Spring is finally here and that means baseball season is upon us. The first game of the 2014 season is this Sunday as the LA Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres. While everyone knows facts like the first professional baseball team was the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings and that the Dodgers used to play in Brooklyn, we've decided to share some lesser-known facts to impress all of the baseball fanatics in your life. Check them out below!
- In the fifth inning of a game against the Phillies, James Piersall hit the 100th home run of his career, and promptly ran the bases facing backwards.
- Thanks to Hurricane Irene, the record for lowest attendance at an MLB game is 347 fans!
- 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 at that time.
- The very first baseball game was played on June 19, 1845, across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey.
- On August 17, 1957, Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies hit spectator Alice Roth with a foul ball, breaking her nose. As Alice was being carried off the field on a stretcher, Ashburn hit her with another foul ball, breaking a bone in her knee.
- In 1968, the All-Star Game was played indoors for the first time at Houston's famous Astrodome. Unfortunately, No one had an RBI in that All-Star Game.
- Every MLB ball is covered in mud from a secret location in New Jersey that only Jim Bintliff, owner of Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing mud, knows.
- 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.
- On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was struck by a submarine pitch from Yankee hurler Carl Mays. Unsteadily, Chapman took a few steps toward first base before collapsing. He died in the hospital the next day and remains the only Major League baseball player ever killed by a pitch.
Sources: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/04/the-first-professional-baseball-team-was-the-1869-cincinnati-red-stockings/, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1059533-15-intresting-facts-baseball-fans-might-not-know/page/11, http://www.omg-facts.com/lists/319/11-Little-Known-Facts-About-Major-League-Baseball/3, http://stangebuttru.blogspot.com/2013/06/strange-but-true-facts-about-baseball.html, http://www.neatorama.com/2012/05/24/12-baseball-feats-that-only-happened-once/#!BaZlp