163 Fun Facts About Mlb Baseball

On a Major League Baseball diamond, what is the distance from one base to the next?

90 feet a side is fixed for every big-league infield, even though no two outfields share the same dimensions; the pitching rubber sits 60 feet 6 inches from home plate.

Which National League club has the most World Series titles?

The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11, the first in 1926, when Babe Ruth was thrown out trying to steal second base for the final out of Game 7.

Who set the MLB single-season record for hits, with 262 in 2004?

Ichiro Suzuki broke George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257 in Seattle, then walked over to the stands to shake hands with Sisler's 81-year-old daughter.

Per The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, baseball's term for a bases-loaded home run was borrowed from which card game?

Contract bridge uses the same term for taking all thirteen tricks, the biggest prize a hand can bring; baseball's version brings the most runs possible on one swing.

Which teammate of Jackie Robinson won the first Cy Young Award in 1956, when one trophy covered both leagues?

Don Newcombe won it with 27 victories and was the National League MVP too; the award was split in two only in 1967, after its creator, Commissioner Ford Frick, had retired.

Which city fielded baseball's first all-professional team, the Red Stockings of 1869?

The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 were the first openly all-salaried club; they went unbeaten that season, lost at last to the Brooklyn Atlantics in June 1870, and had broken up by the end of that year.

Who holds the Major League Baseball career record for most home runs?

Barry Bonds hit 762 and was feared like no other hitter: in 1998 Arizona walked him on purpose with the bases loaded, giving up a run rather than pitch to him.

Which pitcher has won the most Cy Young Awards, with seven?

Roger Clemens won seven between 1986 and 2004, yet after a 2007 steroids report named him he fell short of the Hall of Fame in all ten years on the writers' ballot.

Which Major League Baseball team has won the most World Series championships?

The New York Yankees have won 27, more than twice as many as any rival, yet none came in their first two decades: the first arrived in 1923, and 19 more followed by 1962.

Jackie Robinson made his historic Major League Baseball debut with which team?

Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, starting at first base; MLB retired his number 42 for every club in 1997.

Which stadium is famously known as 'The Friendly Confines'?

Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs since 1916, had the ivy on its outfield walls planted by a young Bill Veeck, a club employee years before he owned teams of his own.

What does the abbreviation 'ERA' stand for in baseball statistics?

Earned Run Average counts the runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings, but it flatters anyone with great fielders behind him, since their best plays never show up in it.

What is a 'balk' in baseball?

An illegal motion by a pitcher with runners on base is penalised because it is judged an attempt to deceive them: every runner is waved up one base while the batter stays at the plate.

The 'Curse of the Bambino' is a famous superstition associated with which MLB team?

The Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to a New York rival after the 1919 season and then went 86 years without a title, a wait that fans blamed on the sale until it ended in 2004.

Who holds the MLB career record for most hits?

Pete Rose finished with 4,256 hits, yet his 1989 ban for betting on baseball kept the game's hit king out of the Hall of Fame for the rest of his life.

Since 2020, what starts each regular-season MLB extra inning?

A runner on second starts each extra half-inning, a rule brought in for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to make scoring likelier and bring long games to a quicker end.

What must a 'walk-off' home run do?

Put the batting side ahead so the game ends: only the home team can do it, because it bats last and the visitors have no turn left to answer.

Which uniform number did Roberto Clemente wear for nearly all of his Hall of Fame career?

He switched to 21 after a few weeks in 13, reportedly because 'Roberto Clemente Walker' has 21 letters; the Pirates retired the number after his death.

MLB baseballs are rubbed before games with what, to remove their factory sheen?

Mud dug in New Jersey, first supplied by coach Lena Blackburne, is rubbed into every ball because a brand-new one is too slick for pitchers to grip.

Which pitcher, drafted as a first baseman, built a 19-year knuckleball career mostly in Boston?

Tim Wakefield, drafted by Pittsburgh as a first baseman, took up the knuckleball once it was clear he would never hit his way to the majors, then won the 2004 and 2007 World Series with Boston.

What is a pitch deliberately thrown high and wide so a base stealer can be thrown out called?

A pitchout is called when the defence guesses a runner is about to go; thrown well beyond the hitter's reach, it can also wreck a hit-and-run or a squeeze play.

Which Baltimore Orioles shortstop set the record for consecutive games played, at 2,632?

Cal Ripken Jr. passed a record that had stood for 56 years on September 6, 1995, then ended the streak himself in 1998 by asking his manager to leave him out of the last home game.

What is the term for an out made by catching a batted ball before it hits the ground?

A flyout is what pitchers who work high in the strike zone are hunting, a risky habit because the fly ball that carries a little further is a home run.

Which player is known as 'The Iron Horse'?

Lou Gehrig earned the name by playing 2,130 games in a row, a streak he ended himself in May 1939 by taking himself out of the lineup, weeks before he was diagnosed with ALS.

Who stole more bases than anyone in MLB history?

Rickey Henderson's 1,406 steals are almost 50 percent more than the old record of 938; on the day he broke it in 1991 he told the crowd he was now the greatest of all time.

What is the term for a batter hitting a home run with a runner on first, second, and third base?

A grand slam scores four runs, yet Robin Ventura's in the 1999 playoffs went into the books as a single: mobbed by teammates after clearing the fence, he never got past first base.

A pitcher wins the 'Triple Crown' by leading the league in wins, ERA and which other category?

Strikeouts complete the set, as batting average, home runs and RBIs do for hitters; after 1967 no hitter managed that version again until 2012, while pitchers won theirs ten times in between.

Who was the last American or National League player to hit .400 in a season, finishing 1941 at .406?

Ted Williams, offered the chance to sit out the final day of 1941 and protect a rounded .400, played both games of a doubleheader, went 6-for-8 and finished at .406.

Which player, later MLB's first Black manager, was the first to win MVP in both leagues?

Frank Robinson was National League MVP in 1961, was traded away by an owner who called him old for 30, and answered with the Triple Crown and the American League award in 1966.

Besides the pitcher, which position player may initiate a pickoff throw?

A catcher's snap throw to a base rarely gets the out, but it is worth making: a runner who knows it may come takes a shorter lead before the next pitch.

Which pitcher holds the record for career strikeouts with 5,714, and also the record for career walks?

Nolan Ryan was traded away by the Mets in 1971 for an infielder who lasted under two seasons, then threw four no-hitters in his first four years with the Angels.

What is the 'bullpen' in baseball?

The area where relief pitchers warm up also lends its name to a club's whole relief staff, who sit out there rather than in the dugout so one can start throwing the moment the phone rings.

What is an 'unearned run' in baseball?

A run scored due to a fielding error counts on the scoreboard like any other, but it is left out of the pitcher's ERA when the scorer judges it would not have scored with clean fielding.

Who is the all-time leader in career saves?

Mariano Rivera saved 652 games with essentially one pitch, a cut fastball he stumbled on by accident in 1997 and said had arrived as if from the heavens.

Which player is famously known as 'Mr. October' for his postseason heroics?

Reggie Jackson sealed the name in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, hitting three home runs on three consecutive swings, each off a different pitcher.

What is the term for a deep out to the outfield that lets a runner tag up and score?

A sacrifice fly is not charged as an at-bat, so it spares the hitter's batting average, yet unlike a sacrifice bunt it still counts against his on-base percentage.

Which team ended a 108-year championship drought by winning the 2016 World Series in seven games?

The Chicago Cubs trailed Cleveland three games to one, won the next three and took a ten-inning Game 7 that was interrupted by rain, their first title since 1908.

Who is the all-time leader in career Runs Batted In (RBIs)?

Hank Aaron drove in 2,297 runs, and not by power alone: take away every one of his 755 home runs and he would still have more than 3,000 hits.

Which stadium is known for its iconic 'Green Monster' in left field?

Fenway Park's Green Monster is 37 feet 2 inches tall; the present wall went up in 1934 and was covered in advertisements until it was painted green in 1947.

A no-hitter in which no batter reaches base at all is called what?

A perfect game is far rarer than a no-hitter, which survives walks and errors: in 1964 Houston's Ken Johnson threw nine hitless innings and still lost 1-0 after two errors let in a run.

Which pitcher won a record 18 Gold Glove Awards, more than any player at any position?

Greg Maddux won the pitchers' Gold Glove in his league every year from 1990 to 2008 but one: in 2003 it went to Mike Hampton, his own teammate in Atlanta.

What happens if rain ends a regular-season MLB game after five innings with one team ahead?

The leader wins, because five innings make a game official; four and a half are enough when the home side is ahead, since it would not need to bat again.

What is a 'full count' in baseball?

Three balls and two strikes makes the next delivery the 'payoff pitch', since one more ball or strike ends the at-bat, although a batter can stay alive by fouling pitches off.

Who was the first MLB commissioner?

Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a sitting federal judge when appointed in 1920, banned the Black Sox conspirators for life over the fixed 1919 World Series and never relented.

Dodger Stadium's Los Angeles site is best known by what name?

Chavez Ravine went to the Dodgers after Los Angeles voters backed the deal in a 1958 referendum, and the last families living there were removed before the stadium opened in 1962.

A fair ball that bounces over the outfield fence is automatically ruled which kind of hit?

A double is awarded, and every runner gets exactly two bases as well, so a fast runner on first must stop at third even if he would have scored easily.

Who set the American League single-season home run record with 62 in 2022?

Aaron Judge hit No. 62 to lead off his club's next-to-last game, 61 years after Roger Maris had set the old league mark of 61 on the final day of the 1961 season.

Which team won the 2022 World Series in six games, five years after a title tainted by sign-stealing?

The Houston Astros beat Philadelphia in six; for the sign-stealing behind their 2017 title MLB had fined the club $5 million and taken two years of top draft picks, yet let the title stand.

Which shortstop became the first position player to win World Series MVP as a rookie, in 2022?

Jeremy Peña took over at shortstop that spring after Carlos Correa left, then became the first rookie shortstop to win a Gold Glove and MVP of both the ALCS and the World Series.

Which manager won his first World Series in 2022 at the age of 73, the oldest ever to win one?

Dusty Baker had been one win from the title twenty years earlier, when his Giants led 5-0 in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, lost that night and then lost Game 7.

Which centre fielder, nicknamed 'The Kid', played in the same outfield as his own father in 1990?

Ken Griffey Jr. and his father became the first father and son to play as teammates in August 1990, and two weeks later they hit back-to-back home runs.

Which Phillies star hit the first of his team's five home runs in Game 3 of the 2022 World Series?

Bryce Harper's two-run shot in the first inning began a 7-0 rout, yet the Phillies did not win again: they were held hitless the next night and lost the Series in six games.

Which slugger hit his 700th career home run at Dodger Stadium in September 2022, weeks before retiring?

Albert Pujols hit numbers 699 and 700 on the same night against the Dodgers, the club that had signed him in 2021 days after the Angels cut him loose.

Which slugger singled for his 3,000th hit in April 2022, having already passed 500 home runs?

Miguel Cabrera saw Colorado's infield leave a gap on the right side and shot a single through it, becoming the seventh player with both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.

Who won the 2022 Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium, becoming the second-youngest winner ever?

Juan Soto won at 23, one day older than Juan González had been in 1993, and was traded from Washington to San Diego two weeks later.

Which 1918 feat of Babe Ruth's did Shohei Ohtani match in 2022?

10 wins and 10 homers in one season: Ruth won 13 games in 1918 and hit a league-best 11 home runs, then all but gave up pitching after 1919; no AL or NL player did both again before Ohtani.

Michael Lewis's Moneyball tells how which low-budget team kept winning in 2002?

The Oakland Athletics won 20 games in a row that summer, a streak the 2011 film builds to, then went out in the first round of the playoffs.

Which pitcher won his third Cy Young unanimously in 2022, at 39, after Tommy John surgery?

Justin Verlander missed all of 2021 after Tommy John surgery, then capped his comeback by winning a World Series game at last, after eight Series starts without a victory.

Which Miami Marlins right-hander won the 2022 National League Cy Young Award unanimously?

Sandy Alcántara came to Miami as a prospect in the 2017 trade that sent slugger Marcell Ozuna away, and five years later his 2.28 ERA over 228 2/3 innings won every first-place vote.

Which centre fielder made 'The Catch' in the 1954 World Series?

Willie Mays ran down Vic Wertz's drive with his back to the plate, then spun and threw so quickly that the lead runner got no further than third base; the Giants swept the Series.

Which player, nicknamed 'the Georgia Peach', held the record for highest career batting average until 2024?

Ty Cobb's mark had topped the list since he retired in 1928, until MLB added Negro leagues statistics to its records in 2024 and Josh Gibson's .372 moved ahead of it.

Cy Young holds the record for career wins with 511; which other career record is his?

Losses: Cy Young also lost more games than any pitcher in history, the flip side of completing 749 of his 815 starts across 22 seasons.

Which shortstop is pictured on a rare tobacco card that has sold for millions?

Honus Wagner made the American Tobacco Company stop printing the card, which is why so few survive; on the field he won eight National League batting titles.

Which Washington Senators pitcher holds the career record with 110 shutouts?

Walter Johnson won 38 of his games 1–0 and lost 26 more by the same score, both records, the price of 21 seasons with a Washington team that seldom hit.

Which Dodgers ace retired at 30 and became the youngest player elected to the Hall of Fame?

Sandy Koufax quit after the 1966 season because of chronic pain in his pitching elbow, though still at the top of his game, and the Hall elected him in 1972, when he was 36.

Mickey Mantle, 'the Commerce Comet', was born in which state?

Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in 1931 and raised in nearby Commerce, where his father drilled him as a switch hitter; he hit 536 home runs for the Yankees.

Whose 56-game hitting streak in 1941 remains the MLB record?

Joe DiMaggio's streak ran from May 15 to July 16, 1941 and ended the next night when Cleveland third baseman Ken Keltner twice threw him out after backhand stops.

Which catcher won 10 World Series championships as a player, more than anyone in MLB history?

Yogi Berra won 10 World Series with the Yankees; before any of them, as a 19-year-old Navy gunner, he manned a rocket boat off Normandy on D-Day.

Roberto Clemente died in 1972 flying relief supplies to earthquake survivors in which country?

Roberto Clemente's overloaded cargo plane went down off Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve 1972, bound for Nicaragua; the Hall of Fame waived its five-year wait and elected him in 1973.

Before choosing baseball, Bob Gibson briefly played for which basketball team?

Bob Gibson spent four months with the Harlem Globetrotters before committing to the Cardinals; his 1.12 ERA in 1968 helped push MLB to lower the mound the next season.

Which pitcher anchored the 1969 'Miracle Mets' and won Cy Young Awards in 1969, 1973 and 1975?

Tom Seaver became a Met by luck: his 1966 contract with the Braves was voided, and New York won a three-team lottery for the right to sign him.

Which player has the most hits in Yankees history, with 3,465?

Derek Jeter was the first Yankee to reach 3,000 hits, and he got there in style in 2011: a home run in a five-for-five afternoon.

Which Japanese team did Shohei Ohtani leave for MLB at the end of 2017?

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters drafted Ohtani in 2012 even though he had announced he would skip Japanese baseball for an American club, then spent a month talking him into staying.

Which pitcher won four straight Cy Young Awards with Arizona?

Randy Johnson took all four from 1999 to 2002 after joining the Diamondbacks; in a 2001 spring training game one of his fastballs struck and killed a dove that flew in front of the plate.

Which pitcher won Cy Young Awards with both Montreal and Boston?

Pedro Martínez had pitched almost entirely in relief for the Dodgers, who traded him to Montreal after 1993 for second baseman Delino DeShields; four years later he won the first of his three awards.

Which team lost the first modern World Series?

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to Boston five games to three in 1903, but their owner, Barney Dreyfuss, gave his own share of the gate to his players, so each loser took home more money than the winners did.

Which rule did the National League adopt for good in 2022?

The designated hitter reached the American League in 1973, after the pitching-dominated late 1960s; the first one, the Yankees' Ron Blomberg, began with a bases-loaded walk.

The myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball helped place the Hall of Fame in which town?

Cooperstown, New York got the Hall in 1939 because the Mills Commission had credited Abner Doubleday with inventing baseball there in 1839, a year he actually spent as a cadet at West Point.

The Yankee Stadium that opened in 2009 stands in which New York City borough?

The Bronx kept its team when the new park opened across the street from the 1923 original, and the Yankees won the World Series in its first season, just as they had in 1923.

What cut short Wrigley Field's first night game, in August 1988?

A rainstorm stopped it after three and a half innings, 46 years after owner Philip Wrigley gave the lights he had bought for 1942 to the war effort following Pearl Harbor.

Bobby Thomson's 1951 'Shot Heard 'Round the World' came off which Dodgers pitcher?

Ralph Branca threw the pitch at the Polo Grounds; fifty years later Giants players admitted they had spent the 1951 stretch run stealing catchers' signs through a clubhouse telescope.

Who pitched the only perfect game in World Series history, in Game 5 of 1956?

Don Larsen had faced only ten batters before being pulled from Game 2, yet three days later he retired all 27 Dodgers, the last on a called third strike to pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell.

Bill Buckner's infamous error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series came against which team?

Mookie Wilson's grounder went through Buckner's legs to give the New York Mets Game 6 at Shea Stadium; the Mets won Game 7 two nights later.

Which Dodgers pitcher set a record with 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988?

Orel Hershiser broke the 20-year-old record of Don Drysdale, who was working the game as the Dodgers' radio announcer and met him at the dugout with an embrace.

Before Joe Carter in 1993, who was the only player to end a World Series with a home run?

Bill Mazeroski, a second baseman better known for his glove, homered in the ninth inning of Game 7 to beat a Yankees team that had outscored Pittsburgh 55–27 over the 1960 Series.

Who was batting .394 when the 1994 strike stopped play?

Tony Gwynn was at .394 when the players walked out in August 1994; the season never resumed, so he never got the rest of the schedule to chase .400.

Which team was the first MLB franchise located outside the United States?

The Montreal Expos joined the National League in 1969; they had the league's best record when the 1994 strike ended the season, and a decade later the club left to become the Washington Nationals.

Through the end of 2025, which MLB franchise had never appeared in a World Series?

The Seattle Mariners, founded in 1977, won 116 games in 2001 to tie the 1906 Cubs' record yet lost that year's ALCS to the Yankees; through 2025 they remained the only franchise never to reach a World Series.

Which team won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993, the second on Joe Carter's walk-off home run?

The Toronto Blue Jays remain the only club based outside the US to win a World Series; Carter's three-run homer came with them trailing 6–5 in the ninth inning of Game 6.

Who formed the first Negro National League in 1920?

Rube Foster, owner-manager of the Chicago American Giants, organized the Negro National League at a Kansas City YMCA in February 1920, the first of seven Negro leagues later recognized as major.

Which Negro leagues legend was a 42-year-old American League rookie in 1948?

Satchel Paige was the oldest man ever to debut in the American or National League, and he was not finished: in 1965, at 59, he came back to throw three scoreless innings for Kansas City.

Who was the first Black player in the American League, debuting with Cleveland in 1947?

Larry Doby went straight from the Negro leagues' Newark Eagles into Cleveland's lineup on July 5, 1947, with no minor-league stop, less than three months after Jackie Robinson's debut.

Besides signing Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey created the framework for what?

Branch Rickey built the minor league farm system because his cash-poor Cardinals could not outbid richer clubs for talent, so he bought up minor league teams and grew his own players.

The Knickerbocker Rules of 1845 are associated with which 'father of modern baseball'?

Alexander Cartwright wears that title on his Hall of Fame plaque, yet MLB's official historian says every word of substance on it is false; Cartwright left for the gold rush in 1849 and settled in Hawaii.

Which snack brand gets a mention in the chorus of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'?

Cracker Jack is what Katie Casey asks for in the 1908 chorus; in Jack Norworth's verses she turns down a date at a show unless her beau takes her to the ballpark instead.

A popular story credits which president with starting the seventh-inning stretch in 1910?

The tale has William Howard Taft rising to stretch at a 1910 Washington Senators game and the crowd following; Taft also threw the first presidential first pitch that same day, April 14, 1910.

Field of Dreams is based on which 1982 novel by W. P. Kinsella?

Kinsella's 1982 novel Shoeless Joe gave its narrator Ray Kinsella the author's own surname; the 1989 film built the field on a farm in Dyersville, Iowa.

In Bull Durham, Kevin Costner's veteran catcher Crash Davis is brought in to mentor which pitcher?

Tim Robbins played Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh, the wild rookie Crash Davis is assigned to polish; writer-director Ron Shelton drew on his own minor-league years.

Robert Redford's character in The Natural (1984) is called what?

Roy Hobbs, the bat-wielding prodigy of Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel, is played by Robert Redford; the film swaps the book's bleak ending for a pennant-winning homer.

A League of Their Own follows which team of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League?

The Rockford Peaches lose the film's 1943 title series to Racine, which really did win the league's first championship; the real Peaches had to wait until 1945 for the first of their four.

Major League (1989) follows a fictionalised season of which real team?

The Cleveland Indians were the lovable losers, though the film was mostly shot in Milwaukee's County Stadium.

Which actor played Jackie Robinson in the 2013 film 42?

Chadwick Boseman played Robinson opposite Harrison Ford's Branch Rickey, a part Robert Redford had planned to take himself in a 2004 version of the film that was never made.

'Casey at the Bat' first appeared in 1888 in which newspaper, then run by the young William Randolph Hearst?

The San Francisco Examiner printed it on June 3, 1888 under the pen name 'Phin'; Ernest Thayer was a Harvard friend Hearst had brought west, and it was actor DeWolf Hopper's stage recitals that made the poem famous.

Nolan Ryan threw his seventh no-hitter in 1991 for which team?

The Texas Rangers were his fourth and last club; two years later, at 46, he answered Robin Ventura's charge to the mound by putting the 26-year-old in a headlock.

Which broadcaster called Dodgers games for 67 seasons, from 1950 to 2016?

Vin Scully followed the club west in 1958, where fans in the cavernous Coliseum took to bringing transistor radios so they could hear him describe the game in front of them.

Who managed the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 seasons in a business suit?

Connie Mack was also a part-owner of the club, which helps explain how he stayed in the dugout until he was 87, finishing with a record 3,731 wins.

Which Milwaukee Brewers owner led Major League Baseball from 1992 to 2015?

Bud Selig got into the game by buying the bankrupt Seattle Pilots in 1970 and moving them to Milwaukee as the Brewers; he was the first owner to be elected commissioner.

Which former Senate majority leader wrote baseball's 2007 steroids report?

George Mitchell's 409-page report leaned heavily on a former clubhouse attendant, Kirk Radomski, who had sold players steroids for a decade and talked as part of a plea deal.

Who hit 66 home runs for the Cubs in 1998, second to Mark McGwire's 70?

Sammy Sosa hit 66 homers for the Cubs in 1998, including a record 20 in June, and won the NL MVP while McGwire finished with 70.

Fernando Valenzuela was the first player to win which two awards in the same year?

Fernando Valenzuela won the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in 1981 after an injury made him the emergency Opening Day starter; he threw a shutout that day and won his first eight starts.

In the 1983 Pine Tar Incident, George Brett's disputed home run came off which Yankees closer?

George Brett's two-run homer off Goose Gossage was nullified when Billy Martin had umpires measure the pine tar; AL president Lee MacPhail reinstated it and the Royals won the resumed game 5-4.

Which outfielder refused a 1969 trade and took the reserve clause to the Supreme Court?

Curt Flood, a three-time All-Star for the Cardinals, refused a trade to Philadelphia and lost Flood v. Kuhn at the Supreme Court in 1972; free agency arrived in 1976.

Bo Jackson won the 1985 Heisman Trophy at which university before playing for the Royals?

Bo Jackson won the Heisman at Auburn, then turned down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had made him the NFL's first overall pick, to sign with the Royals, later calling football his 'hobby'.

Michael Jordan signed a 1994 minor league deal with which MLB organisation?

The Chicago White Sox shared an owner with the Bulls, Jerry Reinsdorf; Jordan hit .202 for their Double-A Birmingham Barons.

Since 1959 the Little League World Series has been held in which Pennsylvania town?

South Williamsport took over in 1959 from the original field in neighbouring Williamsport, where Carl Stotz had started Little League in 1939 with his young nephews in mind.

The College World Series has been held since 1950 in which city?

Omaha, Nebraska took over in 1950 after two editions in Kalamazoo and one in Wichita, and has staged every College World Series since, missing only the cancelled 2020 tournament.

In baseball slang, a 'golden sombrero' means a batter did what in one game?

Struck out four times: the name is a joke on the hat trick, since four needs a bigger hat than three, and five strikeouts in one game is a 'platinum sombrero'.

Which shortstop's name marks a .200 batting average?

Mario Mendoza says two Seattle teammates coined the gibe in 1979, then needled George Brett with it; Brett repeated it to ESPN's Chris Berman, and from there it spread.

Which Cleveland shortstop died after being hit by a Carl Mays pitch in 1920?

Ray Chapman was struck at the Polo Grounds on August 16, 1920 and died early the next morning; his replacement, rookie Joe Sewell, helped Cleveland win that year's World Series and reached the Hall of Fame.

Which 2023 MLB rule requires two infielders on each side of second base?

The shift ban also keeps all four infielders on the dirt and stops them swapping sides; it was brought in because overloaded defences had become so good at turning hits into outs.

Which cryptocurrency exchange became MLB's first umpire uniform patch partner in 2021?

FTX put its logo on every umpire's uniform from the 2021 All-Star Game under a deal billed as long-term; sixteen months later, in November 2022, the exchange collapsed into bankruptcy.

The first MLB All-Star Game, in Chicago in 1933, was a sideshow to which event?

A world's fair, Chicago's Century of Progress, prompted Tribune sports editor Arch Ward to pitch a one-off 'Game of the Century' at Comiskey Park, and it has been played almost every summer since.

The 2002 All-Star Game was called a tie because both teams ran out of what?

Pitchers: both managers had used every arm by the eleventh inning, so the game in Milwaukee was halted at 7–7 to loud boos; from 2003 to 2016 the winning league earned World Series home advantage.

Which team won the 2002 World Series while it was owned by the Walt Disney Company?

The Anaheim Angels gave Disney a title in their first postseason in 16 years, yet the company sold the club to Arte Moreno just months later, in May 2003.

Which snack does the singer ask for alongside peanuts in the chorus of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'?

Cracker Jack lost its place at one minor league park in 2019: after Hartford banned peanuts over allergies, fans there began singing 'Buy me a hot dog and Yard Goats cap'.

Which of the Washington Nationals' Racing Presidents famously failed to win a single race for almost seven seasons?

Teddy Roosevelt finally won on October 3, 2012, the last day of the regular season, after a fan campaign called 'Let Teddy Win' had made his losing streak a national story.

Which singalong hit has played in the middle of the eighth inning at every Boston Red Sox home game since 2002?

Sweet Caroline was sung live by Neil Diamond himself on opening night in 2010, and he led the crowd in it again days after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Which team's furry green mascot hails from the Galápagos Islands, according to the character's official biography?

The Phillies owe the Phanatic to Bonnie Erickson, who had earlier designed Miss Piggy for Jim Henson's Muppets.

Brad Pitt plays which real-life Oakland Athletics general manager in the 2011 film Moneyball?

Billy Beane had been a first-round draft pick himself, but as a player he never became the star that scouts projected.

Which comedy duo made famous the baseball routine 'Who's on First?', built on players with confusing names?

Abbott and Costello saw a gold record of the routine placed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956, where film of the sketch still plays continuously.

Florida's spring training circuit is named for which citrus crop, while Arizona's is called the Cactus League?

The Grapefruit League is only an informal nickname: no organization by that name exists, although Major League Baseball has trademarked it.

The Dodgers' nickname recalls 1890s Brooklyn residents who had to dodge which fast-moving vehicles?

Trolleys were a deadly new hazard: by the end of 1895, electric trolley accidents in Brooklyn had killed more than 130 people.

Lena Blackburne's mud, rubbed on new big-league baseballs to dull their gloss, is dug from a riverbank in which state?

New Jersey's side of the Delaware River supplies the mud, which coach Lena Blackburne went looking for in 1938 after an umpire complained about how balls were being prepared.

Which American League team's name came from a fan contest entry honoring a livestock show held in its city since 1899?

The Royals name salutes the American Royal, a livestock show and rodeo whose pageantry the winning entrant, Sanford Porte, said best summed up Kansas City.

Which team dropped the word 'Devil' from its nickname in a 2007 rebrand that also changed its colors?

The Tampa Bay Rays said the shorter name also meant rays of sunshine, and in their first season without the 'Devil' they won their first American League pennant.

Which team's bayside ballpark lets sluggers splash home runs into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall?

The Giants waited until 2024 for a right-handed batter to reach the water on the fly: Heliot Ramos followed 104 'splash hits' that were all struck from the left side of the plate.

Which team left the American League after 29 seasons to join the National League in 1998?

The Milwaukee Brewers were owned by Bud Selig, then running the sport, so to avoid a conflict of interest another club was offered the switch first and turned it down.

Which animal did Athletics manager Connie Mack defiantly adopt as a mascot after a taunt from rival John McGraw?

The elephant answered McGraw's sneer that the club's owner had a 'white elephant on his hands'; Mack even handed him a stuffed toy one before the 1905 World Series.

Which Baltimore Orioles ballpark, opened in 1992 beside an old railroad warehouse, launched the 'retro' stadium trend?

Camden Yards proved so influential that every new big-league park for two decades was classed as a 'retro' design, until Miami's opened in 2012.

Which infield position is nicknamed the 'hot corner' because its fielder often stands closest to the batter?

Third base demands quick reactions: balls batted toward it can exceed 120 miles per hour, and the fielder creeps even closer to the plate when a bunt is expected.

Which geometric shape is home plate, the white rubber slab set level with the ground on every Major League field?

The pentagon was developed by Robert Keating, whose own big-league career was a single game pitched for the 1887 Baltimore Orioles; the National League adopted it in 1900.

Which New York City borough gives the Yankees their 'Bombers' nickname and has been home to Yankee Stadium since 1923?

The Bronx got its ballpark after the Yankees spent ten years as tenants at Manhattan's Polo Grounds, where they began to outdraw their landlords once Babe Ruth arrived in 1920.

Who became the first player in MLB history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season, in 2024?

Shohei Ohtani sealed it with a six-hit game against Miami: three home runs, two steals and 10 runs batted in from six at-bats.

Which New York Yankees center fielder, nicknamed 'the Yankee Clipper', married Marilyn Monroe in 1954?

Joe DiMaggio saw the marriage end after only nine months, yet he helped arrange Monroe's funeral and had roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for 20 years.

Which Atlanta outfielder of 1992 is the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series?

Deion Sanders batted .533 in that 1992 World Series while playing with a broken bone in his foot, and later won two Super Bowl titles.

Which Dominican designated hitter, nicknamed 'Big Papi', won three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox?

David Ortiz earned the nickname through his habit of calling 'Papi' anyone, teammates included, whose name he could not remember.

Which 6-foot-10 left-hander's fastball struck and killed a dove during a 2001 spring training game?

Randy Johnson went on to win the World Series later that year, and after retiring he used a dead bird as the logo of his photography company.

Which New York Yankees outfielder hit 61 home runs in 1961 to break Babe Ruth's single-season record?

Roger Maris was said to be under such strain that his hair fell out in clumps, and the commissioner wanted a 'distinctive mark' beside any record set after 154 games.

Which outfielder, nicknamed 'the Millville Meteor', won three American League MVP awards between 2014 and 2019?

Mike Trout owes the nickname to a prank: a vandal added it to his Wikipedia article, the name caught on, and he adopted it.

Which left-hander spent all 18 seasons of a Dodgers career that brought three Cy Young Awards and the 2014 NL MVP?

Clayton Kershaw is the great-nephew of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto, and in high school he was the center for future NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Which pitcher, born without a right hand, threw a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in 1993?

Jim Abbott rested his glove on the end of his right forearm as he threw, then slipped his hand into it in time to field the ball.

Which shortstop won 13 straight Gold Gloves and was known for doing backflips as he took the field?

Ozzie Smith had been practicing since boyhood, when he and his friends springboarded off inner tubes and flipped into sawdust piles at the neighborhood lumberyard.

Which San Diego Padres outfielder won eight National League batting titles across a 20-season, one-club career?

Tony Gwynn was drafted twice in one day in 1981: by the Padres in baseball and, later that day, by the NBA's San Diego Clippers.

Which catcher led the 'Big Red Machine' of the 1970s and was famously photographed holding seven baseballs in one hand?

Johnny Bench used those huge hands to scoop pitches out of the dirt one-handed rather than dropping to both knees, and he twice won the National League MVP award.

Which hobbled Dodgers pinch hitter limped around the bases after a walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series?

Kirk Gibson, nursing a pulled hamstring and a swollen knee, never batted again in that Series: the home run was his one and only plate appearance.

Which former MVP, a professional ten-pin bowler on the side, bowled a perfect game at the 2017 World Series of Bowling?

Mookie Betts was named Tennessee Boys Bowler of the Year in 2010, a year before the Boston Red Sox picked him in the fifth round of the baseball draft.

Which ace, nicknamed 'Doc', threw both a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter in 2010?

Roy Halladay owed the nickname to announcer Tom Cheek, who borrowed it from Wild West gunslinger Doc Holliday; the playoff gem came in his first postseason appearance.

Which Hall of Fame catcher was drafted 1,390th in 1988, as a favor from Tommy Lasorda to the player's father?

Mike Piazza was a first baseman at the time: Lasorda told him to learn to catch to improve his chances and helped him attend a training camp in the Dominican Republic.

Which St. Louis Cardinals great finished with exactly 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 on the road?

Stan Musial got his 'Stan the Man' nickname from rival fans: in 1946 the Brooklyn crowd at Ebbets Field chanted 'Here comes the man!' whenever he came up to bat.

Which Japanese pitcher, nicknamed 'the Tornado' for a twisting windup, was the 1995 National League Rookie of the Year?

Hideo Nomo reached the Dodgers through a loophole his agent found in the Japanese player contract, which let him leave his club as a free agent.

Which Boston Red Sox catcher waved a 12th-inning home run fair to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series?

Carlton Fisk watched the ball strike the foul pole, and the shot of him waving it fair changed the way baseball was televised.

Which 3-foot-7 pinch hitter walked on four pitches in a 1951 stunt staged by St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck?

Eddie Gaedel wore the number 1/8 on his back, and the American League president, accusing Veeck of making a mockery of the game, voided his contract the next day.

Which pitch, nicknamed 'Uncle Charlie' and 'the yakker', drops as it nears the plate because of forward spin?

The curveball is widely credited to 1860s star Candy Cummings, who said the idea came to him while studying how sea shells moved when thrown.