General Sports Trivia

General Sports Trivia
Umpire Call. At Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, on June 26, 1985, organist Wilbur Snapp played "Three Blind Mice" following a call by umpire Keith O'Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr. Snapp was ejected from the game.

Bats.  In a typical season major league baseball will require 4,800 ash trees worth of Louisville sluggers.

Youngest Major League Baseball Player.  Pitcher Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds hurled his first major-league game in 1944. Nuxhall, the youngest pitcher in major league baseball, was only 15 years, 10 months and 11 days old when he pitched that game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

First Football Huddle.  The 'huddle' in football was formed due to a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.

First Football Helment Logo.  The first professional football team to sport an insignia on their helmets was the Los Angeles Rams in 1950, who hand painted yellow horns on their blue leather helmets.

The only father and son to hit back-to-back home runs in a major league baseball game: Ken Griffey, Jr., and his father, Ken Griffey, Sr., both of the Seattle Mariners in a game against the California Angels on September 14th, 1990.

Innings. When baseball first started, games were played until one team reached 21. The concept of limiting a game to nine innings rather than 21 runs was introduced in 1857.

First World Series.  The Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League met the Boston Pilgrims of the American League in the first World Series. Boston won the eight-game series 5-3. The next year, the National League champion New York Giants refused to play Boston. Since 1905, the World Series has been played every year except 1994 when it was cancelled by a players’ strike.
In 1986 Roger Clemens strikes out 20 batters in a single game.

Silhouettes on Sports Logos.  The silhouette on the National Basketball Association logo is Jerry West.  The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew.

Score of a Forfeit.  A forefeited game in baseball is scored 9-0, while in football it's recorded as a 1-0 score.

Thanksgiving Day Football.  The Detroit Lions started the tradition of playing on Thanksgiving Day in 1934 when G. A. Richards bought the team in Portsmouth, OH and moved it to MIchigan.  To boost attendance, he scheduled a Thanksgiving Day game that year against the World Champion Chicago Bears.  The game drew 26,000 fans, or 11,000 more than the previous attendance high. The Lions have played ever since on Thanksgiving Day.  The Dallas Cowboys started playing on Thanksgiving Day in 1966.

Highest Scoring Football Game.  The Washington Redskins defeated the New York Giants, 72-41 on November 27, 1966. The combined 113 points are the most ever scored in an NFL game.  16 touchdowns were scored in the game.

Baseball Big Ones.  The highest number of innings played in a Major League Baseball game is 26 when the Brooklyn Dodgers (NL) and the Boston Braves (NL) played to a 1-1 tie on May 1, 1920..  The biggest shutout was 22-0 when the Cleveland Indians defeated the NY Yankees on August 31, 2004. .  The Cubs also did the same beating the Pirates 22-0 on 9/16/75.    The team for scoring the most runs in one game is when the Boston Red Sox scored 29 against the St. Louis Browns on June 8, 1950. The Chicago White Sox tied the record five years later when they defeated the Kansas City Athletics 29-6 on April 23, 1955..  The highest score for  two teams is  49. Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 26–23 on Aug. 25, 1922, at Wrigley Field (then Cubs Park) in Chicago.

Basketball Big Ones.  Tallest NBA Basketball Player.  Gheorghe Muresan of the Washington Bullets, who made his professional debut in 1994, is 7-ft 7-in tall.. He was born in Romania.   The highest aggregate score in an N.B.A. game is 370, when the Detroit Pistons (186) beat the Denver Nuggets (184) at Denver on December 13, 1983. Overtime was played after a 145-145 tie in regulation time.  The most points scored by an individual in an NBA game is 100, by Wilt Chamberlain, when he played for the Philadelphia 76ers against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962.

Longest Softball Game.  The longest game of softball played was 95 hr 23 min at Ed Janiszewski Park, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Canada on June 29 - July 3, 2005.

Hockey Big Ones.  The highest score in men’s international hockey occurred when India defeated the USA 24-1, at Los Angeles, California, USA, in the 1932 Olympic Games.  The most goals scored by one team in an NHL game was 16, by the Montreal Canadiens in defeating the Quebec Bulldogs 16-3 on 3/3/1920.   The most goals by two teams in a game was set by the Montreal Canadiens beating the Toronto St. Patricks 14-7 on 1/10/1920.  The Edmonton Oilers tied the record by beating the Chicago Blackhawks on 12/11/1985 by a score of 12-9.

Low Scoring Basketball Game!
On March 7, 1941, the Las Animas (Colorado) High School defeated the La Junta High School Basketball team,...
.....2 to 0,... in Overtime!

High Scoring Basketball Game!
In a senior international match, Iraq scored 251 points against Yemem's 33 at New Delhi, India in Nov. 1982 at the Asia Games.

Great Individual Sports Feats!
Wilt Chamberlin scored the most points by an individual in a professional basketball game.  He scored 100 points on March 2, 1962.  His team, the Philadelphia Warriors won 169 to 147 over the New York Knicks. Wilt's chance to score more ended with 46 seconds left because fans stormed the court when he reached 100 points.  After reaching 99 points, he missed his next three shots.  He finally hit the century mark on a slam dunk!  Wilt was 36 for 63 on field goals and 28 of 32 on free throws, plus this was before three pointers were even a part of the game!   Kobe Bryant scored 81 points on Jan. 22, 2006, the most since Wilt Chamberlin.

 
 
 
Pitching Gem
Kerry Wood with the Chicago Cubs allowed just one hit and struck out 20 Houston Astros in a 2-0 victory on May 6, 1998.

Sack Artist
Derrick Thomas of the Kansas City Chiefs has an NFL record SEVEN sacks in one game against the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 11, 1990.

Highest Basketball Scoring Individual!
Mats Wermelin, 13 years old from Sweden, scored all 272 points in 272 to 0 win at a regional boys tournament in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 5, 1974.

High Scoring Hockey Game!
The final score of South Korea's victory over Thailand in the championship game of the Asia-Oceania junio tournament was 92 to 0! Donghwan Song scored 31 goals for South Korea!

SUPER Prime Time
Who was the first person to play in a World Series Game AND Super Bowl Game?...it was "Prime Time"...Deion Sanders.

Women in Baseball Through the Years

1867- a group of black women form the Dolly Vardens, the first prefessional women's team.
1875- On Sept. 11th, the "Blondes" and "Brunettes", play before a paying crowd in Springfield, IL.
1890's- Suffragist Amelia Bloomer designs loose-fitting trousers ideal for women to play sports, popularizing the Bloomer Girls baseball teams that often beat men's teams.
1943- Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley forms the All-American Girls Softball League.  Eventually it would evolve into the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the basis for the movie "A League of Their Own". 
1953- Marcenia Lyle Alberga-- better known as Toni Stone-- replaces Hank Aaron at middle infield for the Negro Leagues Indianapolis Clowns.  A year later, she plays for the Kansas City Monarch's. 
1994- The all-femal Colorado Silver Bullets barnstorm across the country, playing men's teams at every stop.  They last for four years. 
2005- On May 14th, 11-year old Katie Brownell, of Oakland, NY, throws a six-inning PERFECT GAME, striking out ALL 18 batters she faces.  Her jersey ends up in the Hall of Fame, next to the hats of Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux.

Rare Drop Kick
Doug Flutie, the back up quarterback of the New England Patriots, scored a drop kicked an extra point following a touchdown on Jan 1, 2006 against the Miami Dolphins.  The last drop kick for points was by the Bears Ray "Scooter" McLean in the NFL championship game on Dec. 21, 1941, two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Believe it or not, the dropkick remains a legal maneuver in the National Football League today. It still exists in the NFL's official rule book. Rule 3, Section 8 defines the dropkick as, "a kick by a kicker who drops the ball and kicks it as, or immediately after, it touches the ground."

Most Popular Sport at Nudiest Colonies
Volleyball is the most popular sport played in American nudist camps.
Source : www.funtrivia.com

104 mph Softball Pitch
Eddie Feigner was credited with pitching a softball UNDERHAND at 104 mph.  The fastest major league baseball pitchers rarely exceed 100 mph, but Feigner was actually clocked at 104 mph!  He also struck out Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Brooks Robinson, Maury Wills and Harmon Killebrew in a 1967 exhibition game at Dodger Stadium.

Record Collector
Who holds the record for the most records in baseball?  Nolan Ryan.  He pitched in the big leagues from 1966 to 1993.  When he retired, he owned or shared more than 40 American & National League records!

Busy Day
Joel Youngblood of the New York Mets made history when he shows up at Wrigley Field in Chicago on August 4, 1982.  In the third inning, he hit a two-run single off Cubs pitcher Fergie Jenkins.  The next inning, he was told that he'd been traded to the Montreal Expos-- and that they were waiting for him.  He packed his goods and caught a plan to Philadelphia.  He joined the Expo's lineup late in the game and singled off of Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton.  Joel made the records books for being on TWO different teams, batting against TWO future Hall of Famer's, and getting hits off BOTH of them...ALL ON THE SAME DAY!

A League of Her Own
On July 31, 1935, the Cincinnati Reds oversold tickets for their night game.  To avoid a  potential riot, they allowed the extra fans---8,000 in all-- to stand along the foul lines.  It was so packed that the players had to muscle their way through the crowd to get to the field.  When Reds batter Babe Herman was trying to make his way to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, a nightclub singer named Kitty Burke grabbed the bat from the surprised player and told her friends, "Hang on to him, boys, I'm going to take his turn at bat."  Sure enough, Kitty went to the plate against Cardinals Paul "Daffy" Dean.  The bewildered pitcher shrugged and lobbed a ball to the blonde bombshell.  Burke swung ferociously but only to hit a slow roller to first base.  Dean scooped up the ball and tagged her out (to a round of boos from the crowd).  Although the at-bat didn't officially count, it was---and still is-- the only time a woman has hit in a major league game.

Football Team Scores 72 Points....In A Single Quarter!
On Oct. 30, 2007, the Smith Center, KS High School Football Team scored a national record 72 points in the first quarter of it's football game against the Plainville, KS team.  The Smith Center Redmen, the three-time defending 2A-1A state champion from north-central Kansas, improved it's record to 9-0 by beating Plainville by a final score of 83-0.  The prior record for most points in a quarter for a high school team was 66 for a Prescott, AZ team in 1925.  Smith Center has a powerful rushing attack with 485 yards in 36 carries for the game.  They used 14 different rushers for the game. The Smith Center team NEVER punted.  In fact, Smith Center hasn't punted ALL SEASON!  The victory was its 50th in a row!  They average 71 points per game and has out scored its opponents this season 640-0!!

Differences and Common Features Among the Major Sports- Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey.
  • Only with baseball, coaches wear uniforms. Can you image if the other coaches also wore uniforms?
  • Only with baseball, not all players are on the field at the same time, just the batter and runners.  Other sports, complete teams are on the field at the same time.
  • Only with baseball, the umpires do not wear stripes.  The other sports, umpires or referees wear zebra stripes.
  • Only with baseball, the game is not played under a time clock.
  • Only with baseball, is the ball not thrown or hit towards a goal.
  • Only in baseball to referees or umpires not wear stripes.






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