10 Little Known Sports Trivia Facts

[snopes]

Comment: 10 Little Known Sports Trivia Facts

1. Until 1859, the umpire sat behind home plate in a padded rocking
chair.
2. Babe Ruth was the first baseball player credited to ordering a bat
with a knob on it. They were produced by Louisville Slugger in 1919.
3. Boxing was filmed for the first time in 1894 in a match between Mike
Leonard and Jack Cushing.
4. The fastest serve in a game of tennis was in 1963 by Michael
Sangster. It was clocked at 154 mile per hour.
5. Horse racing is one of the oldest sports around. It was originated
by nomads around the year 4500 B.C. It is possible that the sport began
before this time but 4500 B.C. is when they first started keeping written
records.
6. If a horse wins a race "hands down" it means the jockey never raised
his whip during the race.
7. Even though it was outlawed in 1920, the last legal spitball was
thrown by New York Yankee Hall of Famer, Burleigh Grimes in 1934. At the
time of the outlaw, anyone already using a spitball was allowed to
continue. Burleigh Grimes continued for another fourteen years.
8. Official baseball rules state that an umpire may not be replaced
during a game except if he becomes ill, injured, or if he dies.
9. Before the turn of the century, prize fighters fought bare fisted.
Matches sometimes lasted more than one hundred rounds and were counted by
knock outs.
10. In bowling, three strikes in a row was called a turkey. The term
originated in the 1800s when at holiday time, the first member of a team
to score three strikes in a row won a free turkey.

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: 10 Little Known Sports Trivia Facts


8. Official baseball rules state that an umpire may not be replaced
during a game except if he becomes ill, injured, or if he dies.

Official Rules of Baseball (Umpire)

9.02(d)"No umpire may be replaced during a game unless he is injured or becomes ill."

No mention of death.

#5
I think 4500 BC falls within the consensus range for the domestication of horses, and it doesn't seem unlikely that people would have thought of racing them soon after. Written language doesn't appear until about 3200 BC, though.

#9
Rounds were counted by knockdowns, not knockouts.

[diddy]

Originally Posted by Mateus

Official Rules of Baseball (Umpire)


No mention of death.

But you gotta admit that would be a valid reason to change umpires.

[Towknie]

Originally Posted by diddy

But you gotta admit that would be a valid reason to change umpires.

Didn't an umpire fall dead on the field during a game in Cincinnati a couple years ago? Did they go forward with the game? Google here I come.

ETA -- It was John McSherry on April 1st, 1996 during a game between the Reds and the Expos. According to retrosheet.org, there is no box score for a game that day, so I'm assuming the game was cancelled/postponed.

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by diddy

But you gotta admit that would be a valid reason to change umpires.

Rule 9.02(e) In the event of an umpire's death, the alternate umpire shall, using hilarious means of locomotion and disugise, use the deceased's corpse to finish the deceased's duties, a la "Weekend at Bernie's"

[General Redwood]

Originally Posted by Towknie

Didn't an umpire fall dead on the field during a game in Cincinnati a couple years ago? Did they go forward with the game? Google here I come.

ETA -- It was John McSherry on April 1st, 1996 during a game between the Reds and the Expos. According to retrosheet.org, there is no box score for a game that day, so I'm assuming the game was cancelled/postponed.

I remember this, it as all caught on tape. The game had just started, McSherry called a time out, walked about five steps then literally dropped dead.

I think it was a preseason game so it was cancelled.

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by snopes

2. Babe Ruth was the first baseball player credited to ordering a bat
with a knob on it. They were produced by Louisville Slugger in 1919.

A google search using the words "Baseball" & "1917" shows several team photos that were taken prior 1919 and have the knobs.

5. Horse racing is one of the oldest sports around. It was originated
by nomads around the year 4500 B.C. It is possible that the sport began
before this time but 4500 B.C. is when they first started keeping written
records.

I can't vouch for the year, but if people could ride it or drive it, they raced it.

[Hip Zu]

Originally Posted by General Redwood

I remember this, it as all caught on tape. The game had just started, McSherry called a time out, walked about five steps then literally dropped dead.

I think it was a preseason game so it was cancelled.

Actually, I think it was Opening Day...

ETA: Yup, it was.

[Hip Zu]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: 10 Little Known Sports Trivia Facts

6. If a horse wins a race "hands down" it means the jockey never raised
his whip during the race.

Well, according to this, it's a slightly different horse racing origin -- i.e., the jockey slackened the reins.

Originally Posted by snopes

4. The fastest serve in a game of tennis was in 1963 by Michael
Sangster. It was clocked at 154 mile per hour.

According to the Guinness World Records people, the record holder is Andy Roddick with a 153mph serve.

[Jay Temple]

Originally Posted by Mateus

Rule 9.02(e) In the event of an umpire's death, the alternate umpire shall, using hilarious means of locomotion and disugise, use the deceased's corpse to finish the deceased's duties, a la "Weekend at Bernie's"

I was thinking more The Naked Gun.

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by snopes

7. Even though it was outlawed in 1920, the last legal spitball was
thrown by New York Yankee Hall of Famer, Burleigh Grimes in 1934. At the
time of the outlaw, anyone already using a spitball was allowed to
continue. Burleigh Grimes continued for another fourteen years.

The error here is calling Grimes a New York Yankee. He only appeared in ten games with the Yankees at the end of his career (his final team), but he spent the largest part of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and also played more games for Pittsburgh, the New York Giants, Boston, St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs then he played for the Yankees.

[Bad Ronald]

9. Before the turn of the century, prize fighters fought bare fisted.
Matches sometimes lasted more than one hundred rounds and were counted by
knock outs.

Why, I once watched Gentleman Jim Corbett fight an Eskimo fellow bare-knuckled for a hundred and thirteen rounds! Back then, of course, if the fight lasted less than fifty rounds, we demanded our nickel back!

[Dactyl]

Originally Posted by Sugarpuff Sandwich

According to the Guinness World Records people, the record holder is Andy Roddick with a 153mph serve.

That's the first one that immediately triggered my 'false' monitor. I believe Greg Rusedski (Canadian who played for Great Britain sic) held it before him (the late sixties or widely used until the seventies. They made the game of tennis much quicker and allowed the player to hit the ball much harder, therefore, I find it difficult to believe that the fastest serve was hit before they came into use.

Finally, was it even possible to accurately measure the speed on a tennis serve in 1963?

ETA: A quick google for Michael Sangster and Fastest Serve only seems to bring up this fact in various lists. However, I have found out that he was English so suddenly I'm inclined to believe it.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Dactyl

That's the first one that immediately triggered my 'false' monitor. I believe Greg Rusedski (Canadian who played for Great Britain sic) held it before him (Wikipedia agrees with me).

Wiki also says that metal tennis rackets weren't first used until the late sixties or widely used until the seventies. They made the game of tennis much quicker and allowed the player to hit the ball much harder, therefore, I find it difficult to believe that the fastest serve was hit before they came into use.

You missed an inverted comma and it messed up your URL. But I thought the same as you.