I’m a member of the Boston chapter, but also one of the first “online chapters,” the SABR charter community of bloggers known as the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Since I’m feeling a bit under the weather and may not make it to my Boston chapter meeting, I figured I’d offer this trivia quiz for seamheads everywhere to enjoy.

Caveat: I am not a serious baseball trivia type. At the annual SABR convention, I don’t think I’d even make it past the first round in their trivia contest. Pictured at left are myself and fellow baseball writer Stu Shea (I’m the one with the Bun of Doom, in case you couldn’t tell…) chit-chatting at the convention. However, my head is packed full of miscellany, so out come questions like the following.

There’s no prize for getting the answers right, by the way, other than that terrific feeling of superiority. No Googling! (Although the answers to these can be found in my books The 50 Greatest Yankee Games and The 50 Greatest Red Sox Games… Just sayin’.) But no, the answers aren’t ALL Red Sox/Yankees. Just some.

I’ll post a separate post with the answers hidden under a link.

1. The only modern players (post 1900) to record three hits in a SINGLE INNING both played for the Red Sox. Can you name them both?

2. This past year Melky Cabrera hit for the cycle. Can you name the previous TWO Yankees to accomplish the feat?

3. Three times in history a single pitcher has recorded a no-hitter, but lost the game. I’m not talking about guys like Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings only to give up a game-winning homer in the unlucky 13th, but guys who actually gave up no hits and lost anyway. The first was Ken Johnson on April 23, 1964, who pitched 9 no-hit innings for Houston but lost 1-0 to Cincinnati. Can you name the other two unlucky souls?

4. Who holds the record for most putouts by a catcher on two consecutive days? Hint, he’s one of the catchers who caught a game where his pitcher struck out 19 or more men in one day. He caught 20 strikeouts one day, and 16 the next.

5. Three times pairs of teammates have thrown no-hitters in the same season. The first time was in 1917 when Ernie Koob and Bob Groom did it for the St. Louis Browns, on back to back days, no less. The last time was in 1962, when Earl Wilson and Bill Monboquette both turned the trick for the Red Sox. Who are the other two pitchers to do it?

6. Aaron Boone did it in 2003. Bernie Williams did it in 1996 and 1999. Mickey Mantle did it in 1964. But who was the first Yankee to hit a walk-off home run for the Yankees in a postseason series? Can you name him and what pitcher he hit it off?

7. This past season saw both Nick Swisher and Nick Green take the mound for their teams. In 1940 a position player more noted for his bat took the mound and struck out Rudy York. Who was he?

8. Three Yankees have hit three triples in a game. The first was Hal Chase in 1906. Earle Combs did it in 1927. Who was the third? He did it in 1938, his third year in the big leagues.

9. Only two players in history have 400 home runs or more AND 10 or more steals of home. Can you name them? Hint: they usually batted back to back in their lineup.

10. Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game when he was 40. David Cone was 36 when he threw his. But there is one man who was 37 when he accomplished the feat. Who?

Okay, give up? Find the answers here.

Are you sure you’ve already looked at the questions? Okay, here you go. The answers:

1. Johnny Damon and Gene Stephens are the two players who have gotten three hits in a single inning, and they both happen to have been Red Sox when they did. Damon is the first player to get three different types of hits in a single inning (he lacked only the homer), and he did it June 27, 2003 in a 14-run first inning against the Florida Marlins. Stephens did it on June 18, 1953, in a 17-run inning against the Tigers, where even the pitcher, Ellis Kinder, had two hits for the Sox.

2. Prior to Melky Cabrera hitting for the cycle, Tony Fernandez did it in 1995. Fernandez was slated to be the starting shortstop in 1996, but then broke his arm in spring training, opening the door for Derek Jeter. The team sent Fernandez a World Series ring even though he didn’t play a single inning (or maybe because he didn’t…?) The night Fernandez hit for the cycle, one of the broadcasters of the game was Bobby Murcer, who had been the previous Yankee to do it, 23 years earlier.

3. Andy Hawkins pitched a losing no-hitter for the Yankees, and Matt Young did it for the Red Sox. Young’s came in 1992, and he lost 2-1 to Cleveland. Hawkins’ came in 1990 and he lost 4-0 to the White Sox in Chicago. Those were the days, eh?

4. Rich Gedman caught Roger Clemens’ 20 strikeout game on April 29, 1986. The very next day, Boston again faced those free-swinging Mariners and Bruce Hurst struck out 8, and the bullpen another 8.

5. Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn both pitched no-hitters for the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, on August 18 and September 16, respectively.

6. Tommy Henrich belted a walk-off homer against the Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in the 1949 World Series, starting a fine postseason tradition.

7. Ted Williams! The Splendid Splinter pitched two innings, gave up one run on three hits, and as noted did not issue a walk and struck out York. He has a lifetime ERA of 4.50 as a result.

8. Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. There were a billion trivia questions I could have asked about him, but I figured I’d pick a really, well, trivial one.

9. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are the only two players to have hit 400 or more home runs and have 10 or more steals of home. Both men usually stole home as one half of a double-steal, rather than an outright theft of the plate.

10. Cy Young was 37 years old in 1904 when he threw his perfect game. I don’t have any funny anecdotes about Cy Young, so I’ll tell this one about David Cone instead: Expos manager Felipe Alou was asked after Cone’s perfecto, when he started to think Cone might have a chance at a perfect game. “When I wrote down the lineup and saw that we didn’t have anybody who had faced him,” Alou deadpanned.

Thanks for participating in SABR DAY IN AMERICA!!