Step Up to the Plate for Baseball Trivia

A wit once said, "Finish last in your league and they call you Idiot. Finish last in medical school and they call you Doctor." Pass this baseball quiz and they will call you Doctor of Baseball:

1. Which two players hold the record for the most seasons (23) played for the same team?
2. Who hit 48 home runs beginning June 1, but only 51 in the season?
3. Which two managers had six 100-win seasons?
4. Who played the most regular-season games without ever playing a post-season game?
5. Who has the best winning percentage among 300-win pitchers?
6. Who had a 79-15 record over three years?
7. Who was the player — and in what year — who led his league in home runs and RBIs, started every game of the World Series, and never crossed the Mississippi?
8. Since Tris Speaker did it in 1912, who is the only player with 50 doubles and 50 stolen bases in a season?
9. Which 10 Hall of Famers never played in the minor leagues?
10. Who is the only catcher to lead a league in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the same season?
11. When the strike stopped the 1994 season on Aug. 11, what team had the best record? And what was Tony Gwynn's batting average?
12. In 1955, the year they won their only championship in Brooklyn, what was the Dodgers' average regular-season attendance?
13. What two players share the record for most hits in a month?
14. From 2000 through 2009, Roy Halladay pitched the most shutouts, who led the 1970s with 44?
15. What pitcher won World Series games in three decades?
16. Who won a batting title during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s?
17. Who was the youngest pitcher to win a Cy Young award?
18. What two-time MVP and Hall of Famer won league fielding titles as a shortstop and center fielder?
19. Since 1900, what two pitchers won at least 20 games in 13 seasons?
20. Who is the only pitcher to have 20-win seasons with both the Yankees and Mets?
21. Who is the only pitcher to have 2,000 strikeouts with two different teams?
22. Who had at least 200 hits and 100 walks in four consecutive seasons?
23. Who did the Reds intentionally walk five times in a 1990 game?
24. Who is the only pitcher to twice pitch a complete game in a World Series seventh game?
25. Who twice got 10 or more hits in a World Series, with different teams?
26. What Hall of Famer got his 3,000th hit off a Hall of Famer?
27. The Yankees' Bobby Richardson set a World Series record with 12 RBIs in the 1960 World Series. How many RBIs did he have during the regular season?
28. What player, whose number 44 is retired by two teams, hit 44 home runs in four different seasons?
29. What six pitchers had 3,000 strikeouts before (or without ever) allowing 1,000 walks?
30. What team has won its last nine World Series games?
31. Why was Roger Maris never intentionally walked in 1961 en route to 61 home runs?

Answers: (1) Brooks Robinson (Orioles) and Carl Yastrzemski (Red Sox). (2) Ralph Kiner. (3) Bobby Cox and Joe McCarthy. (4) Ernie Banks (2,528). (5) Lefty Grove. (6) Lefty Grove. (7) Larry Doby in 1954, the year after the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and the year before the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City. (8) Craig Biggio. (9) Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Dave Winfield, Mel Ott, Bob Feller, Catfish Hunter, Eppa Rixey, Eddie Plank, Frankie Frisch, Ted Lyons. (10) Joe Mauer (2009). (11) The Montreal Expos, 74-40. Gwynn's average was .394. (12) 13,423. (13) Ty Cobb (July 1922) and Tris Speaker (July 1923), 67. (14) Jim Palmer. (15) Jim Palmer (1966, 1970, 1971, 1983). (16) George Brett (1976, 1980, 1990). (17) Dwight Gooden was 20 years and 324 days old when the 1985 season ended. (18) Robin Yount. (19) Christy Mathewson and Warren Spahn. (20) David Cone. (21) Randy Johnson (Mariners and Diamondbacks). (22) Wade Boggs, 1986-1989. (23) The Cubs' Andre Dawson in a 16-inning game. (24) Bob Gibson (1964 and 1967). (25) Paul Molitor with the Brewers in 1982 and the Blue Jays in 1993. (26) Dave Winfield off Dennis Eckersley. (27) 26. (28) Henry Aaron. (29) Ferguson Jenkins, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, Roger Clemens. (30) The Reds. (31) Mickey Mantle batted behind him.

George Will's e-mail address is georgewill@washpost.com.

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