The Big Field
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40 free The Big Field trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Mike Lupica's The Big Field, published in 2008, is a baseball novel about what happens when the best player on a team stops being the best. Hutch is fourteen, lives for the game and has always been his side's shortstop, until a more gifted newcomer named Darryl Williams arrives and takes the job. At the same time Hutch is trying to reach a father who was once a star prospect himself and now barely talks about the sport. This quiz follows the Cardinals through their Florida summer, from the regional games to the televised state finals: the rivalry in the middle of the infield, the suspension, the mistakes and the plays that decide the series. There are also questions on Hutch's family, the real ballplayers he idolises, and Lupica's career and other novels for young readers. It is written for middle school readers, classes and book clubs who have finished the novel, and for anyone revising before a reading quiz. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so it works as a chapter review as well as a game.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In The Big Field, which position does Hutch move to when Darryl Williams takes over at shortstop?
Second base
Second base is where Hutch lands, and the shuffle pushes his best friend from the infield to the outfield. Hutch still thinks like a shortstop, which causes trouble later.
Q 02Hutch wears number 2 in The Big Field to honour which star shortstop, his baseball hero?
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter is the model for everything Hutch does on a diamond. After Hutch's game-saving play in the finals, a local newspaper even dubs him Jeter Junior.
Q 03Which famous 2001 playoff play by his baseball hero does Hutch rewatch and later copy in The Big Field?
The Flip
The Flip saw the shortstop relay an off-line throw to his catcher to cut down a runner at the plate. Hutch makes the same play to save game two of the finals.
Q 04Which real Florida ballpark hosts the state finals Hutch's Cardinals chase in The Big Field?
Roger Dean Stadium
Roger Dean Stadium is the big field of the title. Hutch and his best friend used to buy $10 tickets to sit on the grass beyond its outfield.
Q 05In the deciding game of The Big Field, what does Hutch's father signal him to do at bat?
Bunt for a hit
Bunt for a hit is the surprise call: his father drops his hands in the crowd, and Hutch pushes one toward third and reaches safely. The next batter wins the title.
Q 06How does Darryl Williams win the deciding game of the state finals for the Cardinals in The Big Field?
A home run
A home run in the bottom of the ninth ends a tied game and the series. Moments earlier Hutch had reached safely on his father's advice.
Q 07After the Cardinals celebrate their state title in The Big Field, Hutch climbs into the stands to do what?
Hug his dad
Hug his dad is all he wants: the embrace ends a summer in which father and son barely spoke about the game they both love.
Q 08Hutch's mother in The Big Field, born Consuela Valentin, came to Florida from where?
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is where Connie, as everyone now calls her, is from. Hutch gets his dark eyes from her and his baseball from his father.
Q 09Which Cardinals right fielder has been Hutch's wisecracking best friend since they were five in The Big Field?
Cody Hester
Cody Hester is more like a brother to Hutch than a friend. He lost his own infield spot in the reshuffle that made room for Darryl Williams.
Q 10Every Cardinal except Darryl Williams backs Hutch for which role early in The Big Field?
Team captain
Team captain is the job, decided by a vote after batting practice. The lone holdout soon turns the title into a taunt.
Q 11Hutch is the nickname of the 14-year-old hero of The Big Field; what is his real first name?
Keith
Keith Hutchinson is his full name. The nickname comes from a surname he shares with a father once billed as a can't-miss prospect.
Q 12Hutch's Post 226 Cardinals in The Big Field represent which South Florida city, their home town?
Boynton Beach
Boynton Beach is where the Cardinals come from. The win that opens the book, which sends them on to the regionals, is played in Lantana.
Q 13The spring-training ballpark that gives The Big Field its title stands in which Florida town?
Jupiter
Jupiter is the town, and two major league clubs train at its ballpark each spring. Playing there, on television, is the dream that drives Hutch's whole team.
Q 21Suspended for a must-win game in The Big Field, Hutch still helps his Cardinals to victory in which role?
Bench coach
Bench coach Hutch spots a gap and moves a fielder to shut down a rally. Later he tells Darryl what the pitcher is planning, and Darryl delivers the winning hit.
Q 22Which team do Hutch's Cardinals meet in the three-game state finals of The Big Field?
Orlando Astros
Orlando Astros pitching is led by a hard thrower nicknamed The Rocket, and the series goes the full three games.
Q 23After Hutch's finals error in The Big Field, his manager cites which Red Sox player's World Series miscue?
Bill Buckner
Q 14The stadium Hutch dreams of in The Big Field is the spring home of the St. Louis Cardinals and which other club?
Miami Marlins
Miami Marlins has been the club's name since 2012; when the novel appeared they were the Florida Marlins, the team Hutch follows on his bedroom radio.
Q 15Hutch's father in The Big Field climbed as high as Triple-A in which major league club's farm system?
Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins affiliates were as far as he got. He had also played in the Braves system, and by 24 his career was over.
Q 16Besides driving airport passengers for a limousine firm, how does Hutch's father earn a living in The Big Field?
Caddying at a golf club
Caddying at a golf club, Emerald Dunes, fills his days. Before that he sold cars, tried landscaping and ran a snack truck.
Q 17How does Hutch's father usually watch baseball games on television at home in The Big Field?
With the sound off
With the sound off, and a beer in hand, he sits through games in silence. Hutch aches to talk baseball with him but rarely dares.
Q 18Before his father admits he was simply not good enough, what does Hutch think ended the man's career in The Big Field?
An arm injury
An arm injury was the story Hutch grew up with. In the car after the practice blow-up, his father says the truth broke him, and that he fears the same for his son.
Q 19Which former Red Sox minor league pitcher manages Hutch's Cardinals in The Big Field?
Ken Cullen
Ken Cullen threw only in the 80s, so he came home to Florida and went into business. His TV adverts have made him a local celebrity.
Q 20Why is Hutch suspended for the game that decides whether his Cardinals reach the state finals in The Big Field?
Fighting a teammate
Fighting a teammate costs him the game: he goes for Darryl at practice after a taunt about which of them Hutch's father prefers.
Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson's slow roller get through his legs in 1986. The manager's point is that plenty had to go wrong for Boston before that ball was hit.
Q 24Darryl Williams is billed in The Big Field as the best ballplayer out of Florida since which superstar?
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez is the yardstick. People already hand Darryl free shoes and sunglasses, hoping he remembers them once he reaches the majors.
Q 25Which St. Louis shortstop, famed for acrobatic defence, is on a poster in Hutch's bedroom in The Big Field?
Ozzie Smith
Ozzie Smith won 13 Gold Gloves in a row at the position. Hutch's wall is a shrine to shortstops, which is why giving up the job hurts so much.
Q 26Driving to a game in The Big Field, the Cardinals pass a children's hospital named for which Yankees great?
Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio gives the hospital its name. Hutch's father, though, insists that Giants outfielder Willie Mays was the better player.
Q 27After his pitching career stalled, the Cardinals' manager in The Big Field built which kind of Florida business?
A real estate company
A real estate company made him comfortable, and unlike Hutch's father he came away from the game without bitterness.
Q 28Hutch hopes baseball will win him a place at the Hun School, a boarding school in which state, in The Big Field?
New Jersey
New Jersey is the goal: the Hun School is in Princeton, and Hutch believes his best chance of getting there is as a shortstop.
Q 29How does Darryl Williams get to practice in The Big Field when his mother's friend fails to give him a ride?
By bus
By bus, and he still turns up late. The manager believes his story and simply makes him wait his turn in batting practice.
Q 30In The Big Field, Hutch has thrown alone against what since he was eight, hoping his father would join in?
A pitchback
A pitchback, the sprung net that returns the ball, stood in for a partner. Every night he hoped his father would come out and play catch.