1. You may have thought that it would be football, but, no, it’s baseball that is considered to be national sport in the United States of America.
2. The first official game of baseball was played in 1856
3. True origins of the game are not certain – some claim it came from England along with other bat-and-ball games, some claim the game was invented in the United States.
4. The average baseball ticket price in 1920 was $1. Today the average is somewhere around $15-$20, depending on the seating position.
5. The longest game of baseball ever played lasted for eight hours and six minutes – it started in 8:30 PM and ended just after 4AM. Teams involved were Pawtucket Red Sox who played versus Rochester Red Wings, and the match was played in 1981. Since then the rule was introduced that matches have to end before midnight.
6. There were more than 74.5 million fans attending professional games in America in 2012. With an average ticket of $15, that’s over one billion and one hundred millions spent on watching this sport alone.
7. Late in 1957 season, two teams decided to liven up their minor-league teams by acquiring them from a neighboring team they often played friendly matches against. They did not swap 2 or even 3 players, they swapped entire 25 man lineups, making this one of the strangest player acquisitions in the history of baseball. Teams in question were Dodgers and Cubs.
8. There is a professional player who managed to score points for two different teams in the same day, playing in two different cities. Joel Youngblood was a Mets center fielder who played in Chicago against the Cubs. The very same day he was traded to the Expos (a team which no longer exists), arriving in Philadelphia, only to find out he’s got a game to attend to immediately, dropping in mid-game and coming in as a pinch hitter, managing to score a second hit for the day.
9. Cy Young holds the record for having the most wins in the history of baseball, with over 500 wins, something considered unbeatable. He is almost 100 wins ahead of the second closest contender to his throne Walter Johnson. After his death, Cy Young Award was created, honoring the season’s best pitcher. Cy holds several different records, including most career games started, most career innings pitched and most complete games.