Baseball Fun Facts
Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
- The first World Series was played between Pittsburgh and Boston in 1903 and was a nine-game series. Boston won the series 5-3.
- The New York Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, which is more than any other team.
- Former Yankees right fielder Mickey Mantle holds the record for most career home runs (18) and RBI (40) in World Series history.
- Baseball stars from the National League and the American League played the first All-Star Game in 1933. The National League has won 41 of the 80 games. The game ended in a tie twice. In 1961 rain in Boston prevented extra innings and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. And in 2002, the game went 11 innings with the score knotted at seven before it was finally called off due to a lack of pitchers.
- Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. didn't miss a game in 16 years. He played in 2,632 consecutive games from April 30, 1982 to Sept. 19, 1998.
- Pete Rose, who played for the Cincinnati Reds and then was banned from baseball for life for betting on games while managing the team, holds the all-time record for hits (4,256) and games played (3,562).
- In 2001, San Francisco's Barry Bonds broke the all-time single-season home run record when he hit 73. He broke the mark of 70, set by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire in 1998.
- Fourteen players have hit four home runs in one game: Bobby Lowe, Ed Delahanty, Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein, Pat Seerey, Gil Hodges, Joe Adcock, Rocky Colavito, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Bob Horner, Mark Whiten, Mike Cameron and Shawn Green.
- Pitcher Nolan Ryan played 27 seasons in major league baseball and struck out more batters in his career than any other pitcher.
- Barry Bonds won the National League MVP Award seven times—twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates and five times with the San Francisco Giants. That's four more times than Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt, his closest NL co-winners. On the American League MVP list are Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle with three awards each.
- Philadelphia A's (now the Oakland Athletics) manager Connie Mack has 3,755 career victories, more than any other manager in history.
- The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is located in Cooperstown, N.Y. It was created in 1935 to celebrate baseball's 100th anniversary.
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