Game before the games: With opening day approaching, test your knowledge of Spokane Indians baseball

The Spokane Indians get 132 chances to win games this season, but S-R readers get just one chance to come out a winner in the 2022 Indians trivia game.

Test your knowledge about Indians baseball with the following 25 brain twisters. The Frank Howard Award goes to readers with 20 or more correct answers. Walk off with the Willie Davis Plaque if you connect on at least 17 answers. You need 14 to 16 correct answers to claim the Bobby Valentine Trophy.

Answers are listed below. The “awards” are fictitious, of course. Just have fun and play ball!

1. True or false: The only Spokane players who have won Minor League Player of the Year awards are the three men mentioned above: Howard (1959), Davis (1960) and Valentine (1970).

2. Who led the Indians in batting last year?

3. Name the pitcher who leads active ex-Indians in career victories in the major leagues. Hint: Last year, he became the first pitcher to record a World Series pinch hit since 1923.

4. True or false: Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda won more World Series championships as a manager than any other former Indians manager.

5. Who leads ex-Indians in career games played in the majors?

6. Name the all-time major league leader in homers by a former Spokane player.

7. Who leads former Spokane pitchers in career victories in the majors?

8. Two teammates at Spokane’s Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State College (now University) turned pro with the 1952 Indians and later enjoyed success in the majors. Can you name them?

9. Three former Indians played on the historically bad 1962 New York Mets, an expansion team that posted a 40-120-1 record under Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel. Name the players.

10. Three former Indians have won Most Valuable Player awards in the major leagues. All three – a pitcher, shortstop and first baseman – won National League MVP honors while playing for the Brooklyn or Los Angeles Dodgers. Who are they?

11. True or false: Maury Wills, who spent the first eight-plus years of his pro career in the minor leagues (ending with Spokane in 1959), broke the modern major league record for stolen bases in a single season in 1962. The modern era of MLB dates back to 1900.

12. Who holds the Indians club record of 41 home runs in a single season?

13. Who was the Hall of Fame center fielder who managed the Indians in 1965? Hint: He played in New York City with the Brooklyn Dodgers when Willie Mays manned center field for the New York Giants and Mickey Mantle roamed center field for the New York Yankees.

14. True of false: Current Indians principal owner Bobby Brett played minor league ball with younger brother (and current Indians minority partner) George Brett, who played his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

15. True or false: No Indians manager ever managed in the majors before managing Spokane.

16. Name the pitcher who started last season with the Indians and finished the year with the parent Colorado Rockies.

17. Who was the last Indians alum to win a major league batting title? Hint: He played in the National League at the time, as did the two other ex-Indians who have won batting titles: Tommy Davis of the 1962 and ’63 Los Angeles Dodgers and Bill Buckner of the 1980 Chicago Cubs.

18. The first former Indian to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame had to wait 41 years after his last pitch before he was inducted in 1969. One of the last pitchers allowed to legally throw a spitball, this man’s three World Series victories for Cleveland in 1920 (all five-hitters, including a shutout in Game 7) is tied for the record in a single World Series. Who is he?

19. Has a former Indian led the National or American League in home runs?

20. Has a former Indian led the National or American League in runs batted in?

21. Has a former Indian led the National or American League in pitching victories?

22. Has a former Indian led the National or American League in saves?

23. True or false: The Indians set a Northwest League record when they won four consecutive league championships from 1987-90.

24. True or false: Spokane’s minor league ballpark, now known as Avista Stadium, has been home to the Indians since 1958.

25. Name the former Indian who was the last player to start at shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles before making way for Cal Ripken Jr. (who later moved to third base) when Ripken began his major league-record streak of 2,632 consecutive games played.

Answers

1. True. Howard, an outfielder-first baseman, went on to hit 382 home runs in 16 seasons in the big leagues. Davis, one of the fastest players in baseball history, stole 398 bases, hit 138 triples and won three Gold Gloves as a center fielder during his 18-year career in the majors. Valentine, an elite prospect before suffering a severe leg fracture, hit .260 in 10 seasons in the bigs. All three players starred for Spokane in the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.

2. Hunter Stovall, who saw action as an infielder, outfielder and designated hitter last season, finished second in High-A West batting with a .316 average.

3. Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals owns a 219-132 record in 18 seasons in the majors. He struggled in his only two games with Spokane (0-0, 7.71 earned run average) after being drafted in the first round by Kansas City in 2002.

4. False. Bruce Bochy won three World Series with the San Francisco Giants (2010, 2012, 2014). Lasorda won two World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981, 1988).

5. Carlos Beltran ranks 46th in MLB history with 2,586 games played. The outfielder spent 20 years in the majors.

6. Beltran ranks 47th all-time with 435 MLB home runs. With Spokane, he hit seven homers in 59 games in 1996 as a second-year pro in the short-season Class A Northwest League.

7. Don Sutton is tied with fellow Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for 14th in MLB history with 324 wins. Sutton appeared in two games with Spokane in the PCL in 1968. He went 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA. Sutton played in the majors for 23 years, four less than Ryan.

8. Jack Spring, who wrapped up his 18-year pro career with the PCL Indians in 1969, posted a 12-5 record in all or parts of eight seasons in the majors. Ed Bouchee won the National League Rookie of the Year award as a first baseman with the 1957 Philadelphia Phillies.

9. Bouchee, in his final major league season, hit .161 in 50 games with the 1962 Mets. Roger Craig led New York with 10 wins, but led the majors with 24 losses. Catcher Choo-Choo Coleman hit .250 in limited action.

10. Pitcher Don Newcombe was MVP with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. Shortstop Maury Wills landed the MVP award with the 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers. L.A. first baseman Steve Garvey was honored in ’74.

11. True. Wills stole 104 bases for the Dodgers during his MVP season of 1962. That mark now ranks seventh in modern MLB history (since 1900).

12. Tom Robson belted 41 home runs for the PCL Indians in 1974.

13. Brooklyn Dodgers legend Duke Snider managed the PCL Indians in 1965 after taking over for an ailing Pete Reiser.

14. True. Bobby Brett spent one season in the Kansas City Royals farm system, including time with George on the Class A San Jose (Calif.) Bees in 1972. Bobby, an outfielder with limited power, hit .243 in 19 games with the Bees and .286 in 23 games with the Rookie-class Billings (Mont.) Mustangs.

15. False. Greg Riddoch, who managed the San Diego Padres from 1990-92, guided Spokane to the 2005 Northwest League championship.

16. Ryan Feltner made his major league debut with Colorado last September. He posted a 0-1 record and 11.37 ERA in two games after being promoted from Double-A Northeast Hartford (Conn.). He started the season with Spokane, going 3-1 with a 2.17 ERA in seven games.

17. Bill Madlock won the last of his four National League batting titles in 1983 with Pittsburgh. He hit .323.

18. Stan Coveleski, one of the last legal spitballers (baseball grandfathered in a few such pitchers), won 20 or more games five times in 14 years in the majors. He retired with a 215-142 record (.602 winning percentage).

19. Yes. In the AL, Baltimore’s Chris Davis led with 47 homers in 2015 and 53 (an MLB record for ex-Indians) in 2013. Gorman Thomas of the Milwaukee Brewers was tops in 1982 (39, tied with Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson) and 1979 (45). Frank Howard of the Washington Senators led in 1968 (36); Bob Meusel of the New York Yankees was first in 1925 (33); and Ken Williams of the St. Louis Browns was No. 1 in 1922 (39). George “High Pockets” Kelly of the New York Giants was the NL leader with 23 in 1921.

20. Yes. Giants slugger Kelly tied fellow Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals for the 1920 NL lead in RBIs with 94. Kelly led by himself with 136 RBIs for the Giants in 1924. Tommy Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers topped the NL with 153 RBIs in 1962. In the AL, Williams led in 1922 with the Browns (155); the Yankees’ Meusel tied Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann of Detroit for the title in 1925 (134); and the Senators’ Howard led in 1970 (126).

21. Yes. Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers led the NL with 27 wins (and just seven losses) in 1956, five years before he played for Spokane in the twilight of his career. Tony Mullane, pitching for Toledo (Ohio) in the American Association, held the MLB record for single-season wins by a former Indians pitcher with 36 (against 26 losses) in 1884.

22. If saves were recorded when Mullane played, he would have led the American Association or National League five times. Mullane never recorded more than five saves in a season: Complete games were routine at the time. Mullane ranks 10th all-time with 468 complete games, and he’s 29th in wins with 284. He appeared as a non-pitcher in 265 of his 820 MLB games, partly because he’s the all-time leader in wild pitches with 343. He batted .243 with eight homers in 13 MLB seasons.

23. True. Bruce Bochy, a prime candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame, made his managerial debut with the Indians in 1989.

24. True. When the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, they needed a new home for the Los Angeles Angels, their Class AAA farm club in the PCL. Spokane did not field a minor league team in 1957, but a new ballpark was quickly constructed, and the Dodgers brought Triple-A (the highest level of minor league baseball) to the city for the first time in 1958.

25. Former Indians and Gonzaga University star Lenn Sakata kept the seat warm for Ripken before the latter’s remarkable streak ran from May 30, 1982 to Sept. 19, 1998.

Answer key on right side of page.

Howie Stalwick retired in his hometown of Spokane in 2006 after covering the Spokane Indians and other subjects for The Spokesman-Review and various other media outlets (often as a freelancer) during a 44-year career as a sports writer. Howie may be contacted at howiestalwick@frontier.com.