Interesting & Amazing Facts
Sports
Baseball
* Prior to 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate.
* 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 wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep himself cool.
* The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew.
* The Cincinnati Reds are the oldest professional baseball team.
* In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry said, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Apollo 11 landed on the moon carrying Neil Armstrong, Gaylord Perry hit his first home run.
* Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.
* Until 1875, baseball was played without the use of gloves. The first player to wear one was Charles Waite (Boston).
* Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
* In 1967, the minimum salary for major league baseball players was $6,000, and the average annual paycheck was $19,000. By 2002, the minimum yearly payout was $200,000 and the average was $1,895, 630, with several teams breaking the $3,000,000 mark. First base was the most valued position, with a $5,000,000 average.
* The first numbers appeared on the backs of uniforms in 1929 by the New York Yankees. It was to help the many new fans the Yankees were attracting who were having difficulty in identifying the players. Numbers were assigned following the batting order, for example: Ruth who batted third got number 3.
* Names did not appear on baseball uniforms until 1960. The reason it took so long clubs were concerned they would lose the profits from selling scorecards.
* The catchers mask was developed and introduced by Fred Thayer, coach at Harvard University in 1877.
* The batting helmet was first worn by Willie Wells (Negro League) in 1939, it was actually a miner's helmet. In 1942 Wells switched to a construction hardhat. Helmets were not made especially for baseball until 1952.
Baseball Cards
The largest baseball card collection, 200,000 cards, is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Basketball
Until 1937 the referee tossed a jump ball after every basket.
Females
On average, it is estimated that females injure themselves ten time more than males do while playing sports.
Football
* In 1905, 18 men died from injuries sustained on the football field. President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and instituted safety measures to make the game safer.
* The first professional football team to sport an insignia on their helmets was the Los Angeles Rams in 1950, who hand painted yellow horns on their blue leather helmets.
* Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.
* It takes
3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a
year's supply of footballs.
Formula 1
At 120 miles per hour, a Formula One car generates so much down force that it can drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.
Golf
* Gene Sarazen, a golfer from several generations ago, set the record for the fastest golf drive: 120 mph.
* Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
* The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million.
* The youngest golfer recorded to have shot a hole-in-one is Coby Orr (5 years) of Littleton, CO on the 103 yd fifth at the Riverside Golf Course, San Antonio, TX in 1975.
* The World's longest Golf Course is the International Golf Club in Massachusetts, a long par 77, 8,325 yards from the back tees.
* The World's highest Golf Course is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, which sits 14,335 feet above sea level at it's highest point.
* The longest golf hole in the World is the 7th hold (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures a long 909 yards.
* One of the longest shots ever driven was 800 yards by Astronaut Alan Sheppard while teeing up on the Moon.
* The first book on the rules of golf was published in Scotland in 1754.
Hockey
* In the 1960’s the NHL decided that home teams would wear white, while visiting teams would wear their dark jerseys. The reasoning behind this was that it would be more difficult to keep white uniforms clean while on the road.
* Foster Hewitt was the first announcer to say "He shoots, He scores!" during a broadcast in 1933.
Horse Racing
* Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races - including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.
* Jockeys are the only athletes legally allowed to bet on themselves.
* The race horse Secretariat is the only sports celebrity to appear on the covers of Newsweek, Time and Sports Illustrated simultaneously (1973).
Karate
Karate actually originated in India, but was developed further in China.
Olympics
* The five Olympic rings represent the continents.
* Until 1967 it wasn't illegal for Olympic athletes to use drugs to enhance their performance during competition.
* Poland's Stella Walsh (Stanislawa Walasiewicz)-won the women's 100-meter race at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman to break the 12-second barrier. When she was killed in 1980 as an innocent victim in a robbery attempt, an autopsy declared her to be a male.
Soccer
Soccer is the most attended or watched sport in the world.
Tennis
* Michael Sangster, who played in the 1960s, had tennis' fastest serve, once clocked at 154 mph.
* The catgut formerly used as strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments does not come from cats. Catgut actually comes from sheep, hogs, and horses.