Trivia Answers Thursday

While I’ve been researching various Trivia Tuesdays, I’ve come across a lot of very old baseball-related websites, as in “was probably hosted on Angelfire or Geocities at some point” old. I ran across one of these quotes while I was looking into something else, and it led me to Baseball Quote of the Day, which was established in 1997 and by the looks of things probably stopped being updated in the mid-2000s. As someone who used to run a site very similar in layout (not about baseball, though), I got nostalgic ... until I remembered what a pain it was to write HTML. I’m all for progress on that front. Anyway, thanks to the creators for helping me out with this week’s TT.

After a record number of Bucs ended up on the DL one season, what player remarked, “we have a lot of guys hurt, but all we can do is put our best foot forward and try not to sprain it”?

A. Tim Foli B. Kevin Young C. Bobby Bonilla D. Andy Van Slyke

Answer: B

It amuses me that I still see an occasional Kevin Young jersey popping up at PNC. Old heroes die hard.

What Pirates manager said “People make light of my optimistic outlook, such as, if I were captain of the Titanic, I would tell my passengers we were stopping for ice”?

A. Clint Hurdle B. Pie Traynor C. Chuck Tanner D. Danny Murtagh

Answer: C

This came from John McCollister’s book Tales from the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates: Remembering the Fam-a-lee. As Bucs Dugout’s resident optimist, I approve.

This Pirates slugger once said about his defense: “Errors are part of my game. One night in Pittsburgh, 30,000 fans gave me a standing ovation when I caught a hot dog wrapper on the fly.”

A. Dick Stuart B. Colin Moran C. Barry Bonds D. Bill Madlock

Answer: A

Stuart’s lousy fielding bordered on legend, earning him the nickname Doctor Strangeglove. Unfortunately, he was ahead of the designated hitter rule’s time, where he might have thrived. As it was, he kind of embraced his fielding suckitude, so props to him for that.

From another Pirates manager: “I knew we were in for a long season when we lined up for the national anthem on opening day and one of my players said ‘Every time I hear that song I have a bad game.’”

A. Bill Virdon B. Jim Tracy C. John Russell D. Jim Leyland

Answer: D

This one is sort of famous, but it’s still funny.

Former Bucs coach Rich Donnelly once said of this renowned hitter: “My house is only 21 miles from the park. I’ve already told my wife, ‘when he comes to bat, keep the dogs in and stay out of the pool.’”

A. Sammy Sosa B. Mark McGwire C. Jose Canseco D. Alex Rodriguez

Answer: B

Obviously we now know McGwire had pharmaceutical help in jacking those homers, but having seen him hit a couple live, I have to agree with Donnelly’s assessment—dude hit some bombs.

See you next Tuesday!