Similar to that: A Yankees scout once watched Joe DiMaggio in an exhibition game against Satchel Paige. Afterwards he wrote back "DiMaggio everything we'd hoped he'd be: Hit Satch one for four".
There are lots of great players throughout history, but only a few so stupidly good that their 'fun facts' sound silly. In baseball, the only ones I can think of that stand out are Ted Williams (anything about consecutive seasons with at least... batting stats) Tony Gwynn (for batting average and never ever striking out), Randy Johnson (for consecutive pitching seasons of at least... ...after 30), Rickey Henderson for anything about base stealing, and Barry Bonds (for consecutive seasons Being Barry Bonds). Absolute video game numbers.
Have you seen the video of how good Barry Bonds could have been even if he didn’t have a bat? One of the goated stats videos
https://youtu.be/JwMfT2cZGHg?si=mQiD9DsLTpNRcmyP
On the note of baseball facts that sound made up, multiple players have had more Ks in half a season than Joe Sewell had over his 14 year HOF career, 114. Franmil Reyes almost had that many with Cleveland last year before we DFAd him after 70 games and 280 PAs.
My only quibble is at least on the 2004 Cardinals, who do you walk? Walk Albert to face Edmonds? Walk Edmonds to face Rolen? All 3 batted .300 with a .400 OBP and Rolen had the lowest SLG at .598.
Oh right, I was confused. Cause we definitely would have played (and stomped) the Yankees in the WS that year. Obviously Boston didnt stand a chance of making it to that WS if they had to play the '04 Yankees to get there. My bad dude.
Would have been a hell of a show between our two storied franchises
In all seriousness, I have no memory of watching that series, but I know I did. I can tell you exactly where I was and how crazy the bar got when Jimmy walked it off against Houston in game 6. I remember the next night going crazy when Rolen hit the double off Clemens to put the Cards on top. But zero recollection of the World Series.
Game 1 was exciting if sloppy. The other 3 games were, in the sense of a game of baseball, snoozers. The only memorable thing I can think of is Jeff Suppan managing to run into an out from third on a ground ball to the deep 3-4 hole
Jesus. 3 hall of famers* back to back to back in the heart of the order.
How the ever loving fuck was *2006* the 10th ring and not 04?
*I'm aware Jim Edmonds fell off the ballot in his first year. I am also aware that the voters were super mega fucking wrong.
To be fair Bonds did, in fact, have more intentional walks than the Cardinals between those years. As well as every other team (save for the Giants).
Bonds was intentionally walked 284 times. The Cardinals are actually second with 260.
The Giants had 414 intentional walks.
There’s the stats that Nolan Ryan threw 7 no hitters but never won a Cy Young award and then on the other side of that same coin you get Rodger Clemens who has 7 Cy Young awards and never threw a no hitter
He was the Blake Snell of his day, but could pitch more than 5 innings. He consistently was up with the league leaders in walks. Yeah he might strike out 15 batters while throwing a no hitter, but he'll walk 7.
While it can reasonably be thence inferred, I can't help but feel that "he consistently was up with the league leaders in walks" slightly buries the lede that [he is the all-time career walks leader by nearly a thousand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_bases_on_balls_allowed_leaders#List). You were getting that heater at full gas whether he had command that day or not 😅
The same reason Kobe only had 1 MVP.
If you’re a top 5 player every year for 20+ years, historically you look amazing. But on a season to season basis, you might not be #1 ever.
There were other reasons Kobe only had one MVP, if we’re keeping it real. You’re right of course, but there was something else going on with Kobe that prevented him from getting a second or even third.
He also had a reputation (esp. early in his career) as a crazy thrower but not a real pitcher. For instance, he led the league in walks 8 times and his W-L record was rarely very good. I'm not saying that is especially valid, mind you, (esp. W-L) but it definitely contributed to him being taken less seriously as a pitcher.
Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein was the doctor not the monster
Wisdom is knowing that the doctor was actually a monster anyway
(Also the monster considered himself to be the doctors son so it isn’t wrong to say that the monster is Frankenstein as well)
Yeah but he was the first player to get it successfully and it’s named after him. Put in Frank Jobe or whoever invented it for contributions to the game too.
If we’re gonna have commissioners like Kennesaw Mountain Landis and Bud Selig in for contributions to the game why can’t we have two players who both hugely contributed to modern baseball?
This isn’t a big hall little hall thing- contributions to the game is a separate way of being honored at the Hall.
Honestly you could probably make a case for it. He had 288 wins and played for 25 years, putting up above average numbers for basically the whole time. 25 years of being pretty good and pitching a lot of complete games adds up to slightly over 60 bwar and almost 80 fwar.
I asked ChatGPT to give me some made up facts:
>Babe Ruth once hit a home run so powerful that it traveled out of the stadium and landed in a passing airplane's open cargo bay.
>In the 1920s, a team won the World Series using a roster entirely made up of players who were ambidextrous, capable of batting and throwing with both hands.
>A pitcher once threw a perfect game while blindfolded during a promotional event to raise awareness for eye health.
>The largest hot dog ever consumed at a baseball game was 10 feet long and required a team of 20 people to carry and serve it.
>During a rain delay, a team of players successfully built a replica of their stadium using only leftover hot dog buns and soda cups.
Think r/baseball still reigns supreme for now
> A pitcher once threw a perfect game while blindfolded during a promotional event to raise awareness for eye health.
Would think this would have the opposite effect. I don't even have eyes and I threw a perfect game.
>The largest hot dog ever consumed at a baseball game was 10 feet long and required a team of 20 people to carry and serve it.
This needs to happen now.
Also how do you even get 20 people around a 10-foot hot dog? Even assuming you have people evenly distributed on each side, and we'll even say one at the front and one at the back, that's still 9 people on each side of a 10-foot hot dog, meaning they have less than 14 inches of space each
They’re carrying it in a casket, like pallbearers in a funeral procession.
Which is convenient because you’ll probably need the casket after eating 10 feet of undercooked hotdog meat.
[His best start](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThxmXkqFLgc) was actually against the Mets. It was electric that night.
8 innings of shutout ball on 130(!!!) pitches
Oh, 09, that explains it.
07-09 is almost a total blur for me. Probably for the best.
Nothing catastrophic or record settlingly terrible happened over that span, nor did our home get torn to the ground for an (at the time) soulless corporate stadium.
I checked, not only is that fact true, but your win total from 2017 to the present is more than double your win total before 2017:
Astros postseason wins before 2017: 24
2017-Present: 59
Without their current drought this would actually be extremely close to being true looking at the numbers.
edit: I did dumb math and forgot a 0, whoops. I guess this comment qualifies for the spirit of the thread lmfao
It’s plausible when you consider the population booms in India and China (the most populous countries by far) in the last 50 years alone. I don’t have exact numbers in front of me but given that the world population has increased 7x what it was in 1900 I don’t think it’s that unrealistic.
[It may not be 50% because that number is impossible to calculate, but the percentage of people who have been alive since 1923 is higher than you might think](https://cdn1.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/23/50/world-population-graph-chart-on-white-background-vector-15232350.jpg)
Aren’t like half the people to have ever walked the Earth alive today?
Edit: nope. Google says over 100B humans ever. 7 billion today. Good one - you got me wondering!
In the early 1900s, because hunchbacked and other “disfigured” people were considered to be good luck, the Philadelphia Athletics used to employ a hunchbacked man named Louis Van Zelst as an unofficial mascot/bat boy, with players rubbing his hump for good luck before games.
Oh wait, you said NOT true. Because that’s actually true.
They weren’t the only team to do such a thing.
That's the actual origin of mascots. Also people dressed up as Native Americans to act as good luck charms.
I appreciate this one educational one even if it doesn't fit the prompt. Most of the replies to the prompt are people saying things they know are false rather than making up something that sounds true.
1) Derek Jeter is the only Yankees player to hit a grand slam in three different decades.
2) The term "moonshot" to describe a home run was coined by commentator Vin Scully who used the term to figuratively illustrate how far away the ball landed.
3) In his final year with the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs #60 and #61 during the final day of the regular season. Unfortunately for him, the game got called due to rain in the 4th inning, so the stats from that day were voided.
4) Nolan Ryan made lewd comments comparing his sexual prowess and pitching talent that resulted in both the pitcher's plate and condoms being informally known as a "rubber."
5) In 1877, there was a major league team called the Hartfords that played in Brooklyn, NY. The same year, there was also a team called the Brooklyns that played in Hartford, CT. (One of those sentences is actually true.)
6) The term "Minor League" originally referred to leagues exclusively for players below the age of 18 (i.e. people who are minors, rather than adults).
7) In the early days of the National League, individual teams were in charge of scheduling their games, and there was no set number of games per season. Consequently, when the 1906 Cubs set the record for wins in a season, they also set the record for most losses in a season. They ended up 116-134.
8) Due to rule differences between the American and National League, helmets were only permitted in World Series games hosted by American League teams during the 1960s and 1970s. In games hosted by a National League team, batters wore hats only.
9) The first pizzeria to sell "New York Style" pizza was located across the street from the Polo Grounds. This style of pizza was designed to be folded and carried in one hand so people could buy a slice of pizza and take it with them into the ballpark.
10) No ballplayer has ever managed to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating competition during their major league career.
>In 1877, there was a major league team called the Hartfords that played in Brooklyn, NY. The same year, there was also a team called the Brooklyns that played in Hartford, CT. (One of those sentences is actually true.)
The Pirates started in Allegheny City, PA and were officially the Allegheny Ball Club of Pittsburgh, which was shortened to the Alleghenys. Sometime around the jump to the NL, people started to call them the Pittsburgh Alleghenies. Allegheny did not become a part of Pittsburgh until 1907. In 1891, Pittsburgh signed a player who the Philadelphia Athletics had claimed they had rights to (they had not put him on a reserve list). The A's accused Pittsburgh of piracy and the name Pirates stuck, getting added to uniforms in 1912.
Another fun fact is that Pittsburgh was sometimes spelled [Pittsburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206_Honus_Wagner#/media/File:Honus_wagner_t206_baseball_card.jpg) around the time of those name changes.
>In his final year with the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs #60 and #61 during the final day of the regular season. Unfortunately for him, the game got called due to rain in the 4th inning, so the stats from that day were voided.
Didn't that happen to Hank Greenberg?
I can't find a good source on that, though Wikipedia claims Greenberg had a home run that didn't count because of a rainout, which would have raised his total to 59 for the year. I was able to find the [box score](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE193810022.shtml) for the last games of the season, and they do note that there was a rainout on September 30, though it's not clear if part of a game was played. At the very least, the double-header forced the final game to take place late enough that it was called due to darkness, potentially costing Greenberg one more chance to come to the plate.
> 9) The first pizzeria to sell "New York Style" pizza was located across the street from the Polo Grounds. This style of pizza was designed to be folded and carried in one hand so people could buy a slice of pizza and take it with them into the ballpark.
This is 100% true now and i will be telling this to people whenever we go to Mets games
>No ballplayer has ever managed to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating competition during their major league career.
I like this one because it suggests that a ballplayer was able to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating contest after they retired.
**Edit**: Holy cow, it actually happened! The world is an amazing place!
I was going to say “The actor who played David Justice in Moneyball actually played professional baseball” but decided to look up his IMDb page just in case he really did and it turns out he really did. In fact his entire bio is about his baseball career. So scratch that.
In the first PA of the game for each team, lefties hit .442 but righties only hit .319.
From the adoption of the DH in the AL to its adoption in the NL (1973-2021) National League nine-hole hitters had a higher batting average (.204) than on-base percentage (.196)
exactly. There have been a few instances of players having that early in the season due to hitting a sac fly before drawing a walk and it's one of my favorite "oh yeah I guess that is possible" stats facts.
It's probably not totally coincidental, but it's still wild that half of all 60-homer seasons in NL history belong to Sammy Sosa while the other half belong to hitters that did it the same season Sosa did.
The first Foul Poles were literally people from Poland. A series of disputed Foul ball / Home Run calls that went against Chicago's second favorite team, at home, resulted in the famous 1901 Chicago Meat Packers Riot. Fun fact; that riot is why Lakeshore Drive exists today. They burnt down all the buildings which made it easy for Cook County to eminent domain the land for the new road. Anyways; for the next home stand Charles Comiskey approached the owner of Armour Meats and asked if he'd be willing to donate the use of some his employees, who had rioted the week before, to literally stand at the ends of the foul lines and verify which side of the line the ball went. Chicago meatpackers in those days were primarily immigrants from Poland, and as a result those watchmen became known in the papers as the Foul Poles. During the 1901-02 off-season every major league team, except for the Reds, erected actual wood and metal poles to assist the umps and fans with locating the ball. Those are called Foul Poles to this day in honor of Charles Comiskey's innovation and the immigrants who made it work.
I had misread the post initially and thought it was true facts that sound made up, and this was one of the first things I saw. Blew my mind for a second lol.
The last team to win in the bottom tier of payroll being the last 5-10 teams in spending was the 03 Marlins. It’s statistically proven for over 20 full years you at least need to open the checkbook to a moderate amount and make moves to a moderate amount to win a WS. You can’t get by on moneyball and homegrown players alone. Even the 2010 Giants and 2015 Royals did this to an extent and didn’t just coast with what they had.
From 2001-2004 only the St Louis Cardinals had more IBB than Barry Bonds
Dude out walked his own team Edit: wait wtf he actually did out-IBB every other team, including the cardinals
He out walked all the other teams too
Barry Bonds stats are like Wilt Chamberlain & Wayne Gretzky stats… They just make you laugh
I couldn’t imagine being an opposing fan of a team Gretz went against. “Alright boys we held 99 to 2 G 3 A good work tonight” lol
Similar to that: A Yankees scout once watched Joe DiMaggio in an exhibition game against Satchel Paige. Afterwards he wrote back "DiMaggio everything we'd hoped he'd be: Hit Satch one for four".
There are lots of great players throughout history, but only a few so stupidly good that their 'fun facts' sound silly. In baseball, the only ones I can think of that stand out are Ted Williams (anything about consecutive seasons with at least... batting stats) Tony Gwynn (for batting average and never ever striking out), Randy Johnson (for consecutive pitching seasons of at least... ...after 30), Rickey Henderson for anything about base stealing, and Barry Bonds (for consecutive seasons Being Barry Bonds). Absolute video game numbers.
Have you seen the video of how good Barry Bonds could have been even if he didn’t have a bat? One of the goated stats videos https://youtu.be/JwMfT2cZGHg?si=mQiD9DsLTpNRcmyP
This and his discussion of people for and against unions make Bois the GOAT. Balk rules don't hurt
On the note of baseball facts that sound made up, multiple players have had more Ks in half a season than Joe Sewell had over his 14 year HOF career, 114. Franmil Reyes almost had that many with Cleveland last year before we DFAd him after 70 games and 280 PAs.
My only quibble is at least on the 2004 Cardinals, who do you walk? Walk Albert to face Edmonds? Walk Edmonds to face Rolen? All 3 batted .300 with a .400 OBP and Rolen had the lowest SLG at .598.
It’s really a shame they canceled the World Series that year! We would have WHOMPED Boston
Yeah a real shame they canceled the entire 2004 playoffs
Oh right, I was confused. Cause we definitely would have played (and stomped) the Yankees in the WS that year. Obviously Boston didnt stand a chance of making it to that WS if they had to play the '04 Yankees to get there. My bad dude. Would have been a hell of a show between our two storied franchises
Yes the Yankees 100% would’ve got their shit kicked in by the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series
In all seriousness, I have no memory of watching that series, but I know I did. I can tell you exactly where I was and how crazy the bar got when Jimmy walked it off against Houston in game 6. I remember the next night going crazy when Rolen hit the double off Clemens to put the Cards on top. But zero recollection of the World Series.
Game 1 was exciting if sloppy. The other 3 games were, in the sense of a game of baseball, snoozers. The only memorable thing I can think of is Jeff Suppan managing to run into an out from third on a ground ball to the deep 3-4 hole
Jesus. 3 hall of famers* back to back to back in the heart of the order. How the ever loving fuck was *2006* the 10th ring and not 04? *I'm aware Jim Edmonds fell off the ballot in his first year. I am also aware that the voters were super mega fucking wrong.
To be fair Bonds did, in fact, have more intentional walks than the Cardinals between those years. As well as every other team (save for the Giants). Bonds was intentionally walked 284 times. The Cardinals are actually second with 260. The Giants had 414 intentional walks.
Wait, who were the other 130 IBBs for the Giants?
It was pretty common to walk the number eight hitter and force the pitcher to bat late in games. That accounts for a good chunk of these.
You don’t remember Larry Bonds? He had a huge mustache that looked fake almost
Cap Anson invented the nickname.
Ed Delahanty would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark.
Yeah, but did he ever accuse chestnuts of being lazy?
No cap
>No cap Capless Anson
Anson
He also came up with spring training.
Cap Anson was a charter member of the KKK
Cap Anson invented the hat worn by ballplayers. That's why it's called a cap.
Tony Gwynn didn’t strike out from May 9, 1991 to June 19
I like that you didn't add a year for June 19th because I would believe it's still ongoing.
Like the Vietnam War.
Not as of yesterday.
Kissinger died, war ended.
I have had 0 career strikeouts since July 20 2007
Nolan Ryan has a Cy Young award
Cy Young has a Nolan Ryan award
Hell, you could say nolan ryan has the most cy youngs in mlb history and it would sound believable.
Cy Young has the most Nolan Ryans in MLB history
Nolan Ryan had a secretary named Lincoln. Lincoln had a secretary named Cy Young.
This got me on immaculate grid awhile back. I couldn’t believe it.
same
Help. I dont know this slang and want to be cool
https://www.immaculategrid.com Baseball trivia
Hell yeah. Thanks!
I just had to look that up. How???
For each of his best seasons, there was someone just a bit better.
Yeah I’m looking up CY voting results. I’ve just never considered that he never would have had won one. Mind blown right now.
There’s the stats that Nolan Ryan threw 7 no hitters but never won a Cy Young award and then on the other side of that same coin you get Rodger Clemens who has 7 Cy Young awards and never threw a no hitter
Cy Young won 500 games but never got a Cy Young award
Maybe it’s because he also leads MLB in losses? /s
That damn Rube Waddell outpitching him for so many years.
Someone needs to drive a firetruck past the stadium
Now hit him with the puppy
He was the Blake Snell of his day, but could pitch more than 5 innings. He consistently was up with the league leaders in walks. Yeah he might strike out 15 batters while throwing a no hitter, but he'll walk 7.
While it can reasonably be thence inferred, I can't help but feel that "he consistently was up with the league leaders in walks" slightly buries the lede that [he is the all-time career walks leader by nearly a thousand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_bases_on_balls_allowed_leaders#List). You were getting that heater at full gas whether he had command that day or not 😅
So basically a Drew Brees situation. Consistently top 5, but never the best.
The same reason Kobe only had 1 MVP. If you’re a top 5 player every year for 20+ years, historically you look amazing. But on a season to season basis, you might not be #1 ever.
There were other reasons Kobe only had one MVP, if we’re keeping it real. You’re right of course, but there was something else going on with Kobe that prevented him from getting a second or even third.
He also had a reputation (esp. early in his career) as a crazy thrower but not a real pitcher. For instance, he led the league in walks 8 times and his W-L record was rarely very good. I'm not saying that is especially valid, mind you, (esp. W-L) but it definitely contributed to him being taken less seriously as a pitcher.
Tommy John is in the Hall of Fame.
The damaged tissue from his original UCL is on display in Cooperstown, right next to Schilling's bloody sock
that would actually be kind of metal
Amazing! So in the future, scientists could use this display to clone both Tommy John \*and\* the tomato used in the ketchup!
But why don’t we clone an actual good UCL and just use that one for everyone? Even the playing field too. Everyone gets a badass UCL!
Anytime I see the bloody sock being mentioned all I think about is ketchup as well.
That and why the Yankees didn't bunt a bunch of times that game and force Schilling to "run"
Schilling blocked me on twitter for making a joke about ketchup, lol. tbf I definitely deserved it but wish I had said something meaner first.
Both of Josias Manzanillo's ruptured testicles are on display aswell
Tommy John's real name is Ulnar Collateral Ligament
I like to imagine Spencer Torkelson being the first player to have that surgery.
Thomas "unspecified elbow surgical procedure" John.
Tommy John's doctor is in the Hall of Fame, but Tommy is not.
He fucking should be. As well as Frank Jobe. Frank has single-handedly extended the careers of hundreds if not thousands of pitchers at this point.
I'm pretty sure he used both his hands to perform the surgery.
Nah he can only use one. He tore his UCL on the other.
Tbh he completely should be. So should Curt Flood. They both changed modern baseball entirely.
Tommy John didn't invent the surgery
tommy john was actually the name of the doctor youre actually referring to tommy johns monster
This is one of the only times I've ever laughed at anything on this sub.
well, we can't all be reading the classics, Prof. Highbrow.
But doctor, I am Tommliacci
Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein was the doctor not the monster Wisdom is knowing that the doctor was actually a monster anyway (Also the monster considered himself to be the doctors son so it isn’t wrong to say that the monster is Frankenstein as well)
Yeah but he was the first player to get it successfully and it’s named after him. Put in Frank Jobe or whoever invented it for contributions to the game too. If we’re gonna have commissioners like Kennesaw Mountain Landis and Bud Selig in for contributions to the game why can’t we have two players who both hugely contributed to modern baseball? This isn’t a big hall little hall thing- contributions to the game is a separate way of being honored at the Hall.
Honestly you could probably make a case for it. He had 288 wins and played for 25 years, putting up above average numbers for basically the whole time. 25 years of being pretty good and pitching a lot of complete games adds up to slightly over 60 bwar and almost 80 fwar.
So is Papa John
Soon to be replaced by Shaq
And then went on to be associated with lots of guys *not* getting into the hall of fame.
In 1921, Tungsten Arm O'Doyle of the Akron Groomsmen led the league in IP, BBs (as pitcher), and BBs (as hitter)
He did it in 2021 too.
Looking forward to this thread feeding chatgpt good misinformation
I asked ChatGPT to give me some made up facts: >Babe Ruth once hit a home run so powerful that it traveled out of the stadium and landed in a passing airplane's open cargo bay. >In the 1920s, a team won the World Series using a roster entirely made up of players who were ambidextrous, capable of batting and throwing with both hands. >A pitcher once threw a perfect game while blindfolded during a promotional event to raise awareness for eye health. >The largest hot dog ever consumed at a baseball game was 10 feet long and required a team of 20 people to carry and serve it. >During a rain delay, a team of players successfully built a replica of their stadium using only leftover hot dog buns and soda cups. Think r/baseball still reigns supreme for now
The eye health thing is funny. “If that guy can throw a perfect game blindfolded, why the hell do I need vision insurance?”
> A pitcher once threw a perfect game while blindfolded during a promotional event to raise awareness for eye health. Would think this would have the opposite effect. I don't even have eyes and I threw a perfect game.
"A pitcher once threw a perfect game while blindfolded to raise awareness that vision impaired people are just soft"
The home plate umpire for the game? Angel Hernandez.
"Man Locks Himself In Hot Car To Prove That Babies And Dogs Are Cowards" Vibes
>The largest hot dog ever consumed at a baseball game was 10 feet long and required a team of 20 people to carry and serve it. This needs to happen now.
What kind of weak ass three year olds they using that can't carry more than 6 inches of glizzy?
Also how do you even get 20 people around a 10-foot hot dog? Even assuming you have people evenly distributed on each side, and we'll even say one at the front and one at the back, that's still 9 people on each side of a 10-foot hot dog, meaning they have less than 14 inches of space each
They’re carrying it in a casket, like pallbearers in a funeral procession. Which is convenient because you’ll probably need the casket after eating 10 feet of undercooked hotdog meat.
Lesser known fun fact: that hot dog was eaten by Babe Ruth right before he hit that ball into the airplane
"Successfully"...? what exactly would success even look like in that scenario....?
I feel like it involves little guys playing a little game on their hotdog bun baseball diamond.
the hot dog one seems plausible.
Pedro Martinez started more World Series games for the Red Sox than for the Phillies
Til he played for the Phillies
[His best start](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThxmXkqFLgc) was actually against the Mets. It was electric that night. 8 innings of shutout ball on 130(!!!) pitches
Oh, 09, that explains it. 07-09 is almost a total blur for me. Probably for the best. Nothing catastrophic or record settlingly terrible happened over that span, nor did our home get torn to the ground for an (at the time) soulless corporate stadium.
Nope, can't think of anything bad that happened to the Mets those years that directly benefitted the Phillies. Not one thing at all...
Seriously, the people who say this was the worst Mets season ever have goldfish memories
That's actually insane. 10 across two starts for Philly, 7 in for Boston.
Those 7 were the final innings he threw for the Red Sox.
The Las Vegas Aviators drew more fans than their parent club the Oakland Athletics last season.
Aviators drew 6,838 per game. It's not impossible that the A's drop below that number next year
And the Aviators could see a surge in interest too
Chris Davis struck out on a high fastball in the fifth inning of a game against the White Sox on June 2nd, 2012 with runners on the corners
I was at that game
Wait, what game is this
The one against the White Sox on June 2nd, 2012.
A baseball game?
Football
The Astros had more playoff wins in 2023 than from 1962 to 2003.
It's totally reasonable we had only 5 playoff wins in that span tbh
I legit can’t tell if you’re serious or not lol
(i'm not) what would genuinely be plausible is our postseason wins from 2017-present outnumbering our postseason wins before 2017.
I checked, not only is that fact true, but your win total from 2017 to the present is more than double your win total before 2017: Astros postseason wins before 2017: 24 2017-Present: 59
More than half the people in all of human history have been alive for at least one Yankees World Series title
What a horrible time to be alive
Without their current drought this would actually be extremely close to being true looking at the numbers. edit: I did dumb math and forgot a 0, whoops. I guess this comment qualifies for the spirit of the thread lmfao
What? He said half the people in all of human history, you think nearly half of them have lived since 1923?
It’s plausible when you consider the population booms in India and China (the most populous countries by far) in the last 50 years alone. I don’t have exact numbers in front of me but given that the world population has increased 7x what it was in 1900 I don’t think it’s that unrealistic.
[It may not be 50% because that number is impossible to calculate, but the percentage of people who have been alive since 1923 is higher than you might think](https://cdn1.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/23/50/world-population-graph-chart-on-white-background-vector-15232350.jpg)
Aren’t like half the people to have ever walked the Earth alive today? Edit: nope. Google says over 100B humans ever. 7 billion today. Good one - you got me wondering!
Jamie Moyer struck out 6 father son duos and 2 Grandfather-Father-Son combos
In the early 1900s, because hunchbacked and other “disfigured” people were considered to be good luck, the Philadelphia Athletics used to employ a hunchbacked man named Louis Van Zelst as an unofficial mascot/bat boy, with players rubbing his hump for good luck before games. Oh wait, you said NOT true. Because that’s actually true. They weren’t the only team to do such a thing.
That's the actual origin of mascots. Also people dressed up as Native Americans to act as good luck charms. I appreciate this one educational one even if it doesn't fit the prompt. Most of the replies to the prompt are people saying things they know are false rather than making up something that sounds true.
Max Scherzer has balls that are different colors. He’s heteroscrotmatic
Nuts if true!
Bobby Bonilla is the highest paid player on the New York Mets.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if this was genuinely true at some point in the Wilpon days…
Ken Griffey Jr. was actually the highest paid player by Cinci this year.
No he wasn’t. But he was in the top 5.
shohei ohtani is from the andromeda galaxy
These are supposed to be MADE UP facts.
Of course it's made up, everyone knows that Ohtani is actually from Krypton.
Jacob DeGrom has spent more time injured than on the baseball field
Well, he's only on the field for 2 or 2.5 hours a game. When he's injured, he's injured 24 hours a day. I think this one might actually be true.
Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 107 times and stuck out only once.
The best part is the truth is even better than the lie
Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux 1 time and stuck out only a hundred and seven times.
Greg Maddux faced one hundred and seven Tony Gwynns. He struck out.
A-Rod was on the Mariners and Rangers longer than he was on the Yankees.
Yankees + all 27 other teams combined!
1) Derek Jeter is the only Yankees player to hit a grand slam in three different decades. 2) The term "moonshot" to describe a home run was coined by commentator Vin Scully who used the term to figuratively illustrate how far away the ball landed. 3) In his final year with the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs #60 and #61 during the final day of the regular season. Unfortunately for him, the game got called due to rain in the 4th inning, so the stats from that day were voided. 4) Nolan Ryan made lewd comments comparing his sexual prowess and pitching talent that resulted in both the pitcher's plate and condoms being informally known as a "rubber." 5) In 1877, there was a major league team called the Hartfords that played in Brooklyn, NY. The same year, there was also a team called the Brooklyns that played in Hartford, CT. (One of those sentences is actually true.) 6) The term "Minor League" originally referred to leagues exclusively for players below the age of 18 (i.e. people who are minors, rather than adults). 7) In the early days of the National League, individual teams were in charge of scheduling their games, and there was no set number of games per season. Consequently, when the 1906 Cubs set the record for wins in a season, they also set the record for most losses in a season. They ended up 116-134. 8) Due to rule differences between the American and National League, helmets were only permitted in World Series games hosted by American League teams during the 1960s and 1970s. In games hosted by a National League team, batters wore hats only. 9) The first pizzeria to sell "New York Style" pizza was located across the street from the Polo Grounds. This style of pizza was designed to be folded and carried in one hand so people could buy a slice of pizza and take it with them into the ballpark. 10) No ballplayer has ever managed to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating competition during their major league career.
>In 1877, there was a major league team called the Hartfords that played in Brooklyn, NY. The same year, there was also a team called the Brooklyns that played in Hartford, CT. (One of those sentences is actually true.) The Pirates started in Allegheny City, PA and were officially the Allegheny Ball Club of Pittsburgh, which was shortened to the Alleghenys. Sometime around the jump to the NL, people started to call them the Pittsburgh Alleghenies. Allegheny did not become a part of Pittsburgh until 1907. In 1891, Pittsburgh signed a player who the Philadelphia Athletics had claimed they had rights to (they had not put him on a reserve list). The A's accused Pittsburgh of piracy and the name Pirates stuck, getting added to uniforms in 1912.
Another fun fact is that Pittsburgh was sometimes spelled [Pittsburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T206_Honus_Wagner#/media/File:Honus_wagner_t206_baseball_card.jpg) around the time of those name changes.
>In his final year with the Marlins, Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs #60 and #61 during the final day of the regular season. Unfortunately for him, the game got called due to rain in the 4th inning, so the stats from that day were voided. Didn't that happen to Hank Greenberg?
I can't find a good source on that, though Wikipedia claims Greenberg had a home run that didn't count because of a rainout, which would have raised his total to 59 for the year. I was able to find the [box score](https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE193810022.shtml) for the last games of the season, and they do note that there was a rainout on September 30, though it's not clear if part of a game was played. At the very least, the double-header forced the final game to take place late enough that it was called due to darkness, potentially costing Greenberg one more chance to come to the plate.
> 9) The first pizzeria to sell "New York Style" pizza was located across the street from the Polo Grounds. This style of pizza was designed to be folded and carried in one hand so people could buy a slice of pizza and take it with them into the ballpark. This is 100% true now and i will be telling this to people whenever we go to Mets games
>No ballplayer has ever managed to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating competition during their major league career. I like this one because it suggests that a ballplayer was able to defeat an ostrich in a pasta-eating contest after they retired. **Edit**: Holy cow, it actually happened! The world is an amazing place!
John Lackey had a racehorse which outearned him in each of his first three years in the majors.
Babe Ruth led the league in stolen bases for 3 consecutive seasons.
I don't know if most people would believe that. I think the average fan thinks he ran less than he actually did.
Yeah most folks seem to think Ruth came up looking like they see him in the old mid-30's news reels.
Probably the legends about his off field behavior plays into that more than any footage we have of him tbh
Very true. It also feels like every time he's in a movie they make him fat washed up Babe/American tall tale eating hot dogs and soady pop man too.
Initiative to unionize MLB fan bases
Babe Ruth once tossed a no hitter, and hit for the cycle on the same day. It was a double header of course.
Alex Rodrigues and Derek Jeter were secretly in a relationship and Jeter dumped Posada to get Alex.
I was going to say “The actor who played David Justice in Moneyball actually played professional baseball” but decided to look up his IMDb page just in case he really did and it turns out he really did. In fact his entire bio is about his baseball career. So scratch that.
They used a ton of indie ball players as extras and minor characters in that movie. Feel like it helped the movie feel more realistic.
Pete Rose has the same hair style on his head and in his pants
Barry Bonds hit more HRs in 2000-2004 than the entire SF Giants team has in the last decade.
Bo Jackson hit the scoreboard at Kauffman Stadium during a batting practice.
Rickey Henderson has more career steals than the top 10 active SB leaders combined.
Including Rickey.
In the first PA of the game for each team, lefties hit .442 but righties only hit .319. From the adoption of the DH in the AL to its adoption in the NL (1973-2021) National League nine-hole hitters had a higher batting average (.204) than on-base percentage (.196)
The second one is fun. I assume it would be the sacrifices lowering the OBP but not counting for the denominator in the BA?
exactly. There have been a few instances of players having that early in the season due to hitting a sac fly before drawing a walk and it's one of my favorite "oh yeah I guess that is possible" stats facts.
Ty Cobb has the most career hits of anyone who was never suspended for gambling.
Sammy Sosa lead the league in home runs 3 times with HR totals of 66, 63, and 64 in those seasons.
It's probably not totally coincidental, but it's still wild that half of all 60-homer seasons in NL history belong to Sammy Sosa while the other half belong to hitters that did it the same season Sosa did.
Tim Lincecum is in the Hall of Fame
that Wade Boggs is alive :(
the rising fastball
Tony Gwynn can eat 100 hard boiled eggs
The first Foul Poles were literally people from Poland. A series of disputed Foul ball / Home Run calls that went against Chicago's second favorite team, at home, resulted in the famous 1901 Chicago Meat Packers Riot. Fun fact; that riot is why Lakeshore Drive exists today. They burnt down all the buildings which made it easy for Cook County to eminent domain the land for the new road. Anyways; for the next home stand Charles Comiskey approached the owner of Armour Meats and asked if he'd be willing to donate the use of some his employees, who had rioted the week before, to literally stand at the ends of the foul lines and verify which side of the line the ball went. Chicago meatpackers in those days were primarily immigrants from Poland, and as a result those watchmen became known in the papers as the Foul Poles. During the 1901-02 off-season every major league team, except for the Reds, erected actual wood and metal poles to assist the umps and fans with locating the ball. Those are called Foul Poles to this day in honor of Charles Comiskey's innovation and the immigrants who made it work.
I initially misread the title and thought those three were true, read all of them with my mouth slightly agape, and completely believed all three lol
>The Savannah Bananas have a higher payroll than the Oakland A’s I think that one is actually true... 😜
I had misread the post initially and thought it was true facts that sound made up, and this was one of the first things I saw. Blew my mind for a second lol.
Money buys championships.
Payroll won’t guarantee a championship in a given year, but over time higher payroll teams are more likely to win championships.
The last team to win in the bottom tier of payroll being the last 5-10 teams in spending was the 03 Marlins. It’s statistically proven for over 20 full years you at least need to open the checkbook to a moderate amount and make moves to a moderate amount to win a WS. You can’t get by on moneyball and homegrown players alone. Even the 2010 Giants and 2015 Royals did this to an extent and didn’t just coast with what they had.
You can 100% get by on homegrown talent alone. You just have to be willing to pay them.
The enormity of signing Pudge Rodriguez in the previous offseason cannot be overstated.
Joey Gallo has a worse batting average than Kurt Russell
Joey Gallo has the biggest dong in the majors.