Krispy Kreme Dog

A hot dog is being offered to fans at Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball games this season. The “Krispy Kreme Donut Dog” is placed between a glazed Krispy Kreme donut, packed with bacon and topped with raspberry jelly.

Top Ten Sports

These are the top ten sports in the world from the lowest to highest, according to number of fans. Seems it is not the age of the sport, but the sport itself that makes it popular.

• American Football, # of fans: 400 million (began 1800s)
  
• Basketball,  # of fans: 400 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Golf,  # of fans: 450 million (began 1400s)
  
• Baseball,  # of fans: 500 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Table Tennis,  # of fans: 850 million (began 1900s)
  
• Volleyball,  # of fans: 900 million (began late 1800s)
  
• Tennis,  # of fans: 1 billion (began in 1300s)
  
• Field Hockey,  # of fans: 2 billion (began 3rd century BC)
  
• Cricket,  # of fans: 2.5 billion (began 1600s)
  
• Soccer,  # of fans: 3.5 billion (began 200s BC)

Baseball Season Opens

Abner Doubleday is routinely touted as the inventor of baseball, but there is little, if any historical evidence to back that claim. Much like Betsy Ross and the flag, Doubleday had a good story which circumvented the truth. When baseball started getting really popular, there was actually a committee called the Mills Commission organized with the purpose of tracking down the origins of the sport.

One of the men on that commission, Albert Spalding, did not like the fact that baseball was seen as a variation on the English game of rounders. He wanted this new beloved pastime to be 100% American and Doubleday’s story fit the bill perfectly. He had a decorated Civil War general who created the sport in his youth living in a small town in New York. And so the legend began. . .

Baseball Trading

Harry Chiti was traded for himself. Chiti was a major league catcher who played from 1950 to 1962. On April 25, 1962, before he actually played a game for the Indians, he was acquired by the expansion New York Mets team for a 'player to be named later'. He was sent back to the Indians on June 15, 1962 after 15 games and a .195 batting average.

Since Chiti was the 'player to be named later', he became the first player ever traded for himself. Three other players in history have been traded for themselves: Dickie Noles, Brad Gulden, and John McDonald. Chiti never played another major league game, spending two more years at Triple-A before retiring in 1964.

Five Interesting Baseball Facts

Two brother pitchers win every World Series game for the winning team: In the 1934 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers 4 games to 3. Jerome “Dizzy” Dean and his kid brother Paul “Daffy” Dean won two games each, accounting for all four Cardinal wins.

Pitching a no-hitter and homering twice: On June 23, 1971, Phillies Pitcher Rick Wise pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium and hit two home runs in the same game.

Making the final out in two no-hitters against the same pitcher: Harvey Kuenn made the final out of two no-hitters, both against Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax. On May 11, 1963, Kuenn made the final out of Koufax’s no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants. On September 9, 1965, Kuenn struck out to end Koufax’s perfect game against the Chicago Cubs.

Eddie Gaedel was 26 year old, 3 feet, 7 inch tall. He was signed by Bill Veeck to a Major League contract of $15,400 ($100 per game), which was the set minimum one could pay a little person performance act, per event. During his first (and last) game he walked. Eddie took his base, stopping to take a bow twice on his way, and was lifted for a pinch runner, Jim Delsing. Two days later, American League President Will Harridge voided Gaedel’s contract and he was out of a job. Further, Harridge officially banned midgets from being able to play in the American League. Although he only made $100 for the one game, it’s estimated he earned over $17,000 ($140,000 today) in the few weeks following his lone Major League at bat. Gaedel’s uniform had the number 1/8 on the back and it now sits in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Four more people in the history of Major League Baseball had only one plate appearance and drew a walk. The others were Dutch Schirick on September 17, 1914, with the Browns; Bill Batsch on September 9, 1916, with Pittsburgh; Joe Cobb on April 25, 1918, with Detroit; and Kevin Melillo on June 24, 2007, with the Oakland A’s. 

Baseball Trivia

The only man who hit a home run, but did not score on it was former Major League baseball player Benji Molina. He was so slow that he once hit a home run that he never scored on. What happened was Molina hit a home run that initially was ruled a single and a pinch runner, Emmanuel Burris was put in.

However, manager Bruce Bochy challenged the call and it was ultimately ruled a home run, but because the pinch runner had already been put in, the umpires ruled that Molina could not go back out to complete the home run. Burris was given credit for scoring the run, while Molina was credited with hitting the home run.

Sports Jerseys

Jersey is a crown dependency island of the UK where the people have been knitting great wool sweaters for centuries. These tight knit warm sweaters were initially used as an inner layer by rural seamen before evolving into common outerwear. Jersey sweaters spread about the UK and northern Europe as the country’s trading industry rose in prominence during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Their popularity gained so much, the name “jersey” became synonymous with “sweater” in countries as far away as the United States during the 1850s. When American football developed, players needed strong, insular uniforms, and thick wool jerseys did the job..

Athletic jerseys bore increasingly little resemblance to their bulky ancestral tops. Just as the name had become a synonym for sweater, it soon became a synonym for athletic uniform. Lightweight baseball shirts were often called “jerseys” despite being generally made of flannel and incorporating short sleeves, buttons, and collars. Canadian hockey sweaters began being called jerseys. Americans used jerseys when they were playing football, then baseball, then hockey.

Take a Raincheck

This phrase is usually meant to mean “I won’t do it now but I will later”. This is the commonly accepted meaning (and has been for a long time) so it is now considered to be correct. It is included here merely out of interest because its original meaning was slightly different. Initially, a raincheck was offered to people who had tickets to a baseball game that was rained out. They would offered a “raincheck” which was a ticket for a game at a later date to make up for the missed game.


This eventually found its way into shopping jargon in general where a raincheck was an offer to sell an out-of-stock good when it arrived back in stock. The meaning has eventually broadened to a point that it is not an offer any longer, just a response.

Baseball Record

Joel Youngblood was the only major league baseball player to get hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day. On April 4, 1982, he hit a single that drove in two runs for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. He was traded to the Montreal Expos and flew to Philadelphia in time to get a hit in the 7th inning at Veterans Stadium.

Bonilla Bonus

In 1999 Bobby Bonilla returned to the Mets for a second time following his borderline disastrous free-agent signing in 1992. He again didn't so well, so the Mets waived him in 2000.

However, the team still owed him $5.9 million in guaranteed salary. His agents agreed to defer the salary if the team would pay him $1,193,248.20 every July 1 from 2011 (he was 48) to 2035. Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Wordology, Grand Slam

The immediate origin was from the card game, Bridge. Grand slam means to take all 13 tricks in a hand.

It has since come to take on other meanings, such as in tennis to win all four major singles titles; the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in one year. A grand slam in golf is to win; Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, British Open, and  PGA Championship in one year. It is used in baseball to signify hitting a home run with all bases loaded.


Chess, Curling, Rugby, and other sports each have a grand slam definition of their own,

Denny's restaurant chain is famous for its Grand Slam breakfasts consisting of various combinations of meat, eggs, bread, and pancakes. We also cannot forget Grand Slam Pizza in Dripping Springs, Texas.