Espo’s Trivia Challenge: All-Star Trivia – 2014 Edition

With baseball about to take their annual summer spectacular All-Star break, it seemed like a good time to rev up the trivia machine, so here goes for a Mets version All-Star edition.

1. It’s no fair to keep asking who was the first Mets All-Star way back in 1962. Anyone who doesn’t yet know it was Richie Ashburn hasn’t been a Mets fan for very long. So we’ll start out by going for No. 2. Who was the team’s second All-Star, and who struck out looking while pinch-hitting for future Met Tommy Davis in 1963?

A. Gil Hodges
B. Frank Thomas
C. Ed Kranepool
D. Duke Snider

2. In that one and only All-Star Game held at Shea Stadium in 1964 featured no less than five future Mets, and that’s not counting the one and only Met who started and appeared – Ron Hunt. Which future Met hit one of the three home runs by the National League which led to their 7-4 victory?

A. Ken Boyer
B. Jim Fregosi
C. Willie Mays
D. Joe Torre

3. The first year the Mets sent more than one representative to the All-Star Game was:

A. 1967
B. 1968
C. 1969
D. 1970

4. TRUE OR FALSE: Willie Mays never appeared in an All-Star Game as a Met:

5. The first Met to homer in an All-Star game was:

A. Cleon Jones
B. Dave Kingman
C. Lee Mazzilli
D. Darryl Strawberry

6. Which member of the Core Four of ‘80s Mets – Doc Gooden, Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, and Darryl Strawberry, appeared in more All-Star Games as a Met:

A. Doc Gooden
B. Gary Carter
C. Keith Hernandez
D. Darryl Strawberry

7. Six Mets have appeared in All-Star Games as Mets exactly one year after appearing in the All-Star Game with their former team, including Mike Piazza, who was a Dodger in 1997, and a Met in ’98, and Gary Carter, who was honored in 1984 as an Expo, in ’85 as a Met. Which one of these Mets All-Stars did not appear in back-to-back All Star Games with their former team and then as a Met:

A. Frank Viola
B. Carlos Beltran
C. Tom Glavine
D. Francisco Rodriguez

8. Three Mets pitchers have earned Saves in the All-Star Game. Which one of these Met hurlers did not:

A. Tom Seaver
B. Jerry Koosman
C. Sid Fernandez
D. David Cone

9. Who is the only Met to be named the All-Star Game MVP?

A. Lee Mazzilli
B. Jon Matlack
C. Darryl Strawberry
D. Jose Reyes

10. Taking a look all the way back to last year’s All-Star Game held at Citi Field, The National League was stymied and shutout by AL pitching, 3-0, and accrued only three hits. David Wright went 1-3, and sliced a seventh inning single off this AL hurler:

A. Greg Holland
B. Joe Nathan
C. Brett Cecil
D. Steve Delabar

BONUS QUESTION: For a really trivial view of last year’s All-Star Game at Citi Field, what is the distinctly Met-oriented connection between Matt Harvey, who started the game for the NL, and Ron Hunt, who was the starting second baseman for the NL squad back in the only AS game at Shea in ’64:

A. Both appeared as rookies.
B. Both bunted in their only at-bats.
C. Both were signed by the same scout, Marlin McPhail
D. Both wore the same number.

ANSWERS:
1. D
2. A
3. C (sent 3, Grote, Koosman, and Seaver)
4. FALSE, he played in 1972 and ‘73 All-Star games as a Met
5. C (1979)
6. D (7)
7. C
8. C
9. B
10. A

BONUS QUESTION: D (both wore #33)

About the Author

Get connected with us on Social Media