BaseBall Facts

Baseball was invented by Alexander Cartwright, modeling it upon the stick and ball game that he played then. The first known club match with rules written by him was played in June 19, 1846.

Each baseball game has 12,386,344 possible plays.

The odds of a fan being hit by a baseball are 300,000 to 1.

The shortest major league player was Eddie Gaedel, who was three feet, seven inches tall. His sole appearance in an MLB game was a publicity stunt.

The tallest player in Major League history is Minnesota Twins' pitcher Jon Rauch, who is six feet, eleven inches tall.

Baseball legend states that the silhouette on the MLB logo is Harmon Killebrew, who played for the Washington Senators, the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals. He was second to Babe Ruth in total homeruns.

A strange rule of this game is that before every game, umpires remove the shine from the balls by rubbing them. The number of balls that they rub before every game is around six dozen. The mud with which the balls are rubbed is also location specific. Ideally, it should only come from a particular area in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Fidel Castro was once a star baseball player for the University of Havana.

In 1965, the minimum annual salary for a baseball player was $6,000, just a thousand dollars more than it had been in 1947.

A regulation baseball has 108 stitches.

The very first baseball game was played on June 19,1845, across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New York.

In baseball, a "can of corn" refers to a fly ball that is easy to catch.

Robert Redford attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship.

In an effort to sell more licensed apparel, minor-league baseball teams were changing their names so often that the sport's governing body now limits franchises to team name changes every three years.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York, houses the largest collection of baseball cards: 200,000.

The first perfect nine innings baseball game was achieved by John Lee Richmond on 12 June 1880.

Giants baseball catcher Roger Bresnahan introduced shin guards in 1907.

In 1897, the Washington Senators became the first baseball team ever to introduce "Ladies' Day."

 The longest game, time wise, in MLB history was played May 8, 1984 between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game went 25 innings and lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes. The game started at 7:30 PM and ended after 1:00 AM due to curfew with the game tied at 3 after 17 innings. The game resumed the next afternoon and went another 8 innings before Chicago finally won 7-6.

The longest game, innings wise, in MLB history was played May 1, 1920 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves. The game ended due to darkness after 26 innings with the teams tied at 1.

The longest game in triple-A history was played by The Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the triple-A International League, in 1981 in Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium. Game time was a total of 8:25, with 33 innings. Pawtucket won the game, 3–2. Also of not two future Hall of Famers played in the game, Cal Ripken Jr. and Wade Boggs.

The average baseball only lasts about a week. Each baseball can only be used one time in a MLB game.

Pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out more players in his career of 27 seasons than any other pitcher.

Manager Alvin Dark of the San Francisco Giants told reporters that NASA would "put a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run." When Perry finally hit a home run, it was 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Having been open for nearly 100 years, Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest baseball stadium still in use.

The Louisville Slugger Museum, Kentucky holds the largest baseball bat in the world. This bat weighs 68,000 pounds and measures 120 feet.

The only person credited with umpiring two major sports, football and baseball, is Cal Hubbard.

In 1978, during a match between Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, a fan suffered a heart attack. He was saved by a baseball player, George "Doc" Medich, who was a medical student during off season.

From April 30, 1982 to September 19, 1990, Cal Ripkin, Jr. played 2632 straight games, which means he didn’t miss a game in sixteen years!

Mike Schmidt earned the first $500,000 salary in baseball in 1977.

The 1926 New York Giants hold the record for the longest consecutive winning streak with 26 games in which they beat every National League team.

Babe Ruth

The infamous nickname “the Babe” was a take off on a reporter’s statement calling Babe Ruth one of “Dunn’s babes” when he was signed as a rookie by Jack Dunn. Other names that stuck with him throughout his career included “The Great Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat”

In July 1934, Babe Ruth paid a fan $20 dollars for the return of the baseball he hit for his 700th career home run.

Babe Ruth put a cabbage leaf under his hat during every game. He would change it for a new one every 2 innings.

Baseball star Babe Ruth was born George Herman Ruth. He played in 2503 games and had a lifetime batting average of .342.

Babe Ruth was a large man during adulthood, Babe Ruth stood 6’2 and weighed over 300 lbs during his professional baseball career.

Babe Ruth married a waitress named Helen Woofwood in October of 1919 and had two daughters, Dorthy and Julia. They divorced in 1929 and Ruth married Claire Hodgson later that same year.

Babe Ruth batted, caught and pitched left-handed.

Ruth was first signed to the Boston Red Sox in 1914. He remained with the Red Sox until 1920, when he was traded to the New York Yankees. Ruth played first base and was an outfielder. He was added to the pitching rotation as well.  His last year of baseball was spent playing for the Boston Braves. He retired in 1935.

Babe Ruth died in New York in August of 1948. He was only 53 years old.