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Baseball Trivia Questions
Questions on how the game is played, what the equipment must measure and which club won a given World Series. Every answer is fixed, so the round works in any season.
Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.
Baseball is a gift to a quiz writer because so much of it is written down and never changes. The bases have been ninety feet apart for well over a century. The pitcher's rubber has sat sixty feet six inches from the plate since 1893. A regulation ball carries one hundred and eight stitches, and a bat may not exceed forty-two inches.
This set sticks to that settled ground. It asks what a rule prevents, what a term abbreviates, which club plays in which ballpark and who won a World Series in a named year. Nothing turns on a career total or a current leader, so the round reads the same next season as it does today. Each answer comes with a short note, which saves the host from arbitrating.
Rules and scoring: baseball trivia questions
How many fielders does a team put on the field on defense?
Answer: Nine EasyPitcher, catcher, four infielders and three outfielders make up the nine.
A regulation Major League game lasts how many innings if it is not tied?
Answer: Nine EasyExtra innings are played only to break a tie.
How many strikes make a strikeout?
Answer: Three EasyA foul ball can never be the third strike unless it is a bunt attempt.
How many balls does it take to earn a walk?
Answer: Four EasyThe batter is awarded first base without the ball being put in play.
The infield fly rule exists to stop fielders doing what?
Answer: Dropping an easy pop-up on purpose to force a double play MediumWith runners forced to hold, an intentional drop would otherwise gift the defense two outs.
How many hitters are in a standard batting order?
Answer: Nine MediumThe order runs continuously, so after the ninth batter it returns to the top.
A balk is called against which player?
Answer: The pitcher HardWith runners on base, an illegal or deceptive motion by the pitcher advances every runner one base.
Teams and cities: baseball trivia questions
The Yankees are based in which city?
Answer: New York EasyThey play in the Bronx, one of two Major League clubs in the city.
The Dodgers play in which city?
Answer: Los Angeles EasyThe club moved west from Brooklyn after the 1957 season.
Major League Baseball is made up of which two leagues?
Answer: American and National EasyThey were separate businesses for decades before merging their operations.
In 1998 the Milwaukee Brewers switched from the American League to which league?
Answer: The National League MediumThe move balanced the leagues after expansion added the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays.
The Braves play their home games in which metropolitan area?
Answer: Atlanta MediumThe franchise has previously called Boston and Milwaukee home.
In which year did the American League begin play as a major league?
Answer: 1901 HardIt had operated as a minor circuit, the Western League, before declaring major status.
World Series history: baseball trivia questions
Which team won the 1986 World Series?
Answer: New York Mets MediumThe Mets came back from a two-game deficit to win in seven.
The 2004 World Series was won by which team?
Answer: Boston Red Sox MediumBoston swept St. Louis, ending an eighty-six-year wait for a title.
Which club won the first World Series, played in 1903?
Answer: Boston Americans MediumThe Boston club later became the Red Sox; they beat Pittsburgh in a best-of-nine series.
Which team won the 1955 World Series?
Answer: Brooklyn Dodgers HardIt was the only title Brooklyn won before the club moved to Los Angeles.
The 1969 World Series was won by which team?
Answer: New York Mets HardThe Mets had never finished above ninth place before that season.
Which team won the 1979 World Series?
Answer: Pittsburgh Pirates HardPittsburgh came back from three games to one down to beat Baltimore.
Which team won the 1991 World Series?
Answer: Minnesota Twins HardBoth clubs had finished last in their divisions the previous season.
Ballparks: baseball trivia questions
Fenway Park is the home of which club?
Answer: Boston Red Sox EasyIt opened in 1912 and is the oldest ballpark still in Major League use.
Which club plays its home games at Wrigley Field?
Answer: Chicago Cubs EasyThe ivy on the outfield wall was planted in 1937.
Oracle Park is the home of which club?
Answer: San Francisco Giants MediumBalls hit over the right field wall land in San Francisco Bay.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards is home to which team?
Answer: Baltimore Orioles MediumIt opened in 1992 and started the wave of retro-style ballparks.
The Green Monster is a famous wall in which ballpark?
Answer: Fenway Park MediumThe left field wall stands about thirty-seven feet high.
Petco Park is the home of which club?
Answer: San Diego Padres HardIt opened downtown in 2004, incorporating a converted brick warehouse beyond left field.
Coors Field is home to which team?
Answer: Colorado Rockies HardThin air a mile above sea level makes it famously friendly to hitters.
Equipment and the field: baseball trivia questions
How far apart are the bases on a Major League diamond?
Answer: 90 feet EasyThe ninety-foot distance is often called the closest thing to perfection in sport.
Counting home plate, how many bases are there on a baseball diamond?
Answer: Four EasyA runner must touch all four in order to score a run.
What shape is home plate?
Answer: Five-sided EasyThe point at the back helps the umpire judge the edges of the strike zone.
How far is the pitcher's rubber from the back point of home plate?
Answer: 60 feet 6 inches MediumThe distance was set in 1893 and has not changed since.
How many stitches are there on a regulation Major League baseball?
Answer: 108 HardThe two figure-eight leather panels are sewn together by hand with waxed red thread.
What is the maximum permitted diameter of a Major League bat?
Answer: 2.61 inches HardThe rule was tightened slightly from two and three-quarter inches in 2011.
A regulation baseball must weigh between five ounces and what?
Answer: 5.25 ounces HardThe circumference is likewise fixed within a narrow band, nine to nine and a quarter inches.
What is the maximum permitted length of a Major League bat?
Answer: 42 inches HardIn practice almost every hitter uses something well under that limit, around thirty-four inches.
Baseball terms: baseball trivia questions
A home run hit with the bases loaded is known as a what?
Answer: Grand slam EasyIt scores four runs, the most possible from a single swing.
A batter who reaches base safely on a fair batted ball, with no fielding error, is credited with a what?
Answer: Hit EasyIf a fielder misplays the ball, the official scorer records an error instead.
In baseball statistics, what does ERA stand for?
Answer: Earned run average MediumIt measures earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched.
What does the abbreviation RBI stand for?
Answer: Run batted in MediumA batter earns one for each run that scores as a result of their plate appearance.
A pitcher who finishes a game without allowing a single hit has thrown a what?
Answer: No-hitter MediumA perfect game is stricter still: no hits, no walks and no baserunners at all.
In traditional scorekeeping notation, which position is numbered 6?
Answer: Shortstop HardThe numbering runs from the pitcher at one round to the right fielder at nine.
On a scorecard, the letter K records what?
Answer: A strikeout HardA backwards K conventionally means the batter was struck out looking rather than swinging.
Answer key
- Nine
- Nine
- Three
- Four
- New York
- Boston Red Sox
- Chicago Cubs
- Grand slam
- 90 feet
- Los Angeles
- Four
- Five-sided
- American and National
- Hit
- New York Mets
- Boston Red Sox
- Boston Americans
- 60 feet 6 inches
- San Francisco Giants
- Baltimore Orioles
- Fenway Park
- Earned run average
- Run batted in
- No-hitter
- The National League
- Atlanta
- Dropping an easy pop-up on purpose to force a double play
- Nine
- Brooklyn Dodgers
- New York Mets
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Minnesota Twins
- 108
- 2.61 inches
- 5.25 ounces
- Shortstop
- The pitcher
- San Diego Padres
- Colorado Rockies
- 1901
- A strikeout
- 42 inches
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full baseball list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Tiebreaker questions
Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.
How many teams are there in Major League Baseball?
Answer: 30 teams Fifteen in the American League and fifteen in the National League.
In what year did the National League play its first season?
Answer: 1876 It is the older of the two major leagues by twenty-five years.
What is the minimum permitted circumference of a Major League baseball, in inches?
Answer: 9 inches The rulebook allows anything from nine to nine and a quarter inches around.
Common mistakes in baseball trivia
- The pitcher's mound is sixty feet from home plate.
It is sixty feet six inches from the rubber to the back point of the plate, a distance set in 1893.
- A baseball game always lasts nine innings.
Nine is the regulation length, but a tie goes to extra innings and a shortened game can be official after fewer.
- A no-hitter and a perfect game are the same thing.
A no-hitter allows walks and errors. A perfect game allows no baserunner of any kind.
- Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown.
That story came from a commission in 1907 and has no support. The game grew out of earlier English bat-and-ball games.
- The Dodgers have always played in Los Angeles.
The club was based in Brooklyn until after the 1957 season, and won the 1955 World Series there.
Running this round at a quiz night
Baseball rounds work best when you group the questions by type rather than shuffling them. Read the four rules questions together, then the ballparks, then the World Series years, so the table settles into a rhythm. Say the year clearly twice on every World Series question, because a misheard year turns into an argument that costs you five minutes. Equipment questions with exact numbers are the ones people enjoy most, so save two for the end. Remind everybody that no question asks who holds a record. For the tiebreaker, use the circumference of a baseball in inches and let the closest guess take it.
Frequently asked questions
Do these baseball questions stay accurate over time?
Yes. None of them ask who holds a record or who leads a statistic, because those change every season. They ask about rules, measurements, ballparks, league structure and World Series results from named years, all of which are fixed.
How do I mix baseball questions into a general quiz?
Use them as a themed round of ten, or scatter three or four through a sports round. If your group is not all baseball fans, pull mostly from the easy and medium bands and keep one hard equipment question as a closer.
Why are there so many questions about measurements?
Because they are the most reliable trivia in the sport. Distances, weights and dimensions are written into the rulebook and rarely revised, so they never date and they are genuinely satisfying to learn.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That