250 Funnest Facts for USA's 250th Birthday - Part 1: Baseball

America turns 250 years young this weekend so I'm hitting you with 250 of the Funnest Facts that I can possibly find on five different topics. What better way to lead off than with some semi-interesting bulldirt on America's Pastime, Baseball. Nothing says red, white, and blue like the smell of fresh cut sod, the crack of a wooden bat meeting a fastball, the hot dog vendor shouting out in between pitches to market his weenies, and Bad Bunny walkout songs. 

Here's some facts, most of them are totally original, some have a new spin on an old take, and I think 2-3 of them might actually not be true...

1). Flying at max speed, a peregrine falcon can cover the distance of 31-32,000 feet (~6 miles) during the average lifespan of a major league baseball in a game (6 pitches/90 seconds).

2). Danny Almonte of Little League World Series infamy hit 32 home runs and went 16-1 on the mound in 2007 & 2008 at Western Oklahoma State College in NJCAA DII.

3). In 1898 Elizabeth Stroud/Stride/Lizzie Arlington became the first woman to play professional baseball, entering a 5-0 game in the final inning for the Reading Coal Heavers who were hosting the Allentown Peanuts. She loaded the bases before retiring the side without allowing a run, leaving the field to chants of "Good for Lizzie!" raining down from the Reading revelers.

4). Joe DiMaggio coached 21/22/23 year old Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and Tony La Russa in 1968 & 1969 - the Athletics' first two seasons in Oakland.

5). Ray Jansen of the 1910 St. Louis Browns is the lone player in baseball history to have played just one game in the MLB and record four hits. But he also didn't score a run or drive in a run, and he had three errors in the field.

6). There's one player in major league history who's birthplace is listed as "At Sea" - Ed Porray of the 1914 Buffalo Buffeds who was born on a boat carrying his emigrating parents from Poland to America. He was also a pianist in World War I.

7). #97 is the least frequently worn jersey number in MLB history (i'm pretty sure), adorned only by Joe Beimel (LHP) from 2005-15 for six teams and Ron Marinaccio (RHP) from 2022-active for the Yankees & Padres.

8). There has been one baseball Hall of Famer born on the 4th of July:
    - Mickey Welch, a 300-game winner & 2-time World Series Champion for the Troy Trojans and New York Gothams/Giants who was born in Brooklyn on America's 83rd Birthday (1859). "Smiling Mickey," as he was known, holds an MLB record for striking out the first nine batters he faced in a game on August 28, 1884 and is credited for his pioneering of the Screwball.

9). There have been three Hall of Famers born on Christmas:

    - Rickey Henderson, baseball's All-time Stolen Base Leader 
    - Pud Galvin, baseball's first 300-game winner on the mound
    - Nellie Fox, who also got engaged to his future wife on Christmas Day in 1946

10). Pud Galvin (mentioned above) was reportedly the first player to have been widely known as a user of performance-enhancing drugs, taking an elixir from physiologist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard that was comprised primarily of monkey testosterone.

11). There's one player in baseball history to hit exactly 100 career home runs and record a .300 career batting average: Charleston, West Virginia's own John Kruk. 

12). This season there will be approximately 20 million hot dogs consumed at Major League Baseball parks across America. At his world record pace (83 hot dogs in 10 minutes), it would take Joey Chestnut 40,160 hours or 4.58 years to consume that many frankfurters.

13). July 28 is the only date on the calendar that has seen multiple perfect games pitched on that day - Dennis Martinez for Montreal in 1991 & Kenny Rogers for Texas in 1994.

14). Ed Walsh holds the record for lowest ERA by a pitcher with at least 20 losses in a season, going 18-20 with a career-low & MLB-leading 1.27 ERA for the 1910 White Sox.

15). Old Hoss Radbourn holds the major league record for most wins by a pitcher in a single season, winning 60 games for the 1884 Providence Grays who won 84 games as a team that year. There's been an MLB team with fewer than 60 wins in each of the last seven seasons (excluding the 2020 shortened campaign).

16). The 1989 MLB Draft is the only draft to have produced five Hall of Famers: Frank Thomas (1st Round; 7th Overall), Jeff Bagwell (4th; 110), Trevor Hoffman (11th; 290), Jim Thome (13th; 333rd), and Jeff Kent (20th; 523rd).

17). Barry Bonds has the most intentional walks in baseball history with 688 which is more than the players in second & third place combined (Albert Pujols & Hank Aaron, 609 combined).

18). In 2004 Barry Bonds recorded a total of 361 combined walks, intentional walks, and hit by pitches en route to posting a .607 on-base percentage. During his 19 year career, Shaquille O'Neal only had one season in which he posted a higher free throw percentage than Bonds' '04 OBP.

19). Babe Ruth has a career pitching record of 17-5 against the Yankees and his .773 winning percentage is the highest among 215 pitchers with at least 20 career decisions vs. NYY.

20). There is one pitcher in MLB history with at least 300 career wins and 50 career saves: Lefty Grove who retired with exactly 300 wins and 55 saves.

21). Despite claims about Mr. Met being baseball's first mascot, the first live action mascot in the majors was actually Mr. Oriole who was introduced in 1954 and lasted just one season. 

22). Nine mascots are in the Baseball Hall of Fame: the Phillie Phanatic, Sluggerrr, the Oriole Bird, Slider, Southpaw, Orbit, Lou Seal, Fredbird, and mr. met.

23). Charlie Hough has the most wins (and losses) for a pitcher with exactly a .500 winning percentage. Hough won and lost 216 games across 25 seasons from 1970 (as a 22 year old) through 1994 (as a 46 year old).

24). Since 1990 there are two pitchers who have recorded multiple saves and multiple shutouts in the same season: Jeff Weaver in 2002 & Curt Schilling in 1992.

25). There have been 12 MLB players born in Alaska, and pitchers account for 18.97% of the total hits produced by Alaskan-born players.

26). There has been one MLB player born in Vietnam - Danny Graves who was born in 1973, a year and a half before the Fall of Saigon and went on to become a 2x All-Star Closer for the Reds.

27). Danny Graves & Nolan Fontana are the only two players in MLB history to have multiple seasons in which his lone hit in the entire season was a home run. Graves did so as a closer in 2000 & 2001 and Fontana as an infielder in 2017 & 2018.

28). Brooks Robinson & Frank Robinson got a hit in the same game 399 times while playing together with Baltimore from 1966-71. The Orioles went 282-117 in those games, good for a .707 winning percentage.

29). Bob Gibson hit a home run in the same game in which he threw a shutout 6 times in his career, most in MLB history.

30). There have been four instances of a pitcher hitting multiple home runs in a game that he also threw a shutout:
    - Sonny Sieber for Boston in 1971
    - Rick Wise for Philadelphia in 1971
    - Pedro Ramos for Cleveland in 1962
    - Milt Pappas for Baltimore in 1961

31). The Top 5 for NL Cy Young voting in 2008 finished in reverse order in NL MVP voting
    - Tim Lincecum (1st Cy Young / 23rd MVP)
    - Brandon Webb (2nd / 17th)
    - Johan Santana (3rd / 14th)
    - Brad Lidge (4th / 8th)
    - CC Sabathia (5th / 6th)

32). The 2007 New York Mets rostered six players throughout the season that were 40+ years old. They combined for 5.8 bWAR: Julio Franco (48 years old, -0.1 bWAR), Orlando Hernandez (41, 2.5), Tom Glavine (41 / 2.0), Jeff Conine (41, -0.8), Sandy Alomar (41, -0.1), and Moisés Alou (40, 2.3).

33). Three Japanese-born players have made the All-Star Game in their rookie seasons: Hideo Nomo (1995), Ichiro Suzuki (2001), and Kosuke Fukudome (2008). Kazuma Okamoto of the Blue Jays and Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox are looking to add to the list this season.

34). There have been sixteen 10+ RBI games in MLB history (fewer than there have been perfect games). In fifteen of these instances, the player responsible for driving in 10+ runs also hit multiple home runs in the contes. The lone exception is Phil Weintraub who hit just one homer in an 11-RBI effort on April 30, 1944 when the New York Giants drubbed the Brooklyn Dodgers 26-8.

35). Hall of Famer and career .346 hitter Ed Delahanty, who was originally acquired by the Phillies in 1888 as a replacement for Charlie Ferguson who had died from typhoid fever 3 weeks earlier, died by falling over Niagara Falls after being kicked off a train for being drunk and disorderly.

36). Ross Barnes is the only player in baseball history to lead the MLB in hits (138) and walks (20) in the same season, doing so for the 1876 Chicago Cubs.

37). Ty Cobb is the only player in baseball history to lead the MLB in home runs (9) and stolen bases (76) in the same season, doing so for the 1909 Detroit Tigers.

38). Excluding the universal 42 for Jackie Robinson, the Royals have the lowest average numerical value for its retired jersey numbers at 11.67 (George Brett 5 + Dick Howser 10 + Frank White 20 = 35 / 3 = 11.67).

39). With his #72 retired by the White Sox, Carlton Fisk has the highest retired number of any player in the MLB.

40). In 2005, the Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS on their way to a World Series loss to the Chicago White Sox. In 2021, the Astros beat the White Sox in the ALDS en route to a World Series loss to the Braves.

41). Joe Torre is the only person to have been manager for two perfect games (David Cone, David Wells). Joe Maddon is the only manager to have had a perfect game thrown against his team three times (Felix Hernandez, Dallas Braden, Mark Buehrle). Casey Stengel is the only manager to have been on both ends of a perfect game (Jim Bunning, Don Larsen). 

42). Jackie Robinson won a junior boys championship in tennis in 1936, set the UCLA football record for yards per carry with 12.2 in 1939, won the NCAA Championship for long jump in 1940, played semi-pro football in Honolulu in 1941, served in the US Army from 1942-44, coached college basketball in 1945, THEN started his baseball career before retiring in 1956 to become vice president for personnel at Chock full O'Nuts.

43). The record for highest attended MLB game ever was 115,300 at LA Memorial Coliseum on March 29, 2008 for a preseason game between the Dodgers and Red Sox.

44). Ted Lyons is the only Hall of Fame pitcher who walked more batters (1,121) than he struck out (1,073) in his career.

45). Since 2000, two players have at least 40 steals on the base paths and 40 strikeouts on the mound: 4x MVP Shohei Ohtani and 2020 Olympic silver medalist Anthony Gose.

46). There has only been two players in MLB history that have won a Cy Young, an MVP, and Rookie of the Year awards in their career: Don Newcombe and Justin Verlander.

47). Greg Maddux unintentionally went to 482 counts of 3 balls & 0 strikes out of 19,576 batters faced in his career. At a minuscule 2.46%, there's a smaller chance of walking up to the plate and getting a 3-0 count from Maddux than...
    - Picking the correct number on an American roulette wheel (2.63%)
    - The US Postal Service permanently losing your package (3.85%)
    - Selecting an American if you were to pull one member of the world's population at random (4.13%)

48). From 1990-1999, no player in baseball had more hits (1,754) or doubles (364) than Mark Grace. He's one of 24 players all-time with at least 1,000 walks, 500 doubles, and a .300 or better batting average.

49). Mike Piazza has the record for most stolen bases allowed by a catcher in a single season, letting runners swipe 155 bags in 1996.

50). In June 1944, the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and New York Yankees participated in a "Tri-Cornered Baseball Game" as a fundraiser towards American World War II efforts. Each team batted and fielded six times in the nine inning game with Brooklyn scoring 5 runs, the Yankees scoring 1, and Giants going scoreless.