Baseball Players
Baseball is indeed one of America’s favorite pastimes, and once you’ve caught the fever, there is just no turning back. And when it comes to favorite baseball players, the avid baseball fan just cannot help but want to know everything about them. And if trivia on baseball players is right up your alley, then you have come to the right place.
For starters, did you know that Cuba’s very own Fidel Castro was once one of the baseball players of the University of Havana? Yes, this is indeed one of the surprising facts about baseball. And there are so many more interesting facts about the major league baseball players as well. For starters, there are former major league baseball players who have shared that in the 1960’s, the annual salaries of baseball players amounted to just $6,000. This figure is actually for the year 1965! And in the late 40’s, the salaries of MLB players then were just $5,000! You don’t really see that in today’s MLB player salaries, right?
Let’s delve a bit further into the Major League baseball players of the past. You are sure to have heard of Roger Bresnahan, right? He was actually the catcher for the Giants team. And he was the one who introduced the concept of shin guards to the game. This was in the year 1907. Now, this is a very significant turn in the history of baseball. You see, catchers did not really wear shin guards during games, and this proved to be very dangerous, especially for catchers. Pitched baseballs can travel at very high speed. And a catcher cannot guarantee that he can catch all balls that would sail past the batter at the plate. When this happens, it’s more often than not that the pitched ball would hit the catcher’s shins. Thus, Bresnahan thought up the concept of wearing shin guards right away. And this has proven to be a very effective remedy.
And you have surely heard of Babe Ruth at one time or another. Yes, Babe Ruth is indeed one of the largest names in baseball. And this is with reason as well! Born George Herman Ruth, Babe Ruth was able to play more than 2,000 game all throughout his career! In fact, the figure is actually a little over 2,500 games! During the course of his career, Babe Ruth was able to acquire a batting average of 0.342. This is not surprising, considering that Ruth has one of the highest Major League Baseball player rankings. But what’s surprising about Babe Ruth is his mannerism that is considered quite the trademark through the years. You see, Babe Ruth had this habit of keeping a cabbage leaf under his hat while at play. Yes, a cabbage leaf. When asked why he does this, Babe Ruth just says that he needs the cabbage leaf to keep cool when he is playing. But don’t worry, Ruth does change cabbage leaves after every inning. Although there is not that much scientific basis for this, it seems to work well for Babe Ruth.
Hal Newhouser is also one of the prominent pitchers in the majors. In fact, Newhouser is the only pitcher who was able to win the MVP award for two consecutive rows. This was in the years 1944 and 1945.
Another piece of trivia about baseball players is the one wherein the Yankees beat the Tigers in a game way back in 1962. At that time, this game was the longest, running 22 innings, with the Yankees scoring 9 to 7. But it was actually Jack Reed who won the game for the Yankees. He was able to hit a homerun for the team at a very opportune moment. And take note of the fact that this was the only homerun ever hit by Reed. Now, this is indeed one interesting fat about baseball players.