Trivia 1:
Strangeness in Sports



Jim Corbett, a boxer, fought in the prize ring for 18 years without once receiving so much as a black eye or a bloody nose.

Paul J. Simpson of Burlington, NC, ran against a horse in a 144-mile race, and won by 28 miles.

In 1937, Bill Mattis, a Tulane University halfback, lost 20.5 lbs. in a single football game.

In 1931, Jackie Mitchell, the first woman to play professional baseball, stuck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in six straight pitches.

In February 1927, Babe Ruth hit 125 home runs in one hour in an exhibition game at Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, CA.

Bobby Walthour, a marathon bicycle racer, was twice pronounced dead during a 60-day race, but he recovered each time and continued to compete.

Tom Dempsey, born with only half a right foot, holds the NFL record for the longest field goal, at 63 yards. He now shares that record with Denver's Jason Elam, but Elam has normal feet.

In 1919, Ray "Slim" Caldwell, a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, was struck by lightning during a game. He was revived and continued to play.

In 1976, Dimitrion Yordanidis from Greece became the oldest person ever to complete a marathon - at age 98.

In 1947, Benjamin Fosson, a Swiss mountain guide, climbed the 13,422-ft. summit of Mt. Castor - at the age of 88.

Nathaniel Vickers of NY played golf three times a week at the age of 103.

Margaret Waldron of Jacksonville, FL, was 74 years old and legally blind when she hit two holes-in-one on the same day.

Ty Cobb was the highest-paid outfielder in 1913, at $12,000 per year.

Baseball umpires in the 1850's wore top hats.

New Update!:

The Boston Red Sox waited from 1918 until 2004 for another World Series Championship. That is 86 years. Their last appearance before their victory in 2004 was their loss in the 1986 world series, 18 years earlier. Apparently, 2004 was their year because not only did they win, they became the first team to come back from a 0-3 deficit in any 7-game postseason series, and the only team ever to have 8 straight wins in the postseason. And they did it against the very team that had been their "curse of the Bambino" for all those years: The New York Yankees.



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