Jeopardy + Baseball trivia
 

The other day during the Double Jeopardy round, one of the categories was 1950s Baseball. After using all questions in all of the other categories there were only the (5) Baseball questions left. I guess the contestants didn't know much about baseball.

$400 question - Which Braves outfielder hit his first HR in 1954 and then went on to hit 754 more? That got a correct response.

The person that answered that question asked for the $2000 question (incredibly easy) - Who hit the HR that took the 1951 Giants to the World Series?

That question went unanswered... the contestant then selected the $1600 question (another gimme question) - What Cubs SS hit 47 HRs in 1958. The 47 HRs still stands as a record for HRs hit by a SS in a season? The guy that answered Aaron for the $400 question buzzed in and aswered "Sandberg".... Ryne wasn't born until 1959...

Unfortunately there wasn't enough time so the $800 and $1200 questions weren't revealed....

IMO, the $2,000 and $1,600 questions were only easy to you because you are a baseball fan posting on a board dealing with mostly baseball collectibles. Any question hard enough to stump most posters on here would leave the general public with absolutely no chance of ever getting the correct answer. The Bobby Thomson question would probably go right over the head of most of the general population.

People posting on here are not representative of the general population when it comes to baseball knowledge. :)

Eddie, what are you saying? We're all a bunch of baseball geeks here? :)

While on the topic of trivia - in tonights Eagles/Saints playoff game the quarterbacks for each team come from the same high school.

Here's the trivia question (Jeapordy style) - give me the question regarding two Yankee pitchers that went to the same high school.

A-Rod holds the record for HRs in a season by a SS. Banks probably still holds the NL record though.

Who are Don Larsen and one of the other perfect game guys. David Wells, I think.

I thought of ARod immediately too. Larsen & Wells also...(i guess we are Baseball geeks) :)

PS- The shot heard 'round the world is one of the most famous HR's ever, shocking it went unanswered.

I would actually bet that only about 1 in ~ 20 Americans would actually know the answer to this question. It's gotta be a very low percentage. Not exactly common household knowledge.

I just asked my wife, who I think is brilliant even though she is not a baseball fan, and she knew Aaron and Banks, but guessed Babe Ruth for the shot heard round the world. 19 of you should ask a non-fan and we can get an (un)scientific answer.

I agree with that. It was also 63 years ago, putting it out of the lifespan of many Americans. I just finished reading Mike Tyson's amazing (and very dark) autobiography and one of the things he mentioned in there was that many young people don't even have a concept of him as a boxer; they know him more as an actor.

As someone who grew up in the '80s, when Tyson was viewed as an unbeatable force bigger than his sport, I found that shocking. And Tyson's prime was only 25 years ago.

I respectfully disagree with the "1 out of 20" number. did you tell your wife it was in 1951? that should eliminate getting "Babe Ruth" as an answer.

I hear you guys, but i think it would be more than just ONE person out of 20. i also grew up in the 80's, and at that time we didn't have a concept of Ali as a boxer, BUT we knew he was amazing, we knew his importance in history (even if not a sports fan). its all relative. the shot heard 'round the world was then (and still is now) a monumental moment in history, even for non-Baseball fans.

Good discussion.

What is Westlake in Austin, TX (didn't google and haven't watched game yet... so not fully sure I'm right either??)... pretty sure South Lake in Austin has produced it's share of QBs as well.. Chase Daniel/Greg McElroy.

Southlake is actually a suburb of Dallas.


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My bad... my Texas knowledge is rusty. I could've sworn all those guys were from Austin?? Regardless, TX and CA are college/NFL QB factories.

So proud to be a part of baseball geekdom... yes, the answer is Don Larsen and Boomer Wells. Both pitched perfect games for the Yanks and both went to Pt. Loma High School (San Diego).

Guilty as charged!

Speaking on behalf of my fellow young people (being 26), I'm skeptical that most people under the age of about 40 would know anything about the shot heard round the world (other than the fact that it started the revolution). I couldn't tell you hardly anything about 50's or 60's baseball and I consider myself relatively knowledgeable on baseball in general though I did know the answer to these three particular questions.

Cant say that Im shocked by the lack of answers. Just here to add that my girlfriend appeared on Jeopardy a few years back. :)