We continue to talk about the “Odd Baseball Facts”
series.
11. Every single MLB baseball is rubbed in Lena
Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, a unique "very fine" mud only found
in a secret location near Palmyra, New Jersey.
12. In his very
first at bat as a 28-year-old rookie pitcher, Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm hit a
home run. His career lasted for 21 more years and 493 plate appearances, but he
never hit another home run.
13. At a 1978
Texas Rangers–Baltimore Orioles game, George "Doc" Medich (who had
been a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh before becoming a
professional baseball player) saved the life of a fan in the stands who was
suffering from a heart attack.
14. Johnny Bench
could hold seven baseballs in one hand.
15. The world's
largest publicly available collection of baseball cards is housed at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has over 31,000.
16. According to Bill James,
"Sunny Jim" Bottomley requested a cow when his fans wanted to give
him a retirement present. They obliged and he named the cow Fielder's Choice
and took it to his farm.
17. Joe Sewell only struck out three
times during the entire 1930 season (353 at bats). Two of them were in the same
game.
18. Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old
female pitcher for the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, once played the New York
Yankees in an exhibition game and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in
succession.
19. In 1999, New York Mets manager Bobby
Valentine was ejected from the game. In the clubhouse, he put on regular
clothes and a fake mustache and returned to the dugout. The commissioner's
office fined him $5,000 for returning after an ejection.
20. For a time
in the late 1800s, hitters were allowed to use bats that were flat on one side,
like a paddle. This made swatting at balls easier but they had a tendency to
splinter dangerously.
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