On-Air Now
On-Air Now
Listen Live

Quiz: Big League Bruddahs

By Lance Tominaga, ESPN Honolulu Web Editor.

Hawaii has a proud history of athletes with Hawaii ties playing in Major League Baseball. Whether they played high school ball locally or represented the University of Hawaii, these men went on to play baseball at the highest level and reached the pinnacle of success in their sport. Here’s a quick Pop Quiz spotlighting, to use Rob DeMello’s words, Hawaii’s “big-league bruddahs”:

1. Former Kaiser pitching phenom Sid Fernandez won a World Series ring in 1986 with the New York Mets. What Major League ball club originally drafted him?

2. This Hawaii-born and raised ball player became one of only three players in Major League history to pinch-hit for the legendary Hank Aaron.

3. Which Hawaii product hit the very first grand slam in an MLB regular-season game played in Japan?

4. What Hawaii pitcher led the American League in games pitched in both 1988 and ’89?

5. On July 17, 2007, for the first time in MLB history, a pitcher-catcher battery included two players from Hawaii. Kurt Suzuki was the catcher. Who was the pitcher?

6. Before playing for the University of Hawaii, Kolten Wong was drafted in the 16th round of the MLB Draft. What team drafted him?

7. What Hawaii player was selected to play in the 2016 All-Star Game?

8. What a Major League club did Sid Fernandez last pitch for?

9. What Hawaii player was the Baltimore Orioles’ starting shortstop when Cal Ripken Jr. began his record streak of 2,632 consecutive games played?

10. Baldwin High School alum Kurt Suzuki won a World Series ring with the Washington Nationals in 2019. Fifteen years earlier, Suzuki won a College World Series championship. What school did Suzuki help lead to the CWS title?

 

ANSWERS:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

2. Mike Lum

3. Playing for the Mets, Benny Agbayani hit his history-making grand slam on March 30, 2000 in Tokyo in a game against the Chicago Cubs.

4. Chuck Crim

5. Shane Komine

6. The Minnesota Twins drafted Wong in 2008 and offered him a $75,000 contract. Wong rejected the offer.

7. Former UH pitcher Steven Wright

8. “El Sid” pitched one game for the Houston Astros in 1997 before calling it a career.

9. Lenn Sakata

10. Cal State Fullerton.

#          #          #