12/21/24
July 07, 2003
Think you know baseball?: Then have a go at Buffalo News columnist Jerry Sullivan's annual Baseball Trivia Quiz. Answers here. (Partial disclosure: I did poorly. How poorly? That's why I'm calling it "partial" disclosure.)
The answer to my trivia question can be found at the bottom of my user page.
posted by grum@work at 10:25 PM on July 07, 2003
does anyone know any good general sports trivia sites or contests on the net?
posted by dales15 at 10:35 PM on July 07, 2003
Oh God, the humanity.....9/44. And just as I'm about 1/3 of the way through Rob Neyer's Big Book..... More useless baseball trivia - what is the minimum number of pitches a pitcher can through and get a complete game? What is the maximum number of pitches a batter can see in an at bat without making contact with the ball?
posted by mbd1 at 10:57 PM on July 07, 2003
pitcher-25?
posted by dales15 at 11:12 PM on July 07, 2003
Correct, and I must really be tired if I can't spell "throw."
posted by mbd1 at 11:21 PM on July 07, 2003
I got 24 points, not too bad apparently. There were some really excellent, difficult questions in there I thought. Thanks for the link.
posted by vito90 at 07:55 AM on July 08, 2003
Why is the answer for the pitcher question "25"? What's the logic in that one? I thought there might be some "balk isn't a pitch" trick where you "balk" the first batter on base with 4 consecutive balks, induce a double play ball on the first official pitch of the inning, and then a simple pop-fly out to get the third batter. That's 2 pitches/inning, or a total of 18 pitches for 9 innings. And my guess for "pitches without swinging" is 6, but that's too obvious (3 balls, 3 strikes or 4 balls, 2 strikes). Or is the answer "infinite" because of some logic trick where the batter doesn't swing but the wild pitches keep hitting his bat when he turns to avoid being plunked? Where are the answers to your questions mbd1?
posted by grum@work at 09:26 AM on July 08, 2003
I stopped keeping score after the second question...
posted by corpse at 09:36 AM on July 08, 2003
For a pitcher to throw a 25 pitch complete game, he would have to: 1) Play for the visiting team 2) Give up one home run on one pitch 3) Get 24 one pitch outs - 8 innings worth. Meanwhile the visiting team doesn't score a run the whole game, so that the home team doesn't bat against the visiting pitcher in the bottom of the ninth. He takes a tough loss, but he does pick up a CG. And let me amend the second question - What is the maximum number of consecutive pitches a batter may see without making contact with the ball? Foul balls count as contact.
posted by mbd1 at 11:21 AM on July 08, 2003
Shouldn't the complete game answer be 16? If the game were rained out after 5 innings, it'd be 4+3+3+3+3=16. As long as it goes five innings, it's an official game, and if he pitched the entire game...
posted by hootch at 12:46 PM on July 08, 2003
It would be 15 for a rainout, but I don't think a rain shortened game counts as a CG. So the original question should be, what is the minimum number of pitches a pitcher can throw and get a non-rain shortened complete game?
posted by mbd1 at 01:19 PM on July 08, 2003
Ahh. A rain-shortened game counted as a complete game shutout in my fantasy league. Fantasy being the key word there, apparently.
posted by hootch at 04:57 PM on July 08, 2003
Answer to the second question - A batter can see 11 consecutive pitches without making contact. If he comes to bat with 2 outs and a man on base, he can see 5 pitches (full count) and then the pitcher picks off the baserunner. He then leads off his teams next inning, and sees 6 pitches, either walking or striking out.
posted by mbd1 at 09:19 AM on July 09, 2003
17 of 44 ... but could this damn thing lean any more toward the Yankees?
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:33 AM on July 09, 2003
Yeah, it's Yankee-centric, because Buffalo is pretty staunch Yankee country, even though the Blue Jays are ninety minutes away and the Indians and Pirates are both closer than NYC. Go figure.
posted by Jaquandor at 09:39 PM on July 10, 2003
15 points out of a possible 44. Ugh. I did well in the "name all the players" ones, but I'm a sucker for choosing the obvious (and non-trivial) answer when I know I shouldn't. I was half expecting the "Name all 9 ways a baseball player for the batting team can reach first base safely." trivia question instead.