born outside the United States?
11.	It is widely known that Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in the major leagues in the 20^th century when he broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. It is also widely known that the AL's first black player was Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians. Can you name the first black pitcher in major-league history?
12.	Who's the first black player to homer in his first big-league at-bat?

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