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Derek Jeter's Ultimate Baseball Guide 2015
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The ultimate, fact-filled collector's guide from legendary sports icon and
role model Derek Jeter!
No matter their favorite team or player, young sports fans can look to baseball legend Derek Jeter for information on America's national pastime. Derek Jeter's Ultimate Baseball Guide 2015 is jam-packed with facts about each of the thirty Major League teams. Brief team histories are peppered with Jeter's handwritten notes and interwoven with cool trivia, covering everything from the sport's start and the original Knickerbocker Rules to baseball's weirdest superstitions. Not sure how to compute a slugging average? Want to know how many teams have won over 10,000 games? Ever wondered how many stitches are in a baseball? Fans will find answers to these and much more in this annual collector's guide.
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Test Your Baseball Knowledge!
What was the name of the venue at which the first game was played? View Answer
Elysian Fields
Prior to the adoption of the Knickerbocker Rules, how many runs did a team have to score in order to win a game? View Answer
21
Who for many years was considered to be the inventor of baseball? View Answer
Abner Doubleday, a Civil War general who, historians eventually proved, had next to nothing to do with its creation.
When Cal Ripken Jr. became eligible for the Hall of Fame, he appeared on 98.53% of the ballots cast, the third highest number in history. What two players appeared on a higher percentage of ballots? View Answer
Tom Seaver, with 98.84%, and Nolan Ryan, with 98.79%
In what came to be known as one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history, pitcher Milt Pappas was sent to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for which future Hall of Famer? View Answer
Frank Robinson
Which Red Sox legend racked up 2,654 hits, 521 home runs, and nearly three times as many walks as strikouts, despite missing three seasons
due to military service? View Answer
Ted Williams
In what year did the Red Sox start playing their games in Fenway Park? View Answer
1912
How many consecutive World Series games did the Yankees win between 1996 and 2000? View Answer
14. The streak ended when they lost Game 3 of the 2000 World Series to the New York Mets.
How many regular season and play-off games did the 1998 Yankees win, setting a single season record? View Answer
125 total. 114 in the regular season and 11 in the play-offs.
What two teams did the Rays defeat in the 2008 American League play-offs to advance to the World Series? View Answer
Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox
Which Tampa Bay third baseman won Rookie of the Year after being called up to the Majors less than two years after he was drafted? View Answer
Evan Longoria
Which player hit the walk-off home run that clinched the 1993 World
Series for the Blue Jays? View Answer
Joe Carter
Which slugger hit a league-leading 54 home runs in his second season with the team, despite never having hit more than 16 in any previous season? View Answer
Jose Bautista
Which White Sox player was banned from baseball for life amid accusations that he conspired with gamblers to “fix” the 1919 World
Series—despite the fact that he hit .375 during the series and made no errors? View Answer
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Which 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, who played most of his career with the White Sox, was known as “The Big Hurt?” View Answer
Frank Thomas
How many consecutive Gold Gloves did Omar Vizquel win upon joining the Indians prior to the 1994 season? View Answer
8
How many consecutive AL Central titles did the Indians win during the 1990s? View Answer
5, from 1995 to 1999
In 2011, which Tiger became the first starting pitcher in 25 years to win a Most Valuable Player award? View Answer
Justin Verlander
Which Hall of Famer goes by the nickname “Mr. Tiger,” and spent his
entire 22-year career in Detroit? View Answer
Al Kaline
Which team defeated the Royals in three consecutive American League Championship Series during the 1970s? View Answer
New York Yankees
Which Royal was named Most Valuable Player of the 1985 World
Series against the St. Louis Cardinals? View Answer
Bert Saberhagen
Which two teams did the Twins defeat to win their modern-era
World Series titles? View Answer
St. Louis Cardinals in 1987 and Atlanta Braves in 1991
In how many consecutive All-Star Games did Hall of Famer Rod Carew play? View Answer
18, 1967-1985
Which Hall of Fame pitcher logged 1,866 of his MLB-record 5,714 strikeouts as a member of the Astros? View Answer
Nolan Ryan
What two players formed the core of the “Killer B’s”
Astros that made the play-offs 6 times in 9 seasons between 1997 and 2005? View Answer
Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio
Which current Angels player smacked more than 200 extra-base hits, stole more than 90 bases, and drove in more than 270 runs— before his 23rd birthday? View Answer
Mike Trout
What Angels rookie pitcher won five games during the 2002 postseason, despite never having won a game during the regular season? View Answer
Francisco Rodriguez
Who were the three A’s who won the Rookie of the Year awards consecutively from 1986 to 1988? View Answer
Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Walt Weiss
What is the name of the book and the movie that documented how the As have, during the last two decades, used innovative strategies to assemble and run a team? View Answer
Moneyball
In how many consecutive games did Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home
run during the 1993 season, tying a major-league record? View Answer
8
In what domed stadium did the Mariners play between 1977 and 1999? View Answer
The Kingdome
What teams defeated the Rangers during their first two World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011? View Answer
San Francisco Giants in 2010 and St. Louis Cardinals in 2011
Which 21-season veteran catcher won 10 of his 13 Gold Gloves and his MVP award while playing for the Rangers? View Answer
Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez
Which Braves legend became the all-time home-run leader—a record he’d hold for more than 33 years— when he connected for home run number 715 on April 8, 1974? View Answer
Hank Aaron
What team broke the Braves’ streak of 11 straight NL East titles in 2006? View Answer
New York Mets
The Marlins’ new ballpark, which opened for the start of the 2012
season, was built on the site of what former stadium? View Answer
The Orange Bowl, which hosted one of college football’s most famous post season bowl games prior to its demolition in 2008.
Which 23-year-old pitcher threw a 5-hit shutout in Game 6 of the 2003 World Series and was ultimately named Series MVP? View Answer
Josh Beckett
In what way did the Mets honor the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, the two teams that had previously called New York home? View Answer
The Mets adopted their uniform colors, combining Dodger’s blue with Giants’ orange.
Of the 12 Baseball Hall-of-Famers who played for the Mets at some point in their career, who is the only one depicted wearing a Mets
cap on his Hall of Fame plaque? View Answer
Tom Seaver
Which Hall of Fame third baseman played his entire 18-year career with the Phillies, hitting 548 home runs and driving in 1,595 runs? View Answer
Mike Schmidt
Which team was the first to join the Phillies in the 10,000- loss club? View Answer
Atlanta Braves, who lost their 10,000th game in July 2011.
Which Nationals pitcher struck out 92 batters over 68 innings in his first 12 big-league starts, before an arm injury sat him out the rest of his rookie season? View Answer
Stephen Strasburg
Which form top MLB draft pick won NL Rookie of the Year as a 19 year old, following a season in which he hit 22 home runs and stole 18 bases? View Answer
Bryce Harper
Which 2014 Hall of Fame inductee and 355- game winner started his 23-season career with the Cubs? View Answer
Greg Maddox
Which Hall of Famer and member of the 500-home-run club was known as “Mr. Cub?” View Answer
Ernie Banks
Which Reds first baseman notched a .424 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage on his way to winning the 2010 National League MVP? View Answer
Joey Votto
Sparky Anderson, who managed the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s, became the first manager to accomplish what feat? View Answer
Manage a winning World Series team in both leagues
In what year did the Milwaukee Brewers move from the
American League to the National League? View Answer
1998
What current teams besides the Brewers have never won a World
Series? View Answer
Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and Colorado Rockies.
Which player hit the walk-off home run that lifted the
underdog Pirates to a win over the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 Word Series? View Answer
Bill Mazeroski
For how many consecutive seasons did slugger Ralph Kiner lead the
National League in home runs? View Answer
7
Which St. Louis pitcher spent a year playing for the Harlem
Globetrotters before he turned to baseball? View Answer
Bob Gibson
Which Cardinals first baseman won 3 MVP awards and never hit fewer than 32 home runs or drove in fewer than 99 runs during his 11 years with the team? View Answer
Albert Pujols
How old was Randy Johnson when he threw a perfect game against the Braves on May 18, 2004, becoming the oldest pitcherto do so? View Answer
40 years old
Which Diamondbacks player holds the franchise record for home runs and runs batted in, as well as the single-season team record for
home runs? View Answer
Luis Gonzalez
The Rockies were one of two expansion teams added to the National League in 1991. What was the other? View Answer
Florida Marlins
Which career-long Rockies player holds the team records for home runs, runs batted in, doubles, and walks? View Answer
Todd Helton
Which former Dodgers pitcher holds the record for the most consecutive scoreless innings thrown? View Answer
Orel Hershiser who didn’t allow a run in 59 innings during 1 month in 1988
Which two Major League parks are older than Dodger Stadium? View Answer
Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wringley Field
Which lifelong Padres player batted over .300 in 19 of his 20 seasons,
including a mark of .394 in 1994? View Answer
Tony Gwynn
Which two teams defeated the Padres in their two World Series appearances? View Answer
Detroit Tigers in 1984 and New York Yankees in 1998
Which longtime Giants player, known as the “Say Hey Kid,” finished his career with 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, and 338 stolen bases? View Answer
Willie Mays
What Giants player hit “the shot heard round the world,” which still ranks among baseball’s most memorable home runs? View Answer
Bobby Thomson, in 1951. The home run was hit in the bottom of the ninth inning in the third game of a three game play-off to decide whether the Giants or the Brooklyn Dodgers would advance in the World Series
