FUN-O-LICIOUS

The Most Amazing Facts

About Sports and Games!
1. Golf the only sport played on the moon - on 6 February 1971
Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.
2. The first World Series was played between Pittsburgh and
Boston in 1903 and was a nine-game series. Boston won the
series 5-3.
3. In the National Hockey League, home teams wear white
jerseys and visiting teams wear dark jerseys. That's because
back in the 1960s, the league figured it would be more difficult
to keep white uniforms clean while players were on the road.
4. About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650
matches in the Wimbledon Championship.
5. The first puck ever used in a hovkey game was a frozen piece
of cow crap.

6. The New York Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, which
is more than any other team.
7. Fourteen players have hit four home runs in one game: Bobby
Lowe, Ed Delahanty, Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein, Pat Seerey, Gil
Hodges, Joe Adcock, Rocky Colavito, Willie Mays, Mike
Schmidt, Bob Horner, Mark Whiten, Mike Cameron and Shawn
Green.
8. Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia are building a 27-hole golf
course on the border between the three countries, with nine
holes in each country. Much of the area proposed for the golf
course is currently a minefield.
9. You might think a yo-yo is just a fun toy. But it started out as a
weapon in the Philippine Islands in the 16th century. It weighed
four pounds and had a 20 foot cord. It was introduced to the
United States as a toy in 1929.
10.

The Olympic Flame is a symbol of the fire stolen from the

Greek God Zeus. Months before the opening ceremony of the

Olympic games the torch is lit at the ancient site of the
Olympics in Olympia. A ceremony is performed by Eleven
women called priestesses in which the torch is lit by a parabolic
mirror which concentrates the rays of the sun.

11.

The big black tarps that cover the middlefield seats in

baseball, are so the batter can see the ball better. When
people sat in those seats it was too hard for the batters to see
the ball coming out of the pitchers hand. The backround was
too busy. The tarp fixed it.
12.

Fishing is the biggest participant sport in the world.

13.

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather

for a year's supply of footballs.

14.

Shaquille O'Neal wears size 22 shoes. He puts on a brand

new pair before every game.

15.

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. didn't miss a

game in 16 years. He played in 2,632 consecutive games from

April 30, 1982 to Sept. 19, 1998.
16.

Before 1859, umpires sat in a padded rocking chair behind

the catcher
17.

More than 1,800 medals are awarded at the Olympics.

18.

Soccer is the most attended or watched sport in the world.

19.

American football has the highest injury rate of any sport,

with a rate 12 times higher than basketball, the next most

injurious sport. Most NFL players eventually suffer a careerending or career-shortening injury sometime in their career.
20.

The Boston Celtics have won the most NBA championships

(17), including seven straight from 1960 to 1966.

21.

Pittsburgh is the only U.S. city with 3 sports teams that

wear the same colors.

22.

Average lifespan of a major league baseball: 5 pitches.

23.

Boxing became a legal sport in 1901.

24.

A forfeited game in baseball is recorded as 9-0.

25.

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him

cool! He changed it every 2 innings!

26.

College footballs and NFL footballs are the exact same

size. The only difference is the white stripes on the college ball.
The white stripes on college footballs is to help the recievers
see the ball better.
27.

The record for the most major league baseball career

innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.

28.

Archery is the national sport in Bhutan,a Buddhist country

in Asia.

29.

The fastest serve in a game of tennis was in 1963 by

Michael Sangster. It was clocked at 154 mile per hour.

30.

South Korea is the birthplace of taekwondo, an olympic

sport since 2000.

31.

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.
32.

The oldest continuous trophy in sports is the America's

Cup. It started in 1851, with Americans winning for a straight

132 years until Australia took the Cup in 1983.
33.

Pitcher Nolan Ryan played 27 seasons in major league

baseball and struck out more batters in his career than any
other pitcher
34.

To wear a "visor" on your helmet in the NFL, you have to

have a doctors note. Almost all the visors in the NFL are
prescription.
35.

You've probably heard your coach or parents say, "It's all

fun and games until someone loses an eye." Well that phrase
comes from Ancient Rome. The only rule during Roman
wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Biting, kicking and

scratching were allowed but the only way to be disqualified was

to poke someone's eye out.
36.

If a horse wins a race "hands down" it means the jockey

never raised his whip during the race.

37.

Sports command the biggest television audiences, led by

the summer Olympics, World Cup Football and Formula One

racing.
38.

Golf balls can reach speeds of 170 miles an hour.

39.

Although 24 out of the 30 current National Hockey League

teams are located in the United States, all NHL jerseys are
manufactured in Canada.
40.

Korfball is the only sport played with mixed teams,

consisting of 4 men and 4 women.

41.

James Naismith, a teacher at a YMCA in Springfield,

Massachusetts, is credited with inventing basketball in

1891.The first hoops were actually just peach baskets and the
first backboards were made of wire.
42.

Official baseball rules state that an umpire may not be

replaced during a game except if he becomes ill, injured, or if

he dies.

43.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons in the NBA,

holds the record for most points scored in a career with 38,387.
44.

The Chicago Bulls have won all six NBA Finals in which

they've appeared.
45.

In 1981, baseball's Chicago White Sox moved their centre

field wall in by 43 feet, hoping that Chicago's power hitters

would hit a few more home runs. In the first two months of the
season, four home runs were hit over the new wall, all by
opposing teams.
46.

Approximately one out of four injuries by athletes involve

the wrist and hand.

47.

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.
48.

The national sport of Japan is sumo wrestling.

49.

A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has

between 65 and 70 stiches. A soccer ball is made up of 32

leather panels, held together by 642 stitches. Basketball and
rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs'
bladders were used as rugby balls.

50.

In the 1930's, American track star Jesse Owens used to

race against horses and dogs to earn a living.

51.

The Aztec and Maya Indians of Mexico and Central

America played a complicated kind of ball game not unlike

lacrosse. The game, played in a large stadium and witnessed
by thousands of spectators, went on for several hours. When
the game was finished, the captain of the losing team was
slaughtered before the onlookers, his body torn limb from limb,
and pieces of his heart passed among the crowd for members
of the audience to nibble.
52.

On average, it is estimated that females injure themselves

ten times more than males do while playing sports

53.

On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain

scored 100 points in one game against New York. That is the
most one player has ever scored in one game.
54.

Wild Bill Hickok was killed playing poker, holding two pairs -

aces and eights, which has become known as 'Dead Man's

Hand.
55.

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, once pinned an

opponent using only a single finger.

56.

Billiards used to be so popular at one time that cigarette

cards were issued featuring players.

57.

Gold medals haven't been pure gold in 96 years. The 1912

Olympics was the last time that gold medals were solid gold.
Ever since, they've been silver with gold plating.
58.

The Pittsburgh Pirates got their name as a result of bad

publicity. In 1880 the Pittsburgh team allegedly "Pirated" an

important player away from Philadelphia and did nothing to
smooth over ruffled feelings. Local newspapers angrily called
Pittsburg "a bunch of Pirates." The epithet stuck, and
eventually became the team's official name.
59.

During the hundred days of the opening games at the

Colosseum in Rome, in 80 A.D., over 5,000 animals were

killed, including elephants, tigers, lions, elks, hyenas,
hippopotamuses, and giraffes.
60.

A perfect game in baseball is one in which the same player

pitches the entire game without allowing any player of the

opposing team to reach first base
61.

Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand.

62.

The sport Lacrosse was initially played by Native American

Indians. They played the sport to prepare for war.

63.

The longest major league baseball game on record was

played on May 1st, 1921, between the Brooklyn Dodgers and

Boston Braves. It was called at the end of 26 innings on
account of darkness, with the score tied 1-1. Brooklyn's Leon
Cadore and Boston's Joe Oeschger both pitched the entire 26
innings. The entire game lasted only 3 hours 50 minutes.
64.

The Ouija board is named for the French and German

words for yes - oui and ja.

65.

The San Diego Chargers of the NFL are named after a

credit card.
66.

Golfers use an estimated $800 million worth of golf balls

annually.
67.

Gymnasiums were introduced in 900BC and Greek athletes

practised in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They

also performed naked at the Olympic Games.
68.

The velocity of a pitched baseball is about 8 mph faster as

it leaves the pitcher's hand than when it reaches home plate.

69.

In 1905, 18 men died from injuries sustained on the football

field. President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and instituted

safety measures to make the game safer.

70.

There are 318,979,564,000 ways of playing the first four

turns in a game of chess. There are

169,518,829,100,544,000,000,000,000,000 ways of playing the
first ten turns of a game of chess.
71.

The 'huddle' in football was formed due to a deaf football

player who used sign language to communicate and his team

didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in
turn huddled around him.
72.

If the air conditioning at the Astrodome in Houston were

turned off, it would rain inside the stadium due to the entrance
of humid air.
73.

The first professional football team to sport an insignia on

their helmets was the Los Angeles Rams in 1950, who hand
painted yellow horns on their blue leather helmets.
74.

The distance between the pitcher's rubber and home plate

in baseball is 60 feet, 6 inches

75.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens,

Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female

competitors.
76.

The great Yankee slugger Babe Ruth, who began his

career as a pitcher, had a favorite pitching trick that has rarely

been duplicated. He was able to throw two Baseballs in such a

way that the balls remained parallel to each other all the way
from his hand to the catcher's glove. Ruth was famous for this
stunt and would demonstrate it on request.
77.

There are bullfights in Detroit. Twelve times a year, at the

Cobo Arena, some of the best Spanish and Mexican matadors

are featured, as well as several American Bullfighters who
have been trained in Spain. Bullfights themselves are not
illegal in the United States; the matador is simply not allowed to
kill the bull. In Detroit, therefore, all fights are "exhibitions,"
bloodless events that demonstrate the matador's skill, not his
ability to make a kill.
78.

The first players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame were Ty

Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter

Johnson in 1936

SUPERSTITIONS:
Baseball:
o Spitting into your hand before picking up the bat is said to
bring good luck.
o A wad of gum stuck on a player's hat brings good luck.

o It is bad luck if a dog walks across the diamond before

the first pitch.
o Some players believe it is good luck to step on one of the
bases before running off the field at the end of an inning.
o It is bad luck to touch the baselines while running off and
onto the field between innings.
o Lending a bat to a fellow player is a serious jinx.
o Some players actually sleep with their bat to break out of
a hitting slump or stay in a groove.
o If a pitcher is throwing a perfect game or a no-hitter, never
speak of it while it's going on.

Basketball:
o The last person to shoot a basket during the warm-up will
have a good game.
o Wipe the soles of your sneakers for good luck.
o Bounce the ball before taking a foul shot for good luck.

Bowling:

o To continue a winning streak, wear the same clothes.

o The number 300, a perfect score, on your license plate
will increase your score.
o Carry charms on your bowling bag, in your pockets, or
around your neck for good luck.

Fishing:
o Fish may not bite if a barefoot woman passes you on the
way to the dock.
o Spit on your bait before casting your rod to make fish bite.
o Throw back your first catch for good luck.
o It is bad luck to change rods while fishing.
o Don't tell anyone how many fish you've caught until you're
done or you won't catch another.

Football:
o Double numbers on a player's uniform brings good luck.
o It's bad luck for a professional football player to take a
new number when he is traded to another team.

o A mascot is an important good luck symbol.

Golf:
o Start only with odd-numbered clubs.
o Balls with a number higher than 4 are bad luck.
o Carry coins in your pockets for good luck.

Ice Hockey:
o It is bad luck for hockey sticks to lie crossed.
o It is bad luck to say shutout in the locker room before a
game.
o Players believe they'll win the game if they tap the goalie
on his shin pads before a game.

Rodeo:
o Always put the right foot in the stirrup first.
o Avoid wearing the color yellow.
o Always shave before a competition.

Tennis:
o It's bad luck to hold more than two balls at a time when
serving.
o Avoid wearing the color yellow.
o Walk around the outside of the court when switching
sides for good luck.
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