Epoch Attitudes' Oakland Athletics Trivia Book

The Dead Ball Era



Home Team

1. Even though he didn't get into the game until the second inning, this second baseman didn't waste much time getting the hang of major league pitching. He went 6 for 6, including a home run, in his big league debut on July 8, 1902.

2. This speedster tied for the league lead in runs scored in 1902 with a fellow A's outfielder. A graduate of Brown University, he took a law degree at Columbia and is the answer to this trivia question: who had the first extra-base hit for the N.Y. Highlanders (later Yankees). On September 4, 1902, he stole 2nd, 3rd, and home in the second inning of a 13-3 win over Detroit.

3. He led the A.L. in home runs in 1902 with 16, a mark that stood until 1919 when it was eclipsed by a converted pitcher by the name of Babe Ruth.

4. After winning the first game of an October 5, 1907 twin-bill with 12 innings of quality work in relief, he topped the day off by hurling a five inning perfect game in the night cap.

5. His brother is probably more famous, but this hurler was pretty fair himself. He could also handle the bat. On August 10, 1901, the A's pounded the Washington Nationals for 23 hits in a 13-0 drubbing. He picked up the win and pitched in with 2 doubles and 2 triples.

6, After besting the Bosox on July 22, 1916, evening his record at 1-1, this luckless right-hander proceeded to lose 19 straight ballgames.

7. One of the game's brightest stars, he won the triple crown in the junior circuit's maiden season. Legal battles with the Phils forced Connie's hand in letting this star go to Cleveland after the Phillies obtained an injunction forbidding him from playing in Pennsylvania.

8. Just who were the four men who made up the "$100,000 Infield" of the Mackmen's glory days before the Great War?

9. On April 4, 1915, he came within one out of pitching the first ever opening day no-hitter, shutting down the Red Sox 5-0.

10. This 19-year-old rookie lefthander went 10-3 for the A's in 1914. Arm troubles ended his pitching career but he hung on for a long distinguished career in the bigs until 1932 as an outfielder and pinch-hitter. From 1924 to 1926 he never hit below .347 in a part-time role and when he finally hung up his spikes his career batting average was a sterling .301.


Visitors

1. The defending N.L. batting champ, this star outfielder for the Phillies was suspended for the season on July 10, 1911, for K.O.'ing ump Bill Finneran after arguing a called third strike. However, he will be reinstated 5 weeks later.

2. The first man to hit 20 doubles, triples, and home runs in a single season, this Cubbie led the N.L. in homers and R.B.I.'s in 1911.

3. On September 24, 1916, he hit the American League's first ever pinch-hit grand slam.

4. All baseball games in America were canceled on September 19, 1901. Why?

5. On September 25, 1909, this Washington rookie lost his 19th consecutive game, a single season record.

6. Nicknamed "Sleepy Bill", this luckless lefty lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning--TWICE. First against the Tigers while toiling for the Washington Senators during his rookie campaign and the following year on July 31, 1909, against his former teammates as a member of the Chicago White Sox. (His involvement with the White Sox will come into play later in his life in an interesting way.) As a bonus, who is the only other man to lose 2 no-hitters with 2 down in the final frame? Hint: he pitched these games back to back in September, 1988.

7. A fortune teller told him that if he pitched for the New York Giants they would win the pennant and, using this piece of information as an introduction, he convinced John McGraw to keep him on the roster. Amazingly, he pitched 2 innings that season--1911--and the Giants did, in fact, win the pennant. Even though he never pitched again, he was the Giant's good luck charm, and a full roster member, as the Giants blazed into the series again in 1912 and 1913. Shortly after being institutionalized, he died in 1915. The Giants finished dead last that season.

8. One of the great baseball mysteries is what happened to this superstar on the night of July 2, 1903. The defending American League batting champ is put off the train for "rowdy behavior" by a conductor while crossing the railroad bridge over Niagara Falls. While walking across the bridge, he fell to his death. What really happened that night is still a mystery. But this man's ability to hit was no mystery to those who saw him play. During a 16 year big league career he batted .346 lifetime and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945.

9. Shortly after being named Player-Manager of the Detoit Tigers for the upcoming 1903 season, this 28-year-old hurler, a 15 game winner in 1902, checked into the Occident Hotel in San Francisco and committed suicide by inhaling poison gas. A suicide note warning of the evils of women and gambling was found by the body.

10. On October 2, 1909, this Phillie third sacker went 7 for 7 in a game against Rube Marquand and Christy Mathewson of the Giants. Nine years later, he will be killed in action in the Argonne forest in France in the last month of the First World War.

Copyright Andrew Brewer and Epoch Attitudes. All rights reserved.


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