Q 01/05

Which rule change debuted on Opening Day 1973, when the Yankees' Ron Blomberg walked with the bases loaded?

A) Interleague play

B) The designated hitter

C) The wild card

D) The lowered pitcher's mound

Answer · why

B) The designated hitter

The designated hitter. The first DH ever to bat did not get a hit that time up, yet the bat Blomberg carried to the plate went to the Hall of Fame any...

Q 02/05

What is the name of the annual parade that precedes the Reds' home opener in Cincinnati?

A) Findlay Market

B) Riverfront

C) Over-the-Rhine

D) Red Stockings

Answer · why

A) Findlay Market

Findlay Market. Its shopkeepers joined the Opening Day festivities as a rooters' group in 1920 and kept marching after the other groups faded; the cit...

Q 03/05

Which rookie, an emergency Opening Day starter in 1981, pitched a shutout that set off a craze named after him?

A) Hideo Nomo

B) Mark "The Bird" Fidrych

C) Dwight Gooden

D) Fernando Valenzuela

Answer · why

D) Fernando Valenzuela

Fernando Valenzuela. The 20-year-old got the ball only because Jerry Reuss strained a calf the day before; he blanked Houston 2–0, won his first eight...

Q 04/05

Who was the first US president to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, in 1910?

A) William Howard Taft

B) Theodore Roosevelt

C) Grover Cleveland

D) Woodrow Wilson

Answer · why

A) William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft. Umpire Billy Evans handed him a new ball before the Senators' home opener, and the president made a strong throw from his box sea...

Q 05/05

Which president threw Opening Day first pitches with both his right and his left arm?

A) John F. Kennedy

B) Herbert Hoover

C) Franklin D. Roosevelt

D) Harry S. Truman

Answer · why

D) Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman. Ambidextrous, he kept crowds guessing which arm he would use, and he was the first president to throw out a first ball left-handed.