Description

Baseball Trivia

The origins of baseball continues to be the subject of debate. The only thing that’s sure about its history is that it had developed or evolved from earlier folk games in England, just like many other bat, ball, and running games, including softball, cricket, and rounders.

It remains uncertain when the game (or an early form of it) reached America, but there is evidence that it could have happened as early as 1786. What is certain is that there were once two opposing camps with their own sets of rules for “baseball”. One camp, whose game came to be known as the Massachusetts Game, is composed mostly of English. The other camp, on the other hand, which was known as the Knickerbockers, was composed entirely of Americans and it promoted the rules of what was informally known as the “New York style” of baseball. In the end, it was the Knickerbocker rules that prospered and went on to evolve into the rules of the present-day version of the game.

Did you know?

• that Evar Swanson holds the record for the fastest time for circling the bases? Running at an average speed of 18.45 miles per hour, Swanson made a complete trip around the bases in just 13.3 seconds! This happened on September 15, 1929.
• the longest home run in a major league game is said to have been hit by Mickey Mantle (who was playing for the New York Yankees against the Detroit Tigers) in 1960 wherein the ball flew a distance of 634 ft.
• the longest throw was made by Canadian Glen Gorbous on August 1, 1957 where he threw a ball that covered a distance of 445 ft. and 10 inches.