With a 10-6 advantage over opponent Rich Linville of the Cincinnati Reds, Diamondbacks dbTV supervisor Josh DeFamio barely escaped with a ninth-inning showdown on MLB Network’s Baseball IQ. DeFamio took a huge risk and almost conceded defeat before Linville came up one trivia answer short of earning the come-from-behind victory.
DeFamio had built an early 10-2 lead before Linville won innings seven and eight to truly make it a ballgame.
The ninth-inning trivia question was: “Most HR by player whose primary career position was catcher.”
DeFamio elected to start the bidding process by stating he could name five players on that all-time list. Linville responded with eight, and DeFamio challenged him to produce those eight names.
After naming catchers Johnny Bench (389 HR), Yogi Berra (358), Carlton Fisk (376), Gary Carter (324), Javy Lopez (260), Lance Parrish (324) and Roy Campanella (242), Linville incorrectly named Darren Daulton, whose 137 career HR is 56 short of No. 20 Jason Varitek’s mark of 193.
Mike Piazza ranks No. 1 all-time, hitting 427 HR during his stellar career in which he was a 12-time All-Star, 10-time Silver Slugger Award winner, 1993 NL Rookie of the Year and MVP of the 1996 MLB All-Star Game.
DeFamio’s “narrow” 18-2 victory places him into the quarterfinals, where he will meet Colorado Rockies director of retail operations Aaron Heinrich, after Heinrich defeated the Dodgers‘ Seth Bluman with his own successful comeback campaign.
With DeFamio’s Round 2 victory, the D-Backs have now won $10,000 for the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation charity.
If DeFamio runs the table and wins the tournament, the Diamondbacks stand to take home $45,000 for charity.
New episodes of MLB Network’s Baseball IQ run Tuesday through Thursday at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. ET.
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