This Red Sox trivia quiz has 70 free questions with answers and runs from the Boston Americans of 1901 to the 108-win team of 2018. There are questions on the first World Series, Cy Young and Smoky Joe Wood, the sale of Babe Ruth and the Broadway show that supposedly paid for it, Tom Yawkey, Ted Williams' .406 and his last at-bat, Yaz's Triple Crown, Fisk's wave, Bucky Dent, Buckner, and then the good years: Pedro, Manny, Big Papi, the bloody sock, the Idiots, Boston Strong and Mookie's 2018. Fenway gets a round of its own: the Green Monster and when it turned green, Pesky's Pole, Duffy's Cliff, the lone red seat, the manual scoreboard rule, the Monster Seats and why the street outside changed its name back. There is 'Sweet Caroline', Wally, the sellout streak and the club's Liverpool connection too. Easy questions suit a casual fan or a bar round; the hard ones are for people who can name the 1912 outfield. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic or primary source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Fenway Park has been the Red Sox's home since which year?
1912
It is the oldest active ballpark in the majors, and its opening was overshadowed in the papers by the sinking of the Titanic five days earlier.
Q 02Before adopting the name Red Sox in 1908, what were the Boston American League club most commonly called?
The Americans
For seven seasons they wore dark blue stockings and had no official nickname; owner John I. Taylor said 'Pilgrims' sounded like homeless wanderers.
Q 03How many World Series championships have the Red Sox won?
Nine
That ties them for third-most of any club; they have played in thirteen Series.
Q 04Boston won the very first World Series in 1903 against which team?
Pittsburgh Pirates
The best-of-nine series went five games to three, helped by the Royal Rooters chanting a modified 'Tessie'.
Q 05Which pitcher won the pitching Triple Crown for Boston in 1901 and holds the all-time record of 511 wins?
Cy Young
He threw a perfect game for Boston in 1904, and the annual pitching award was created in his name in 1956.
Q 06On 26 December 1919, the Red Sox sold which player to the New York Yankees?
Babe Ruth
He had just broken the single-season home run record with 29; Boston would not win another title for 86 years.
Q 07Legend says owner Harry Frazee sold his star slugger to the Yankees to finance which Broadway musical?
No, No, Nanette
The musical did not open until 1925, though it grew out of a 1919 play, My Lady Friends, that the sale did help finance.
Q 08The 'Curse of the Bambino' only entered common use after which sportswriter's 1990 book of that name?
Dan Shaughnessy
A 'Reverse Curve' road sign on Longfellow Bridge was graffitied to read 'Reverse The Curse' and left up until 2004.
Q 09Who bought the Red Sox in 1933 and owned them for over four decades?
Tom Yawkey
The street outside Fenway was renamed for him in 1977 and changed back to Jersey Street in 2018 because of his record on race.
Q 10Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941; what is that figure's significance?
Last .400 season in the majors
He also refused to sit out the last day to protect the mark, going 6-for-8 in a doubleheader.
Q 11Ted Williams missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons serving as what?
A Marine combat pilot in Korea
He had already lost three seasons to World War II service and still finished with 521 home runs.
Q 12What did Ted Williams do in his final major-league at-bat in 1960?
Hit a home run
John Updike immortalised the moment in his essay 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu'.
Q 13What does the lone red seat in the right-field bleachers at Section 42 mark?
Where the park's longest home run landed
Q 21Bill Buckner had earlier led the National League in hitting with which club in 1980?
Chicago Cubs
His .324 season is often forgotten; Red Sox fans finally welcomed him back after the 2004 title.
Q 22Which general manager, hired in 2002 at age 28, became the youngest GM in MLB history?
Theo Epstein
He grew up in Brookline, went to Yale and had won two titles by the time he left for the Cubs.
Q 23Pedro Martínez arrived in Boston in a 1998 trade with which team?
Montreal Expos
Boston gave up Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. and got three award-calibre seasons in return.
Ted Williams hit it in 1946, and the ball went through the straw hat of a fan named Joseph Boucher.
Q 14The Red Sox were the last major-league team to field a Black player, promoting whom in 1959?
Pumpsie Green
The club had worked out Jackie Robinson at Fenway in 1945 but the owner did not want to sign him.
Q 15Carl Yastrzemski's 1967 Triple Crown was the last in the majors until which player repeated the feat in 2012?
Miguel Cabrera
Yaz hit .326 with 44 homers and 121 RBI and won the MVP as the 'Impossible Dream' Red Sox took the pennant.
Q 16Yastrzemski was the first AL member of the 3,000-hit club to also reach how many home runs?
400
He spent all 23 seasons in Boston and was the first Little Leaguer ever inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Q 17Whose 12th-inning home run off the left-field foul pole won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series?
Carlton Fisk
He was filmed waving his arms to keep the ball fair; the Reds still won Game 7 and Fisk later joked 'we won that thing 3 games to 4'.
Q 18Which Yankees shortstop's three-run homer over the Green Monster beat Boston in the 1978 tiebreaker?
Bucky Dent
Boston fans gave him a profane middle name; the Yankees later fired him as manager during a series at Fenway in 1990.
Q 19Roger Clemens first struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game in 1986 against which team?
Seattle Mariners
He did it again against Detroit in 1996, his last season in Boston, and went 24-4 in 1986 to win both the Cy Young and MVP.
Q 20Whose slow ground ball rolled through Bill Buckner's legs to end Game 6 of the 1986 World Series?
Mookie Wilson
Many, including Wilson himself, thought he would have beaten the throw anyway; the Mets won Game 7 two days later.
Q 24Which Pedro Martínez number did the Red Sox retire two days after his 2015 induction?
45
He was the second Dominican enshrined in Cooperstown, after Juan Marichal.
Q 25'Big Papi' came to Boston in 2003 after parts of six seasons with which team?
Minnesota Twins
He retired with 541 home runs and eleven regular-season walk-off homers, and reached the Hall of Fame in 2022.
Q 26Whose ninth-inning stolen base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS sparked the Red Sox comeback?
Dave Roberts
Bill Mueller's single scored him, and Boston became the first MLB team ever to win a series after trailing 3-0.
Q 27Which pitcher won Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS with sutures in his ankle bleeding through his sock?
Curt Schilling
He did it again in Game 2 of the World Series; the 'bloody sock' became instant lore.
Q 28Which two players coined the nickname 'the Idiots' for the 2004 Red Sox?
Damon and Millar
It described the team's eclectic roster and devil-may-care attitude toward the supposed curse.
Q 29Whom did the Red Sox sweep in the 2004 World Series to end the 86-year drought?
St. Louis Cardinals
Boston never trailed in the series, and Manny Ramírez was named MVP.
Q 30Whom did the Red Sox sweep in the 2007 World Series?
Colorado Rockies
It remains that franchise's only World Series appearance; rookie Dustin Pedroia won Rookie of the Year that season.