2003 SABR Trivia Contest – Individual Competition
1. During the Colorado Rockies’ first ten seasons, their starting pitchers compiled only 65 complete games. In two of those seasons, 1995 and 2002, the Rockies had just one complete game all year. Circle the name of the pitcher who performed the feat:
1995 - Bryan Rekar, Kevin Ritz, Bill Swift
2002 - Mike Hampton, Jason Jennings, Denny Neagle
2. In the 25 years following World War II (1946-1970), Whitey Ford was the winningest southpaw in the American League, with 236 victories. Name the next three winning AL lefties during that time, choosing from this group: Jim Kaat, Mickey Lolich, Eddie Lopat, Hal Newhouser, Mel Parnell, Billy Pierce
2nd, with 189 wins:
3rd, with 156 wins:
4th, with 145 wins:
3. Who pitched the first no-hitter for the Minnesota Twins? He did it on August 26, 1962, beating Kansas City, 1-0.
4. Who was the Boston Americans batter who, in 1903, led the team in hitting during the regular season with a .331 batting average, and became the first player to hit two homers in one World Series game?
5. Who are the only two players to hit World Series homers after their 40th birthdays?
6. Only one player has hit two homers in a Game Seven of the World Series. Name him, and the year he did it.
Batter:
Year (1956, 1960, or 1968):
7. Who was the last pitcher to hurl more than nine innings in a World Series game? And when did he do it?
Pitcher:
Year: (1984, 1986, or 1991)
8. Pedro Martinez opened the 1999 All-Star game by striking out the first four NL batters he faced. Name three of the four.
9. In 1984, Pete Rose played in his 3309th ML game, setting a new record for most games played in a career. Whose record did he snap?
10. On August 5, 1986, Steve Carlton became the first ML southpaw to achieve 4000 strikeouts. Who was he pitching for at the time?
Also, Carlton enjoyed one major league season when he struck out more than 300 batters. He did that in his first season with the Phillies. What year was that?
11. Name the player in each league with the highest batting average in a season since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
12. Who holds the NL mark for winning a batting title during the last fifty years with the lowest batting average?
Player:
Average:
Year:
13. Nolan Ryan concluded his pitching career in 1883. He started 773 games during his career. His leading batterymate caught him 136 times, better than twice as often as any other receiver. Who was that catcher? Hints: The catcher’s career ran from 1973 to 1989. While Ryan pitched for four teams and the catcher for three, they were teammates on just one team.
14. In the Rockies’ debut season of 1993, they opened in New York. Who were their starting left-, center-, and rightfielders on that day?
15. In that same season of 1993, which Colorado player led the team in both hits and homers?
16. True or false: Going into 2003, there has never been a 1-0 game at Coors Field.