Monday, April 10, 2006

Baseball Urban Legends - True or False?

Check out these baseball urban legends at snopes.com
  1. Brooklyn Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen played a mean-spirited trick on second-string outfielder Cal Abrams.
  2. The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, not Babe Ruth.
  3. The 1989 film Back to the Future II correctly predicted that the Florida Marlins would win the 1997 World Series.
  4. Future Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was once given a tryout by the Washington Senators baseball team.
  5. Actor Kevin Costner was caught in bed with the wife of Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, Jr., forcing the Orioles to cancel a game so that the distraught Ripken's consecutive-game streak would not be in jeopardy.
  6. Cleveland Indians second baseman Joe Gordon deliberately struck out to prevent rookie Larry Doby from looking bad during his first at-bat.
  7. The Los Angeles Dodgers of the Koufax/Drysdale era often won 1-0 games in which Maury Wills scoring the winning run.
  8. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis hurled a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD.
  9. New York Mets outfielder Kevin Mitchell killed his girlfriend's cat by cutting off its head with a knife.
  10. Yankee second baseman Tony Lazzeri once pulled an on-field practical joke using a doctored baseball.
  11. Baseball player protests a fine by paying in pennies.
  12. Pitcher Gaylord Perry's manager once said, "They'll put a man on the moon before he hits a home run," and years later Perry hit his first home run minutes after Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface.
  13. The New York Yankees invented pinstriped uniforms in an effort to disguise Babe Ruth's girth.
  14. Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak began when the Yankees' regular first baseman, Wally Pipp, sat out a game with a headache.
  15. Bill Ripken's 1989 Fleer baseball card includes a hidden obscenity.
  16. Comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
  17. Baseball's championship is known as the "World Series" because it was originally sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

Courtesy of snopes.com

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