Jim Thorpe

Predominantly of Native Indian descent, James "Jim" Thorpe was born near Prague, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), on May 22, 1888.

In 1904 the sixteen-year-old Thorpe decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Three years later be began his athletic career there when he walked past the track and beat all the school's high jumpers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in leap despite being in street clothes.

At Carlisle, under Coach Pop Warner, Thorpe starred as an All-American football halfback. He helped make the school a football powerhouse, and beat an Army team that had Dwight Eisenhower.

Jim Thorpe achieved the unprecedented feat of winning gold medals in both the pentathlon and the decathlon in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Someone stole Jim Thorpe's shoes just before he competed in the Olympic decathlon. Wearing mismatched shoes (one from the garbage), he set a record that stood for almost 20 years.

After the decathlon, the King of Sweden called Thorpe the greatest athlete alive.

Thorpe at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Officials took back Thorpe's Olympic medals when they learned that he had played semiprofessional baseball in the summers of 1909 and 1910. He was stripped of his amateur status by the Amateur Athletic Union, and he was deprived of his honors. His medals were restored posthumously in 1982.

After Thorpe left Carlisle he excelled at every sport he played, including the traditional Native American sport of lacrosse.

Throrpe played major league baseball as an outfielder starting with the New York Giants from 1913 to 1915, then the Cincinnati Reds to 1917, and the Giants again to 1919; he finished his baseball career with the Boston Braves in 1919.

Jim Thorpe as a member of the New York Giants.

Thorpe also played professional football, mostly with the Canton Bulldogs and was the most famous player in the nation during its formative years (1917-29).

When Thorpe signed with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915, they paid him $250 ($6,048 today) a game, a huge wage at the time.

Before signing Thorpe, Canton was averaging 1,200 fans a game, but 8,000 showed up for his debut against the Massillon Tigers.

Canton Bulldogs won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919.

Thorpe with the Canton Bulldogs, c. 1915 – c. 1920

By 1920, when the National Football League was formed, Thorpe's career was approaching an end, though he made an appearance as late as 1929 with the Chicago (now Phoenix) Cardinals.

As first president of the American Professional Football Association,  Thorpe helped found the National Football League, which began in 1922.

Thorpe's retirement from sports in 1929 coincided with the start of the Great Depression and in later years he fell on hard times and was often unable to find work. Instead he had a succession of odd jobs such as appearing in carnivals, working as a stuntman in movie westerns, and occasionally lecturing on behalf of Native American education.

In 1950 Thorpe was named the greatest football player and greatest male athlete of the first half of the century by Associated Press polls.

A film biography, Jim Thorpe – All-American, was released in 1951 in which he was portrayed by Burt Lancaster.

Thorpe suffered from alcoholism, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. He died in Lomita, California from heart failure on March 28, 1953, and he was buried in a Pennsylvania town renamed in his honor.

After his death Thorpe's children fought for the restoration of their father's Olympic awards. In 1973 the Amateur Athletic Union restored his amateur standing for the years 1909 to 1912. On January 18, 1983, the International Olympic Committee reinstated is medals.

Source Compton's Encyclopedia

Babe Ruth

George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895 at 216 Emory Street in the Pigtown section of Baltimore, Maryland.

Ruth in 1920

At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he learned baseball skills from Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Christian Brothers, a capable baseball player.

In 1914, George Ruth Jr. was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. He was only 19 and the law stated he had to have a legal guardian to sign his baseball contract, so Baltimore Orioles owner Jack Dunn became Ruth's guardian, leading teammates to jokingly call Ruth "Dunn's new babe." The joke stuck, and Ruth quickly earned the nickname "Babe" Ruth.

Babe Ruth was soon sold to the Boston Red Sox. He made his major-league debut in 1914 with the Boston Red Sox at an annual rookie salary of $2,900.

He hit his first professional home run playing for the Providence Grays on September. 5, 1914 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club at Hanlan's Point Stadium.

Recalled to Boston after Providence finished the season in first place, Ruth pitched and won a game for the Red Sox against the New York Yankees on October 2, 1914 getting his first major league hit, a double.

By 1916, Ruth had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era.

Ruth pitching for the Boston Red Sox

In a 1917 game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retired 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.

By the end of the 1910s, Ruth was regularly demonstrating his power with the bat, and in 1919, he set a Major League Baseball record with 29 home runs, the last hit off pitcher Rip Jordan.

On December 26, 1919 Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan.

Even though the Red Sox had won several World Series in the years before this, they would not win another one until 2004. Many baseball fans believed that the Red Sox had become "cursed" by trading Ruth, and called this the "Curse of the Bambino."

Ruth was made a full-time outfielder by the Yankees. His signing was the prelude to an extraordinary Major League season during which the Bambino would hit 54 home runs.

Ruth's legendary power and charismatic personality made him a larger-than-life figure during the Roaring Twenties.

Ruth in his first year with the New York Yankees, 1920

In his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth helped the team win seven American League (AL) championships and four World Series championships.

Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season on September 30, 1927 against the Senators. In the eighth inning off Tom Zachary he hit his 60th homer to break a 2–2 tie. The record was broken by Roger Maris in 1961 when he hit his 61st home run.

In 1929 Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

He left the Yankees after the 1934 season and played one last season with the Boston Braves in 1935.

Ruth in 1935

Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career. Only two players, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, have hit more.

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool. He changed it every two innings.

Babe Ruth was one of the first players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, along with Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

On June 13, 1948 Ruth visited Yankee Stadium for the final time in his life, appearing at the 25th anniversary celebrations of "The House that Ruth Built". His number 3 was retired that day.

Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time on July 26, 1948 when he attended the New York City premiere of the motion picture, The Babe Ruth Story.

Babe Ruth died of cancer on August 16, 1948, at 8:01 p.m in his sleep at the age of 53. His open casket was placed on display in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium, where it remained for two days; 77,000 people filed past to pay him tribute. Life magazine said that Babe Ruth's funeral was the "kind of tribute normally reserved for kings and presidents."

Babe Ruth's funeral Mass took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral; a crowd estimated at 75,000 waited outside.

Ruth was buried on a hillside in Section 25 at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

Source Nyti

Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999)  holds the Major League Baseball record of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games in 1941. On July 17, 1941 at Cleveland Stadium, DiMaggio's streak was finally snapped at 56 games, thanks in part to two backhand stops by Indians third baseman Ken Keltner.

The day after his 56 game hitting streak ended, DiMaggio embarked on a second streak that lasted 16 games. Had he hit in game #57, he would have had a 73 game hitting streak.

His father wanted Joe to join the family fishing business like two of his older brothers, but he couldn't stand the smell of fish and the sea.

DiMaggio enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces United (USAAF) on February 17, 1943 during World War II. He served as a physical education instructor and a player-manager for the US Army baseball team. He was stationed at Santa Ana, California, Hawaii, and Atlantic City.

On February 7, 1949, Joe DiMaggio signed a record contract worth $100,000 with the Yankees  and became the first baseball player to break $100,000 in earnings.

Joe DiMaggio's brother, Dom, played for the Boston Red Sox and their older brother, Vince, was a center-fielder for many MLB teams.

Joe DiMaggio "The Yankee Clipper" announced his retirement from baseball on December 11, 1951.

DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954. She filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty 274 days after the wedding.

DiMaggio claimed Marilyn Monroe's body after her suicide, and arranged her funeral, paying for her casket and crypt.

For 20 years after the death of Marilyn Monroe, Di Maggio had a half-dozen red roses placed at her crypt three times a week.

The Simon & Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson" includes the famous line, "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?" Paul Simon was using him to represent heroes of the past. DiMaggio was a little miffed when he heard this, since he was still very much alive even though he retired from baseball in 1951, but he realized that he had become a new icon now with the baby boomer generation due to this song's success.

He was voted the sport's greatest living player in a poll taken during the baseball centennial year of 1969.

Joe DiMaggio was a heavy smoker for much of his adult life. He was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, on October 12, 1998, for lung cancer surgery, and remained there for three months. He returned to his Florida home on January 19, 1999, where he died on March 8th.

DiMaggio's private mausoleum. By BrokenSphere - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia Commons

Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra was born Lorenzo Pietro Berra in a primarily Italian neighborhood of St. Louis called The Hill on May 12, 1925. His parents were Italian immigrants Pietro and Paolina (née Longoni) Berra.

Berra grew up on Elizabeth Avenue, across the street from boyhood friend and later professional baseball catcher, announcer and television host Joe Garagiola, Sr. 

Yogi Berra played with the New York Yankees (1946–63), including 14 World Series (a record). He also set the record for most World Series hits (71), and for most home runs by a catcher in the American League (313).

Berra picked up his famous nickname from his friend Bobby Hofman who said he resembled a Hindu yogi whenever he sat around with arms and legs crossed waiting to bat or while looking sad after a losing game.

His comment that ‘It ain't over ’til it's over’ has become part of the game's legend.

1953 Bowman Color Yogi Berra #121

Berra was known for reading comic books.

Two of Berra's sons also played professional sports. His son Dale Berra played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros, and his son Tim Berra played pro football for the Baltimore Colts in 1974.

The cartoon character Yogi Bear is named after him.

Yogi Berra died of natural causes during his sleep at his New Jersey home on September 22, 2015 at the age of 90, the same day as his MLB debut 69 years before.

Source Wikipedia

Baseball Uniform

In 1849, the New York Knickerbockers wore the first ever recorded baseball uniforms. They wore pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts and straw hats.

A nineteenth-century baseball team in uniforms

 U.S. patent #200,358 was issued in 1878 to Frederick Thayer for his baseball catcher's mask. It was similar to one worn by cowboys to keep from being kicked in the face while branding cattle.

The first baseball caps were made of straw.

In 1888 the Spalding sports goods company advertised 10 different baseball cap styles ranging from 12 cents for cheap muslin to $2 for the highest quality flannel.

The first infielder to wear a glove was Phillies shortstop Arthur Irwin in the 1880s. He designed and patented his glove, but sold the patent to the Reach-Shibe firm.

The Detroit Tigers were the first baseball club to have a logo on its cap in 1901, in their case an orange running tiger.

When Roger Bresnahan adopted the use of shin guards in Major League Baseball on Opening Day in 1907, angry fans threw snow onto the field.

Pinstripes were added to the New York Yankees uniform specifically to make Babe Ruth appear slimmer. Below is Jeff Tesreau, wearing a New York Giants pinstriped baseball uniform, c.1912–18

On August 8, 1976, the Chicago White Sox  took the field in Bermuda shorts. The shorts were the brainchild of White Sox owner Bill Veeck, who was known for his outlandish promotions. Veeck hoped that the shorts would help to boost attendance at White Sox games, which had been declining in recent years. The shorts were met with mixed reactions from fans and players alike, but the White Sox went on to win the game against the Royals, 5-2. They also won the second game of the doubleheader, but they lost the third game when they wore the shorts. The White Sox ultimately wore the shorts in three games, winning two of the three.

In South Korea, it is against the rules for a professional baseball player to wear cabbage leaves inside of his hat.

Baseball Team

The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, was founded in New York by firefighter Alexander Cartwright on September 23, 1845. The club was named the "Knickerbockers", in honor of  Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12 of the New York City Fire Department, the fire company where Cartwright was a member.

The New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club, circa 1847. Cartwright at the top middle

The original Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's first openly all-professional team, was founded in 1869. The Red Stockings won 130 games in a row between 1869 and 1870.

Baseball’s National League was founded in New York City on February 2, 1876. Eight competing baseball teams met in New York City’s Grand Central Hotel. The first president of the new league was Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, who later became an American Senator. The eight original cities with teams were: Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville and Hartford. Two of the original teams are now in the American League (Boston and New York) while Louisville and Hartford are now minor-league baseball towns.

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders recorded the worst-ever record in Major League Baseball, winning 20 games and losing 134.

Before they moved from New York to LA, the Dodgers got their name from Brooklyn's deadly, fast moving streetcars—the "Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers."

National League Baltimore Orioles, 1896

The Wyoming State Penitentiary's All Stars was a US baseball team in the 1910s, To a man they were murderers and rapists, all of them sentenced to death, but their executions were delayed so long as they kept winning.

In Major League Baseball's World Series, the Boston Braves defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 0, at Fenway Park on October 13, 1914. In doing so they completed the first World Series sweep in history.

A program from the 1914 World Series, featuring Braves manager George Stallings.

The Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field) on April 20, 1916, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.

1913 Chicago Cubs

Weeghman Park is now named Wrigley Field. It was christened after chewing gum manufacturer William Wrigley Jr. who first bought a minority share in the Chicago Cubs in 1914 and then became the majority owner in 1921.

Before they were called the New York Mets, owner Joan Whitney Payson considered other names, including the Bees. ("Metropolis" is a nickname for New York City).

In 1992 The Toronto Blue Jays became the first Canadian team to play in a World Series and the first non-American team to win the World Series when they won 4 games to 2 over the Atlanta Braves.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, the late president of Nintendo, was an unusual owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Yamauchi bought the team in 1992, but had never been to a baseball game before he acquired it. Despite owning the team for over 20 years, he never attended a single one of their games in person.

Yamauchi's ownership of the Mariners was a curious arrangement, as he was based in Japan and had little interest in baseball. However, he saw the purchase of the team as a way to expand Nintendo's presence in the United States and to promote the company's brand. 

Yamauchi passed away in 2013, and the Mariners have since been sold to a new ownership group. Despite his lack of involvement in the team's day-to-day operations, Yamauchi's legacy as the only non-North American owner in Major League Baseball history has remained an interesting footnote in the sport's history.

An estimated three million people attended a parade in Boston, celebrating the Boston Red Sox's 2004 World Series victory on October 30, 2004. The victory ended an 86-year drought of World Series championships and ended the era of the famous Curse of the Bambino for the Red Sox.

When the The Texas Rangers routed the Baltimore Orioles 30–3 on August 22, 2007, they set a modern day record for most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history. The Rangers scored 19 runs in the first inning and 11 runs in the second inning. They finished the game with 22 hits and 11 home runs. Back on June 29, 1897, the Chicago Colts (now the Chicago Cubs) set the all-time record when they beat the Louisville Colonels 36-7 on June 29, 1897.

In 2012 Guggenheim Partners agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers  for US$2.1 billion, the most ever for a professional sports franchise.

The New York Yankees have won 27 World Series championships, 16 more than any other Major League Baseball team.

Baseball Player

Candy Cummings (October 18, 1848 – May 17, 1924) played or five different professional baseball teams from 1872 to 1877. He is credited with inventing the curveball, a pitch that would go on to revolutionize the game. Not only did he make his mark on the field, but Cummings also achieved another impressive feat by being the first player to pitch two complete games in a single day.

The first perfect game in baseball history was achieved by John Lee Richmond on June 12, 1880. Before the game against Cleveland on June 12, Worcester Worcesters pitcher Richmond was up all night taking part in college graduation events, and went to bed at 6:30 AM. He caught the 11:30 AM train for Worcester and then pitched a perfect game in the afternoon contest to beat Cleveland, 1–0.

Lee Richmond

Lee Richmond once had a physics professor explain to him that a curveball couldn't exist, and it was only an optical illusion. In response to this, Richmond invited the entire faculty to watch him pitch.

Moses Fleetwood ″Fleet″ Walker (October 7, 1857 – May 11, 1924) is credited with being the first African American to play major league baseball. He made his major league debut on May 1, 1884 for the Toledo Blue Stockings, a club in the American Association. Walker played one season as the catcher of the Toledo Blue Stockings. He then played in the minor leagues until 1889, when professional baseball erected a color barrier that stood for nearly 60 years.

Moses Fleetwood Walker

William Henry "Whoop-La" White was an American baseball pitcher who played all or parts of  ten seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds in the National League (1878–1880) and the Cincinnati Red Stockings in the American Association (1882–1886). He holds the records of 75 complete games and 680 innings pitched in one season,

Whoop-La White is also remembered as the first, and for many years only, major league player to wear eyeglasses on the baseball field.

Major League Baseball pitcher Ed Porray was born on December 5, 1888. He was born on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, making him the only player in league history to not be born in a country. Porray's birth certificate lists "At sea, on the Atlantic Ocean" as his birthplace.

American catcher and coach Morris "Moe" Berg was born on March 2, 1902. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four American League teams, Berg was never more than an average player. He was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball." Berg spoke several languages and found a post-baseball career as an American spy during World War II; he was ordered to kill Werner Heisenberg if the Nazis came close to building a nuclear bomb.

1933 Goudey baseball card of Morris "Moe" Berg

Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at Boston's Huntington Avenue Grounds Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. In front of 10,267 fans he retired all 27 batters he faced on Thursday, May 5, 1904.

Elmer Stricklett is considered to have been the first baseball pitcher to master the spitball. He pitched in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox and Brooklyn Superbas from 1904 through 1907. He learned the pitch while pitching in minor league baseball, and taught it to National Baseball Hall of Fame members Ed Walsh and Jack Chesbro.

The first unassisted triple play in major-league baseball was achieved on July 19, 1909 by Neal Ball of the Cleveland Naps when they played the Boston Red Sox. (An unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three putouts by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists).

Wikipedia

In 1917, Ernie Shore threw a "perfect game", with 27 outs without allowing a baserunner. However, he is only credited with a combined no-hitter because he pitched in relief of the starter, Babe Ruth, who was ejected for punching the umpire after walking the first batter of the game.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Adolfo Luque became the first Latin player to appear in a World Series in 1919. As a blue-eyed, fair-skinned, white Cuban, he was one of several white Cubans to make it in Major League Baseball at a time when nonwhites were excluded.

Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was hit on the head and fatally wounded by a fastball from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. He died the next day, becoming the only Major League Baseball player die from an injury received at a MLB game.

Ray Chapman

When Wally Pipp, first baseman of the New York Yankees, asked for a day off due to a headache in 1925, he was replaced in the line-up by Lou Gehrig, who then started the next 2,128 consecutive games.

The first players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson in 1936.

The mustache that Frenchy Bordagaray grew in 1936 is likely to have been the only mustache worn in Major League Baseball between 1914 and 1972.

In 1938 pitchers intentionally walked and pitched around Hank Greenberg as he closed in on Babe Ruth's (at the time) record of 60 home runs in a season, because they didn't want a Jew to break Ruth's record.

Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians threw the only Opening Day no-hitter in the history of Major League Baseball against the Chicago White Sox on April 16, 1940. Feller was assisted by Indians second baseman Ray Mack when he made a diving play to record the final out. The Indians beat the White Sox 1–0.

Cleveland Indians' Bob Feller Dennis Goldstein Collection/Cleveland.com

Joe DiMaggio (see below) holds the Major League Baseball record of hitting safely in 56 consecutive games (1941). The day after his 56 game hitting streak ended, DiMaggio embarked on a second streak that lasted 16 games. Had he hit in game #57, he would have had a 73 game hitting streak.

Joe Nuxhall became the youngest player ever to appear in a major-league baseball game at the age of 15 years and 316 days in 1944. He pitched two-thirds of an inning for the Cincinnati Reds against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 10, 1944, giving up five runs on five walks and two hits. The Reds lost the game 23-0. Nuxhall was called up to the majors due to a shortage of players during World War II. 

Nuxhall did not pitch again in the majors until 1952, but he went on to have a successful 16-year career, winning 135 games and making two All-Star teams. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1968.

Satchel Paige was a legendary pitcher who played in both the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was known for his incredible fastball and his showmanship on the mound. On August 6, 1952, Paige became the oldest pitcher to throw a complete game in Major League history when he blanked the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in 12 innings. He was 46 years and 75 days old at the time.

Paige was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, becoming the first black player who spent the majority of his career in the Negro Leagues to be enshrined. He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, pitched the first and only perfect game in World Series history during New York Yankees 4 games to 3 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956, earning himself MVP honors. It is also the only no-hitter thrown in any post season game.

Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles became the first player in baseball history in 1961 to hit grand slams in consecutive innings.

On September 8, 1965 in a game against the California Angels, Kansas City’s Bert Campaneris played a different position every inning, becoming the first major-leaguer to play all nine positions in a game. Catching in the 9th, he was injured trying to block the plate from runner Ed Kirkpatrick.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry, six years after quipping, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run," hit the first and only home run of his career just hours after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

The American League used the designated hitter rule for the first time in 1973. Ron Blomberg was the first player to bat as a DH and when Orlando Cepeda signed with the Boston Red Sox, that same year, he was the first player signed by a team specifically to be a designated hitter.

At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.

During his career, Hammerin' Hank Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and was the first player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.

In 1977, the first openly homosexual baseball player, Glenn Burke, ran onto the field to congratulate his Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit his 30th home run in the last game of the regular season. Burke raised his hand over his head as Baker jogged home from third base. Not knowing what to do about the upraised hand, Baker slapped it. They have been credited with inventing the high five.

Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield is the only professional athlete to have been drafted in the first round of the NFL, NBA and MLB.

19-year-old Dwight Gooden set the baseball record for strikeouts in a season by a rookie in 1984 with 277, pitched in 218 innings. He usurped Herb Score's rookie record of 245 in 1955.

In 1986 Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens set a major league record by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game against Seattle. That broke Nolan Ryan’s record of 19.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Joe Niekro was suspended for 10 days for possessing a nail file on the pitcher's mound in 1987. Niekro claimed he had been filing his nails in the dugout and put the file in his back pocket when the inning started.

During the 1988 Major League Baseball season, pitcher Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers set the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Over 59 consecutive innings, opposing hitters did not score a run against Hershiser. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher's streak of 59 innings spanned from the sixth inning of an August 30 game against the Montreal Expos to the tenth inning of a September 28 game against the San Diego Padres, not counting eight scoreless innings he pitched to start Game 1 of the 1988 National League Championship Series on October 4.

Hershiser pitching for the Dodgers in 1993.By jimmyack205 - Hershiser Pitching 2, Wikipedia Commons

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. earned about $18 million, excluding endorsements, during his career as point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. He used the money to launch Magic Johnson Enterprises – a business that grew to be worth in excess of £1 billion.

When Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson on August 22, 1989, he became the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts. 

Nolan Ryan made his debut in 1966 and played his final game on September 22, 1993. He was 19 when he debuted and 46 when he retired. His 5,714 career strikeouts is an MLB record as is his lifetime batting average against of .204.

When Nolan Ryan played in the '70s and '80s they clocked pitches at 10 feet from the plate, now they clock it at release point. Had Ryan pitched his record 100.9 today it would have clocked at around 108 MPH and he would have regularly thrown 106-107.

Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles surpassed the 56-year-old record when he played in his 2,131st consecutive game on September 6, 1995, against the California Angels in front of a sold-out crowd. Fans later voted his 2,131st game as Major League Baseball's "Most Memorable Moment" in MLB history.  Ripken played in an additional 501 straight games over the next three years, and his streak ended at 2,632 games when he voluntarily removed his name from the lineup for the final Orioles home game of the 1998 season.

Ripken in 1996 at Yankee Stadium

The phrase "Manny being Manny" is named after Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder Manny Ramirez (b 1972) because of his frequent quirky behavior. Such instances of this behavior included inducing his Red Sox teammates to drink alcohol which he had spiked with Viagra and wearing Oakley THUMP while playing the outfield.

Mike Greenwell of the Boston Red Sox holds the major league record for the most RBIs that accounted for all of his team's runs. In 1996, he batted in nine runs in a game against the Seattle Mariners.

In 1998 Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa each chased the home run record set previously by Roger Maris in 1961. Both men ended up breaking the record; McGwire with 70 and Sosa with 66.

Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants surpassed Mark McGwire's single-season home run total with his milestone 71st and 72nd home runs on October 5, 2001. He ended the season with 73, which is still the MLB record for most home runs in a single season.

Bonds in 1993

Barry Bonds broke baseball great Hank Aaron’s record by hitting his 756th home run on Father's Day, June 17, 2007. 

Bonds is the lone member of the 500–500 club, which means he hit during his career at least 500 home runs (762) and stolen 500 bases (514). 

Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton has recorded the hardest hit batted ball, with a ground ball with a recorded 123.9-mile-per-hour (199.4 km/h) exit velocity, and the longest distance for a home run, at 504 feet (154 m), 

Cuban-American Aroldis Chapman threw the fastest pitch ever recorded in Major League Baseball on September 24, 2010 for the Cincinnati Reds against the San Diego Padres. The pitch was clocked at 105.1 mph (169.1 km/h), according to PITCHf/x. On July 19, 2016, Chapman matched his previous record of 105.1 mph when he threw a ball to Baltimore's J. J. Hardy.

Among pitchers who tossed at least 50 innings in a season, Aroldis Chapman owns the best (52.5 percent, 2014) season in baseball history in terms of strikeout percentage. 

Chapman pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in 2011

Brady Feigl and Brady Feigl are both  6-foot, 4-inch minor league baseball pitchers. Both Bradys have red hair, sport red beards and favor thick glasses. Despite being each others doppelganger, DNA test did not indicate they were related to each other.

President George W. Bush was the first managing general partner of a Major League team (the Texas Rangers) to become President of the United States.

Of the over 18,500 players have played in the major leagues since 1851, over half have come from abroad or one of six states: California, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Texas.

A baseball player only needs to spend one day in the major leagues to earn free healthcare for life.

Baseball

BASEBALL HISTORY

It is a matter of record that in the 1700s English boys played a game they called base ball.

Americans have played a kind of baseball since about 1800. At first the American game had different rules and different names in various parts of the country--town ball, rounders, or one old cat.

Jane Austen made the first recorded use of the word "baseball" in English. The author mentioned baseball in her novel Northanger Abbey when she wrote “It was not very wonderful that Catherine, who had by nature nothing heroic about her, should prefer cricket, baseball, riding on horseback, and running about the country at 14 to books.”

On a hot summers day in 1839, a West Point cadet, Abner Doubleday, laid out the first baseball diamond at Cooperstown, New York. Doubleday had devised a scheme for limiting the contestants on each side and allotting them to field positions each with a certain amount of territory; also substituting the existing method of putting out the base runner for the old one of plugging him with the ball. In 1907 a special commission decided that the modern game was invented by Doubleday.

Baseball did not receive a standard set of rules until 1845, when "father of modern baseball," Alexander Cartwright, organized the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York City. The rules Cartwright set up for his team were widely adopted by other clubs and formed the basis of modern baseball. Among his innovations were the nine-member team, the "diamond" infield with bases 90 feet apart, and the rule that a player had to be tagged, not hit, with the ball to be called out.

It is widely thought that the first competitive game under the new rules was played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1846 with Cartwright umpiring. The New York Base Ball Club defeated the Knickerbockers 23-1.

Early baseball game played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey 

In the 1850s, baseball had different rules in Massachusetts than it did in New York. Under the Massachusetts rules, you could throw the ball at a runner, and if you hit them, they were out.

In 1857, amateur clubs joined together in the National Association of Baseball Players, which produced the first uniform rules. They stipulated that a batsman was out when a batted ball was caught either in the air or on the first bounce. The length of a game was fixed at nine innings.

The National Association of Baseball Players adopted the rule in 1859 that limited the size of bats to no more than 2-1/2 inches in diameter.

It is said that when a delegation of politicians called on Abraham Lincoln to inform him of his nomination for the presidency, he was engaged in a game of baseball and kept the men waiting until he had had another chance to make a base hit.

In 1869, Harry Wright organized the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in which regular salaries were paid to the players. This was certainly a revolutionary - and ardently criticized - step at the time.

At the first professional baseball game, the umpire was fined 6 cents for swearing.

Baseball's National League was founded on February 2, 1876. Eight competing baseball teams met in New York City's Grand Central Hotel. The first president of the new league was Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, who later became a US Senator.

The eight original cities with teams were: Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville and Hartford. Two of the original teams are now in the American League (Boston and New York) while Louisville and Hartford are now minor-league baseball towns.

The first shut out in baseball was achieved on July 15, 1876 when St. Louis Brown Stocking pitcher George W. Bradley allowed no hits to the Hartford Dark Blues team. George Bradley pitched 16 shutouts in 1876, which still stands as the Major League record (currently tied with Pete Alexander who pitched the same number in 1916). Bradley’s nickname was “Grin,” which came from the constant smile he showed to batters as he pitched.

Labatt Park, a baseball stadium near the forks of the Thames River in central London, Ontario, Canada held its first game on May 3, 1877. It is the oldest continually operating baseball ground in the world.

Labatt Park in 2010 By Alethe

The all-time low attendance mark for a Major League Baseball game is generally cited as six spectators for a game between the Troy Trojans and the Worcesters on September 28, 1882, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Contemporary reports described miserable weather and virtually no public interest, since both clubs had already been told they would be dropped from the National League.

Fred Pfeffer, Tom Burns, and Ned Williamson each had three hits in the same inning of an 1883 major-league baseball game, and no other player had a three-hit inning until 1953.

The first baseball World Series was contested in 1884 when Providence NL defeated New York AA, 3 games to none.

Benjamin Harrison became the first president to attend a game while in office when he watched the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Washington Senators 7-4 in 11 innings on June 6, 1892.

The American and National Leagues agreed to peacefully coexist and organize a World Series between their champions in the early 20th century. Between October 1-13th 1903 the Boston Americans, representing the American League, defeated the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates in eight games (best of nine) to win the first modern baseball World Series.

In 1904 Amanda Clement traveled to Hawarden, Iowa to watch her brother Hank pitch in a semi-professional game. The umpire for the amateur game taking place before Hank's did not show, and Hank suggested that Amanda, who had played baseball with her brothers and was knowledgeable about the game, serve as the umpire. In so doing, Clement became the first woman paid to umpire a baseball game. Her performance was so well received that she was hired to umpire further semi-professional games

On September 28, 1919, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in just 51 minutes in New York City's Polo Grounds. It was the fastest nine-inning in MLB history.  

The Americans customarily take a "stretch" after the seventh inning at their national game of baseball. It all started, however, when Herbert Hoover, who was attending a game, for reasons unknown or forgotten, had to leave before it was finished. It so happened that his departure coincided with the end of the seventh inning. Seeing their president leave, all spectators got up to pay him respect. Thus the "stretch" originated, which has been observed at that very juncture of every game ever since.

The first night game in Major League Baseball history was played in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 24, 1935. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field. The game drew 25,000 fans, who stood by as President Franklin D. Roosevelt symbolically switched on the recently installed lights from Washington, D.C. 

The first televised ball game was shown on August 26, 1939 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds.

The "Shot Heard 'Round the World", one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurred in 1951 when the New York Giants' Bobby Thomson hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.

On May 16, 1970, Los Angeles Dodgers pinch hitting specialist Manny Mota hit the only batted ball in major league baseball history to cause a fatality. In the bottom of the third against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, Mota fouled one off of Gaylord Perry along the first base line. The ball struck 14-year-old Alan Fish, who was seated in the second row down the first-base line in the left temple. He was part of a group of seven boys and an adult attending the game. Four days later, Fish died of an inoperable head injury.

When Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles in 1971, game two was the first night game in World Series history.

The designated hitter rule, the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, was adopted by the American League on January 11, 1973. The rule allows teams to have one player, known as the designated hitter, to bat in place of the pitcher.

Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, facing Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance on April 6, 1973. "Boomer" Blomberg was walked.

In 1981, Major League Baseball players begin a mid-season strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. It ended on July 31 of that year after 713 games  (or 38 percent of the Major League schedule) were cancelled.

The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the Triple-A International League played the longest ever professional baseball game. The game begun at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, Rhode Island on April 18, 1981. It lasted for 33 innings, with eleven hours and 25 minutes of playing time. 32 innings were played, before the game was suspended at 4:00 the next morning. The final 33rd inning was played June 23, 1981. Pawtucket won the game, 3–2.

The Mexican Wave was first used during an Oakland Athletics v New York Yankees playoff game on October 15, 1981, led by professional cheerleader, “Krazy” George Henderson. It spread nationally then went international thanks to the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, hence its name.

The Toronto Blue Jays are a major league baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario. In 1992, "the Jays" became the first team based outside of the US to win the World Series when Dave Winfield hit a two-run double in the 11th inning in Atlanta to beat the Braves four games to two. They repeated the feat in 1993.

Major League Baseball players went on strike on August 12, 1994. The labor strike resulted in the premature termination of the season, and the cancellation of the World Series for the first time since 1904.

Interleague play begun in baseball in 1997, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series. 

A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox set the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball on April 29, 2015. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

Baseball has become popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly Japan. 

FUN BASEBALL FACTS

The distance between the pitcher's rubber and home plate in baseball is 60 feet, 6 inches.

While the human eye can track moving objects with remarkable speed, the extreme velocity of a major league fastball (over 100 mph) presents a significant challenge. Batters cannot continuously track the ball with their eyes throughout its flight. However, the brain utilizes a complex interplay of visual information, predictive mechanisms, and cognitive processing to enable batters to make contact.

The phrase "giving (or taking) of a rain check" originated in the custom of issuing spectators with a ticket for another game if the baseball match for which they had paid was interrupted or cancelled because of rain.

Baseball is the most popular sport among blind people because it is slow paced, simple, and not much happens during a game. This means a visually impaired person don't miss much of anything by not being able to see it. 

The average 3-hour baseball game contains only 18 minutes of game action.

Sources Europress Family Encyclopedia 1999, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc