How to play Name That Player Trivia (MLB)

Name That Player Trivia hides one MLB player behind six clues. You choose the team and the era, and the mystery player is someone who played for that team in that era. Solve it in as few seconds as you can.

Play Name That Player Trivia

How a round works

Pick any of the 30 teams, then an era: 2000–present, 1974–1999, 1947–1973 or 1903–1946. The era is set by the year a player’s time with that team began, so a player who joined the Yankees in 1998 belongs to 1974–1999 even if he played into the 2000s.

The first three clues are shown right away. The other three stay hidden until you ask for them. The clues start broad, such as the position he played and how long he stayed with the team, and get more specific as you go, down to stat lines from his time with that club.

Guessing

Type a name, pick a match from the suggestions, then submit your guess.
You get up to nine guesses per round.
After three guesses a Give up button appears. It reveals the answer and ends the round.

Scoring

Your score is the time on the clock, in seconds, plus a penalty for each extra clue you reveal. Lower is better.
Extra clues cost 5 seconds for the first, 10 for the second and 15 for the third.
A wrong guess doesn’t add time, but it uses up one of your nine guesses.
Signed-in players are ranked on a leaderboard for each team and era. Guests can play every puzzle, but scores are only saved for accounts.

Which players show up

Puzzle players had a meaningful role with the team: at least 300 at-bats, 25 starts or 100 relief appearances during their time there. That keeps the answer from being a player who barely appeared. Practice mode avoids repeating a player you’ve already seen until you’ve worked through every eligible player for that team and era.

Tips

Pick an era and team you follow. Knowing the roster history is the biggest edge.
Use the first three clues to narrow down position and tenure before you guess.
Reveal extra clues only when you’re stuck. The first one costs just 5 seconds.
Think about everyone on the roster in that era, not only the famous names.

Where the data comes from