Sports Trivia

Source: Phill's Info -

Badminton
Olympic badminton rules say that the bird has to have exactly fourteen feathers.

Baseball
The first perfect game in baseball history was achieved by John Lee Richmond on June 12, 1880.

Baseball rules were codified in 1846 by Alexander Cartwright of the Knickerbocker Baseball Club.

A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches.

The record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.

The baseball home plate is about 17 inches wide.

The first black player in the American League was Larry Doby with the Cleveland Indians in 1947.
With one pitch, Babe Ruth could throw two balls simultaneously, and they would stay parallel all the way to the catcher.

The distance between the pitcher's rubber and home plate in baseball is 60 feet, 6 inches.

Bullfrog Dietrich of the Chicago White Sox was the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter while wearing eyeglasses. He did it in 1937.

The Major League Baseball teams use about 850,000 balls per season.

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

Until the 1870s, baseball was played without the use of gloves.

The first players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame were Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson in 1936.

Baseball players have the longest lives of all occupations.

In July 1934, Babe Ruth paid the fan who caught his 700th career home run ball $20 to get it back.

Only six baseball teams remain from the original National League, which was founded in 1876.

Reggie Jackson holds the major league record for most strikeouts with 2,597.

When you hit a baseball really hard, it momentarily changes shape by as much as 25 percent.

When Henry Aaron hit his 715th Home Run, breaking Babe Ruth's record, the pitcher who served it up was Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were both wearing number 44.

Basketball
Jerry West was the model for the official NBA logo. His silhouette appears dribbling a basketball.

The first NBA player to score 38,000 points was Kareem Abdul-Jabar in 1989.

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith. He set out to invent a game to occupy students between the football and baseball seasons.

Moses Malone was the first basketball player to go directly from high school to a professional American team.

Basketball and rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs' bladders were used as rugby balls.

Bowling
Bowlers are allowed to have a maximum of five finger grip holes on a regulation bowling ball.

The most common injury in bowling is a sore thumb.

Boxing
Muhammad Ali won his heavyweight championships on three continents: North America, Asia and Africa.

Sometimes boxers apply live leeches to their black eyes. This sucks out the blood from the crushed tissue, evidently lessening the blackness, or promoting healing.

Figure Skating
The first triple jump in figure skating competition was performed by Dick Button in 1952.

Golf
On February 6, 1971 the first golf ball was hit on the moon by Alan Shepard.

Golfers use an estimated $800 million worth of golf balls annually.

The early golf balls were not made from zillions of rubber bands. They were feather-stuffed leather balls.

Horse Racing
Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races - including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.

The first reference to a monetary prize in a horse race was offered by Richard I in 1195.

The first Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs in 1875 with Aristides as winner.

Ice Hockey
The Montreal Canadians of the mid-1950s are the only team to win five straight Stanley Cup championships.

Lacrosse
The ancient American Indian game of lacrosse involved teams of up to 1,000 players.

Olympics
The earliest recorded Olympic Games result was from the 180 meter sprint in the 776 B.C. The winner was a man named Coroebus.

The very first Olympic race, held in 776 BC, was won by Corubus, a chef.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female competitors.

The 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles was the first time the three-level winner's stand was used for the medal ceremony.

The modern Olympic Games were held in the first time in 1896 at Athens and were then followed by the 1900 Paris games. The winter games were added in 1924.

Until 1967 it wasn't illegal for Olympic athletes to use drugs to enhance their performance during competition.

The Olympic Games were held in St. Louis, MO. In 1904, the first time that the games were held in the United States.

The motto for the Olympic Games is Citius - Altius - Fortius. Translated, it means Faster - Higher - Stronger.

The record for the most Olympic medals ever won is held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Competing in three Olympics, between 1956 and 1964, she won 18 medals.

Racing
The guy who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1915 had to get out and push his broken car for more than the last mile of the race.

Soccer
A soccer ball has 32 panels around it.

A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.

The first Soccer World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 and attracted 13 competing countries.

Tennis
Most tennis injuries actually happen after the game when the winner tries to jump over the net.

When tennis was first invented in 1874, it was called sphairistike.

About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.

Volleyball
The game of volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan.

When volleyball was first invented in 1895, it was called mintonette.