60 Fun Facts About MLB Baseball Trivia for Seniors

Babe Ruth began his career as a star left-handed pitcher for which team before being sold to the Yankees?

He twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and won three World Series there before owner Harry Frazee sold him.

Which position did Jackie Robinson play for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, when he broke the color line?

He won the very first Rookie of the Year Award that season and the NL MVP two years later.

Which uniform number was retired across every Major League team in 1997 in honor of Jackie Robinson?

He was the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored, and since 2004 every player wears it on Jackie Robinson Day.

Mickey Mantle's nickname 'the Commerce Comet' came from the town where he grew up, in which state?

His father worked the lead and zinc mines there and trained him from childhood to switch-hit.

Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run in 1974 came off which Dodgers pitcher?

By coincidence the pitcher also wore number 44, the same as Aaron, in front of a Braves record crowd of 53,775.

Sandy Koufax famously sat out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on which holiday?

He came back to win two games in the Series, including a Game 7 shutout, and was named its MVP.

How many World Series championships did Yogi Berra win as a player, more than anyone in history?

He appeared in 14 World Series in all, also a record, and was an 18-time All-Star.

Stan 'the Man' Musial was born in which Pennsylvania mill town?

His 3,630 career hits were split exactly evenly: 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road.

After which season did the Dodgers play their last game in Brooklyn before moving to Los Angeles?

Fans had lovingly called them 'Dem Bums'; the Giants left for San Francisco at the same time.

Which beloved Cub was known for saying 'Let's play two!'?

'Mr. Cub' finished with 512 home runs and once released a charity wine called 512 Chardonnay.

Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader, was known by what nickname?

A Yankee pitcher coined it as a put-down after watching Rose sprint down the line on a walk in spring training, and Rose wore it proudly.

Reggie Jackson hit three homers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series against which team?

Counting his last swing in Game 5, he homered on four consecutive swings against four different pitchers.

Carlton Fisk waved his 12th-inning Game 6 homer fair in which World Series?

Fisk's homer beat the Reds that night, though Cincinnati won Game 7 the next day.

What was Harry Caray's trademark broadcast exclamation?

A's owner Charlie Finley once asked him to change it to 'Holy Mule'; Caray finished his career with 16 seasons calling Cubs games.

Vin Scully called Dodgers games for how many years, the longest run with a single team in sports history?

Mentored by Red Barber, he began in Brooklyn in 1950 and moved west with the team.

Which comedy duo made the routine 'Who's on First?' famous?

They usually just called the routine 'Baseball', and in it 'Who' plays first base and 'What' plays second.

Who played Lou Gehrig in the 1942 film The Pride of the Yankees?

Its closing 'luckiest man' line was voted the 38th greatest movie quote by the American Film Institute.

Babe Ruth's 'called shot' home run in the 1932 World Series came against which team?

Fans had reportedly spat at Ruth and his wife on their way into the park before Game 3.

Ty Cobb, 'the Georgia Peach', spent 22 years with which team?

He was player-manager for his last six seasons there and finished his career with the Athletics.

The famously valuable T206 Honus Wagner baseball card was issued by a firm that sold what product?

The American Tobacco Company printed it from 1909 to 1911, and Wagner, 'the Flying Dutchman', is said to have objected to it.

Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League in 1947 with which team?

He and Satchel Paige became the first African-American players to win a World Series when the club took the 1948 title.

Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, stood in which section of Brooklyn?

It was demolished in 1960 and replaced by an apartment complex that still carries its name.

Wrigley Field was the last Major League park to install lights for night games, in what year?

It opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Federal League's Chicago Whales.

Which ballpark was nicknamed 'The House That Ruth Built'?

It opened in 1923 and served the Yankees until 2008, apart from a two-year renovation in the mid-1970s.

'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' was written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and which composer?

Neither man had ever attended a baseball game before writing it; Norworth got the idea from a subway sign advertising a game at the Polo Grounds.

In which New York town is the National Baseball Hall of Fame located?

Its location was tied to the myth that Civil War general Abner Doubleday invented baseball there in the 1830s.

Which of these was among the first five men elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936?

The others were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson; the building itself opened in 1939.

Baseball's first all-professional team was the 1869 Red Stockings of which city?

MLB celebrated the centennial of professional baseball in 1969 in their honor.

The first modern World Series in 1903 was a best-of-how-many-games series?

It was a best-of-nine series, and the first major professional championship ever won by a Boston team.

Who became the first Black manager in major league history in 1975?

He took the job as player-manager of Cleveland and homered in his first at-bat in the role.

Brooks Robinson, 'the Human Vacuum Cleaner', played his whole 23-year career at third base for whom?

His 2,870 games at third base remain the most by any player at a single position.

Casey Stengel managed the champion Yankees of the 1950s and later which expansion team?

Warren Spahn played for him with both clubs and joked he was the only man to play for Stengel 'both before and after he was a genius'.

The 1969 'Miracle Mets' won the World Series over which team?

They finished 100-62, eight games ahead of the Cubs, in only their eighth season as a franchise.

Cracker Jack's mascot Sailor Jack is pictured with a dog named what?

The pair, drawn by Andrew Loomis, appeared as early as 1916, and Sailor Jack was modeled on the founder's grandson.

A popular story credits which president with starting the seventh-inning stretch in 1910?

The 350-pound president was said to be sore from sitting, and the crowd stood with him; the true origin remains disputed.

Which Yankees pitcher was nicknamed 'the Chairman of the Board'?

He remains the Yankees' career leader in wins with 236 and shutouts with 45.

Warren Spahn's 363 career wins are the record for a pitcher who throws with which hand?

He is sixth on the all-time wins list and has the most by anyone whose whole career was in the live-ball era.

Johnny Bench, the Hall of Fame catcher, spent his entire career with which team?

He anchored the Big Red Machine that won six division titles and two World Series in the 1970s.

At what age did Bob Feller debut with Cleveland, skipping the minor leagues entirely?

He was signed out of Van Meter, Iowa, and the club was fined $7,500 over how it did it.

Snider's nickname 'the Duke of ...' honored which Brooklyn neighborhood?

He was the 'Duke' in the famous 'Willie, Mickey and the Duke' debate about New York's three center fielders.

Marilyn Monroe was married to which baseball star?

Her marriages to him and to playwright Arthur Miller both ended in divorce, but he sent roses to her crypt for years.

In The Natural, Roy Hobbs carves his bat 'Wonderboy' from a tree struck by what?

The film is based on Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel, though the movie gives Hobbs a happier ending than the book.

In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner's character builds a ballfield in his cornfield in which state?

The ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta, walks out of the corn; the film was based on the novel Shoeless Joe.

In Bull Durham, Kevin Costner plays a veteran catcher named what?

He is sent down to teach a wild young pitcher played by Tim Robbins; Susan Sarandon plays the fan who tutors them both.

Which broadcaster, famous for 'How about that?!', was known as 'The Voice of the Yankees'?

Allen called Yankees games from 1939 until he was abruptly fired in 1964, but stayed loyal to the team for life.

Ernie Harwell spent 42 of his 55 broadcasting seasons with which team?

He joined their booth in 1960 and stayed, apart from one season, until 2002.

Bob Uecker, 'Mr. Baseball', was the radio play-by-play voice of which team for 54 seasons?

He also played announcer Harry Doyle in the Major League films and became a Miller Lite pitchman.

Tom Seaver, 'Tom Terrific', won how many Cy Young Awards with the Mets?

He won them in 1969, 1973 and 1975 after taking Rookie of the Year in 1967.

How old was Willie Stargell when he swept the NL, NLCS and World Series MVP awards in 1979?

He remains the only player to sweep all three awards in the same year, and both his titles came against Baltimore.

George Brett of the Royals flirted with .400 all summer in 1980 and finished at what average?

It was the highest average since Ted Williams in 1941 until Tony Gwynn hit .394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Ted Williams missed parts of two seasons in the early 1950s flying combat in which war?

He had already lost three full seasons to World War II service in the Navy and Marine Corps.

The nickname 'the Yankee Clipper' compared its owner's grace in the outfield to what?

Announcer Arch McDonald coined it in 1939, when the Pan Am Clipper flying boats were brand new.

Willie Mays started his career in the Negro leagues with the Black Barons of which city?

He finished with 660 home runs and was still the NL's career runs leader when he retired.

Lou Gehrig's durability earned him what nickname?

His streak ended in May 1939 when he took himself out of the lineup, and ALS became known as his disease.

Nolan Ryan's 27-year career took him to the Mets, the Angels, the Astros and which fourth team?

He later served as that club's chief executive after retiring in 1993.

Which Dodgers pitcher gave up Bobby Thomson's 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' in 1951?

The Giants had won 37 of their last 44 games to force the playoff, and trailed 4-1 entering the ninth of the deciding game.

At which point in the 1956 World Series did Don Larsen throw his perfecto?

A year earlier he had been knocked out after four innings in Game 4 against the same Dodgers; it is still the only World Series perfect game.

Roberto Clemente died in a 1972 plane crash flying earthquake aid to which country?

He was 38 and had collected his 3,000th hit, a double off Jon Matlack, in his final regular-season at-bat that September.

What was Bob Gibson's earned run average in 1968, the 'Year of the Pitcher'?

He won all 12 starts in June and July with complete games and then struck out 17 Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series.

In which Minnesota town was Roger Maris born in 1934?

His father changed the family name from Maras to Maris in 1955; his polio-stricken older brother Rudolph pushed him into baseball.