Let’s try a quiz that will mostly be easy to the history buffs . . . A surprising number of baseball’s great pitchers haven’t gone by their given first names, preferring either a nickname or their middle name. See if you can match the pitcher with the first name. First, the pitchers:
1. Bert Blyleven
2. Three Finger Brown
3. Roger Clemens
4. Dizzy Dean
5. Whitey Ford
6. Bob Gibson
7. Lefty Gomez
8. Lefty Grove
9. Kid Nichols
10. Satchel Paige
11. Nolan Ryan
12. Tom Seaver
13. Dazzy Vance
14. Hoyt Wilhelm
15. Cy Young
Now, the first names:
Charles
Clarence
Denton
Edward
George
James
Jay or Jerome (variously)
Leroy
Lynn
Mordecai
Pack
Rik
Robert
Vernon
William
Answers below the fold.
S
P
O
L
I
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
1. Rik Aalbert Blyleven
2. Mordecai Brown
3. William Roger Clemens
4. Jay Dean
5. Edward Ford
6. Pack Robert Gibson
7. Vernon Gomez
8. Robert Grove
9. Charles Nichols
10. Leroy Paige
11. Lynn Nolan Ryan
12. George Thomas Seaver
13. Clarence Vance
14. James Hoyt Wilhelm
15. Denton Young
I only knew 2, 3 and 11.
I don’t know them all either.
1.
2. Mordechai Brown
3.
4. Jerome Herman or Jay Hanna
5. Edward Ford
6.
7.
8. Robert Moses Grove
9.
10. Leroy Paige
11.
12. George Thomas Seaver
13.
14.
15. Denton True Young
I knew about 4 or 5, I guess. Grove, Paige, Seaver, Dean, Gomez. Should have gotten Blyleven if only because “Rik” is so obviously a Dutch name. But I didn’t get it.