Trivia Tuesday: Twenty Game Winners

If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher twenty wins, but might take five years off his life, he’d take it. Jim Bouton, Ball Four

For some reason, the idea exists that pitchers who win twenty or more games in a season are a real rarity nowadays. That’s not entirely true, because it’s always been relatively uncommon, but it might be understood when it’s considered that there hasn’t been a twenty-game winner in the National League in three seasons. We will not speak of the American League, because I don’t want to make anyone cry.

This week, we’ll take a look at the Bucs who’ve accomplished this feat over the years. No, there hasn’t been one on a Bucs team since John Smiley went 20-8 in 1991, but considering that there’s one team who’s never had one (Colorado Rockies) and several teams that have gone even longer without one, we’ll take what we can get.

How many Pirates pitchers have had twenty-win seasons?

A. 27 B. 24 C. 18 D. 31

Of those, how many had multiple twenty-win seasons?

A. 14 B. 3 C. 12 D. 5

On the Pirates’ collective World Series-winning teams, how many twenty-game winners were there?

A. 7 B. 6 C. 1 D. 3

Who was the last Pirates pitcher to have more than one twenty-win season?

A. Bob Friend B. Rip Sewell C. John Morrison D. Lee Meadows

This Pirates pitcher had back to back twenty-win seasons, but only won 34 more games over the course of his MLB career:

A. Al Mamaux B. Jack Chesbro C. Al Leifield D. Carmen Hill

As always, come back Thursday for the answers!