First Ever Call to the ‘Pen Twins Trivia Contest!

I had so much fun giving a mini-trivia quiz tonight on Twitter (reminder, you can follow me at @calltothepen), that I wanted to do a more expanded version here. There will be 20 questions. The person who gets the most right the quickest (in case of a tie for most correct) will win both eternal bragging rights in the Twins blogosphere and a spot on the sidebar to recognize their genius (if they desire), and, if I can scrounge something fun and Twins-related up, a small prize!

Important Game #8 will post on Wednesday Friday.

Here’s the details:

1. If the answer is a person, give first and last name. Fangraphs.com will help you if you only know the last name. I’m not going to guarantee that a name won’t repeat itself, but the answer to every question is not “Joe Mauer.” Especially since some of the answers are numbers.
2. Only the Twins era is eligible. As far as this trivia contest is concerned, Twins history began in 1961. The Senators were cool and all, but they weren’t the Minnesota Senators. Call it state-ist, but it is what it is. Also, I don’t know enough about the Senators to even judge whether an answer is right if it’s about the Senators.
3. All questions are about TWINS history – if I ask who had the most career wins, it’s the most career wins in Twins history as a Twin. Self-explanatory.
4. For career numbers, only the years that the player was with the Twins count. Also for career numbers, assume a requirement of 2+ years with the Twins. I’m not going to put a specific number of games per season on it, but be sensible. I’m not going to count it as one of the required 2 years it if the player only played for 2 months.
5. If you have a question about a question itself, leave it in the comments and I’ll answer it both in the comments and, if I think it’s something a lot of people would need to know (translation: a big mistake on my part), I’ll update the question as well.
6. Guessing is fine! This isn’t the ACT – I’m not going to count wrong answers against you. (Besides, if you guess, I have to at least look it up to make sure you didn’t find something I miss. Win-win for you – you either get it right or you make me work harder).
7. We’re on the honor system. I can’t stop you from spending a long time looking up the answers to these questions, but everyone is on scout’s honor not to do so. Plus, it would kind of be a waste of your time to spend that much time on this.
8. Once you have your answers, email them to me at eric.donald.olson @ gmail [dot] com with subject line “Trivia” or something similar. Make sure you use an email address I can reply to if you win! I’ll keep the contest open until 7pm Central on Friday Saturday and I’ll have a post up with the right answers (maybe even a bit of explanation) and the winner on Saturday.

That’s it! Simple rules. You don’t have to answer every question to be eligible to win. Follow me past the fold for the questions!

1. We’ll start off with an easy one. Who was the most recent Twins player to win Rookie of the Year?
2. There is only one Twins pitcher in the top ten list of the most single-season losses by a Twins starting pitcher that appears more than once, and he appears four times. Who is that pitcher?
3. Who was the only Twin in the last ten years to strike out more than 140 times in one season?
4. What is the largest number of sacrifices (bunts or otherwise) made by one Twins player in a single game in Twins history?
5. What Twins pitcher finished the most games in a single season in Twins history (including non-save situations)?
6. How many innings was the longest game in Twins history?
7. Within 10, what is the largest number of double-plays turned by a Twins team in a single season?
8. How many left-handed hitters were in the first-ever Twins starting lineup – on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium?
9. Who is the longest-serving Twins Manager?
10. In what season did the Twins boast their lowest average game attendance?
11. What is the largest winning margin ever boasted by the Twins in a regular-season game?
12. What pitcher holds the Twins record for the most balks in a single game?
13. Name the top two Twins pitchers based on single-season strikeouts.
14. What Twins pitcher holds the record for the most consecutive strikeouts?
15. Who holds the single-season Twins record for most at-bats?
16. Easy question to raise the curve a bit – name the three venues that the Twins will have called home at the end of the 2010 season.
17. What is the largest number of home runs hit in a single game by a Twins player?
18. Can you name the last five pitchers to pitch a Twins home opener?
19. Who are the top two players when measured by most saves in a single season?
20. Finally, one Twins pitcher almost doubled the next highest total number of wild pitches in a Twins career. Who was it?

BONUS QUESTION!!!

Name the first ever Twins manager, giving both his real first and last name and his nickname.

Email your answers to me at eric.donald.olson @ gmail [dot] com by Friday evening at 7 pm Central. Good Luck!

** For the record, there is a terrific site out there that runs monthly Twins Trivia contests, and I am simply not smart enough to play those contests. Go there and give the site some love for giving me the idea!