Baseball Trivia Contest: Hall of Fame Names
Now that we find ourselves here in the dog days of August, let’s have some fun.
On the left-hand column below, I created a list of Hall of Fame baseball players by their surnames only. On the right-hand side, you will notice a list of the real first names of each of these HOF players. Your challenge is to match the first name on the right with the HOF player it belongs to on the left. Each first name will be used just once.
See how many you can match up before you check the answer key at the bottom of the page, then let me know how you did. It might help to print out this page so you can do it by hand.
1) Seaver A) Rik
2) Dean B) Adrian
3) Bender C) Leon
4) Ford D) Gordon
5) Grove E) William
6) Anson F) George
7) Berra G) John
8) Koufax H) Edward
9) Traynor I) Jay
10) Wilson (Hack) J) Charles
11) Ewing K) Lawrence
12) Goslin L) Robert
13) Paige (Satchel) M) Lewis
14) Fox (Nellie) N) Jacob
15) Kelly (King) O) Harold
16) Blyleven P) Vernon
17) Brouthers (Dan) Q) Leroy
18) Gomez (Lefty) R) Sanford
19) Cochrane S) Michael
20) Chesbro T) Dennis
Answer Key:
1) F
2) I
3) J
4) H
5) L
6) B
7) K
8) R
9) O
10) M
11) E
12) C
13) Q
14) N
15) S
16) A
17) T
18) P
19) D
20) G
The On Deck Circle 
That was harder than it should have been!
I knew Grove, Anson, Berra, Koufax, and Paige.
I “knew” Blyleven after I started looking at the answers, though before I got to him.
I guessed Chesbro (John->Jack) and Brouthers (Dennis->Dan).
After the fact, I should have known (Jay “Dizzy”) Dean, (Vernon “Lefty”) Gomez, and (Harold “Pie) Traynor because they sound right to me when I say them. 😉
The degrees of embarrassment associated with the others varies from lots to none.
So, I guess I could say I “got” 7 or 8, but should have gotten 10 or 11.
On an unrelated note, is it possible to search this site? I’ve been reading and enjoying the “surprising stats” pages, but haven’t found them all. One other pair of surprising stats of a different nature that I discovered by browsing the Baseball Almanac some years back was that the last team to bat .300 for a season was the 1950 Red Sox (.302). I was curious if any team had ever done that. In the process, I also discovered that the 1930 National League batted over .300 (.303)! The league as a whole! Different game back then, I guess.
Thanks.
Seven, so I have to re-take this course. Nice diversion.
Or we can just put you down as having audited it. No harm done.
Thanks for reading,
Bill
I was able to name 12, which I think means I won’t have to repeat the course. I think it’s neat that there are two guys with first name of “Adrian” in the Hall of Fame, Addie Joss being the other.
This was a Pass / Fail course, so you’re O.K. I actually had Joss on my list at first, then realized I’d have two Adrian’s, so I dropped him.
Cheers,
Bill
I meant that I believe that most males named “Sandy” have the full first name of “Sanford”.
Glen
I knew Seaver, Goslin, Grove, Cochran, Paige, Berra, Anson, and Koufax right off the bat without looking the clues. Some others I got after looking at the clues; they spurred my memory. A couple of others, I guessed at, and lucked out. So all in all, I did pretty well.
I believe that most males named “Sandy” have the real first name of “Sandy”; I already knew Koufax’s full first name, anyway.
I think I read somewhere, incidentally, that “Koufax” wasn’t Sanford Koufax’s original last name.
No self-respecting Met fan of a certain age could ever have gotten George Thomas Seaver wrong.
Glen
Sounds like you did fine to me. I believe Koufax’s original last name was Braun. But I guess Sandy Koufax sounds a bit cooler than Sanford Braun. Here’s another one for you. Outfielder Ping Bodie’s real name was Francesco Stephano Pezzolo. My name is so boring, in comparison.
No, but SANDY Braun sounds cool.
And I looked it up just now. His parents got divorced, and his mother got re-married. Sandy’s father was named Braun, and Sandy’s stepfather was named Koufax.
Glen
Well, there you go. Thanks for the update.
-Bill
Damn, that’s a good one! I could only get three right off the bat-Paige, Berra, and Koufax. I got lucky guessing one or two others, but three out of 20. I’m ashamed and will dig out the old baseball encyclopedia.
In hindsight I should have got Blyleven right since I knew he was born in the Netherlands. Oh well, better luck next time. Keep em coming.
I didn’t get a single one right. Have you checked out Dave’s Blog of Funny Names?
Baseball is his strongest suit.
Well, don’t feel too bad about that. It wasn’t that easy. I’ll have to check out Dave’s blog.
Thanks,
Bill
I got 12. The only one I missed that I shoulda had was Cochrane. Missed most of the real old timers.