Maine Sports Trivia Answers!

Well, the results of the first ever Strange Maine trivia contest were surprisingly sparse! I'm not sure if everyone was hibernating, or what, but we only had ONE ENTRY. Luckily, it was a pretty stellar entry, by Krister Rollins, in which he answered 4 out of the 5 questions correctly. I awarded him two prizes, since he obviously deserved them for: (1) being the only person to even bother entering, and (2) for answering almost everything right on the first try.

Next time, maybe some of the rest of you can join in, hmmm?

Here are the questions and their correct answers.

QUESTION: In 2008, how many girls were playing baseball on boys' high school teams in Maine as reported to the National Federation of State High School Associations?
ANSWER: Two.

"...in many states, the high school diamond was a lonely place for girls. Maine, Kentucky and New Hampshire each had two female players. Connecticut reported one." [Source: New York Times, "Challenges for Girls Playing High School Baseball," by Mark Hyman, February 28, 2009]

QUESTION:What sport did famous poet Edna St. Vincent Millay play during her time at Camden High School?
ANSWER: Basketball!

The Maine Memory Network has a great photo of the poet in uniform with the rest of her team, shown here. I have circled Millay for easy spotting.

QUESTION:In December 1897, the U.S.S. Maine Baseball Team won the Navy baseball championship. What member of the team was the only one left alive after February 15, 1898, when the ship was sunk in Havana Harbor?
ANSWER: John Bloomer.

"On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor helping spark the Spanish-American War. The explosion killed 260 of the ship's crew and all of the members of the baseball team except for John Bloomer." [Source] There's a great photo of the team in their uniforms at www.19cbaseball.com, with Bloomer himself picked out clearly.

QUESTION: What weird socket-powered sport began holding organized competitions in Maine in 1991?
ANSWER: Belt Sander Racing.

This is the one that even Krister didn't get! Check out the Central Maine Power Tool Racing Association's website, or take a peek at all the photos of the races on their Flickr.com site.

QUESTION:What unlikely, overgrown orange fruits have been made into makeshift water racing crafts in Maine each October for the last 4 years?
ANSWER: Giant pumpkins!

We've posted on the blog about this before(read article here). What better way to get crazy in October, than to attend the Giant Pumpkin Regatta?! Photo from Maine Pumpkin Growers' website

All of the answers were available on-line, so I was surprised there weren't more entries -- I assumed more of you were going to do some virtual digging for the info!