Red Sox Opening Day, 1998 by BruceM

Champion(s):

ChrisRosenberg
The odds of me winning a quiz are sufficiently low to not compel me to have something witty here.


Runner(s)-Up:

GoodmanDL
A genius is someone like Norman Einstein...


Quiz Description

An entire quiz about people involved in one memorable game from April 10, 1998. Please keep it fun for everyone and don't look that game up until after you submit!

Full Results:

Rank Player Total %ile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Money Value (% Incorrect): 38 49 18 26 18 58 18 40 32 49 40 52
1 ChrisRosenberg 416 98 15
15
49
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58
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40
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49
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40
15
2 GoodmanDL 414 95 15
38
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49
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58
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49
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15
3 KPope 413 92 15
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58
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52
4 jnowell 401 90 15
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58
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5 GarciaD 397 87 15
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52
6 RauscherM 390 84 15
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7 RawheadKev 384 81 15
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52
8 AnthonyBianca 372 78 15
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49
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58
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49
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9 quarterrican 369 75 15
38
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52
10 KesslerA2 359 72 15
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11 HightB 353 70 15
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58
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12 SochackiA 350 67 15
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13 MilesTeg 335 64 15
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14 akambour 331 60 15
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14 BoyerA 331 60 15
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16 GrahamJ 323 55 15
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17 classicroadster 296 52 15
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18 CoenM 288 50 15
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19 MaddyE 282 47 15
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20 ClouseBrian 279 44 00
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21 HoodM 257 41 15
38
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26
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52
22 HortonR 245 38 15
38
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23 apeekrtr 244 35 15
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24 MattK 239 32 00
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25 RalliP 215 30 00
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26 mwg 170 27 00
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27 GoldfarbDavidJ 169 24 00
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28 BIngram 154 18 00
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28 HoH 154 18 00
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28 SokolM 154 18 00
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18
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32
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31 JonesRW 141 12 00
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52
32 KlionskyG 122 10 00
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33 JMarg 113 7 00
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34 WillisM 78 4 00
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35 DouglasLovesVixey 0 1 00
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00

Questions:

On April 10, 1998 (22 years to the day before this quiz was written), the Boston Red Sox won their home opener by scoring seven runs (without any outs) in the bottom of the ninth. What 1995 AL MVP ended that game with a walkoff grand slam off Paul Spoljaric?

Click to Reveal Answer
Mo Vaughn

Spoljaric was the fourth Seattle Mariner reliever to enter that game in the ninth inning. Name any one of the other three.

  • The first had played for the 1996-1997 Red Sox before being part of a notoriously lopsided trade.
  • The second was a Havana-born LOOGY ("lefty one-out guy") who had played for Boston in the early '90s.
  • The third was a four-time world champion (two each with the 1990s Blue Jays and 2000s Red Sox).

Click to Reveal Answer
Heathcliff Slocumb; Tony Fossas; Mike Timlin

Which Hall of Famer was Seattle's starting pitcher that day, facing off against Brian Rose? He struck out 15 batters over eight innings of two-hit, two-run ball.

Click to Reveal Answer
Randy Johnson

Two answers required. Joey Cora led off for the Mariners. Name the next two hitters in Seattle's lineup: At the time they were 22 and 28 years old, respectively.

Click to Reveal Answer
Alex Rodriguez; Ken Griffey Jr.

Two answers required. He was the 1997 AL rookie of the year and led off for Boston in the 1998 Red Sox home opener. She played for the USWNT from 1987 to 2004, winning World Cups in 1991 and 1999. They got married in November 2003. Name both of these athletes (please provide two surnames, not just his).

Click to Reveal Answer
Nomar Garciaparra; Mia Hamm

What kingly former and subsequent Yankee batted cleanup (as a DH) for the Red Sox that day? He was primarily a catcher in 1996, when his game-tying home run turned around Game 4 of the 1996 World Series. He got back to the World Series with the 1998 Padres and 1999 Yankees.

Click to Reveal Answer
Jim Leyritz

The player from the previous question only caught one game for the 1998 Red Sox, who used him almost entirely as a DH. What Georgia Tech alumnus was Boston's starting catcher for the home opener and for 55 other games that year? Sometimes known as "The Captain," he was once traded for one of the pitchers from question 2. In July 2004 he shoved his glove into the face of one of the players from question 4.

Click to Reveal Answer
Jason Varitek

What lefthanded batter was Boston's main starting catcher that year? He was announced to pinch-hit for Darren Lewis in the ninth inning of that Opening Day game, but Mike Benjamin pinch-hit for him once Seattle brought in a lefty. He's far better known for a September 4, 2002, pinch-hitting appearance in Oakland, a walkoff home run later featured in the movie Moneyball.

Click to Reveal Answer
Scott Hatteberg

In Moneyball what actor portrayed the player from the previous question? You may also know him as Andy Dwyer (of Pawnee, Indiana) or as the superhero Star-Lord.

Click to Reveal Answer
Chris Pratt

Which former Atlanta Brave, a late-inning hero in multiple 1991 World Series games (and indirectly the inspiration for Homestar Runner's name) batted seventh and played second base for Boston that day?

Click to Reveal Answer
Mark Lemke

Which Stephen King novel is partly named for a reliever who would save 46 games that season but who pitched ineffectively (one out, two hits and a walk, two runs) for Boston that day? We want the title of the book, in which nine-year-old Trisha gets lost on a family hiking trip and listens to Red Sox games on the radio.

Click to Reveal Answer
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Boston's winning pitcher that day was Rich Garces, better known as "El Guapo." Mike Maddux claims to have given Garces that nickname after watching Alfonso Arau play El Guapo in what movie?

Click to Reveal Answer
Three Amigos