Like most of you might be, we are getting ready for that 4th of July cookout this weekend. While standing in the checkout isle at the local Giant Food Store, I noticed that magazines like “Cosmo” still feature “the Quiz.”…(Michelle was looking at it…not me. I still prefer the rules quiz in Golf Magazine). In any event it got me thinking that we should run something similar. We are toying with the idea of doing this once a month or setting it up as a “Quiz of the Day” to run on the Main Page of the Web Site. I would welcome your comments on this proposal.
As we have been purchasing reference information for our own use, we thought it might be both helpful and fun to share some of it with you as well.
Please feel free to contact me at
DaveGrob1@aol.com.
1 Q: What year did the Cincinnati Reds add names to the back of their uniforms?
a. 1962
b. 1963
c. 1964
d. 1965
2 Q: What number did O.J. Simpson wear in his rookie season for the Buffalo Bills in 1969?
a. 32
b. 34
c. 36
d. 38
3 Q: For Spalding baseball gloves in the 1960s, assuming a major league player would use a “Top of Line Glove”, which is most likely to have been selected?
a. A Personal Model Glove
b. A Professional Model Glove
c. An Autograph Model Glove
4 Q: What brand of football was used in Super Bowl I?
a. Wilson “The Duke”
b. Spalding J5-V
5 Q: What was Johnny Unitas’ salary for the Baltimore Colts in 1956?
a. $5000
b. $7000
c. $9500
d. $10,500
6 Q: What year does the annotation “#8P” begin to appear on Rawlings flag tags?
1968
a. 1969
b. 1970
c. 1971
7 Q: How do tell the difference between a Spalding Manufacturers label from 1955 and one from say 1965?
a. The color of the tag
b. The presence of the “dot” over the “I”
c. The placement on the jersey
d. The addition of the phrase “Professional”
8 Q: When was the first mask said to have been worn by a goaltender in professional hockey?
a. 1927
b. 1930
c. 1942
d. 1947
9 Q: What year did Riddell introduce the Micro-Fit helmet?
a. 1968
b. 1970
c. 1972
d. 1974
10 Q: How long have the famous Converse “Chuck Taylor All Star Basketball shoes been on the market?
a. 1917
b. 1927
c. 1937
d. 1947
11 Q: What year did the US Postal Service begin using zip codes?
a. 1957
b. 1959
c. 1961
d. 1963
12 Q: Say you have been offered a complete uniform of Buffalo Bills Quarterback Jim Kelly from Super Bowl XXVII, what would you expect to see?
a. Jersey and pants manufactured by Champion.
b. Jersey and pants manufactured by Apex
c. Jersey by Champion, pants by Apex
d. Jersey by Apex, pants by Champion
13 Q: Say you have been offered a Bart Star helmet that was supposed to have been worn in Super Bowl I. Helmet seems perfect in every respect with great provenance, original RK shell and Riddell RI220 face mask, is your first instinct to:
a. Pass
b. Punt
c. Call Time Out
14 Q: Which one of these historical home runs was not hit with an Adirondack bat?
a. Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Around the World in the 1951 Giants-Dodgers playoffs.
b. Carlton Fisk’s Walk Off Homer in the 1975 World Series.
c. Reggie Jackson’s three homer game in the 1977 World Series.
NOTE: All three players are known users of Adirondack bats.
15 Q: You are offered the shoes that Larry Bird was said to have worn in his 1979 NCAA match up versus Magic Johnson, a rivalry that would typify the NBA of the 1980s, what brand of shoe would you be looking for?
a. Puma
b. Converse
c. Nike
d. Adidas
16 Q: Babe Ruth finished up his official stint in Major League Baseball as a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938. When looking for a Ruth jersey from that season, it should compare to the other team issued jerseys as?
a. Having the same Raglan in sleeves and zipper front.
b. Having set-in sleeves and a zipper front.
c. Having Raglan sleeves and button front.
d. Having set-in sleeves and button front.
17 Q: What brand of mitt did Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench use to catch Tom Seaver’s only career No Hitter on June 16th 1978.
a. Rawlings RL1 Johnny Bench Model
b. Rawlings HOH Johnny Bench Model
c. Rawlings RL 10 Johnny Bench Model
18 Q: Which one of these statements best characterizes the Wilson major league baseball uniform manufacturers tagging for 1968?
a. The tag changed from the larger white tag with 1, 2, 3, laundry instructions.
b. This year featured dual tags for size and set/year worn by all teams.
c. This year featured dual tags for size and set/year worn by some teams.
d. Both a and c.
19 Q: True or False. Michael Jordon’s long time association as a wearer of Nike shoes began back in his days of college ball at North Carolina and the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown.
20 Q: True or False. Ken Griffey Jr. did not begin to criss-cross handle tap his bats until sometime after the All Star Break in 1991?
21 Q: Which one of these major league teams have not featured both the city and team name on their jerseys at the same time.
a. The Cincinnati Reds
b. The Atlanta Braves
c. The Chicago Cubs
d. The Chicago White Sox
22. Q. You are trying to complete your set of Rawlings Gold Glove Awards from the first year of issue in 1957. Your contacts are great and budget is endless. What players do you add at the shortstop position.
a. Roy McMillan (NL) and Tony Kubek (AL)
b. Ernie Banks (NL) and Luis Aparicio (AL)
c. Roy McMillan (NL) and Luis Aparicio (AL)
23. Q. Hall of Fame Running Back Jim Brown was known to have worn a larger or “Husky Shell” helmet. You see one advertised on E-Bay with great pictures from all angles. What do you want to look for?
a. The presence of the stamped initials HS on the left rear of the helmet
b. The presence of two rivets along the front and rear center.
c. The Riddell manufactures code of RKHS4 on the inside ear holes.
d. There is no such helmet.
24 Q. Which is not a letter characteristic associated with Hillerich and Bradsby/ Louisville Slugger professional model bats.
a. “L” for large knob.
b. “T” for tapered handle.
c. “C” for cupped barrel end.
25 Q. A guy tells you he “obtained” the shoes Lou Brock was wearing when he broke Maury Wills single season stolen base record on September 10th 1974 right out of the locker room. These “stolen base shoes” (pardon the pun) would have been manufactured by.
a. Rawlings
b. Converse
c. Adidas
d. Puma
26 Q: True or False. NBA rules prohibit players from wearing “fixed supporting devices to either the shooting or non shooting hand or wrist for the purpose of stabilizing either area as to ensure the consistent shooting of the ball.”
27 Q. ABA Star Search. The NY Nets of the ABA featured what number combination of stars on the jerseys and trunks in 1974.
a. 3 on the jersey and 3 on the trunks.
b. 2 on the jersey and 3 on the trunks.
c. 3 on the jersey and 2 on the trunks.
d. No stars are present as this is a one year style.
28 Q. What city features the same color scheme for the professional sports of baseball, football, and hockey. Sorry, no choices as that would be too easy.
29 Q. What year are the earliest Adirondack World Series bats from?
a. 1953
b. 1955
c. 1957
d. 1959
30 Q What is the highest roster uniform number for the one year Seattle Pilots in 1969?
a. 52
b. 56
c. 61
d. 77
ANSWERS:
1A: 1964. These names where added to the area below the number. This also caused the size of the rear numeral to be come smaller.
2. A: Simpson can be found to have worn #36 for at least a portion of the season. An image of this can be found on page 374 of The Running Backs by Murry Olderman. This book is part of the MEARS football reference library.
3. A: Personal Model gloves are at the high end price wise. A detailed listing can be found in the Vintage Baseball Glove Catalog Source Book by Joe Phillips.
4. A: Both brands where used. The NFL used the Wilson ball and the AFL used the Splading. Nice story can be found on page 194 of 75 Seasons: The Complete Story of the National Football League. This book is part of the MEARS football reference library.
5. A: Unitas was paid $7000 for the 1956 season. A copy of his contact can be found on page 143 of The Scrapbook History of Pro Football. This book is part of the MEARS football reference library.
6. A: 1970. This annotation lasts through 1975.
7. A: The presence of the dot over the “I”. The font is also slightly different and the transition period appears to be around 1957.
8. A: The player credited with this is Howie Morenz of the Montreal Maroons in 1930. A picture and story can be found on page 123 of A Breed Apart: The Illustrated History of Goal Tending. This book is part of the MEARS Hockey reference library.
9. A. 1970. This helmet contained four elements of impact absorption. They are the one piece KRA-Lite II shell, air-cells, fluid cells, and pad inserts. The air-cells are inflatable, and are designed for inflation while the helmet is on the user’s head, providing a custom fit for each individual. By inflating the appropriately placed air cells, an entire team can be fitted with two shell sizes, the HA-91 for sizes 6 ½ to 7, and the HA-92 for 7 1/8 to 7 3/4.
10. A: The Converse All-Star, on the market since 1917and started bearing his name and signature in 1923.
11. A: 1963. This can be an important bit of information when evaluating provenance. Say you are offered a Ty Cobb autograph and the seller states that his dad wrote Cobb and received a signed index card signed in green ink. He also states that he has the original self addressed stamped envelop it came in and it bears a zip code. Ty Cobb died on July 17th 1961, some two years before zip codes came into use.
12. A: D. Jersey by Apex, pants by Champion. This can be seen the DVD from this game that is part of the NFL series Super Bowl XXI-XXX which is part of the MEARS reference library.
13. A: C: I would call for a time out as the Riddell RI220 is a double bar facemask. The helmet Star wore in Super Bowl I features a Riddell RI210 single bar mask. Could that the helmet is actually from Super Bowl II as that is the mask style wore by Star for that game.
14. A: B. Fisk’s 1975 World Series home run in game six was launched courtesy Louisville Slugger.
15. A: B: Converse leather high tops with a light blue Converse logo. Picture can be found on page 186 of 100 Years of Hoops: A Fond Look Back at the Sport of Basketball. This reference is part of the MEARS basketball library.
16. A: D: The Babe’s jerseys are team atypical in that his features set-in sleeves and a button front vs the common team Raglan sleeves and zipper front. Images of this can be found on pages 252-253 of The Babe: The Game that Ruth Built. This book is part of the MEARS Vintage Baseball Library.
17. A: Trick question as it is none of the above. On this day, “Tom Terrific” was caught by Reds journeyman catcher Don Werner. A great reference for checking box scores can be found at www.retrosheet.org. Sites like this are very helpful when evaluating date or event specific items.
18. A. C. The larger white tag appears to have been replaced starting in 1967 so this rules out both a and d. Examples of this tagging change can be found in the MEARS Members Area under Uniform Tagging.
19. A: False. Jordan wore Converse in that game as seen on page 158 of And the Crowd Goes Wild: The Most Celebrated Sporting Events Ever Broadcast. This book is part of the MEARS reference library.
20. A: False. A picture of Griffey Jr. with this manner of bat tape and Block Letter GRIFFEY black Louisville Slugger can be found on the cover of the Baseball Digest March of 1990. MEARS has a number of pre-2000 issues of this and Football Digest in our reference library. Unlike images on Getty or Corbis that can be mislabeled at times, print images have had to been taken prior to any publishing date.
21. A: B. The Atlanta Braves. Reds 1934, Cubs, 1909,1917, 1931, & 1957-58, and the Chicago White Sox 1967-75. Marc Okkonen’s Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century. This book is part of the MEARS reference library.
22. A: Trick question. Only one award was given out for each position across both leagues that first year and the winner was Reds shortstop Roy McMillian.
23. A. B. The presence of the two rivets. This is due to the manner of construction. A good example can be found on page 161 of The Story of Football: A lavishly illustrated history of America’s exciting gridiron sport. This book is part of the MEARS Football reference library.
24. A. B. There is no “T” for tapered handle.
25. A. C. Adidas. You can see this at Corbis images (#BE049673) and on page 155 of The Game and the Glory. This book is part of the MEARS baseball reference library. It also underscores the point to look for multiple sources when trying to nail down significant event related items.
26. A: False. Check out Isiah Thomas with a wrist support on page 117 of Values of the Game. This book is part of MEARS basketball reference library.
27. A. C. A great shot of the ABA playoffs can be found on page 133 of the Story of Basketball. This book is part of the MEARS basketball reference library.
28. A. Pittsburgh. Black and Gold/Yellow for the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins.
29. A: B. 1955. The words WOLRD SERIES with the year below that will be featured between the center brand and the player barrel marking.
30. A: B. 56 for pitcher Jim Bouton. This and a comprehensive listing of uniform numbers can be found within Baseball by the Numbers by Mark Stang and Linda Harkness. This book is part of the MEARS baseball reference library.