Boston Red Sox Trivia
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8correct to beat the crowd
This Red Sox trivia quiz has 116 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 116 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Before adopting the name Red Sox for 1908, what was the club commonly called in the newspapers?
The Americans
The Americans, after the American League, was a common press name; 'Pilgrims', long listed as the club's early nickname, was barely used at the time, researcher Bill Nowlin found.
Q 02Which manager led the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007?
Terry Francona
Terry Francona, hired for 2004, ended the club's 86-year championship drought in his first season, won again in 2007 and stayed until 2011.
Q 03Boston won the very first World Series in 1903 against which team?
Pittsburgh Pirates
Boston beat the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three in the best-of-nine 1903 Series, urged on by the Royal Rooters' endless choruses of 'Tessie'.
Q 04Which pitcher won the pitching Triple Crown for Boston in 1901 and holds the all-time record of 511 wins?
Cy Young
Cy Young won 33 games for Boston in 1901 and finished with 511; he was dubbed 'Cyclone' in 1890, reportedly after his fastballs tore up a wooden fence.
Q 05On 26 December 1919, the Red Sox sold which player to the New York Yankees?
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth, fresh off a record 29 home runs in 1919, went to the Yankees for $100,000, the most ever paid for a player; Boston's next title came in 2004.
Q 06The 'Curse of the Bambino' only entered common use after which sportswriter's 1990 book of that name?
Dan Shaughnessy
Dan Shaughnessy, a Boston Globe columnist, made the phrase part of Red Sox lore with his 1990 book; after the 2004 title he wrote a follow-up, Reversing the Curse.
Q 07Who bought the Red Sox in 1933 and owned them for over four decades?
Tom Yawkey
Tom Yawkey bought the club in February 1933 and owned it until his death in 1976; Yawkey Way outside Fenway reverted to Jersey Street in 2018 over his record on race.
Q 08Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941; what is that figure's significance?
Last .400 season in the AL or NL
Last .400 season in the AL or NL: offered the final day off to protect an average that rounded up to .400, Williams played a doubleheader and went 6-for-8.
Q 09Ted Williams missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons serving as what in the Korean War?
A Marine combat pilot
A Marine combat pilot, Williams flew 39 missions in Korea and once crash-landed his flak-damaged jet; he had already lost 1943-45 to World War II service.
Q 10What did Ted Williams do in his final major-league at-bat in 1960?
Hit a home run
Williams hit a home run off Baltimore's Jack Fisher in his last at-bat on 28 September 1960; John Updike immortalised the moment in 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu'.
Q 11What does the lone red seat in Fenway Park's right-field bleachers mark?
The longest home run hit there
The longest home run hit there, a 502-foot shot by Ted Williams on 9 June 1946, punched through the straw hat of a fan named Joseph Boucher.
Q 12The Red Sox were the last major-league team to field a Black player, promoting whom in 1959?
Pumpsie Green
Pumpsie Green debuted on 21 July 1959, twelve years after Jackie Robinson broke the colour line; the club had given Robinson a sham tryout at Fenway in April 1945.
Q 13A Red Sox left fielder's 1967 Triple Crown was the last in the majors until which player repeated the feat in 2012?
Miguel Cabrera
Q 21Pedro Martínez came to Boston in a November 1997 trade with which team?
Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos management dealt Pedro Martínez, their league's best pitcher in 1997, a year before free agency, while they could still get something back: Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr.
Q 22Which Pedro Martínez number did the Red Sox retire two days after his 2015 induction?
45
45 was retired on 28 July 2015, two days after Martínez entered the Hall of Fame; at Fenway's 1999 All-Star Game he had struck out five of the six batters he faced.
Q 23'Big Papi' came to Boston in 2003 after parts of six seasons with which team?
Minnesota Twins
Miguel Cabrera hit .330 with 44 homers and 139 RBI for Detroit in 2012; the 1967 winner sealed his by going 7-for-8 in the season's last two games, both must-wins.
Q 14Which Red Sox star was the first American Leaguer to collect 3,000 hits and 400 home runs?
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski, who took over left field from Ted Williams in 1961, hit his 400th homer in July 1979 and singled for hit 3,000 that September.
Q 15Whose 12th-inning home run off the left-field foul pole won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series?
Carlton Fisk
Carlton Fisk was caught by a camera inside the left-field scoreboard waving his arms to will the ball fair; the Reds still won Game 7 the next night.
Q 16Whose three-run homer over the Green Monster put the Yankees ahead in the 1978 tiebreaker?
Bucky Dent
Bucky Dent's seventh-inning homer off Mike Torrez put New York up 3-2 in a game it won 5-4, and Boston fans gave him an unprintable middle name.
Q 17Roger Clemens first struck out 20 batters in a nine-inning game in 1986 against which team?
Seattle Mariners
Seattle Mariners hitters, who had already struck out 166 times in 19 games, went down 20 times that night; Clemens matched the feat against Detroit in September 1996.
Q 18Whose slow ground ball rolled through Bill Buckner's legs to end Game 6 of the 1986 World Series?
Mookie Wilson
Mookie Wilson has always maintained he would have beaten the hobbled Buckner to the bag even on a clean pickup; the Mets won Game 7 two nights later.
Q 19Bill Buckner had earlier led the National League in hitting with which club in 1980?
Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs first baseman Buckner hit .324 in 1980 to lead the National League; in 2008 Fenway fans gave him a standing ovation as he threw out the first pitch on Opening Day.
Q 20Which Red Sox general manager, hired in 2002 at age 28, was then the youngest in MLB history?
Theo Epstein
Theo Epstein got the job only after Oakland's Billy Beane turned down $12.5 million to take it; he won titles in 2004 and 2007.
Minnesota Twins management released Big Papi after the 2002 season; in Boston he hit 483 of his 541 home runs and entered the Hall of Fame in 2022.
Q 24Whose ninth-inning stolen base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS sparked the Red Sox comeback?
Dave Roberts
Dave Roberts, pinch-running in the ninth, stole second off Mariano Rivera and scored on Bill Mueller's single; Boston became the first MLB team to win a series after trailing 3-0.
Q 25Which pitcher won Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS with sutures in his ankle bleeding through his sock?
Curt Schilling
Curt Schilling pitched seven innings in Game 6 with a tendon sutured in place, a fix the team doctor first tried on a cadaver, then won Game 2 of the World Series the same way.
Q 26Which long-haired 2004 Red Sox star cheerfully described his team as 'idiots'?
Johnny Damon
Johnny Damon said of the loose, long-haired club, 'In essence, we're idiots', and after it won the title he called his memoir Idiot.
Q 27Whom did the Red Sox sweep in the 2004 World Series to end the 86-year drought?
St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals batters never saw a lead: Boston swept without trailing, the last four of eight straight wins after standing three outs from elimination against the Yankees.
Q 28Whom did the Red Sox sweep in the 2007 World Series?
Colorado Rockies
Boston swept the Colorado Rockies, who had won 21 of 22 games to reach their first World Series; Mike Lowell was named Series MVP.
Q 29Which award did Dustin Pedroia win in 2007 after hitting below .200 that April?
AL Rookie of the Year
AL Rookie of the Year: kept in the lineup through the slump, Pedroia hit over .400 in May, and a year later he was the league's MVP.
Q 30Where did players set down the World Series trophy during the Red Sox's 2013 parade?
The Boston Marathon finish line
The Boston Marathon finish line: six months after the bombing there, Jonny Gomes, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia beside him, set the trophy on the line as 'God Bless America' was sung.