Welcome to another fabulous day of 2022 baseball. The Sox are home against the Rays, and the Cubs are in Colorado. We have a fun quiz today in which you will need to know (and learn) baseball, as we discuss movies, TV and basketball. I brought cookies from Dinkel’s for you and our guest. So have fun and let me know how you do.
1. I realized the other day that I neglected to ask you any Academy Award-related questions. My bad, but please don’t slap me for my omission. While we are on that topic, there are two Will Smiths in the big leagues, a pitcher with the Braves and a catcher with the Dodgers. The two have faced each other three times in regular-season games. What are the results?
a. Will Smith the batter has gone 3-for-3
b. Will Smith the batter has gone 2-for-3
c. Will Smith the batter has gone 1-for-3
d. Will Smith the batter has gone 0-for-3
2. “CODA” is a magnificent movie about a deaf family of fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While there are a number of players in major-league history who have been deaf or suffered from profound hearing loss, can you tell me the name of the former outfielder who played in the majors for 11 seasons and since 2009 has been the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University, the country’s only liberal-arts college for the deaf?
a. Charley Pride
b. Curtis Pride
c. Curtis Granderson
d. Chone Figgins
3. Congrats to Kansas and South Carolina for winning the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships, respectively. It was UConn’s first loss in a national title game, men or women. The women had been 11-0 (all under Geno Auriemma), and the men are 4-0.Which of these MLB teams never have lost a World Series?
a. Mariners
b. Diamondbacks
c. Rays
d. Marlins
e. All of the above
4. Speaking of Kansas, which of the following Kansans played for a Chicago team (there might be more than one)?
a. Ron Schueler
b. Enos Cabell
c. Joe Tinker
d. Brian Duensing
5. Initially speaking, AJ Pollock has joined A.J. Pierzynski as an ”A.J.” in White Sox history. One is Anthony John, and one is Allen Lorenz (yes, I find that odd, as well). Which is which (choose two)?
a. Anthony John Pollock
b. Anthony John Pierzynski
c. Allen Lorenz Pollock
d. Allen Lorenz Pierzynski
6. In the five seasons from 2018 to 2022, which Chicago team has fared better on Opening Day?
a. Cubs
b. White Sox
c. The same
7. We have a guest this week: Bill Leff, known by me and many others as “Bill the Cartoon Curator” on “Toon in With Me,” seen at 6 a.m. weekdays on MeTV. Bill has hosted several radio shows in Chicago and was in the movie ”Major League.” While I’m a fan of both the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Leff is a fan of both the Cubs and White Sox. Here’s his question: Bugs Bunny really swung for the fences, playing all nine positions in the 1946 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes classic “Baseball Bugs.” What was the name of his team?
a. The Hare Brains
b. The Tea Totallers
c. The Gashouse Gorillas
d. The Frizzy Frelengs
8. Catcher Yasmani Grandal has played for three teams in the postseason, the Dodgers, Brewers and White Sox. He has played against nine teams. Do they include any or all of the following?
a. Brewers
b. Cubs
c. Pirates
d. Cardinals
e. Reds
f. All of the above
g. None of the above
9. Closing time. “No one lives forever,” Norman Dinkel said about the decision to close Dinkel’s Bakery after 100 years on the city’s North Side. Dinkel’s opened in 1922. Which of these things happened in baseball in 1922?
a. The Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23
b. George Sisler hit .420
c. Babe Ruth hit .118 in the World Series
d. The White Sox’ Charlie Robertson tossed a perfect game
e. All of the above
ANSWERS
1. Will Smith the batter has gone 0-for-3, striking out twice.
2. Curtis Pride was born 95% deaf in each ear as a result of his mother having rubella, German measles, while she was pregnant.
3. In the Series, the D-backs are 1-0, the Marlins are 2-0 despite never winning their division and your tricky Quiz Master -included the Mariners, who never have played in the Series.
4. Ron Schueler (Catherine, Kansas) pitched for the White Sox in 1978 and 1979 and was their pitching coach and then their GM. HOF-er Joe Tinker (from Muscotah, Kansas) spent his entire career with the Cubs, making famous DPs. Brian Duensing (Marysville, Kansas) finished his career pitching for the Cubs in 2017-18. And Walter Johnson, from Humboldt, was the first Kansas native to receive a HOF vote.
5. Welcome, Allen Lorenz (AJ) Pollock IV to the White Sox. May I introduce you to Anthony John Pierzynski, who played eight seasons with the Sox and now is a successful broadcaster?
6. With their loss this season, the Sox have dropped four in a row and are 1-4. With their victory, the Cubs are 4-1.
7. Bugs played for the Tea Totallers against the Gashouse Gorillas in the film directed by Friz Freleng, and that’s my hare-brained answer.
8. In the postseason, Grandal has played against the Cubs, Brewers, Mets, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Astros and Red Sox.
9. Well, of course, they are all true.
