Interesting Baseball Facts

Baseball is not only famous as the national game of USA, but also the national pastime of the country. Much before it touched other parts of the world, the baseball craze first hit America during the mid 1850s. Within a span of few years, the game began to be referred as America’s ‘national religion’. That’s a lot to say for a game that started as another bat-and-ball game. The rules of modern baseball were first formulated by Alexander Cartwright, who is also known as the ‘Father of Baseball’. He laid the structure and the foundation of the game that we enjoy today. With increasing popularity, this game is now played in almost all the countries of the world. Baseball is played between two teams consisting of nine players each. One of the team bats, while the other bowls.

The game involves hitting a ball that is thrown with a bat. The runs are scored by the player after hitting the ball and touching a series of four bases that is arranged at the corners of a diamond shaped field. The size of the diamond varies from sixty foot to ninety foot. The fielding team consists of a pitcher, who throws the ball and fielders who try to stop the hitter from scoring runs by getting him out through a number of ways. When one hitter gets out, he is replaced by another, until the team runs out. After three outs, the fielding is switched. A professional game consists of nine innings, with one inning being the teams turn at the bat. The winner team is one with the most number of runs. To know some more interesting and fun facts about baseball, read on.

Fun Facts About Baseball

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.
All the baseball balls are stitched by hand using two straight needles. Each ball has 108 stitches for each needle.
The Louisville Slugger Museum, Kentucky holds the largest baseball bat in the world. This bat weighs 68,000 pounds and measures 120 feet.
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.
The only person credited with umpiring two major sports, football and baseball, is Cal Hubbard.
The shortest player in baseball history was Eddie Gaedel. He stood at 3 feet, 7 inches. However, his appearance at the game was just a publicity stunt. The tallest player was Jon Rauch, who dominated at a height of 6 feet, 11 inches.
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.
The longest baseball game ever was between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game lasted for a full 8 hours and 6 minutes.
The oldest baseball stadium still in use is the Fenway Park in Boston. The stadium has been open for nearly 100 years.
A baseball ball is only used once in a game. After that, the ball is used only for practice. Generally, the ball lasts for a maximum of eight days.
The first baseball World Series was played in the year 1903. The nine game series was played between Pittsburg and Boston, with Boston winning the title 5-3. The National Baseball Hall of Fame was created in the year 1935, to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the game. It is located in Cooperstown, New York.
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!
One of the first players included in the baseball Hall of Fame, Babe Ruth, was so superstitious that he used to wear a cabbage leaf under his cap. He would also change it after every two innings.

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