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60 free Hard MLB Baseball trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
These hard MLB baseball trivia questions are for fans who already know who holds the home run record and want something that actually makes them think. They cover the records nobody will touch (60 wins in a season, 511 career wins, 191 RBIs, 12 perfect innings in a losing effort), the strangest games ever played (a 3-foot-7 pinch hitter, a no-hitter thrown on LSD, a doubleheader forfeited because fans blew up disco records), the rule changes and labor fights that reshaped the sport, and the scandals from the 1919 World Series to the Astros' trash can. The easiest questions here would be the hardest on a general baseball quiz. The medium ones ask which pitcher threw back-to-back no-hitters and which team lasted exactly one season. The hard ones want the umpire who cost a pitcher a perfect game, the pitcher who struck out 21 in one game and the first player ever drafted. If you want a warm-up first, our main baseball trivia page (brainpickle.app/quiz/a/baseball) starts easier. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which pitcher holds the MLB career record with 511 wins, a total 94 ahead of second place?
Cy Young
Cy Young won 511 games from 1890 to 1911, 94 more than Walter Johnson's 417; he also holds the career records for losses, innings pitched and complete games.
Q 02Nolan Ryan's career strikeout record of 5,714 is how far ahead of the runner-up, Randy Johnson?
839
Nolan Ryan's 5,714 strikeouts stand 839 clear of Randy Johnson's 4,875; Ryan also posted a career 6.56 hits allowed per nine innings, the lowest of any qualified pitcher.
Q 03Cal Ripken Jr. voluntarily ended his consecutive-games streak in 1998 at what number?
2,632
Cal Ripken Jr. sat out the Orioles' final home game of 1998, ending the streak at 2,632 consecutive games, 502 beyond Lou Gehrig's 2,130.
Q 04Which Cleveland third baseman's backhand stops helped end DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak?
Ken Keltner
Ken Keltner's two backhanded stops at third base on July 17, 1941 helped hold DiMaggio hitless at 56; DiMaggio then hit in 16 straight, 72 of 73 games.
Q 05What batting average did Ted Williams post for the Red Sox in 1941?
.406
Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941; entering the final-day doubleheader at .39955, which would have rounded to .400, he refused to sit and went 6-for-8.
Q 06Rickey Henderson's 1,406 career stolen bases broke the record of 938 held by which player?
Lou Brock
Henderson's total is nearly 50 percent higher than Brock's, and he also holds the career records for runs and leadoff home runs.
Q 07Which Pirates left-hander retired 36 straight Braves in 1959, only to lose the game in the 13th inning?
Harvey Haddix
Harvey Haddix retired 36 straight Braves on May 26, 1959; a Don Hoak throwing error opened the 13th, and Pittsburgh lost 1–0 on an unearned run.
Q 08Which Reds pitcher threw no-hitters in consecutive starts in June 1938?
Johnny Vander Meer
Johnny Vander Meer no-hit Boston on June 11 and Brooklyn on June 15, 1938; in 1952 he threw another no-hitter for Tulsa in the Texas League.
Q 09Bob Gibson's live-ball-era record ERA in the 1968 'Year of the Pitcher' was what?
1.12
Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA in 1968, the lowest of the live-ball era, yet went 22–9 because the Cardinals rarely scored for him; he struck out 17 in World Series Game 1.
Q 10What final won-lost record did 30-game winner Denny McLain post in 1968?
31–6
Denny McLain went 31–6 with a 1.96 ERA for the 1968 Tigers, sweeping the AL MVP and Cy Young awards; his last big-league game came in 1972.
Q 11Which showman owner sent 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel to the plate for the St. Louis Browns in 1951?
Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck signed 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel, who walked on four pitches on August 19, 1951 and left for pinch-runner Jim Delsing; Veeck called him 'the best darn midget who ever played big-league ball'.
Q 12Disco Demolition Night in 1979 forced the White Sox to forfeit a game to which team?
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers were awarded the second game of the July 12, 1979 doubleheader by forfeit after Steve Dahl blew up a crate of disco records and fans wrecked the Comiskey Park field.
Q 13Cleveland's infamous Ten Cent Beer Night in 1974 ended in a forfeit to which visiting team?
Q 21Jim Abbott, born without a right hand, threw a 1993 no-hitter for the Yankees against which team?
Cleveland Indians
Jim Abbott beat the Cleveland Indians 4–0 at Yankee Stadium on September 4, 1993, switching his glove from his right forearm to his left hand after each pitch to field.
Q 22Who refused a 1969 trade and took baseball's reserve clause to the Supreme Court?
Curt Flood
Curt Flood lost Flood v. Kuhn 5–3 in 1972, but the fight galvanized the players' union, and the 1975 Messersmith–McNally arbitration brought free agency.
Q 23Joe Nuxhall, the youngest player in MLB history, debuted for the Reds in 1944 at what age?
15
Texas Rangers
Crew chief Nestor Chylak forfeited the June 4, 1974 game to the Texas Rangers after drunken fans stormed the field in the ninth inning with the score tied 5–5.
Q 14In the 1983 Pine Tar Incident, George Brett's bat had tar beyond how many inches from the handle?
18
Rules limit pine tar to 18 inches from the bat handle; after Billy Martin protested, umpire Tim McClelland measured Brett's bat against the 17-inch-wide plate and nullified his homer, a ruling AL president Lee MacPhail overturned.
Q 15Fred Merkle's famous 1908 base-running blunder came in a game between the Giants and which team?
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs were the opponent on September 23, 1908; the disputed tie was replayed on October 8, the Cubs won, and they took the pennant by exactly one game.
Q 16Who was appointed the first Commissioner of Baseball in the aftermath of the Black Sox Scandal?
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal judge, was named commissioner in November 1920; despite acquittals at the 1921 trial he permanently banned all eight implicated White Sox players.
Q 17Old Hoss Radbourn's untouchable single-season wins record, set with Providence in 1884, is how many?
60
Old Hoss Radbourn is credited with 60 wins for Providence in 1884 over 678.2 innings, then pitched every game of the Grays' three-game sweep of the New York Metropolitans in that year's World Series.
Q 18Whose walk-off home run won Game 7 of the 1960 World Series for the Pirates?
Bill Mazeroski
Bill Mazeroski, a glove-first second baseman with 138 career homers, led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer off Ralph Terry for a 10–9 win over the Yankees.
Q 19Which pitcher gave up Joe Carter's 1993 World Series-winning home run?
Mitch Williams
Mitch Williams, the Phillies closer, gave up Joe Carter's three-run homer with Toronto trailing 6–5 in Game 6, the first come-from-behind walk-off home run to end a World Series.
Q 20Dock Ellis said he threw his 1970 no-hitter under the influence of LSD against which team?
San Diego Padres
Dock Ellis no-hit the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970, in the opener of a doubleheader, walking eight; he later said he had taken LSD that day believing the Pirates were off.
Joe Nuxhall was 15 years and 316 days old on June 10, 1944, when he pitched two-thirds of an inning against the Cardinals; he later spent decades as a Reds broadcaster.
Q 24At what age did Satchel Paige pitch his last major league game in 1965?
59
Satchel Paige was 59 when he threw three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics on September 25, 1965; he had been the oldest rookie ever at 42 with Cleveland in 1948.
Q 25Under what official name did the Astrodome open in 1965?
Harris County Domed Stadium
Its official name was Harris County Domed Stadium; billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World, it housed the Astros from 1965 through 1999.
Q 26Which Yankee was MLB's first designated hitter, walking on five pitches from Luis Tiant in 1973?
Ron Blomberg
Ron Blomberg drew a bases-loaded walk from Luis Tiant on April 6, 1973; his bat went to Cooperstown, and AL owners had approved the DH 8–4 as a three-year experiment.
Q 27Which umpire's blown call at first base cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010?
Jim Joyce
Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe on the 27th out on June 2, 2010; Joyce tearfully apologised afterward, and he and Galarraga co-wrote the book Nobody's Perfect.
Q 28Tom Cheney's single-game record of 21 strikeouts in 1962 came in a game that lasted how many innings?
16
Tom Cheney of the Washington Senators struck out 21 Orioles while pitching all 16 innings on September 12, 1962, allowing a single run in a 2–1 win.
Q 29Rennie Stennett went 7-for-7 in a nine-inning game in 1975 as the Pirates beat the Cubs by what score?
22–0
The Pirates won 22–0 at Wrigley Field on September 16, 1975; Wilbert Robinson's seven hits for Baltimore in 1892 had been the only previous seven-hit nine-inning game.
Q 30Fernando Tatís hit two grand slams in the same inning in 1999, both off which Dodgers pitcher?
Chan Ho Park
Chan Ho Park gave up both slams in the third inning on April 23, 1999 at Dodger Stadium, giving Fernando Tatís eight RBIs in a single inning.