Each day, as we wind closer to the start of baseball season, I’ll post a trivia question to get everyone thinking about the grand game.

Each answer will be posted the following morning.

Here is today’s question …

Bake McBride, who won the 1974 NL Rookie of the Year with the St. Louis Cardinals, grew up in which Mid-Missouri town.

Here were the questions …

Quincy native Jim Finigan made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 25, 1954, and finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting that season.

Who edged Finigan for Rookie of the Year in ’54?

What team did Finigan make his big league debut against?

Here are the answers …

Yankees pitcher Bob Grim won the 1954 AL Rookie of the Year, receiving 15 of the 24 points possible. Finigan was second with eight points and Hall of Famer Al Kaline was third with one point.

Grim went 20-6 with a 3.26 earned-run average in 1954, but he only reached double digits in victories one other time in his career. He went 12-8 with the Yankees in 1957. By 1962, his career was over with a 61-41 record in 268 appearances.

Finigan’s debut was in a doubleheader against the Yankees. He came off the bench as a defensive replacement at third base in a 6-1 loss in the opener. In the nightcap, a 4-2 victory for the A’s, he hit seventh and went 2 for 3 with one RBI.

Ironically, it was Grim who took the loss for Yankees in that game, allowing four runs and six hits in five innings. Finigan doubled off Grim.

The best part of Josh Kinney’s spring training debut was he pitched a scoreless inning.

Better yet, he worked out of a bases-loaded jam.

Unfortunately, he created the jam.

Kinney walked three, struck out two and allowed no hits and no runs in one inning of work in the Cardinals’ 9-8 victory over the Mets. Kinney may have struggled with his control at times, but he battled through it the way the Cardinals have come to expect.

That bulldog mentality is one of the reasons he will find a spot on the big league roster again this season.

For more on the Cardinals’ spring training or to check out stats on Kinney or the other Redbirds, click here to go to the Cardinals’ Web site.

Here’s a two-for-one special (since I was out of the office on Thursday I have to catch up).

Quincy native Jim Finigan made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 25, 1954, and finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting that season.

Who edged Finigan for Rookie of the Year in ’54?

And …

What team did Finigan make his big league debut against?

Here was the question …

How many members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame played for both the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs?

Here is the answer …

11. They are Grover Alexander, Roger Bresnahan, Lou Brock, Mordecai Brown, Dizzy Dean, Dennis Eckersley, Burleigh Grimes, Rogers Hornsby, Rabbit Maranville, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm.

I was asked, in response to an earlier post about the area boys basketball players I would build a starting five around, who I would pick at center if I were to use a traditional center in my lineup.

I actually thought about this from the start. I chose to use a power forward as my post player rather than a traditional center, just to make my team a little quicker and more athletic. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t quality big men in the area.

So here is who I would take if I wanted to build a unit around a big man:

My starter would be West Hancock’s Will Carr. At 6-foot-9, he fits the mold well. He can rip down a rebound and understands how to post up and demand the ball. His hands still need work, but he has become a bonafide threat on the offensive end.

My backup would be Palmyra’a Alan Keller.

Each day, as we wind closer to the start of baseball season, I’ll post a trivia question to get everyone thinking about the grand game.

Each answer will be posted the following morning.

Here is today’s question …

How many members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame played for both the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs?

It was a two-for-one day, so here are the questions …

Which former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, who also played for the Quincy Rivermen, is now a high school baseball coach in Illinois?

And …

Which college teammate did he square off against in the 1987 World Series?

Here are the answers …

Jim Lindeman is the coach at Rolling Meadows High School, where his teams have won 20 or more games four times since the 2001-02 season.Lindeman, who played at Bradley for Dewey Kalmer, spent the summer of ’82 with the Quincy Rivermen. He was a first-round pick of the Cardinals in 1983, made his debut in 1986 and enjoyed probably his most memorable moment in 1987 when he homered in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Giants.

Lindeman squared off against former Bradley teammate Kirby Puckett in the ’87 World Series. Puckett played for the Rivermen in 1981, was drafted in 1982 and made his debut with the Twins in 1984.

Here’s a two-for-one special (since I was out of the office on Monday I have to catch up):

Which former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, who also played for the Quincy Rivermen, is now a high school baseball coach in Illinois?

And …

Which college teammate did he square off against in the 1987 World Series?

Come June, when the area’s best high school basketball players from the Class of 2009 gather at Quincy University for the McDonald’s/Herald-Whig Classic, you get a collection of all-stars that is often tough to match.

What you don’t get is the best of the best playing together.

So what if you had the opportunity to take the area’s best players, regardless of class, from both Illinois and Missouri and create one team? Who would you take? Who would get left out?

Your team would be based on how you coach. If you believe in half-court offense, you’d base your lineup around a smart point guard and a dominant post player. Do you like a faster pace? You’d want a guard-oriented starting five.

I’d be surprised if any two people chose the same five or played them the same way. My team is listed below. Who would you take? Let me know. E-mail me your team at mschuckman@whig.com or leave a comment below.

Now, without further ado …

Point Guard

Jonathon Nutt, Palmyra

I want an offensive-minded floor leader, not someone who believes who is just a solid ball-handler and quality passer. I want a scorer. I want a shooter. I want someone who can beat a defender off the dribble.

Nutt does it all. His ball-handling is smooth, he sees the floor and he distributes. Better yet, he scores. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyhow. Nutt shoots the three, he drives, he knocks down free throws, he has possibly the best first step in the game.

His backup: Clint Hamilton, Pittsfield

Shooting Guard

Tyler Harris, Western

You need someone with a knack for scoring in this position. Yes, the ability to shoot is essential, but you want a player who can get to the free-throw line, can hit off-balance shots and simply finds a way to make a basket when the opportunity isn’t there.

Harris does that. He’s deadly from the free-throw line — I saw hit him go 9 of 9 against Pittsfield and never touch the rim on a single attempt — and understands how to hit the leaner while drawing contact. His shot is effortless and his range is deep, as deep as any shooter I’ve seen.

His backup: Matt Patterson, South Shelby

Swingman

Zach Forbes, Quincy

A role player as a sophomore whose role was defense, Forbes has emerged as one of the best scorers this program has produced in the last decade. He creates his own shot, finishes when there is contact and is improving on stepping out and hitting the trey.

Forbes is topping 17 points per game — only J.D. Summers and Marcus Medsker, who were Herald-Whig Players of the Year, averaged more — but he still plays defense. He’s long, quick and understands the value of positioning and being quick to the ball.

His backup: Justin Ellison, Canton

Swingman

Ryan Stuckman, QND

The kid knows how to score. It’s that simple. So much of QND’s success offensively can be attributed to Stuckman’s versatility. He can step out and knock down a 3-pointer. He attacks the rim. He shoots free throws at a high percentage.

Above all, he’s smart. He knows how to draw contact. He knows how to read the floor. He doesn’t get rattled. Oh, he rebounds and plays defense, too. He does both with a smart, physical style that makes him one of the area’s best.

His backup: Brian Baker, Griggsville-Perry

Power forward

Michael Brennan, Clark County

I’m creating a lineup without a true center because I want to see this team get up and down the floor and play instinctively. To do that, you need athletes. There may be no better athlete than Brennan in this area. He has a 37-inch vertical and is headed to play football as a preferred walk-on at the University of Missouri.

If he wasn’t such a dominant defensive lineman, he’d be a heck of a find for a college basketball coach. His ability to score over bigger defenders is huge, and he delivers as much punishment as he takes. Here’s a kid who will own the lane and beat most people up and down the floor.

His backup: Dennis Dent, Knox County