Friday is Opening Day on the South Side and Monday is Opening Day on the North Side, and to mark the occasions, Tempo returns with its annual Sox-Cubs Trivia Quiz.
Below we present a rosterful of questions testing your knowledge of the Cubs and White Sox, because after all, who has been more trivial than our very own hometown baseball teams, who between them have gone 102 years without making it to the World Series?
Give yourself a point for every correct answer. If you score from 13-15, consider yourself a Hall-of-Famer; 10-12, a slugger; 7-9, a good, everyday player; 4-6, a middle reliever; and 3 or below, a lovable loser.
1. You probably remember photos of Sox outfielder Al Smith being doused by a fan’s beer as the fan reached for a homer in Game 2 of the ’59 World Series. What brand of beer was spilled?
A) Falstaff.
B) Schlitz.
C) Hamm’s.
D) Old Style.
More Top Picks Privacy Policy
Answer: C. Hamm’s (the beer refreshing) was the only beer sold (40 cents a cup) at Comiskey Park in 1959.
2. What is not a promotional event this season at Wrigley Field?
A) Wrigley Field Authentic Seat Giveaway.
B) Precious Moments Figurine “Mom, I Always Have a Ball With You” Giveaway.
C) “Seniors Run the Bases Day.”
D) “Salute to Sinatra” featuring Frank Sinatra Jr.
Answer: C. “Seniors Run the Bases” is a promotional event on June 19 at The Park Formerly Known as Comiskey. Seniors are not permitted to run the bases at Wrigley.
3. What movie character gave his home address as 1060 W. Addison St.?
A) Elwood Blues in “The Blues Brothers.”
B) Henry in “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.”
C) Cameron Frye in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
D) Henry Rowengartner in “Rookie of the Year.”
Answer: A. Elwood used the address of Wrigley Field to throw the cops off his trail.
4. When Cub pitcher Rod Beck reported to spring training this year, he was:
A) Sporting a nipple ring and a shaved head.
B) Fifty pounds lighter.
C) One inch shorter.
D) Kidding himself.
Answer: A. Nipple ring and a shaved head; in late March he was sent to the minors.
5. The White Sox’s William Elsworth “Dummy” Hoy was:
A. A defensive wonder who stole 600 bases in his eight-year major-league career, including a one-year stint with the White Stockings.
B. A deaf-mute outfielder who was responsible for umpires’ use of hand signals to indicate balls, strikes and outs.
C. A lefty-batting right-hander, who hit the first grand slam in American League history.
D. All of the above.
Answer: D. Hoy played for 11 teams from 1885 to 1903, including the 1901 pennant-winning Sox, leading the new American League in walks and hitting the league’s first grand slam. A movement is afoot to get Hoy into baseball’s Hall of Fame.
6. The Chicago National League franchise has been known as the Cubs since 1902. Before that, they were known by various names, except the:
A. White Stockings.
B. Black Stockings.
C. Baby Bears.
D. Remnants.
Answer: C. The Cubs were never known as the Baby Bears. Before finally settling on “Cubs,” the team also was called, at various times, the Orphans, the Ex-Colts, the Rainmakers and the Spuds.
7. The White Sox’s first game was:
A. 10-9 victory over the University of Illinois in Champaign.
B. 13-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
C. 15-0 victory over Eastern Illinois State Normal School in Charleston near Old Main.
D. 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at a wooden ballpark at 39th and Princeton.
Answer: A. The St. Paul American League franchise moved to the Windy City on March 21, 1900. Two weeks later, playing as a Chicago baseball team for the first time, the White Stockings defeated the University of Illinois, 10-9, in Champaign.
8. In 1976, Cubs center fielder Rick Monday earned a standing ovation from Dodger Stadium fans for:
A. Rescuing a stranded kitten in the outfield.
B. Snatching away an American flag from two would-be flag-burners.
C. Dropping a routine pop fly. L.A. fans hadn’t forgiven Monday for leaving the Dodgers.
D. Throwing out a speedy Davey Lopes at the plate. L.A. fans always loved Monday, even after he had left the Dodgers.
Answer: B. Monday actually went to the Dodgers the next season, in 1977.
9. In 40 years of All-Star Games, who is the only Chicago player named MVP of a midsummer classic?
More Top Picks Best Fidget Toys For Adults
A. The Sox’s Nellie Fox.
B. The Cubs’ Ernie Banks.
C. The Sox’s Ron Kittle.
D. The Cubs’ Bill Madlock.
Answer: D. Madlock won in 1975, sharing the award with Mets pitcher Jon Matlack.
10. Who was Richard Nixon’s favorite ballplayer?
A. Roy Sievers.
B. Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson.
C. Ernie Banks.
D. Hack Wilson.
Answer: A. Sievers, a White Sox-St. Louis Browns-Washington Senators-Philadelphia Phillies infielder/outfielder, caught the eye of hard-core baseball fan Nixon when Sievers played in Washington in the mid-’50s and Nixon was vice president. Sievers hit 318 homers for four teams over a 17-year career that ended, like Nixon’s, in Washington.
11. Which Sox player homered to set off the exploding scoreboard at old Comiskey Park for the first time?
A. Minnie Minoso.
B. Mike Hershberger.
C. Al Smith.
D. Bubba Phillips.
Answer: C. Al Smith, with a center-field homer off Detroit’s Jim Bunning on May 1, 1960, was the first to ignite the new $300,000 scoreboard.
12. The White Sox-Baltimore Orioles game of June 2, 1959, was repeatedly delayed by:
A. A shirtless Steve Dahl running onto the field with his father.
B. Unruly fans angered by the warm beer served because of faulty coolers.
C. The accidental setting off of air-raid sirens.
D. Gnats.
Answer: D. Swarms of gnats swooped in on Comiskey Park’s pitcher’s mound, and it took five innings — and towel-waving, bursts of bug spray, the burning of a paper torch and, finally, a smoke bomb from owner Bill Veeck’s fireworks people — to clear the air.
13. In what year was the ivy planted at the base of Wrigley Field’s outfield wall?
A. 1960.
B. 1910.
C. 1937.
D. 1945.
Answer: C. The vines were planted by Cubs promotion man Bill Veeck, future owner of the White Sox, in the same year the team added its famous outfield scoreboard, which still stands.
14. Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers and first baseman Frank Chance formed a redoubtable double-play combination in the early 1900s. They were immortalized by a short 1910 poem that ended, “Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: `Tinker to Evers to Chance.'” What is the title of that poem?
A. “Double Play Trouble.”
B. “The Gonfalon Stealers.”
C. “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon.”
D. “Zip, Zam, Zoom.”
Answer: C. “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” was written by New York Evening Mail sportswriter Franklin P. Adams to stretch out his too-short baseball report. He lamented how the trio turned New York Giants’ homers into doubles, bursting the Giants’ “gonfalon bubble,” or pennant hopes.
15. Who was the third baseman during the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance era?
A. Harry Steinfeldt.
B. “Slappy” Arnold.
C. Ernie Broadmiller.
D. Joe Logan.
Answer: A. Harry Steinfeldt, who appears in the baseball trivia book titled, strangely enough, “Who Was Harry Steinfeldt?”