Soon, baseball will be back. Will you be ready to spend evenings arguing with friends about who is the better pitcher--Roger Clemens or Orel Hershiser? Will you be ready to listen to Vince Scully every Saturday afternoon?

If not, then pay attention to the Sports Cube's annual baseball trivia quiz.

The concept is simple. Read the 20 questions. They're worth five points each. Don't turn the paper upside down until you've answered everything. Start arguing with your friends. Think about Vin Scully. Baseball's almost here.

All questions had been made up from the information in the 1989 edition of The Sports Encylopedia By David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen. If you have any complaints about the statistics, talk to them.

SCORING

100: You helped make up the quiz or you know Neft and Cohen really well.

85-99: Your father helped build the Hall of Fame or is a major league baseball player.

70-84: You go to 50 baseball games each year. You read the USA Today sports section every day.

50-69: Okay, maybe you like baseball, but you'd rather wait for the opening game of the New England Patriots.

49 or below: You'd rather watch arena football during the summer.

1. Fireballer Nolan Ryan, who will pitch this year for the Texas Rangers, is the only hurler in baseball history to record five no-hitters. Ryan pitched his first two no-hitters in 1973 as a California Angel. He pitched his fifth for the Houston Astros in 1981, when he blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0. Can you name who Ryan was tied with for most no-hitters in a career before he set the record?

A. Jim Maloney

B. Sandy Koufax

C. Bob Feller

D. Walter Johnson