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Baseball Trivia

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Major league baseballs have a small cork core wound with 316 yards of wool yarn. That is then covered with two pieces of cowhide held together with 216 raised red cotton stitches.

Major-league baseball clubs didn't start putting numbers on uniforms until the 1930s. As a result, Ty Cobb, who broke many batting and base-stealing records while playing with the Detroit Tigers (1905-1926), didn't have his uniform number retired. This was, simply, because Cobb never was issued a number.

Mark McGwire's record-setting 70 home runs traveled a total of 29,598 feet, enough to fly over Mount Everest.

Matty, Felipe, and Jesus Alou are the only three brothers to start a baseball game in the outfield for the same major league team. The brothers accomplished this in 1963 with the San Francisco Giants.

Mickey Mantle played for the American League's New York Yankees, 1951-1968. In all, he hit 536 home runs.

Nicknames of baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle were "The Mick" and "The Commerce Comet."

On August 18, 1982, the longest baseball game played at Chicago's Wrigley Field went 22 innings before the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cubs, 2-1. The game had started the previous day and had been postponed after 17 innings because of darkness.

On August 29, 1939, Wheaties sponsored the first televised commercial sports broadcast; the game was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers, and it was aired to approximately 500 owners of television sets in New York City.

On July 12, 1912, Detroit Tiger pitcher George Mullin pitched a no-hitter on his 32nd birthday. Mullin quelled the St. Louis Browns in the second game of a doubleheader.

On July 4, 1934, future Hall of Famer Satchel Paige threw a no-hitter in a Negro League game against the Homestead Grays. Later that same day, Paige traveled from Pittsburgh to Chicago and deftly shut out the Chicago American Giants over 12 innings. Paige earned an incredible two shutouts in one day.

On November 22, 1989, in Minneapolis, Kirby Puckett signed a three-year, $9 million contract, becoming the first baseball player to earn $3 million a year.

On October 5, 1953, the Yankees won their fifth straight World Series, a headlining feat never before achieved in baseball history. They beat the Dodgers 4-3 in the decisive sixth game of the series. Additionally, the Yankees chalked up their sixteenth World Championship against only four defeats.

On September 3, 1977, Japanese first baseman Sadaharu Oh, playing for Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants, became the highest-scoring home-run hitter in baseball history, surpassing Hank Aaron's major league record of 755.

Originally, the Houston Astros were called the Colt 45's. The name was changed in 1965 when the club moved to the Astrodome.

Over a six-year period (1961-1966), baseball legend Sandy Koufax was the strikeout king four times, the Cy Young winner on three occasions, and the National League MVP in 1963. His first name given at birth was Sanford.

Pinstripes were added to New York Yankee jerseys in 1912, and then shelved for two seasons. They were re-introduced in 1915.

Safeco Field, Seattle's newest ballpark for the Mariners baseball team which opened on July 15, 1999, was built to resemble the great ballparks of yesteryear. It is open-air and has real grass. Seating capacity of the ballpark is 46,621. Safeco Field features a retractable roof that covers the ballpark, but does not enclose it. The roof keeps fans protected from the wind and rain. The three roof panels measure 8.75 acres. The total weight of the roof is a staggering 22,000,000 pounds.

Babe Ruth enjoyed hunting, fishing, boxing, and bowling. But perhaps his biggest athletic passion was golf. He loved the game and played whenever he could. His daughter Julia said in an interview that were it not for golf, he would not have known what to do with himself after he retired from baseball.

Babe Ruth holds the record for the longest complete game victory in World Series history. In 1916, as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Ruth went 14 innings to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Babe Ruth is credited with the invention of the modern baseball bat. He was the first player to order a bat with a knob on the end of the handle. Louisville Slugger produced the bat with which he hit 29 home runs in 1919.

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