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Baseball IQ is an American television game show airing on the cable channel MLB Network. The show debuted on January 24, 2012, and its first season ended on February 23, 2012, with the season championship. The show is hosted by MLB Network anchor Matt Vasgersian. The show's focus is baseball trivia.
The show features 32 contestants (each of whom works for one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams as well as one from MLB.com and one from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) in a bracket-style tournament for up to USD 45,000 for their teams' designated charities. Each episode's winner receives USD 5,000 for the charity and the season champion receives USD 25,000 for the charity. The season runner-up's charity receives USD 15,000.
The gameplay starts with the "Lead-off Home Run" question. The player who buzzes in gets the chance to answer. If the player is correct, they score the first run and control of a board with 8 categories to be used in the first 8 rounds ("innings"8 or 9 "innings" per episode). If the player who buzzes in is incorrect, their opponent gets the first run and control of the board. For the first 8 innings, the player in control picks a category and the subject of a list-based question is given. Players alternate giving answers in the category until one either gives an incorrect answer, repeats a previously given answer, or runs out of time trying to come up with an answer. At that point, the other player wins the inning and is given the option to use their one "Big Inning" (each player in each episode gets one) and gives four more answers to earn 2 runs. However if the player uses their Big Inning and fails to get 4 correct answers, he loses the amount of runs he was awarded in the inning. The number of runs for winning the inning outright is determined by how deep the players went in the inning. After 8 innings, if one player is ahead of his opponent by more runs than can be scored in the ninth inning, the "mercy rule" goes into effect and no ninth inning is played.
In the ninth inning, the two players would bid on the number of correct answers they can give in the final category. If the player who wins the bidding gives the number of correct answers that they bid would score the runs and, if they bid enough, would win the game. If the ninth inning ends in a tie, one more buzz-in question is asked. If the player who buzzes in gets the answer correct, they get the run, win the game, and advance in the tournament. The other player scores and wins if the buzz-in player answers incorrectly.
The first tournament was won by Shane Demmitt, representing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who defeated Ben Baumer, representing the New York Mets, in the final round.
| Organization | Participant | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angels | Shane Demmitt | Assistant Equipment Manager | Won tournament |
| Astros | Benjamin Coburn | Ticket Sales Representative | Lost in 1st round to Josh DeFamio |
| Athletics | David Nosti | Account Manager | Lost in 1st round to Tony Blengino |
| Blue Jays | Howard Starkman | Vice President, Special Projects | Lost in 1st round to Curt Nelson |
| Braves | Mark Lehman | Corporate Partnerships Manager | Lost in 2nd round to Ben Baumer |
| Brewers | Jeff Hibicke | Senior Account Executive, Client Services | Lost in 1st round to Samuel Mondry-Cohen |
| Cardinals | Brian Finch | Manager of Stadium Tours/Museum Outreach | Lost in 1st round to Ryan Balogh |
| Cubs | Ryan Balogh | Account Executive, Corporate Partnerships | Lost in quarterfinals to Ben Baumer |
| Diamondbacks | Josh DeFamio | Supervisor, dbTV Graphics | Lost in semifinals to Shane Demmitt |
| Dodgers | Seth Bluman | Director of Ticket Operations | Lost in 2nd round to Aaron Heinrich |
| Giants | Greg Marinec | Manager of Client Relations | Lost in 1st round to Seth Bluman |
| Hall of Fame | Craig Muder | Director of Communications | Lost in quarterfinals to Shane Demmitt |
| Indians | Jeff Stocker | Season Ticket Account Executive | Lost in 1st round to Craig Nordquist |
| Mariners | Tony Blengino | Special Assistant to the GM | Lost in 2nd round to Shane Demmitt |
| Marlins | Dan Noffsinger | Assistant Director of Pro Scouting | Lost in 1st round to Mark Lehman |
| Mets | Ben Baumer | Statistical Analyst | Lost in final round to Shane Demmitt |
| MLB.com | Cory Schwartz | VP of Statistics | Lost in 1st round to Craig Muder |
| Nationals | Samuel Mondry-Cohen | Baseball Operations Analyst | Lost in 2nd round to Ryan Balogh |
| Orioles | Jay Moskowitz | Coordinator, Baseball Information | Lost in 1st round to Shawn Hoffman |
| Padres | Fred Gerson | Executive VP and CFO | Lost in 1st round to Aaron Heinrich |
| Phillies | Jay McLaughlin | Baseball Information Analyst | Lost in 1st round to Ben Baumer |
| Pirates | Steve Morse | Account Manager, Premium Seating | Lost in 1st round to Rich Linville |
| Rangers | Chuck Morgan | Senior Vice President, Ballpark Entertainment | Lost in 1st round to Shane Demmitt |
| Rays | Shawn Hoffman | Assistant, Baseball Research & Development | Lost in 2nd round to Billy Broadbent |
| Reds | Rich Linville | Scoreboard Operator | Lost in 2nd round to Josh DeFamio |
| Red Sox | Billy Broadbent | Video Coordinator | Lost in quarterfinals to Dan Fabian |
| Rockies | Aaron Heinrich | Director of Retail Operations | Lost in quarterfinals to Josh DeFamio |
| Royals | Curt Nelson | Director of Royals Hall of Fame | Lost in 2nd round to Dan Fabian |
| Tigers | Ron Wade | Director of Marketing | Lost in 1st round to Dan Fabian |
| Twins | Craig Nordquist | Guest Services | Lost in 2nd round to Craig Muder |
| White Sox | Dan Fabian | Director of Baseball Operations | Lost in semifinals to Ben Baumer |
| Yankees | Brian Richards | Museum Curator | Lost in 1st round to Billy Broadbent |
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