Baseball quick quiz.

Collect ten points for each question answered correctly. Answers on page 130

(if you score 80 or better, you are a baseball expert; 70 or better, superior; between 60 and 70 good, and between 40 and 60 average

1. Since 1931 when the Baseball Writers Association began voting for the league Most Valuable Player Award winners, only 11 players have won back-to-back MVP honors. Collect ten points if you can identify five of these consecutive MVP award recipients.

2. From 1968 through 1977, Tom Seaver won 187 regular season games in the majors. Since 1950, which pitcher totaled the most victories (205) during a stretch of ten consecutive seasons: Jim Palmer, Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal or Fergie Jenkins?

3. During last season's American League Championship Series, the White Sox defeated the Angels four games to one. Collect ten points if you can identify the four White Sox starting pitchers who threw complete-game victories in the ALCS.

4. Entering the 2006 season, there have been 20 players with 500 or more career homers. Only seven of these sluggers hold a lifetime batting average of .300 or higher. Collect ten points if you can identify four of the seven players with 500 career HR and a .300 batting mark.

5. Who was the toughest batter to strike out in the majors last season (among hitters who qualified for the batting title): Juan Pierre, Jason Kendall, Luis Castillo, or David Eckstein?