Baseball Quiz: January 2024

Inspired by the Baseball Quick Quiz in Baseball Digests of yesteryear, this quiz will test your MLB knowledge. Answers can be found below the second picture, so don’t scroll down until you’re ready to check. Test yourself and then leave your score in the comments below. Questions are worth 10 points unless noted otherwise. It’s out of 100, and according to Baseball Digest, “If you score 80 or better, you earn an expert’s rating; 70 or better, superior; between 60 and 70, good; and between 40 and 60, average.”

1. Who has a higher career bWAR: Dennis Eckersley or John Smoltz?
2. Leo Durocher once said, “If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases and performed a miracle in the field every day, I’d still look you in the eye and say _______ was better.” He was talking about a player he managed – who?
3. Which League won the 2006 All Star Game – the first year in which the winning team was awarded home field advantage in the World Series? Later that year, that team would go on to the lose the World Series 4-1. 
4. Craig Counsell took over as the Brewers manager mid-season in 2015. Who did he replace? 
5. Which MLB ballpark has the smallest capacity? 
6. Name the player whose only Silver Slugger Award came during the shortened 2020 season: DJ LeMahieu, Manny Machado, or Teoscar Hernandez?
7. Larry Walker and Todd Helton hold 6 of the top 7 best offensive bWAR seasons in Rockies history. Who is the other player on that list, thanks to his 1996 season?
8. Name any player who has completed an unassisted triple play this century.
9. The “Mendoza Line” is named after Mario Mendoza, who only hit above .200 in four of his nine Major League seasons. However, he only played more than 100 games twice. In these two seasons, how many times did he reach his “own line?”
10. Which of these players did NOT play for both the Yankees and the Mets: Robinson Cano, Neil Walker, Lucas Duda, or Cameron Maybin?

1. Smoltz at 69.0, Eckersley finished with a 62.1
2. Willie Mays
3. American League
4. Ron Roenicke
5. Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays
6. Manny Machado
7. Ellis Burks
8. Randy Velarde, Rafael Furcal, Troy Tulowitzki, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Eric Bruntlett
9. Once. He played 114 games in 180 and hit .245, he hit .198 in 148 games in ’79
10. Lucas Duda