We continue to talk about the “Odd Baseball Facts” series.

11. Every single MLB baseball is rubbed in Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, a unique “very fine” mud only found in a secret location near Palmyra, New Jersey.
12. In his very first at bat as a 28-year-old rookie pitcher, Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm hit a home run. His career lasted for 21 more years and 493 plate appearances, but he never hit another home run.
13. At a 1978 Texas Rangers–Baltimore Orioles game, George “Doc” Medich (who had been a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh before becoming a professional baseball player) saved the life of a fan in the stands who was suffering from a heart attack.
14. Johnny Bench could hold seven baseballs in one hand.
15. The world’s largest publicly available collection of baseball cards is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has over 31,000.
16. According to Bill James, “Sunny Jim” Bottomley requested a cow when his fans wanted to give him a retirement present. They obliged and he named the cow Fielder’s Choice and took it to his farm.
17. Joe Sewell only struck out three times during the entire 1930 season (353 at bats). Two of them were in the same game.
18. Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old female pitcher for the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, once played the New York Yankees in an exhibition game and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.
19. In 1999, New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine was ejected from the game. In the clubhouse, he put on regular clothes and a fake mustache and returned to the dugout. The commissioner’s office fined him $5,000 for returning after an ejection.
20. For a time in the late 1800s, hitters were allowed to use bats that were flat on one side, like a paddle. This made swatting at balls easier but they had a tendency to splinter dangerously.

See the previous “Odd Baseball Facts” publications here:

Part 1