Hard to Believe…But True!

In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first (and only) home run.

ONLY TWO PENNANT-WINNING TEAMS since 1900 in the American or National League led their league in errors and one even won the World Series that season despite the shoddy defense.

The 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates committed 224 errors but still beat out the New York Giants by eight and one-half games for the pennant. In the World Series, the Bucs defeated Hall of Famer Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators, four games to three, and committed two less errors than the American League champions.

Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.

All major league baseball umpires must wear black underwear while on the job (in case their pants split).

Fewer than half of the 16,200 major league baseball players have ever hit a home run.

In 1950, President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice at the opening day Washington DC baseball game; once right handed and once left handed.

A Costa Rican worker who makes baseballs earns about $2,750 annually. The average American pro baseball player earns $2,377,000 per year.

Barry Bonds was intentionally walked with bases loaded on May 28th, 1998.

In 1971, Al Kaline ended and won a game by grounding into a double play. While the Red Sox threw the ball around the infield, 2 runners scored and Kaline was credited with no RBI.

In 1971, in a game between the Tigers and Royals, the late, great Cesar Gutierrez (7 hits in a game prior to total obscurity) tripled off the KC pitcher. The pitcher, believing Gutierrez had failed to touch first base, threw to first on an appeal play….and into the dugout, allowing Gutierrez to trot home.

How about the game where Babe Ruth walked the first batter as a pitcher for the Red Sox, was thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes, and the pitcher that came on to replace him, I am thinking his name was Carl Mays, proceeded to see the walked man thrown out trying to steal and then hurled a perfect game!

In 1965, the Minnesota Twins, who had finished seventh the season before, committed 172 errors but beat out the Chicago White Sox by seven games. In the World Series that year, the Twins committed only five errors but lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had six miscues.