By: Rebecca Frank
Sports enthusiasts of all ages can enjoy learning fun baseball facts. From the odds of a fan being hit by a ball to the shortest major league player, there is an endless amount of interesting and hilarious facts about America's favorite pastime.
Here are some of the best:
- Each baseball game has 12,386,344 possible plays.
- The longest baseball game was between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox and lasted for eight hours and six minutes. Due to MLB rules forbidding an inning to start after 1 o'clock AM, fans had to come back the next day to finish the game.
- The average baseball only lasts about a week. Each baseball can only be used one time in a MLB game.
- Babe Ruth put a cabbage leaf under his hat during every game. He would change it for a new one every 2 innings.
- The odds of a fan being hit by a baseball are 300,000 to 1.
- Baseball legend states that the silhouette on the MLB logo is Harmon Killebrew, who played for the Washington Senators, the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals. He was second to Babe Ruth in total homeruns.
- Pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out more players in his career of 27 seasons than any other pitcher.
- Manager Alvin Dark of the San Francisco Giants told reporters that NASA would "put a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run." When Perry finally hit a home run, it was 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.
- The shortest major league player was Eddie Gaedel, who was three feet, seven inches tall. His sole appearance in an MLB game was a publicity stunt.
- The tallest player in Major League history is Minnesota Twins' pitcher Jon Rauch, who is six feet, eleven inches tall.
- Having been open for nearly 100 years, Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest baseball stadium still in use.
