In Major League Baseball, new baseballs are rubbed with a... | funfact.wiki | funfact.wiki
In Major League Baseball, new baseballs are rubbed with a special river mud to remove their slick shine. Coach Lena Blackburne found it in a Delaware River tributary in the 1930s, and his company still harvests and sells it.
A baseball outfielder does not calculate where a fly ball will land. They simply run while keeping their line of sight to the ball at a constant angle. Falcons hunting ducks use the same method. This instinctive tracking is called the gaze heuristic.
Baseball player Wade Boggs always ate chicken before games, earning the nickname 'Chicken Man', and kept roughly 80 rituals, from leaving home at the exact same minute to taking the same route every day. His Hall of Fame plaque even reads 'Legendary for his superstitions'.
Dizzy Dean, a National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who retired at 31, became a commentator known for relentlessly criticizing players. His team eventually put him on the mound to prove his words. At 37, six years after retirement, Dean pitched four scoreless innings.