About This Quiz
You probably know most of the all-time greats on your favorite team and a few iconic teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, but how well do you know the players on smaller market teams?
Many of MLB's best players started their careers with small-market franchises only to move on to teams with bigger budgets once they hit free agency. Look at Alex Rodriguez, for example; he started his career in Seattle and Texas before signing a record-breaking contract with the Yankees. Very few players in today's game spend their entire career with one team. Ryan Howard, Derek Jeter and Joe Mauer are in the minority.
In order for the smaller market teams to remain competitive year after year, they need to prioritize their farm team so that they can constantly replace their star players that depart via free agency. The Oakland Athletics are the king of this. So far in 2019, the Red Sox lead the league in payroll with a budget of 225 million. The Oakland Athletics have the #26 payroll at about 66 million and are half a game ahead of the Red Sox as of the All-Star break.
Hopefully, this quiz isn't like a pop fly — over your head. Let's get started to see if you can go around the horn and name all 30 teams!
Cal Ripkin Jr. has the record for most hits in an Orioles uniform with 3,184. Adam Jones, who signed with the Diamondbacks in 2019, has the record for the most Oriole hits of any player still active in the MLB with 1,781.
These three sluggers are the top three on the White Sox's all-time home run list. Frank 'The Big Hurt' Thomas leads the pack with 448 career dingers with the Sox. Konerko hit 432 dingers, and Baines 221.
The Rockies have always been known for producing hitters. These three guys are the top three on Colorado's all-time home run list. However, Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado, Troy Tulowitzki, Charlie Blackmon and Matt Holliday could also all be considered in the top three best hitters.
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These three players are the top three on Kansas City's all-time hit list. George Brett leads the way with 3,154 hits in 2707 games with the Royals. The current active leader is Alex Gordan, who has 1,549 hits with the Royals.
Miami is one of the newer teams in the league, and they have had a quick turn over in their players. Only two players have played more than 1,000 games with the Marlins, Luis Castillo and Jeff Conine.
Darryl Strawberry has the highest career OPS of any player who has played more than 1,000 games with the Mets with .878. Three players have a higher career at Mets OPS but have played fewer games: John Olerud, Mike Piazza and Yoenis Cespedes.
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These three players lead the Phillies in all-time home runs with 548, 382 and 249 respectfully. Chuck Klein is the all-time Phillies OPS leader of players with more than 1,000 games played. From 1928 to 1944 he had a .935 OPS.
Barry Bonds is the all-time league leader in home runs, but he doesn't lead the Giants all-time list since he started his career with the Pirates. Bonds has 586 home runs in a Giants uniform while Mays sits number one with 646 dingers.
Longoria, Crawford and Zobrist are the top three on Rays' all-time RBI list. They're also the only players to play more than 1,000 games for the Rays. Jose Canseco might be the biggest name to play for the Rays, but he played less than 200 games.
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Vladimir Guerrero leads the Expos/Nationals franchise in OPS for players who've played more than 1,000 games. Over 1,004 games, he hit an insane .978. He also ranks highly on the team's all-time list for most major hitting stats like home runs, stolen bases, RBIs and batting average.
Carlos Delgado is arguably the best hitter to ever don a Blue Jays uniform. In 1,423 games, he leads the team in all-time OPS (.949), home runs (336), doubles (343), walks (827) and RBIs (1,058). He's number two in all-time games played behind Tony Fernandez.
The Cardinals are one of the most successful teams in baseball history. You could make an argument that Mark McGwire also belongs in the top three Cardinals hitters of all-time since he hit his record 70 home run season in a Cardinals uniform.
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These three players are also the only players in franchise history to play more than 1,000 games. Tony Gwynn has the title of greatest Padre hitter locked down. His 3,141 hits are almost three times higher than second-place Templeton's 1,135.
Jimmie Foxx leads the Athletics in all-time OPS with an outstanding 1.079 over 1,256 games. To put that in perspective Mike Trout has a career .998 as of the 2019 All-Star break. Foxx's best season came in 1932 when he had 58 home runs.
When it comes to Twins hitters, Harmon Killebrew stands out at the top. In his 2,329 career games, he hit 559 home runs and amassed 1,540 RBIs. Like a lot of successful hitters, Killebrew also got his share of strikeouts. He leads the team with 1,629.
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So many great players have passed through the Dodgers organization that it's hard to pick just three. Some honorable mentioned include Gil Hodges, Eric Karros, Roy Campanella, Zack Wheat and Jack Fournier. Zack Wheat is the all-time games played leader with 2,322.
Hammerin' Hank Aaron is one of the greatest hitters of all-time. He hit 733 of his career 755 home runs with the Atlanta Braves/Milwaukee Braves over 3,076 games. He also amassed 3,600 hits with the team to give him more than an 800 hit lead on the team's all-time list.
It's no surprise that Sammy Sosa is the Cubs' all-time home run leader. In 1,811 games, he hit 545 long flys. Second on the Cubs' all-time home run list is Ernie Banks, who hit a total of 512 in the 2528 games he played with the Cubs.
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These three players lead Cleveland's all-time home run list with 337, 242 and 236 dingers respectfully. The current active leader is Carlos Santana, who has 193 homers with the Indians. Nap Lajoie is first on the all-time hits leader with 2,052 at the turn of the 20th century.
Craig Biggio leads all Astro Hitters with 2,850 career games played. He's exactly 700 games ahead of the second-place Jeff Bagwell. The current active leader for games played with the Astros is Jose Altuve, who has played 1,174 games.
The Mariners have had their share of stars over the years. Ichiro Suzuki is the all-time hit leader with 2,542. He also has the highest batting average of any Mariner with more than 1,000 games played with a career .321 average.
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Juan Gonzalez has the highest career OPS of any player with more than 1,000 games played in a Rangers uniform. The best season of his career came in 1996 when he hit .314 with 47 home runs and 144 RBIs.
Roberto Clemente leads the Pirates' all-time hits list with precisely 3,000. He's also tied with Honus Wagner for the most games played in a Pirates uniform with 2,433. Willie Stargell is the team's all-time home run leader.
The Yankees have had their share of star players over the years. The number 50 player on the Yankees all-time hits list is Mark Teixeira to put their depth in perspective. Derek Jeter leads the Yankees with 11,195 at bats and 3,465 hits.
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Ryan Braun is the all-time Brewers home run leader with 334 as of the 2019 All-Star break. Of players who've had at least 3000 at bats with the Brew Crew, Prince Fielder leads the team in OPS with .929.
It's kind of funny that the number one and number three batter on the Angels all-time home run list are named after fish. Perhaps their next star will be named Jim Tuna. Tim Salmon leads the team with 299 home runs.
Ty Cobb leads the Tigers with the most at bats with 10,586. Over his career, he put up an amazing .951 OPS with a career .369 batting average. He hit over .400 three times in his career, including a .420 average in 1911.
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Pete Rose has more than 1,000 more hits than the second-place Barry Larkin on the Reds' all-time list. En route to reaching 4,256 hits, Pete Rose hit 3,358 with the Reds. He is also the only Red with more than 10,000 at bats.
The top 30 Red Sox players of all-time would probably make it into the top three with most teams. Ted Williams leads the Red Sox all-time home run list with 521. He also has the highest career batting average at .344 and on-base percentage at .482.
There are only two players who have played more than 1,000 games with the Diamondbacks. Luis Gonzalez leads most statistical categories with 1,194 games played, 224 home runs, 1,337 hits, and 774 RBIs. Now Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt is the other player with more than 1,000 games played.
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