Todd's Useless Baseball Knowledge. Part 1 of ??

I was talking to a 10-year old fan the other day, who told me that "Joe Mauer is the greatest hitting catcher to ever play baseball."

Say what?

Great hitter, but Greatest Hitter Ever?

At first I thought, "How cool is that? Nathan thinks that the players of today dwarf the accomplishments of those who played before the turn of the century" (Yes, that's what we can call the calendar flip at the end of the 1990's).

But, seeing the world through our own eyes isn't a kid thing. It's all of us. We all see the world through our own personal frame of reference. We look out the window and presume that 'what we see is what we get.' 

Made me realize that though I sometimes feel like a treasure chest of useless baseball knowledge, my knowledge is minuscule compared to that of many. At the same time it is so much greater than others....Thus, the treasure chest opens and here goes Todd's Rendition of Useless Baseball Knowledge (some for kids... some for us older folk)

1) Ted Williams was the first manager of the Texas Rangers.

2) In 1977, Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit inside the park home runs on consecutive pitches.

3) The Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Then the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972.

4) Carl Yastremski used to smoke cigarettes in the runway to the club house between innings.

5) Umpires rub down over 60 balls per game with mud from a secret location in Burlington Country, NJ.

6) The Milwaukee Brewers were first known as the Seattle Pilots. The Pilots lasted only one season, 1969.

7) If you add up Babe Ruth's walks and strikeouts it equals 3392. If the average player comes to bat 600 times per season, it means Ruth went the equivalent of 5.5 seasons without hitting the ball.

8) As a pitcher, Ruth went 14 years without losing a game (he only pitched five games from 1920-1933).

9) The Green Monster was originally made of wood in 1912 and covered with metal and concrete in 1934.

10) The left field wall in Fenway Park was listed as 315 feet until 1990, when it was changed to 310 ft. It has actually been measured at 304.7 ft from home plate to the wall.

11) Until 1933, there was a 10-foot mound in front of the Green Monster which extended from the left field foul pole to the center field flag pole. This caused left fielders to play running uphill. This was known as Duffy's Cliff, after star left fielder Duffy Lewis, who mastered the hill.

12) Ron Blomberg was the first Designated hitter to bat in MLB history. He came to the plate moments before Boston's Orlando Cepeda (the curse?)

13) Ron Hunt was hit by 50 pitches in one season in 1971.

14) In 1968, Gaylord Perry and Ray Washburn pitched back to back no hitters in the same park.

15) In 1965, Bert Campaneris was the first player to play all nine positions in the same game. Campy worked one inning. His line was 1 IP, 1H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO and 2 PB by the catcher. Many assume the game was a blow out.

Actually the final score was a 5-3 loss for the Kansas City A's in which Campaneris pitched the sixth inning with the score 2-1 California Angels.

16) The pitching rubber is 60' 6" from home plate. In the 1800's when someone was designing a field, they misread the blue prints. It was supposed to read 60' 0" but was misread.

17) Frank Bird was born in Spencer, MA (my home town) on March 10 (my late Gramma's birthday), 1869. He played for the St Louis Browns in 1892. At the age of 23, he became partially paralyzed when he poured a bucket of cold water over his head during a hot summer game. Hence, don't try this at home.

18) Herm and Jack Doscher were the first father-son combination to play baseball.

19) The only father son combination  (besides the Griffeys) who played on the same team were Tim Raines and Tim Raines Jr.

And last (for now)...but not least.....

20) Dizzy and Daffy Dean (Jay and Paul), combined for 200 MLB wins. Though Dizzy is the more famous brother, Daffy pitched a no hitter at the age of 22. Dizzy actually threw no hit ball through eight innings before settling for a three-hitter in game one of a doubleheader.

Paul (hated the nickname Daffy), threw a no-hitter in Game Two. This led to the famous statement by the outspoken Dizzy, "If' I'da known you were gonna pitch a no-hitter, I'da pitched one, too."