Northwest Quiz: Go Cubs Go!

We’ve waited a long time for that World Series victory, and sweet memories of it still linger. Test your knowledge of our hometown ball club.

1. What was the very first name of the team that eventually became the Chicago Cubs?

2. Who holds the fastest recorded pitch speed in MLB history, at 105.1 mph?

3. How many Cubs teams have reached the postseason?

4. Which former Chicago Cubs player is known as “Mr. Cub” and wore No. 14?

5. What’s the name of the Cubs’ home ballpark for spring training?

6. Six players have won the Rookie of the Year Award as a member of the Chicago Cubs. Can you name them?

7. In what year was the ivy on the outfield wall planted and the bleachers and scoreboard built at Wrigley Field?

8. Which current Cubs played Adele’s “Hello” for his teammates this season on an electric piano?

9. How many Cubs uniforms have been retired, and for whom?

10. Why weren’t lights installed as planned at Wrigley Field in 1942?

11. What does TV actor Chuck Connors have to do with the Cubs?

12. Name the four Cubs pitchers who won 15 or more games in 2016.

13. Which Cubs hitter holds the team record for the most strikeouts in one season?

14. What’s the (now broken) curse of the Billy Goat?

15. The Cubs recently announced a planned ticket price increase of how much?

Quiz Answers

1. The White Stockings was the name of the ball club that formed in 1871.

2. Free agent Aroldis Chapman, who came to the Cubs from the Yankees in July 2016, in exchange for four players. He since returned to the Yankees.

3. Eighteen, including 2016. They’ve been in 10 World Series.

4. Ernie Banks. He hit more home runs than anyone in the majors between 1955 and 1960.

5. Sloan Park, in Mesa, Ariz.

6. Billy Williams (1961), Ken Hubbs (1962), Jerome Walton (1989), Kerry Wood (1998), Geovany Soto (2008) and Kris Bryant (2015)

7. In 1937

8. Anthony Rizzo

 9. Five. They are No. 14for Ernie Banks; No. 10 for Ron Santo; No. 26 for Billy Williams; No. 23 for Ryne Sandberg; and No. 31 for Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

10. Former owner P.K. Wrigley instead donated the fixtures to the war effort after Pearl Harbor was attacked. The first night game wasn’t played until 1988, and it was rained out.

11. Connors (of the 1958-1963 TV show “The Rifleman”) played 66 games for the 1951 Cubs.

12. Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and Jason Hammel.

13. Kris Bryant struck out 199 times in 2015.

14. It began during the 1945 World Series. The Cubs refused to let Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis bring his lucky goat inside Wrigley Field for Game 4. An angry Sianis declared that the Cubs would never win a World Series again. They lost that Series and haven’t been back until now.

15. Ticket prices will rise nearly 20 percent. The team drew about 3.23 million fans last year.