Baseball

The Red Sox took the old Boston Braves name of Red Stockings and changed it to Sox in the 1900's. They were originally known as the Pilgrams and also the Beaneaters but team nicknames weren't official in those days and were often the brainchild of local sports writers.

The Yankees catcher from 1980-1984 was Rick Cerone. Their catcher in 1985 and 1986 was Ron Hassey. It was again Rick Cerone in 1987. In 1988, the Yankees catcher was Joel Skinner. And finally in 1989, it was Bob Geren.

In 1955, Lou Boudreau became the first manager of the Kansas City Athletics. Prior to this, the team was based in Pennsylvania and known as the Philadelphia Athletics.

The answer is because left handed batters hit worse off left handed pitchers.

There are two reasons for this. The first reason is spin. A left handed pitcher will more easily be able to put spin on a ball that causes the pitch to move from the right side to the left side of the plate (from the catcher's view). This spin moves away from a left handed hitter and toward a right handed hitter. It is believed, with lots of data to support it, that a ball spinning away from a hitter is harder to hit than one spinning closer to the hitter. That's one reason a left handed batter is worse at hitting a left handed pitcher.

The other reason is sight and release points. The same principle of spin applies that a pitch moving away from the batter is harder to hit than one moving closer to a batter. Because of the pitcher's release point, a left handed pitcher will release the ball somewhere to the right of the mound (from the catcher's view) when the ball is thrown. If we assume the ball has no spin and is pitched to the center of home plate, it will have moved from the right of the mound to the center of the plate. This movement from a left handed pitcher is going away from a left handed hitter and going closer to a right handed hitter.

There is not much difference between how well right handed batters fare against right handed pitchers and left handed pitchers because right handed pitchers are so common that right handed batters don't have the same level of disadvantage as left handed batters do against left handed pitchers. But the reason why right handed batters are better than left handed batters against left handed pitchers is mostly explained with spin and release points.

Third baseman Mike Lowell of the Boston Red Sox was named MVP of the 2007 World Series.

According to Baseball Reference.com, through 2007 there have been 16,187 major league baseball players. Here are the numbers, broken down by country of origin, and the first year a player from the given country appeared: {| |- | Afghanistan Jeff Bronkey 1993 1 American Samoa Tony Solaita 1968 1 Aruba Gene Kingsale 1996 4 Australia Joe Quinn 1884 19 Austria Kurt Krieger 1949 1 Austria-Hungary Frank Rooney 1914 1 Bahamas Andre Rodgers 1957 5 Belgium Brian Lesher 1996 1 British Honduras Chito Martinez 1991 1 Canada Tom Smith 1875 205 Canary Islands Al Cabrera 1913 1 China Harry Kingman 1914 1 Colombia Luis Castro 1902 7 Cuba Steve Bellan 1871 152 Curaçao Hensley Meulens 1989 5 Czechoslovakia Amos Cross 1885 4 Dominican Republic Ozzie Virgil 1956 410 Denmark Olaf Henriksen 1911 1 England George Hall/Harry Wright 1871 32 Finland John Michaelson 1921 1 France Larry Ressler 1875 8 Germany David Lenz/Marty Swandell 1872 29 Greece Al Campanis 1943 1 Honduras Gerald Young 1987 1 Indonesia Tom Mastny 2006 1 Ireland Andy Leonard 1871 41 Italy Lou Polli 1932 6 Jamaica Chili Davis 1981 3 Japan Masanori Murakami 1964 32 Mexico Mel Almada 1933 98 the Netherlands Rynie Wolters 1871 7 Nicaragua Dennis Martinez 1976 8 Norway John Anderson 1894 3 Okinawa Bobby Fenwick 1972 1 Puerto Rico Hi Bithorn 1942 215 Panama Humberto Robinson 1955 45 the Philippines Bobby Chouinard 1996 1 Poland Henry Peploski 1929 4 Russia Jake Gettman 1897 5 Saudi Arabia Craig Stansberry 2007 1 Scotland Jim McCormick 1878 8 Singapore Robin Jennings 1996 1 South Korea Chan Ho Park 1994 12 South Vietnam Danny Graves 1996 1 Spain Bryan Oelkers 1983 3 Sweden Charlie Hallstrom 1885 4 Switzerland Otto Hess 1902 1 Taiwan Chin-Feng Chen 2002 4 Ukraine Bill Cristall 1901 3 United States Bobby Mathews 1871 14580 United States Virgin Islands Joe Christopher 1959 10 Venezuela Alex Carrasquel 1939 181 West Germany Rob Belloir 1975 13 Wales Peter Morris 1884 3 |}

Albert Pujols of the Cardinals and Ted Williams of the Red Sox drove in 100+ runs in each of their first eight seasons. Al Simmons of the Athletics drove in 100+ runs in each of his first eleven seasons. Some others that had 100+ RBIs in at least eight consecutive seasons were Babe Ruth (1926-1933), Lou Gehrig (1926-1938), Manny Ramirez (1998-2006), Willie Mays (1959-1966), Sammy Sosa (1995-2003), Jimmie Foxx (1929-1941), Mel Ott (1929-1936), Rafael Palmeiro (1995-2003), and Frank Thomas (1991-1998).

Andy Sonnastine

The longest game in Cardinals history was played on September 11, 1974 against the New York Mets. The game went 25 innings and lasted 7 hours and 4 minutes. The Cardinals won 4-3.

Through the 2011 season in MLB:

1) Babe Ruth, 1921 New York Yankees - 119, 44 2B, 16 3B, 59 HR.

2) Lou Gehrig, 1927 New York Yankees - 117, 52 2B, 18 3B, 47 HR. 1930 New York Yankees - 100, 42 2B, 17 3B, 41 HR.

3) Barry Bonds, 2001 San Francisco Giants - 107, 32 2B, 2 3B, 73 HR.

4) Chuck Klein, 1930 Philadelphia Phillies - 107, 59 2B, 8 3B, 40 HR. 1932 Philadelphia Phillies - 103, 50 2B, 15 3B, 38 HR.

5) Todd Helton, 2001 Colorado Rockies - 105, 54 2B, 2 3B, 49 HR. 2000 Colorado Rockies - 103, 59 2B, 2 3B, 42 HR.

6) Albert Belle, 1995 Cleveland Indians - 103, 52 2B, 1 3B, 50 HR.

7) Hank Greenberg, 1937 Detroit Tigers - 103, 49 2B, 14 3B, 40 HR.

8) Stan Musial, 1948 St. Louis Cardinals - 103, 46 2B, 18 3B, 39 HR.

9) Sammy Sosa, 2001 Chicago Cubs - 103, 34 2B, 5 3B, 64 HR.

10) Rogers Hornsby, 1922 St. Louis Cardinals - 102, 46 2B, 14 3B, 42 HR.

11) Jimmie Foxx, 1932 Philadelphia Athletics - 100, 33 2B, 9 3B, 58 HR.

12) Luis Gonzalez, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks - 100, 36 2B, 7 3B, 57 HR.

Yes, he did. Randy Johnson announced his retirement on January 5, 2010.

The Oakland A's In 2012 With 15 Walk Off wins in a single season.

The first elections to the baseball Hall of Fame were in 1936. Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson were the first players elected. The first induction ceremony in Cooperstown was in 1939.

C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians won the 2007 Cy Young Award.

Johnny Damon signed with the Yankees on December 20, 2005. Johnny played for the Yankees from 2006-2009. He is now a member of the Detroit Tigers.

John Smoltz is one of them. Jim "Catfish" Hunter was another.

Hundreds of players have worn this number, including Bobby Abreu, Felipe Alou, Adrian Beltre, Rod Carew, Mickey Lolich, Fred McGriff, Satchel Paige, Ken Singleton, and Mel Amada.

Take me out

To the ball game

Take me out

To the crowd

Buy me some peanuts

And Crackerjacks

I don't care if

I never get back

Let me root, root root

For the home team

If they don't win

It's a shame

For it's one, two,

Three strikes you're out

At the old ball game!

There you have it! Enjoy!

Katie Casey was base ball mad.

Had the fever and had it bad;

Just to root for the home town crew,

Ev'ry sou Katie blew.

On a Saturday, he young beau

Called to see if she'd like to go,

To see a show but Miss Kate said,

"No, I'll tell you what you can do."

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Katie Casey saw all the games,

Knew the players by their first names;

Told the umpire he was wrong,

All along good and strong.

When the score was just two to two,

Katie Casey knew what to do,

Just to cheer up the boys she knew,

She made the gang sing this song:

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, your out,

At the old ball game."

That is the 1908 version. The 1928 version is the following.

Nelly Kelly love baseball games,

Knew the players, knew all their names,

You could see her there ev'ry day,

Shout "Hurray," when they'd play.

Her boy friend by the name of Joe

Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go,"

Then Nelly started to fret and pout,

And to him I heard her shout.

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Nelly Kelly was sure some fan,

She would root just like any man,

Told the umpire he was wrong,

All along, good and strong.

When the score was just two to two,

Nelly Kelly knew what to do,

Just to cheer up the boys she knew,

She made the gang sing this song.

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Enjoy!

Katie Casey was base ball mad.

Had the fever and had it bad;

Just to root for the home town crew,

Ev'ry sou Katie blew.

On a Saturday, he young beau

Called to see if she'd like to go,

To see a show but Miss Kate said,

"No, I'll tell you what you can do."

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Katie Casey saw all the games,

Knew the players by their first names;

Told the umpire he was wrong,

All along good and strong.

When the score was just two to two,

Katie Casey knew what to do,

Just to cheer up the boys she knew,

She made the gang sing this song:

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, your out,

At the old ball game."

That is the 1908 version. The 1928 is the following.

Nelly Kelly love baseball games,

Knew the players, knew all their names,

You could see her there ev'ry day,

Shout "Hurray," when they'd play.

Her boy friend by the name of Joe

Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go,"

Then Nelly started to fret and pout,

And to him I heard her shout.

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the Red Sox,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Nelly Kelly was sure some fan,

She would root just like any man,

Told the umpire he was wrong,

All along, good and strong.

When the score was just two to two,

Nelly Kelly knew what to do,

Just to cheer up the boys she knew,

She made the gang sing this song.

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,

At the old ball game."

Enjoy!

Through the 2009 season, the Padres have never won the World Series.

They have played in two, in 1998 against the New York Yankees and 1984 against the Detroit Tigers. They lost to the Yankees 4 games to 0 and lost to the Tigers 4 games to 1.

Lou Gehrig, who played first base for the New York Yankees between 1923-1939, holds the all time MLB grand slam record with 23. Alex Rodriguez tied Lou Gehrig's Record of 23 Grand Slams on June 12th 2012. Alex Rodriguez broke the record in 2013, with his 24th Grand Slam.