Useless Information About Different Types of Sports
The game of lacrosse was invented by American Indians.
Before 1859 baseball umpires sat in a padded rocking chair behind the catcher.
In the 1936 Swaythling Cup Match in table tennis, Alex Ehrlich of Poland and Paneth Farcas of Rumania volleyed for 2 hours and 12 minutes on the opening serve.
The St. Sylvester Road Race in Brazil is witnessed by 1 million people every year.
Seven thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians bowled on alleys not unlike our own.
Babe Ruth, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, began his career as a pitcher.
Volleyball was invented in a Holyoke, Massachusetts, YMCA in 1895. Its inventor was William George Morgan. The game was first called “mintonette” and was played by hitting a basketball over a rope.
Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball. Publications about the game were issued as early as 1835, when Doubleday was only sixteen. Further, though he is credited with inventing baseball in Coopertown, NY in 1839, it is known that Doubleday was enrolled at West point from 1838 to 1842. At that time a West Point cadet was not allowed to leave campus until his last years in school; thus it was impossible for Doubleday even to have visited Cooperstown before 1841. Doubleday was, however, distinguished in other ways. He was a Union general during the Civil War and played a leading part in the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Cleveland Indians were named in honor of Louis Sockolexis, a native Maine Indian who was the first American Indian to play professional baseball. Before it became the Indians, the Cleveland team was known as the Spiders.
An expert fly fisherman may have as many as 10,000 flies in his collection.
In the early days of baseball, between 1840 and 1850, a fielder put a runner out by hitting him with the ball. Home base and the batter's plate were two separate sports (and thus the lineup included a fourth baseman), and there was no distinction between fair and foul balls.
In the early days of boxing, when a boxer was getting throttled and wished to end the bout, he would take his sponge and toss it in the middle of the ring. Thus originated the phrase “to throw in the sponge.”
A total of 63 errors were made in the 1886 World Series.
In ancient Greece a boxing match began with two boxers standing face to face, their noses touching. Greek boxers wore leather things embedded with metal studs strapped on their wrists. At one time metal spikes were added too.