Fun Random Sports Facts - Second Edition

Welcome to the second edition of Fun Random Sports Facts! If you're anything like me, you enjoy learning the strange, unbelievable, and completely random pieces of sports history that don't come up in everyday conversations. My brain is full of these kinds of facts, so I figured I'd share another collection of some of my favorites. Let's jump into Edition 2.

Baseball

1. Ichiro Suzuki is the only player to record 3,000 MLB hits despite having none before turning 27 years old. After spending the early part of his career in Japan, he finished with 3,089 MLB hits and another 1,278 in Nippon Professional Baseball, giving him a combined total of 4,367 professional hits.

   
   

2. More people have walked on the moon (12) than have scored an earned run against Mariano Rivera in the postseason (11), a testament to just how dominant the Yankees closer was when the games mattered most.

   
   

3. Tom Brady was the final athlete selected by the Montreal Expos to retire. Before becoming arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history, Brady was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft as a catcher.

   
   

4. Don Mattingly hit six grand slams during his MLB career, and remarkably, every single one came during the 1987 season.

   
   

5. Speaking of Don Mattingly, one of the more unfortunate pieces of baseball history belongs to him. The Yankees reached the World Series the year before his rookie season and returned the year after he retired. During Mattingly's 14-year career, New York made the postseason just once, meaning one of the franchise's greatest players never got the chance to play in a World Series.

Basketball

1. Klay Thompson holds the NBA record for the most points scored in a single quarter with 37, a feat he accomplished against the Sacramento Kings in 2015 without missing a shot, having gone 13-for-13 from the field and 9-of-9 from three.

   
   

2. Kevin Garnett is the only player in NBA history to have faced both the 72-win 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and the 73-win 2015-16 Golden State Warriors.

   
   

3. Deron Williams, J.J. Barea, and Raymond Felton all played point guard for the Dallas Mavericks during the 2015-16 season, and all three were born on June 26, 1984.

   
   

4. During the 1993-94 season, Dennis Rodman put together one of the strangest statistical stretches in NBA history that only he could do. Known as one of the greatest rebounders ever, he recorded back-to-back games that combined for 49 rebounds and 0 points. Rodman also owns the NBA record for the most rebounds in a game without scoring, grabbing 28 boards while finishing with zero points.

   
   

5. Bill Russell appeared in 12 NBA Finals during his legendary career with the Boston Celtics and lost only one, in which he was injured. The only season Russell didn't reach the Finals was 1966-67.

Football

1. The Green Bay Packers have the longest season waitlist in professional sports. More than 155,000 fans are currently on the list, with an estimated wait time of 30 to 50 years.

   
   

2. Larry Ball is the only player in NFL history to spend an entire season on both an undefeated team and a winless team. He won Super Bowl VII with the perfect season, 1972 Miami Dolphins, before enduring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' infamous 0-14 inaugural season in 1976.

   
   

3. Steve Young and Ken Stabler remain the only left-handed quarterbacks to both win a Super Bowl and earn induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

   
   

4. Quarterback George Blanda holds the record as the oldest player in NFL history, playing until he was 48 years old.

   
   

5. The final player selected in every NFL Draft earns the nickname "Mr. Irrelevant."

Soccer

1. Brazil has won the most FIFA Men's World Cup titles, lifting the trophy five times.

   
   

2. Uruguay hosted and won the very first FIFA Men's World Cup in 1930.

   
   

3. The United States has won the most FIFA Women's World Cup championships with four.

   
   

4. China hosted the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991.

   
   

5. The word "soccer" originated in England. Oxford University students coined the term in the late 19th century as a slang abbreviation of the word "association" in "Association Football."

Sports history is filled with incredible records, bizarre coincidences, and little-known stories that make following sports even more enjoyable. Hopefully you learned something new from this edition.

Got any fun sports facts of your own or a sports trivia topic you'd like to see featured in the next edition of Fun Random Sports Facts? Let me know!