A Fun Day of Trivia and Yankee-Bashing

I spent a wonderful afternoon with my friends the BLOHARDS yesterday afternoon. It was our first meeting of the year. (The second will be on September 25, the final time the Red Sox are in New York.) I was in to do some Red Sox trivia and give away some prizes. It's always a fun time had by all.

There were a few folks of note in the crowd of about 150+ at the Princeton/Columbia Club in Manhattan. Nick Green was the Red Sox player who made an appearance, and was joined by Red Sox radio broadcaster Dave O'Brien. Dave interviewed Nick about his time with the Red Sox. The actor Peter Riegert, who is most famous for playing Boon in "Animal House," was on hand, and I didn't even know he was a Red Sox fan. Budd Mishkin of New York 1 was also there with noted writer David Margolick.

Jerry Casale, the old Red Sox pitcher and raconteur was on hand, and it was good to see him there. (Thanks for the baseball card, Jerry!) Dick Flavin recited a nice poem he wrote about Ted Kennedy's appearance at Fenway on Opening Day. My friend and RSN-NY governor Chris Wertz talked about Professor Thom's and the State of the Nation. And John Pizzarelli was there as well, and did the highlight of the day, a song based on "I'm Hip," which was cleverly done and all about Alex Rodriguez.

And there was PLENTY of Yankee bashing yesterday, about Slappy, the new free agents signings, and especially about the new Wind Tunnel. (The Henry Berry Memorial Slide Show was very funny. Nice job, Ray!)

I had the pleasure of doing five Red Sox Trivia questions, and gave away Tim Shea's fine book about Fenway Park, some Thom's t-shirts and a Thom's gift certificate. For those of you wanting to play along, here they are:

1. What Red Sox player was the last to lead the MLB in both triples and home runs in the same season?
2. Before Jonathan Van Every, who was the last Red Sox player to hit his first MLB home run in extra innings, in 1985?
3. Who was the last position player for the Red Sox to pitch in a game before Jonathan Van Every did last week?
4. What Red Sox player led the team in HRs in 1992 with just 15?
5. When Carl Everett broke up Mike Mussina's perfect game in September 2001, who was he pinch-hitting for?

And the answers are: 1. Jim Rice; 2. Mike Greenwell; 3. Dave McCarty; 4. Tom Brunansky; 5. Joe Oliver.

I got correct answers from everyone almost right away on every question. But I was shocked that I got a fast one on the Carl Everett question, as I thought it would be one that would stump everyone. But Jim answered it right away, and won the gift certificate. Very impressive indeed.

My thanks to Joe from the BLOHARDS for putting on a very good luncheon yesterday. Everyone really enjoyed it, and I look forward to doing another round of Red Sox trivia in September.