With the NFL preparing to dazzle us with another season of football, I feel the need to give baseball a little extra boost because it’s my all-time favorite sport. It will always be Americas Favorite Pastime for me as shown by the continuing outstanding teams and players this season. Todays post consists of a short but extremely difficult trivia quiz (10 questions) that was initially prepared and published in 1975. It was created to challenge only the true fans of the game. As always, the answers will be listed below.
In 1926, who was the Brooklyn Dodger who “tripled” into a double play by being caught on third base with two other runners?
What Milwaukee pitcher committed two errors while covering first base, enabling the Yankees to win the 1958 World Series?
Who was the Cincinnati catcher who blocked an errant pitch with his body and then couldn’t find the ball – only three feet away – while two Yankees scored in the tenth inning of a 1939 World Series game?
Who was the New York first baseman who committed a three-base error in the 1939 World Series to set up a Dodger run which helped Los Angeles sweep the four game series?
Who made the boner – failing to touch second base on a teammate’s single – that cost the Giants a late-season victory and the 1908 pennant?
THE BAMBINO
What Dodger catcher missed holding on to a third strike which allowed Tommy Hendrich to reach first base safely and opened the way for a Yankee World Series victory in 1941?
Who was the Chicago Cub pitcher who threw Babe Ruth a homerun ball after the Bambino had taken two strikes and pointed to the spot over the Wrigley Field fence where he would hit the ball in the 1932 World Series?
Only one pitcher has retired more than twenty-seven batters in a single game. Name him.
Who was the only man to complete an unassisted triple-play in the World Series?
The Yankee had two second base men who hit .500 in World Series play. One did it in 1941 and the second in 1953. Name them.
PLAY BALL!!!
Answers
Babe Herman, Lew Burdette, Ernie Lombardi, Joe Pepitone, Fred Merkle, , Mickey Owens, Charlie Root, Harvey Haddix (Pittsburgh vs Milwaukee 1959) 35 batters, Bill Wambsganss (Cleveland) 1920, Elston Howard and Gene Tenace
I like finding information in history that I’ve never heard before. Here are two samples of incidents that apparently are not common knowledge. Enjoy!
HARRY CARAY
We don’t know where or when the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” seven-inning sing-along began, but one early claim and perhaps the one that popularized it was the result of a prank. In the 1970’s, baseball broadcaster Harry Caray, then a play-by-play announcer for the White Sox, was known to sing along to the song while in the broadcast booth, which was normally with the microphone off. Bill Veeck found out about this and one day unbeknownst to Caray he turned the broadcaster’s microphone on and piped Caray’s rendition to the fans. The fans absolutely loved it, and when Caray moved to the crosstown Chicago Cubs, he kept it going.
FORT SUMTER
Here’s a little tidbit from the Civil War era. Officially, the siege of Fort Sumter had a death toll of just two men, both Union soldiers. But those deaths weren’t at the hands of the Confederacy. Fort Sumter, low on provisions and undermanned, was unable to thwart the Confederate bombardment. Major Robert Anderson, the commander of the fort agreed to surrender after less than two days of bombardment, under the condition that his men be allowed to give a 100-gun salute when lowering the American flag. During that ceremony, some ammunition went off accidentally, killing Pvt. Edward Galloway and Daniel Hough, the only casualties.
I’ve been writing this blog for more than 10 years and if you’ve read any of my postings you know that I’m a bit pragmatic in my beliefs. I’m not someone who believes in the mystical, superstitious, and nonsensical beliefs that exist with certain groups. Strangely enough there is a large portion of the population that does. I may not believe in these things, but I do read about them with the hope that someone can convince me otherwise.
I was recently reading a book titled The Book of Bizarre Truths. There’s a lot of information in that book concerning “curses” (both good and evil). I found this story interesting, funny, and sports related. Here it is . . .
This is called “Da Billy Goat Curse”. In 1945, William “Billy Goat” Sianis brought his pet goat, Murphy, to Wrigley Field to see the fourth game of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. Sianis and his goat were later ejected from the game, and Sianis reportedly put a curse on the team that day. After that, the Cubs had legendary bad luck. Over the years, Cubs fans experienced agony in repeated late season collapses when victory seemed imminent. Even those who didn’t consider themselves Cubs fans blamed the curse for the weird and almost comical losses year after year. Finally, in 2016, the Cubs broke the curse, winning the World Series for the first time since 1908.
Again, I don’t believe in curses or blessings but let me tell you a short and bizarre story. Many years ago, after I left the police department I started and ran a private investigation company. One dark and rainy night I met a client in the town of McKees Rocks in Pennsylvania at her home. This Romanian woman hired me to determine who her married lover was seeing on the side. I know it sounds a little weird but if you run a private investigation business “weird” is the operative word. Before she would officially hire me, she sat me in the center of the room on a chair, sprinkled some kind of weird and foul-smelling powder in my hair, all the while chanting quietly to herself in Romanian as she walked in circles around me. She assured me her blessing would guarantee my success and believe it or not she was right. I made the case two nights later, took my check, and got the hell out of there. I still don’t believe in blessings or curses, but it is interesting (and her check cleared as well).
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