1950's Player Quiz
 

I thought it might be fun to post little interesting quiz questions about players from the 1950's, and let the members try to answer. I'll start:

Can you name him? This player retired in his early thirties as major-league baseball expanded westward, due to an intense fear of flying. After being a two-sport star in college, he was the first man to play in the Rose Bowl, the World Series, and the MLB All-Star Game.

That one I knew, Jackie Jensen.

That's right Cliff. Now it's someone else's turn.

Name a pitcher ( maybe the only one) to win a WS game in three different decades?

I swear I didn’t cheat by looking him up but I did double check my guess because I couldn’t remember if he won a game in the 1983 World Series, Jim Palmer.

Who holds the record for most HR's in a season by brothers that were teammates?

I'm going to guess Hank & Tommy Aaron.

My guess will be the Alou brothers...3 of them? :)

Palmer is correct !

That would have been in the 60's.

That...would...be correct. :)


Pirates - Gene and George Freese - 1955, 17 HRs

Couldn't find it with google...just looked up brothers team mates manually from the 50s and did the math...that's pretty obscure!

Who hit the most Home Runs in the 1950's?

Pretty sure that Whitey Ford won a game in the 1950 WS, then of course, several more in the '50's and 60's. By the way, as most numerologists know, decades begin with a year ending in the number one, and end with a year ending in zero.:)

Considering he started in 1951 and didn’t have to do any military service and was relatively healthy in the 50’s I would guess it’s Mickey Mantle. ETA, nope, looked it up and I’m wrong, three other guys hit more and one of them shocked me.

Can you name, in order, the 5 winningest Major League Baseball teams from 1950 to 1959 by regular season winning percentage?
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And every thread needs a card.
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Will take a stab at this

Yankees
Dodgers
Braves
Giants
Cardinals

A certain first basemen, perhaps is the one that shocked you? I was also shocked when I saw the answer. Mostly because at the career total he ended up with.

3 out of five, not bad Bob Feller...

Yep, that certain first baseman shocked me. I actually thought of #2 first but I knew Mantle had a year head start on him.

I posted this question not realizing it was 50's only - although in my defense the question prior to mine was a 60's-'80's answer. Anyway, so as not to leave ya'all hanging, it is not Aaron. It is not Alou. It is not Giambi. These siblings hit a total of 54 HR's as teammates one year in the '70's (not 50's - sorry).

The May brothers popped in my head for the 70’s but then I realized they were never teammates. This is a wild guess but I know they were teammates for a couple of years, Tony and Billy Conigliaro?

The wild guess is a good one. Tony 36 HR's and Billy 18 HR's for the '70 Sox.

All good. Took some time to find out about the Freese brothers...now we all have some really obscure trivia that may come in handy one day...:)

Question 1 -

In September 1952, which St. Louis Cardinal made his pitching debut in his 12th season already with the Cardinals?


Question 2 -

Which Major League pitcher threw the most strikeouts in the 1950s?

Question 3 -

Which Hall of Fame pitcher lost 22 games in a season during the 1950s?

Question 4 -

The fans in 1956 were treated to a new award, recognizing the greatest pitcher in the season, naming it the Cy Young Award, after pitching great, Denton True 'Cy' Young. Which pitcher won this inaugural award?

1 Stan Musial? 2 Bob Feller? 3 Robin Roberts? 4 Don Newcombe? He was the NL MVP so I imagine he was the Cy Young Award winner.

3 of 4....#2 is not Bob Feller. Good work!

Story on #1, Stan Musial -

Musial had just clinched his sixth batting crown for the Cardinals in 1952. The player that he battled for the crown throughout the season was Frank Baumholtz of the Cubs. Musial didn't appreciate comments that Baumholtz had made through the season, so Stan went to manager Eddie Stanky and told him that he wanted to pitch against the Cubs and Baumholtz. So, on September 28 in the final game of the season, Musial made his pitching debut. Harvey Haddix started the game and pitched to one batter, then Musial pitched against Baumholtz. Baumholtz got to first base on a ground ball error by Cardinal third baseman Solly Hemus. Haddix then took over again after Musial pitched to Baumholtz. The Cubs won the game 3-0, and that was it for Musial's pitching career.

Warren Spahn?

Not Warren! :)

I think Warren Spahn was right behind Robin Roberts?

Robin Roberts - 1516 Ks
Warren Spahn - 1464 Ks


?????? - 1544 Ks

BTW...thought this was pretty cool. A website listed the Top 10 Pitchers of the 1950's. They had the pitcher in question listed #3.

1. Warren Spahn
2. Robin Roberts
3. ?????
4. Lew Burdette
5. Billy Pierce
6. Whitey Ford
7. Bob Lemon
8. Johnny Antonelli
9. Mike Garcia
10. Bob Friend


Amazing how some of these names are now mere commons. Billy Pierce certainly seems to be severely underrated. My dad used to tell me that Bob Friend was his favorite and the best of his era. Anyway...missing one name, the pitcher who had the most Ks in the 1950s...



EDIT to add that Billy Pierce had 1,487 Ks in the 1950s...more than Warren Spahn

Carl Erskine?

Carl had 903...

I think I was a little Early with my guess for the pitcher with most Ks in the 1950s

DING DING DING...Early Wynn...1544 Ks.

The underrated Early Wynn. That was a good one. Not a lot of power pitchers were around for all of the 50s I guess. Feller retired midway through, and Koufax and Drysdale started midway through the '50s.

He was a man of royalty, not a King or Prince, but a Duke!

Duke Snider's prime was downright incredible. Averaging 40 Homers to the tune of a .311 batting average. Not half bad for the third best outfielder, in New York, in the 1950's!

While the move to the larger stadium definitely hindered his performance, later on in his career, I'd attribute his decline to Knee troubles. Something that his fellow NY outfielder, Mickey Mantle also experienced.

1. Who had the most hits during the 1950s?

2. Who had the most RBIs during the 1950s, and who was the only other player to amass 1000 RBIs?
Here's a fun link by the way: http://baseballtriviahq.com/baseball...ns-RBI-Leaders

1 is Richie Ashburn.

Ashburn had the most hits, I believe. Duke Snider for most RBIs?

That was fast. Who was the only other player to amass 1,000 RBIs besides Duke?

Gotta be Stan.

Great guess. Stan the Man is 4th

Name the player that made his MLB debut 30 years after his brother played his only season in the bigs (and yes, this is a 50's question - at least as it pertains to one of the brothers).

Ha! I know this one...just read about it as he played in the PCL (reading books right now around the PCL and the Rainiers)...Art Fowler who toiled in the minors for quite some time. I can't remember his brother's name but he played in the 20s...

Yup. How cool is that? Jesse Fowler debut 1924 and his brother Art debuting in 1954.

Top 10 for RBIs in the '50s:

1) Duke Snider (1,031)
2) ??????????? (1,001)
3) Yogi Berra (997)
4) Stan Musial (972)
5) ??????????? (925)
6) Jackie Jensen (863)
7) Mickey Mantle (841)
8) Ted Kluszewksi (823)
9) Larry Doby tied with Gus Bell (817)


a) Who was the only player besides Duke Snider to get over 1,000 RBIs?
b) Who had the 5th most? (I knew nothing about him)

Ashburn told me that having the most hits in the decade of the 50's was his proudest accomplishment.

I asked him why and he said it was post segregation and pre expansion. Never thought of that but it sure makes sense that the 50's were the best baseball ever played for those reasons.

I would guess Eddie Mathews has to be on that list.

Eddie Mathews 2nd, Gil Hodges 5th?