As a lifelong lover of baseball this years World Series was incredible. I felt somewhat bad for the Canadians but such is life on the diamond. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the same two teams again the Fall Classic sooner rather than later. As I’ve said many times, I’ve loved baseball my entire life thanks to my father. Because of my love affair with baseball I frequently post funny stories about the history of the sport. There are hundreds of facts and back-stories being told almost constantly but todays post concerns seven incredible stories that will blow your mind. Enjoy!

• Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller and Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span have something odd in common: Both hit their mothers in the stands with a foul ball. Feller hit his mom in 1939 and broke her collarbone; Span hit his mother during a spring training game in 2010. Fortunately both moms made full recoveries.

• From 1936 to 1946, Hall of Famer Joe “Flash” Gordon played exactly 1000 games for the New York Yankees. In that time, he had exactly 1000 hits.

• Breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record will never be forgotten: It happened in the 4th inning of the 4th game of 1974, when the Braves’ Hank Aaron, #44, hit a homer off the Dodgers Al Downing, #44.

• In the 1960s, Kansas City A’s owner Charlie Finley installed a mechanical rabbit that popped up out of the ground behind home plate to deliver new baseballs to the umpire. Finley wanted the rest of the owners to install a rabbit as well, but none did.

• In 1957 the Philadelphia Phillies’ Richie Ashburn fouled off a ball that hit a fan named Alice Roth in the face, breaking her nose. As she was being carried away on a stretcher, Ashburn fouled off another pitch which hit her again. The two later became good friends.

• In 1876 a pitcher named Joe Borden of Boston hurled the first no-hitter in the history of the National League. But Borden couldn’t leave well enough alone. Soon after the game he changed his style of pitching and began to lose his stuff. Borden went steadily downhill, and by the end of the season he was no longer a pitcher – he was the club’s groundskeeper.

• William “Brickyard” Kennedy was a good pitcher for Brooklyn before the turn-of-the-century, but he had a terrible temper. On July 31, 1897, Brickyard and Brooklyn were locked in a tight game against the Giants. Kennedy was having his troubles with umpire Hank O’Day. Finally O’Day called a close decision against Brickyard, and the hot tempered pitcher was so enraged that he threw the ball at the umpire. The ball missed its target, but there were runners on base. O’Day called the ball in play, and one runner scored before the catcher could get to the ball. Brooklyn lost the game, 2-1.

“The doctors x-rayed my head and found nothing.”

Dizzy Dean

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PLAAAAAAY BALL

(The Pirates Still Suck)