ESPN Quiz

[Arky Vaughan]

Pretty challenging quiz. Budgirl, I wonder what you win if you beat Ausmus' score:

The Link

[David in Jackson]

Just took it.  I was suprised that I missed more among the post WWII questions than the older ones.

[Astroholic]

It timed out on me.  Probably due to my shitty score.

[BudGirl]

I'll admit it.  Ausmus knows more baseball history than I do.

Too be honest, I was kind of disappointed in Bradley's grade.

[Uncle Charlie]

At least we now know why Kevin Mench has such a big head.

What cracked me up was that Steve Phillips scored the lowest of any of the analysts.  He even scored lower than the fantasy "analyst".

[Fredia]

lol i got a mere 12 right need to make a trip to the library and look up some history of baseball

[HudsonHawk]

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lol i got a mere 12 right need to make a trip to the library and look up some history of baseball

I got 36 out of the 50, which is pretty good.  That was a hard quiz with some really minor and obscure questions.

[No? in Austin]

32 right.  Hard questions for sure (well some of them).  I hate trick questions though, like the Abner Doubleday question.  At least I think it's a trick question.

[cougar]

Only 24.  Kinda disappointed, but then I'm not as big a fan of baseball's history as I am of football, so it's understandable.

Basically got the common knowledge questions with a couple of the lesser known ones (Eddie Plank won 300 games, etc.).

[Arky Vaughan]

I got 42. Which I admit is kind of demented.

Since Jim lived through almost all those events, I imagine he'd do pretty well.

[Bench]

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I got 42. Which I admit is kind of demented.

Since Jim lived through almost all those events, I imagine he'd do pretty well.

That was a lot of fun. I got 26, which proves that my Tufts education really is as good as Brad's Ivy League. It's not just a safety school afterall.

[Golden Sombrero]

I garnered a 22, which proves that in multiple choice tests it's possible to guess right almost half the time.

Chances are it's the same as the Drama Queen, who probably would miss a bunch on purpose so that he could satisfy his numerological obsession.

[drew corleone]

28/50.

Started out 8/10. I think I know the prehistoric stuff beter than the more recent years, because as a young child I used to pore through Bill James originl abstract.

[HudsonHawk]

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28/50.

Started out 8/10. I think I know the prehistoric stuff beter than the more recent years, because as a young child I used to pore through Bill James originl abstract.

It's the questions like "How many perfect games have been thrown in ML history?" that got me.  I knew it was like 18 or 19, but just had to guess.  And guessed wrong.

[astrojim]

27 of 50.  Much better towards the end.  A few Wild ass guesses that were right helped.

[HurricaneDavid]

27... and the crowd goes mild.  Thanks for the link, I'll love to see how my Dad does with these.

[VirtualBob]

25 out of 49 ... who the hell cares where Vin Scully went to college?

[chuck]

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25 out of 49 ... who the hell cares where Vin Scully went to college?

No one, I imagine, but that's one of the relatively few that I knew.

[The Spleen]

35

[otterj]

23.

I suck at semi-obscure historical baseball trivia.

[No? in Austin]

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28/50.

Started out 8/10. I think I know the prehistoric stuff beter than the more recent years, because as a young child I used to pore through Bill James originl abstract.

It's the questions like "How many perfect games have been thrown in ML history?" that got me.  I knew it was like 18 or 19, but just had to guess.  And guessed wrong.

Orel's scoreless innings got me and that irked me.  I knew it was in the fifties, but when I saw 51 and 59 as answers, I went with 51 for some reason because it just looked right and it was stuck in my head.

I wuz wrong.  Somewhere, the number 51 has a historical perspective for baseball that is stuck somewhere in the back recess of my cranium.  I wonder what it is if not Orel's scoreless streak.  Hmmmmmm...

[No? in Austin]

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25 out of 49 ... who the hell cares where Vin Scully went to college?

That one bit me too.  I guessed Nebraska because I had heard it before.  Then I realized that was Johnny Carson's alma mater.  I suck!

[David in Jackson]

41.

I missed all (or most) of the exact number questions: number of perfect games, Hershiser's innings, etc.  I got a lucky a few times, and kicked myself for putting Cy Young in the original HOF class.  Also, forgot about the Mariners HR team.

[mihoba]

44

I missed the newspaper question, the NL team since 1886, the All-Star/WS MVP, and I could have sworn the Ott was the youngest to 500 dingers...and the HOF class of '36 (duh)

Can I keep my "title"??

[drew corleone]

That threw me as well. I kept wanting to say 56, which is a noted baseball number for a very different reason. I often have trouble picking the correct one when I can narrow a question down to two likely answers.

[mihoba]

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I wuz wrong.  Somewhere, the number 51 has a historical perspective for baseball that is stuck somewhere in the back recess of my cranium.  I wonder what it is if not Orel's scoreless streak.  Hmmmmmm...

'51, the shot heard 'round the world?

51 = Career inside the park homers, Sam Crawford

[davek]

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Orel's scoreless innings got me and that irked me.  I knew it was in the fifties, but when I saw 51 and 59 as answers, I went with 51 for some reason because it just looked right and it was stuck in my head.

I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

[HudsonHawk]

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I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Old Hoss Radbourne had 58 scoreless innings?

[No? in Austin]

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Orel's scoreless innings got me and that irked me.  I knew it was in the fifties, but when I saw 51 and 59 as answers, I went with 51 for some reason because it just looked right and it was stuck in my head.

I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Drysdale, right?

[No? in Austin]

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I wuz wrong.  Somewhere, the number 51 has a historical perspective for baseball that is stuck somewhere in the back recess of my cranium.  I wonder what it is if not Orel's scoreless streak.  Hmmmmmm...

'51, the shot heard 'round the world?

51 = Career inside the park homers, Sam Crawford

I think it was Bobby Thompson's homerun for sure.

[No? in Austin]

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44

I missed the newspaper question, the NL team since 1886, the All-Star/WS MVP, and I could have sworn the Ott was the youngest to 500 dingers...and the HOF class of '36 (duh)

Can I keep my "title"??

Missed the newspaper one as well.  Got the youngest to 500 dingers though.  Want to know how I remembered that one?  When I watched "A League of Their Own", I remember a reference to Foxx in the last scene at the HOF.  Except in the movie, it's a reference to Jimmy "Dugan" instead of Foxx (who Dugan was modeled after).

It got etched in my brain from that day on.

[davek]

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Orel's scoreless innings got me and that irked me.  I knew it was in the fifties, but when I saw 51 and 59 as answers, I went with 51 for some reason because it just looked right and it was stuck in my head.

I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Drysdale, right?

Yessir... I ever tell you the story about how I played on the same team with him one time?...

[davek]

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I wuz wrong.  Somewhere, the number 51 has a historical perspective for baseball that is stuck somewhere in the back recess of my cranium.  I wonder what it is if not Orel's scoreless streak.  Hmmmmmm...

'51, the shot heard 'round the world?

51 = Career inside the park homers, Sam Crawford

I think it was Bobby Thompson's homerun for sure.

Yeah, what a "choker" that Branca guy was...

[davek]

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I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Old Hoss Radbourne had 58 scoreless innings?

I think you have me confused with Coach...

I mighta took the field with Drysdale one time but Hoss was definitley in JimR's era...

[JimR]

when i played with him, he was a pony.

[No? in Austin]

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Yeah, what a "choker" that Branca guy was...

I remember when Bob Costas tried to *break* the story that the New Yawk Jints made that comeback on the Trolley Dojers because they were stealing signs.  It culminated with Thompson's shot heard round the world.  Then Costas interviewed both men.  It was Branca who came to Thompson's defense that it didn't matter if you steal signs, you still have to hit 'em!

Short porch in left, stealing signs, choker Branca... how a history making moment in baseball can have so many side stories that really try to lessen the emotion and drama of the competition is funny.  I like how Branca and Thompson handled it after all was said and done for many years afterwards: He beat me that day, I beat him other days.

That's baseball.

[HudsonHawk]

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I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Old Hoss Radbourne had 58 scoreless innings?

I think you have me confused with Coach...

I mighta took the field with Drysdale one time but Hoss was definitley in JimR's era...

You can try to pawn off the old guy imagine on Jim, but we know better.  Let's fact it, there's plenty of old man smack to go around and it never gets old.

[MRaup]

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I guess it helps when one of your boyhood heroes once held the record at 58 innings...

Old Hoss Radbourne had 58 scoreless innings?

I think you have me confused with Coach...

I mighta took the field with Drysdale one time but Hoss was definitley in JimR's era...

You can try to pawn off the old guy imagine on Jim, but we know better.  Let's fact it, there's plenty of old man smack to go around and it never gets old.

But they sure do.

[davek]

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 I like how Branca and Thompson handled it after all was said and done for many years afterwards

Seriously, Branca was the epitome of a class act, particularly in how he handled the 'shot heard round the world'...

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He beat me that day, I beat him other days.

That's baseball.

See Jackson, Reggie & Welch, Bob...

[WulawHorn]

30 out of 50.  Not bad, but not great.  I think I got lucky on about 6 or 8 of them where I had it between 2 and guessed the right number.

[No? in Austin]

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See Jackson, Reggie & Welch, Bob...

I love the way some fans take their lead from the mediots on the Lidge/Pujols competition last year in the NLCS (game 5).  To this day, it keeps getting mentioned as something important to remember and especially when you literally watch Lidge meltdown on the mound at that particular game.

The math is wrong though.  Coincidental, but wrong.

Last year's NLCS confrontation betwix Pujols and Lidge was all about a hanging slider and one of the great hitters of today's game destroying it (as he should).  It was not about melting, choking, emotional wreck, mental midget or any other ascribed pseudo crap that mediots and the lemmings who follow the game by their lead.  It was about a great hitter doing what he does best with a mistake pitch.

This year, it's about Lidge's mechanics being off.  Aaron Freaking Miles can beat him, it doesn't have to be Pujols.  Why?  Because he's scarred from the 2005 NLCS?  Oh please!  It's about mechanics and the results that happen because of it.  Not mistakes, mechanics.  So why the mechanics breakdown now instead of the past three years?  Because the evidence has been there for three (even more if you count his minor league history) of mechanical breakdowns for Lidge.  During his A Ball stint, Lidge could actually touch 100 mphs on his heater.  He also had worse mechanics than he has today.  He also threw a curveball and not a slider back then.  The Astros had his work on his mechanics to improve, took away the curveball and suggested a slider instead.  Now Lidge throws in the 97 mph range and has a slider.  But he has to keep his mechanics in order to pitch against major league hitters.  His fastball, while really fast, is straight.  No movement on a fastball means that some guys are going to turn on that pitch... and I mean guys like Valentin, Podsednik or Miles, not Pujols or Bonds.

So why is Lidge struggling with his mechanics (still)?  Either he's hiding an injury that has him comprimising the mechanics or he's just going through a dead arm period because of the early work schedule he put himself under for the WBC.  Either way, he's gotta get that corrected because he shouldn't take mechanics like that to the mound.  If he's hurt, be better tell someone.

[drew corleone]

baseball movies will do that. I knew Kid Gleason managed the 19 Sox because I've seen Eight Men Out 25 times.

[das]

18.  I suck.  My baseball world began in 1979 with the Astros.  It's all a fog before then.

[JimR]

39 out of 50 for me.

[strosrays]

Thirty-five (35).  Which is okay, but means I'm not quite as good as HH.  But then, I guess I knew that already.

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Just took it.  I was suprised that I missed more among the post WWII questions than the older ones.

I don't think it's all that surprising, depending on how old you are.  Alot of the stories and stats from earlier baseball history have evolved to legendary status, and if you were a serious fan as a kid you had that stuff hammered into you, when you still had the time and energy to assimilate it.  If anything, the increased availability of information and the proliferation of fairly esoteric statistics today makes it more difficult for some of us to keep up.

Also, of course, you probably have a few more things on your plate now than you did as a kid.  Less time for gazing at the backs of Topps cards and slowly paging through the MacMillan encyclopedias, more time for looking at school disciplinary reports and college loan applications.  And to top it off, if you're like me, a hell of a lot less brain cells to do any of it with, too. Alas.

And it just gets worse as you get older and have more and more stupid (non-baseball) shit you have to think about.  One result being, I know Tom Seaver's and Steve Carlton's records better than I do Rocket's and The Unit's.  And don't even mention Santana or Willis or any of today's emerging players.

Of course, this doesn't explain mihoba's high score.  But hell, all that cat does is sit around all day and watch water flow by.  I could be an "expert" too, if I had that job.

[BUWebguy]

35 out of 50. Like many here, I was better at the really old questions than the more recent ones.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I got a 49 the second time.

[HudsonHawk]

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Thirty-five (35).  Which is okay, but means I'm not quite as good as HH.  But then, I guess I knew that already.

[nigeltuffnel] I'm 1 better than you, aren't I [/nigeltuffnel]

[mihoba]

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Of course, this doesn't explain mihoba's high score.  But hell, all that cat does is sit around all day and watch water flow by.  I could be an "expert" too, if I had that job.

"As the Turbine Turns"

I only guessed at one question, perfect games. I guessed right.

[HurricaneDavid]

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I got a 49 the second time.

It's entirely possible that I would get a lower score the 2nd time, given the number of obscure questions that I totally guessed on.

Funny story related to the shot heard round the world above... my Dad collected autographs as a kid.  One of his signed balls had Branca right above Thomson on it.  He's at a Yankees Old Timers game with it, trying to get Joe Dimaggio's signature.  He hands the ball to Joe, and the ball has so many signatures on it that there isn't really enough room.  Finally he says, "we can't have these two together" and squishes his name between Branca and Thomson.

[astrox]

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So why is Lidge struggling with his mechanics (still)?  Either he's hiding an injury that has him comprimising the mechanics or he's just going through a dead arm period because of the early work schedule he put himself under for the WBC.  Either way, he's gotta get that corrected because he shouldn't take mechanics like that to the mound.  If he's hurt, be better tell someone.

Ok, help me out here.  I don't know shit for mechanics, but for some time now on the TZ many have made these statements of his poor mechanics.  If knowlegable fans of the game can see Lidge has poor mechanics, can't the coaching staff see it as well?  I sure as hell hope so.  And if they do see it why can't they tell him to sit until he decides to follow their instruction to correct the problem?

[astrox]

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Funny story related to the shot heard round the world above... my Dad collected autographs as a kid.  One of his signed balls had Branca right above Thomson on it.  He's at a Yankees Old Timers game with it, trying to get Joe Dimaggio's signature.  He hands the ball to Joe, and the ball has so many signatures on it that there isn't really enough room.  Finally he says, "we can't have these two together" and squishes his name between Branca and Thomson.

Wow, what a great story and even greater baseball artifact to have in your collection!

[No? in Austin]

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So why is Lidge struggling with his mechanics (still)?  Either he's hiding an injury that has him comprimising the mechanics or he's just going through a dead arm period because of the early work schedule he put himself under for the WBC.  Either way, he's gotta get that corrected because he shouldn't take mechanics like that to the mound.  If he's hurt, be better tell someone.

Ok, help me out here.  I don't know shit for mechanics, but for some time now on the TZ many have made these statements of his poor mechanics.  If knowlegable fans of the game can see Lidge has poor mechanics, can't the coaching staff see it as well?  I sure as hell hope so.  And if they do see it why can't they tell him to sit until he decides to follow their instruction to correct the problem?

Because all pitchers... I mean *ALL* pitchers break their mechanics during a game.  One pitch may be perfectly thrown, the next pitch he flies open and it's headed towards the backstop screen.  When Lidge breaks his mechanics, it's mostly when he's in the stretch.  Sometimes when he's in the windup, he'll land a little more stiff legged than in the stretch, but most when we're talking about flying open, that is something he does quite often from the stretch.  Ball gets elevated a little when you fly open.  On a slider, that's not a good thing.  On a fastball, you'll never have control of the strikezone.

So what would tell Lidge if the reason he's flying open is just that he's not maintaining his mechanics?  "Do better!"  I opine that their is a reason he's flying open and it's probably arm pain of some sort that keeps him from maintaining.  I'm not doctor nor pitching coach so my opinion means squat.  But suffice it to say, he's got a problem maintaining right now and whatever the reason may be, it has to get fixed and Lidge is the first person who should seek out how and what he needs to do to maintain.

[VirtualBob]

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That threw me as well. I kept wanting to say 56, which is a noted baseball number for a very different reason. I often have trouble picking the correct one when I can narrow a question down to two likely answers.

56 was Drysdale's record that Hershiser broke.  It helps to be old.

[mihoba]

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That threw me as well. I kept wanting to say 56, which is a noted baseball number for a very different reason. I often have trouble picking the correct one when I can narrow a question down to two likely answers.

56 was Drysdale's record that Hershiser broke.  It helps to be old.

Actually 58.2

56 is, of course, the Yankee Clipper's hitting streak.

 June 8, 1968: Don Drysdale works four scoreless innings against Philadelphia before finally allowing a run, after 58 2/3 shutout innings, on Howie Bedell's sacrifice fly. Bedell has no other RBI in 1968. Drysdale breaks the major-league record of 56 consecutive scoreless innings set by Walter Johnson in 1913. The Dodgers win 5?3.

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[VirtualBob]

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That threw me as well. I kept wanting to say 56, which is a noted baseball number for a very different reason. I often have trouble picking the correct one when I can narrow a question down to two likely answers.

56 was Drysdale's record that Hershiser broke.  It helps to be old.

Actually 58.2

56 is, of course, the Yankee Clipper's hitting streak.

 June 8, 1968: Don Drysdale works four scoreless innings against Philadelphia before finally allowing a run, after 58 2/3 shutout innings, on Howie Bedell's sacrifice fly. Bedell has no other RBI in 1968. Drysdale breaks the major-league record of 56 consecutive scoreless innings set by Walter Johnson in 1913. The Dodgers win 5?3.

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OK.  So I'm older than I thought.  I knew that "56" figured n Drysdale's record, but I guess I was one record removed from reality.  :-)

And yes, I do know the other "56", but I was trying to stay with the scoreless innings theme.

[strosrays]

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That threw me as well. I kept wanting to say 56, which is a noted baseball number for a very different reason. I often have trouble picking the correct one when I can narrow a question down to two likely answers.

56 was Drysdale's record that Hershiser broke.  It helps to be old.

Actually 58.2

56 is, of course, the Yankee Clipper's hitting streak.

 June 8, 1968: Don Drysdale works four scoreless innings against Philadelphia before finally allowing a run, after 58 2/3 shutout innings, on Howie Bedell's sacrifice fly. Bedell has no other RBI in 1968. Drysdale breaks the major-league record of 56 consecutive scoreless innings set by Walter Johnson in 1913. The Dodgers win 5?3.

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edit to add link

OK.  So I'm older than I thought.  I knew that "56" figured n Drysdale's record, but I guess I was one record removed from reality.  :-)

And yes, I do know the other "56", but I was trying to stay with the scoreless innings theme.

At any rate, Drysdale should never have got to 56 or 58 or whatever.  Read the entry for May 31 in mihoba's link.  HP umpire Wendlestedt invokes a rule that is rarely used, just coincidentally in the middle of Drysdale's scoreless streak.  

I haven't seen the film in a long time, but have read Dick Dietz clearly tried to avoid that pitch, and for sure did nothing to indicate he was trying to get hit (which is the way I recall it.)

Its one thing when the hometown official scorer "helps" someone along to a record, but when the umpires are in on it, too - and Wendlestedt was one of the most well-regarded of his time - well...

[VirtualBob]

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At any rate, Drysdale should never have got to 56 or 58 or whatever.  Read the entry for May 31 in mihoba's link.  HP umpire Wendlestedt invokes a rule that is rarely used, just coincidentally in the middle of Drysdale's scoreless streak.  

I haven't seen the film in a long time, but have read Dick Dietz clearly tried to avoid that pitch, and for sure did nothing to indicate he was trying to get hit (which is the way I recall it.)

Its one thing when the hometown official scorer "helps" someone along to a record, but when the umpires are in on it, too - and Wendlestedt was one of the most well-regarded of his time - well...

Don't believe all that conspiracy crap ... Dietz turned into it pure and simple.  It just makes a better story to blame the umps.  As you said, Wendlestedt was a very good ump ... Do you really think he would have conspired to help Drysdale set a record that would clearly bring his own reputation into question?  He made a gutsy call that ought to made more often.

[jasonact]

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32 right.  Hard questions for sure (well some of them).  I hate trick questions though, like the Abner Doubleday question.  At least I think it's a trick question.

I got 29 right, including the Doubleday question, but only because I recently visited the traveling "Baseball As America" Hall of Fame exhibit in Detroit. They had a lot of memorabelia, including the famous "Doubleday baseball". Yhe accompanying plague helped inform that question.

By the way, if any of you are in cities visited by  the exhibit, I would highly recomend it. They have some really cool stuff there.