Did you know...

…that the New York Yankees first donned pinstripes in 1925 when owner Jacob Ruppert decided he wanted to give Babe Ruth a somewhat slimmer look? The Babe, who enjoyed food and drink even more than the right field fence in Yankee Stadium, had ballooned to 260 pounds.

…that Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn hit the first grand slam home run in All Star game history on July 6, 1983, 50 years to the day after the first All Star game was played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park?

…that Jim Thorpe is the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to have played in a World Series game? Bonus points if you can name the team he played for.*

…that Al Kaline is the youngest American League player to win a batting title? He hit .340 for the Detroit Tigers in 1955 while also slugging 27 home runs.

…that Wilt Chamberlain’s parents were both 5’8”? Chamberlain, 7’1” and one of the most dominant big men to ever play basketball, scored 50 or more points 118 times in his NBA career, including one game where he scored 100.

…that Hillhouse High football standout Jack Callahan played in four games at Yale Bowl in the 1940s before graduating from High School and serving in Germany after WW II?  Callahan, who broke his wrist in one of those games on the second play from scrimmage, would stay on the field until the 3rd quarter when he was knocked unconscious. Callahan also happens to be my uncle, the youngest sibling in my father’s family of 12.

*The New York Giants in 1917. Thorpe also played for the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves.