There is no way a runner can get thrown out advancing to the next base on a walk, right? Wrong - sort of. In August 2003 in a game against Seattle, Boston's Manny Ramirez took off from first base on a 3-2 pitch, but lost his helmet on his way to second. There was no throw to second because the next pitch was ball four, so Ramirez was automatically awarded the base. Only problem was, he walked back into the base path to retrieve his helmet - and was promptly tagged out because he forgot to call time before stepping off second base.
Here's one that's bound to get your goat. At the start of the 2004 major league baseball season, there were 31 players on the disabled list who were making at least $2 million in annual salary. Topping the list was New York Mets hefty first baseman Mo Vaughan and his equally hefty salary of $15 million.
It's rare to find woods in a golf bag that are actually made of wood anymore. These days, the long hitting clubs are almost all steele or titanium or some variation. But do you know how and when metal woods started, and which player is credited as the first to use one in a sanctioned PGA event? It all began at the 1978 Disney World Classic, when a golfer named Ron Streck was approached by a man named Gary Adams, the inventor of the metal wood whose clubs would go on to launch the TaylorMade line. Streck tried Adams's club on the practice tee, and the rest is history. Streck was the first to use a metal wood on tour, at the 1979 Tournament of Champions. By the way, Curtis Strange was the first player to win a major using metal clubs - the 1989 U.S. Open.
