Friday, September 26, 2008

September 26: This Date in Browns Baseball

1926: The St. Louis Browns beat the New York Yankees 6-1 and 6-2 in 2 hours, 7 minutes. The first game took 55 minutes.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Some Baseball Trivia: Did You Know???

1. Owner of the Chicago Cubs, Bill Veeck, used to have midgets as food vendors at the clubs home ground, because he said that it meant that the paying public didn't have to have their view of the game spoiled!

2. The baseball tradition of spring training came about because in 1885 the Chicago White Stockings went to Hot Springs in Arkansas to prepare for the new season.

3. Where is the world's longest baseball bat? The world's largest baseball bat is only 120 feet long weighing in at 68,000 pounds. It resembles the 34 inch wood bat that the Bambino, Babe Ruth Swung, made by Louisville Slugger. Want to see it in person it is located at : 800 West Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

4. Who was the shortest major league baseball player? (Click on photos to enlarge)

It was Edward Carl "Eddie" Gaedel , born in Chicago, Illinois, June 8, 1925. He was an American midget who became famous for participating in a MLB game who secretly signed by the St. Louis Browns. He was only 3 feet 7 inches (109 cm) tall and weighing 65 pounds (29.5 kg). His uniform number was 1/8. He had just one at bat for the Brown's in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday, August 19, 1951.

They said Gaedel's strike zone measured just an inch and a half but it was probably closer to 6 inches. He reached base on four consecutive balls that were all high!

Gaedel's autograph now sells for more than Babe Ruth's. He died on June 18, 1961.


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