Whether you are sitting at the ballpark on a lazy summer afternoon or counting down the days until the start of spring training, Hot Stove Trivia will always keep you in the game with more than two hundred fascinating trivia questions about America's pastime. Discover amazing facts about baseball's best and brightest, from the game's greatest sluggers to the Cy Young-award-winning pitchers and everything in between. Prove to your friends and family that you are a trivia MVP by identifying the infamous Brooklyn Dodgers hurler who surrendered Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard Around the World" or by naming the first player to have his number retired by his team. Do you know what current major-league franchise was once known as the Invaders, or who holds the American League single-season home-run record? Discover the answers to these questions-and many more-in Hot Stove Trivia. It is baseball trivia at its very best!

HOT STOVE TRIVIA

By Kidd Russell

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Kidd Russell
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-6787-9

Contents

Introduction..............................1Home Run Derby............................3Pitchers' Corner..........................7Nicknames.................................11MVP Awards................................15Franchise Nicknames.......................19Gopher Balls (Part 1).....................23Gopher Balls (Part 2).....................27Around the Bases..........................31Who Said It?..............................35Retired Numbers...........................41Grab Bag 1................................45Grab Bag 2................................49

Chapter One

HOME RUN DERBY

1. Who holds the record for most pinch-hit home runs?

2. Name the player with the most opening-day home runs.

3. Who holds the all-time home-run record for designated hitters?

4. Who has the most home runs after reaching the age of forty?

5. Which player holds the record for most home runs in one month—Roger Maris, Sammy Sosa, Babe Ruth, or Mel Ott?

6. Which player holds the record for most career inside-the-park home runs—Ty Cobb, Tommy Leach, or Sam Crawford?

7. Who has the most career home runs as a teenager?

8. Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray are the switch hitters with the first and second most all-time homers (with 536 and 504, respectively). Who has the third highest total lifetime for switch hitters with 350?

9. What Hall-of-Famer holds the record for winning seven consecutive home-run titles—Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ralph Kiner, or Frank Robinson?

10. Which of the following is the only major-leaguer in history to have two postseason grand slams: Mickey Stanley, Reggie Jackson, Jim Thome, or Johnny Damon?

Answers

1. Matt Stairs with twenty-three

2. Frank Robinson with eight

3. Harold Baines with 225

4. Carlton Fisk with seventy-two

5. Sammy Sosa, who hit twenty home runs in June 1998

6. Sam Crawford with fifty-one

7. Tony Conigliaro with twenty-four

8. Chili Davis

9. Ralph Kiner (from 1946 through 1952) with the Pittsburgh Pirates

10. Jim Thome, with one in the 1998 American League Championship Series and another in the 1999 Division Series

Bet You Didn't Know

Name the slugger who hit more than sixty home runs in three different seasons and never won a batting title. Answer: Sammy Sosa, who hit sixty-six in 1998, sixty-four in 2001, and sixty-three in 1999.

PITCHERS' CORNER

1. Name the pitcher who holds the major-league record for career losses.

2. Twelve pitchers have hit a home run in the World Series. Name the two pitchers who have done it twice.

3. Who was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in back-to-back seasons?

4. Name the pitcher who gave up Hank Aaron's 714th home run.

5. Name two of the three pitchers to win the Rolaids Relief Award in both the American League and the National League.

6. Who are the only two pitchers to lead their leagues in saves for four consecutive seasons?

7. Name two of the three major-league pitchers who have had both a twenty-win season and a forty-save season.

8. Who is the only major-league pitcher to win three World Series games for three different teams?

9. Who is the all-time leader of pitchers for home runs hit?

10. What three categories make up the Triple Crown of pitching?

Answers

1. Cy Young with 313

2. Bob Gibson and Dave McNally

3. Sandy Koufax in 1965 and 1966 with the LA Dodgers

4. Jack Billingham on opening day in 1974

5. Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith, and Randy Myers

6. Bruce Sutter (in 1979–1982) and Dan Quisenberry (in 1982–1985)

7. Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz, and Derek Lowe

8. Curt Schilling (with the Phillies in 1993, the Diamondbacks in 2001, and the Red Sox in 2004)

9. Wes Ferrell with thirty-eight

10. Wins, strikeouts, and earned run average (ERA)

Dugout Dupe

Joe Sewell, an infielder in the 1920s and early 1930s, recorded only 114 strikeouts in 7,132 at bats, a ratio of 63 to 1.

NICKNAMES

Who are these guys? Match the players listed in the left column with their real names in the right column.

1. Sparkey Lyle A. Johnnie 2. Bo Jackson B. James 3. Bucky Dent C. Richard 4. Catfish Hunter D. Lawrence 5. Dizzy Dean E. Vincent 6. Yogi Berra F. John 7. Pee Wee Reese G. Russell 8. Dusty Baker H. Jay 9. Mickey Rivers I. Albert 10. Goose Gossage J. Harold

Answers 1. I 2. E 3. G 4. B 5. H 6. D 7. J 8. A 9. F 10. C

Fun Fact

Tom Seaver is the all-time leader in opening-day starts with sixteen: fourteen in the National League and two in the American League.

MVP AWARDS

1. Only two players have won multiple MVP awards and have not been elected to the Hall of Fame. Name both.

2. Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941. Who was the MVP that year?

3. Who is the only rookie to win the MVP award?

4. What major-league team has had the most MVP winners?

5. Only two shortstops have won two MVP awards. Name both.

6. Who was the first American League pitcher to win both the MVP and Cy Young awards in the same season?

7. What National League MVP was the second leading scorer during the 1951–1952 college basketball season?

8. Name the famous MVP whose brother finished second to Jesse Owens in the two-hundred-meter run during the 1936 Olympics.

9. Who is the only player to win the MVP award in both the American and National leagues?

10. Name the oldest player to win the MVP award.

Answers

1. Roger Maris and Dale Murphy

2. Joe DiMaggio (who led the Yankees to the Pennant)

3. Fred Lynn in 1975

4. The New York Yankees with twenty

5. Ernie Banks (in 1958 and 1959) and Cal Ripken (in 1983 and 1991)

6. Denny McLain in 1968

7. Dick Groat

8. Jackie Robinson (his brother Mack won the silver metal)

9. Frank Robinson (with Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966)

10. Barry Bonds in 2004

Hat Trick

Owen Wilson holds the all-time season record for triples with thirty-six in 1912. No one has come close ever since. Note that Wilson finished his career with 114 triples, not even in the top twenty all time.

FRANCHISE NICKNAMES

A brief quiz on team nicknames. Match each current major-league team with a former nickname.

1. Red Sox A. Broncos 2. White Sox B. Wolverines 3. Tigers C. Gorhams 4. Yankees D. Somersets 5. Indians E. Highlanders 6. Cubs F. Browns 7. Dodgers G. Invaders 8. Cardinals H. Quakers 9. Phillies I. Bridegrooms 10. Giants J. White Stockings

Answers

1. D (also known as the Pilgrims and Puritans)

2. G (also called the Pale Hose.)

3. B

4. E (also known as the original Baltimore Orioles)

5. A (also known as the Blues and Naps)

6. J (also known as the Colts and Orphans)

7. I (also known as the Atlantics...