Hildebrandt: WGN ran a baseball radio quiz in 1938 and players were involved

From SABR member Chuck Hildebrandt at SABRMedia.org on May 14, 2015:

Came across this while perusing some old newspapers looking for baseball media stories.  This is not exactly baseball media, but it’s close enough to mention here.

In the late 1930s, the Big Thing on radio was quiz shows.   The airwaves were lousy with ask-me-another type programs like Vox Pop, Professor Quiz, Uncle Jim’s Question Bee, and the highbrow Information Please, so high-falutin’ it spawned an almanac that remained popular decades after the show’s demise.

Far be it from Baseball to ignore so obvious a trend, so Chicago powerhouse WGN (or, more exactly, “W-G-N”) got into the game with Bob Elson’s Baseball Quiz.   Teams of seven (why stop at seven?  Why not nine?), handpicked by area chambers of commerce or service organizations, would be questioned on their knowledge  of the game and the players who play it.

Read the full article here: http://sabrmedia.org/2015/05/14/wgn-ran-a-radio-baseball-quiz-in-1938-and-players-were-involved/



Originally published: May 15, 2015. Last Updated: May 15, 2015.