Now You Know Baseball. Doug Lennox

League, but it actually went by several names during its history. Between the founding of the league in 1943 and its demise after the 1954 season, it went by the names All-American Girls Professional Softball League, All-American Girls Baseball League, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and American Girls’ Baseball League.

       Was the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League actually a softball league?

      The women’s baseball league actually began its existence playing a game that more closely resembled softball. The original ball was 12 inches in diameter, and the pitchers threw underhanded from a mound only 40 feet from home plate. Bases were 65 feet apart.

      The ball became smaller over the years, shrinking five times between 1944 and 1954. The distance between base paths was lengthened several times, topping out at 85 feet in 1954. Pitchers were still required to throw underhand, or, by 1946, sidearm, but overhand pitching was not permitted until 1948. Even then, the mound was only 50 feet from home plate and would not move to 60 feet until the last year of the league’s existence.

       Who competed in the fi rst known organized game of baseball?

      The first team to play using modern rules were the New York Knickerbockers, who played by what was known as the Knickerbocker Rules (developed by their founder, Alexander Cartwright). The first organized game was played between the Knickerbockers and a team known as the New York Nine. Despite inventing the rules for the game, the Knickerbockers were trounced, 23–1, in a game played at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey.

       Who is known as “The Father of Baseball”?

      While it’s impossible to credit any individual with inventing baseball, many are comfortable with saying the modern game of baseball was invented by The Father of Baseball, Alexander Cartwright. Cartwright took what was, until then, a crude stick-and-ball game and established rules that created a game that would look familiar to fans of the sport that is played today. He set the distance between bases at 90 feet, established that each team should have nine players, and forbade the former method of getting runners out by throwing the ball at them.

       Besides the New York Yankees, what franchise has won the most American League pennants?

      The New York Yankees have won an astonishing 40 American League Championships in their history. To put it in context, you could add together the number of pennants won by any three other American League teams and still not come up with a number that beats the Yankees’ total.

      The nearest competitor to the Yankees is the Athletics franchise, which has divided pennants between two cities: Philadelphia and Oakland. (The team also played in Kansas City, but had no first-place finishes there.)

      If we limit our search to the number of pennants won in one city, the Boston Red Sox top the list with 12 American League flags.

       What is “the Buckner Ball” and where is it today?

      The ball that went between the legs of Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, crushing the dreams of Red Sox fans, was subsequently named The Buckner Ball. The ball was put on auction in 1992 and went to actor Charlie Sheen for $93,500. Sheen later put the ball on auction in 2000, and songwriter Seth Swirsky was the top bidder, though Swirsky refers to it as “the Mookie Ball” (the groundball that Buckner misplayed was hit by Mookie Wilson). Sheen lost money on his investment, as the ball only sold for $63,500.

       Was the 1919 World Series the fi rst to be fi xed?

      Though suspicions were never proven, there was plenty of speculation that three World Series were thrown prior to the famous Black Sox Scandal of 1919.

      The first suspected tanking of a series took place in 1914. The heavily favoured Philadelphia Athletics were inexplicably swept in four games by the Boston Braves. Conspiracy theorists believe that the players were angry with owner Connie Mack, who paid them poorly, and decided to let the Braves win the series.

      In 1917, many pointed fingers of suspicion at Heine Zimmerman, third baseman for the New York Giants, who held onto the ball during a rundown, allowing the series-winning run to score. (Zimmerman may have been unfairly accused, as there was no one to throw the ball to, but he was later implicated in another gambling scandal.) And then, in 1918, rumours were swirling that the Chicago Cubs had intentionally thrown the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

stadiums

       What does the sign “No Pepper” mean at a baseball park?

      The sign “No Pepper” is seen in many baseball dugouts and refers to a game played to warm up the players. During pepper, one player bunts grounders and hits line drives to a group of infielders standing about 20 feet away. The fielders play the ball then throw it back to the batter as quickly as possible, and he then attempts to hit those return throws. Pepper is banned when spectators are in the park for fear of injury.

       They Said It …

      “He was a good umpire, if you didn’t tell him so too often.”

       Johnny Evers on Hank O’Day.

       Why is the warm-up area for baseball pitchers called a “bullpen”?

      As early as 1809, the term bullpen referred to a stockade for holding criminals. In the 1870s, a roped-off area in the outfield for standing room was nicknamed the bullpen by the Cincinnati Enquirer. When relief pitchers were introduced into the game they took over that area to warm up, and in a stroke of brilliance the Bull Durham Tobacco Company erected a sign overhead to confirm it as the bullpen.

       Why are extra seats in a gymnasium or open-air benches in a stadium called “bleachers”?

      Bleachers were used in a pinch as uncovered overflow seating from the grandstand before they became common at baseball and football games. The first recorded printed reference was in the Chicago Tribune on May 6, 1889. They were called “bleachers” because of their exposure to the sun. The folding seating at an inside gymnasium simply took its name from the open seating outside.

       Which team attempted to become the fi rst team to play out of a domed stadium in the 1950s?

      In the 1950s, the Brooklyn Dodgers were still playing out of the beloved, but aging, Ebbett’s Field. Owner Walter O’Malley was keen on building a new park for his team and contacted R. Buckminster Fuller seeking design ideas. O’Malley told Fuller that he was not just interested in building any old stadium — he wanted the Dodgers to be the first team to play out of a domed stadium.

      Fuller put his graduate students on the case and came up with the design for a geodesic dome and stadium suitable for baseball.

      In the meantime, O’Malley’s attempts to work with the city to secure land in a prime location hit roadblock after roadblock, and the owner chose to move his team to Los Angeles. Baseball would not move indoors until the Houston Astrodome was opened in 1965.

       What was the fi rst retractable dome stadium?

      When Montreal’s Olympic Stadium was first built, the plan was for it to have a retractable roof operated from an inclined tower. Labour disruptions and design problems prevented the roof from being ready in time for the 1976 Olympics, or