"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is the unofficial anthem of American baseball — sung at the seventh-inning stretch in every ballpark in the country. Here's the part that's hard to believe about the man who wrote the words in 1908. What is it? He wrote the entire song in under an hour He had never been to a baseball game in his life He originally wrote it about a different sport He was British and had never set foot in America None A baseball game is nine innings long. We treat that number like it came down from the heavens. But when baseball's rules were standardized in 1857, why did they land on nine innings? Nine was considered a lucky number at the time It matched the nine players on each team It was the most innings playable before sunset The first official game happened to end after nine innings None Every baseball broadcast talks about a team's "bullpen" — the place relief pitchers warm up. It's a strange word for a strange little corner of the field. Where did the name actually come from? From the bulls that grazed beyond early outfield fences From an area where latecoming fans were herded like cattle From a Bull Durham tobacco ad painted near the spot From the bull-shaped warm-up drills pitchers once used None There's a tidy story every American kid hears: baseball was invented in 1839 by a man named Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York. It's why the Hall of Fame sits in Cooperstown. There's just one problem with the story. What is it? Doubleday invented a completely different game by accident It almost certainly never happened — Doubleday didn't invent baseball Doubleday invented it, but the year was actually 1845 It happened, but in a different town entirely None Before every Major League game, all the baseballs go through one unusual ritual that has nothing to do with the players. Each ball is rubbed down by hand with something specific. What is it? A fine chalk powder to keep the ball dry Mud from one secret location in New Jersey Beeswax to protect the leather Saltwater from the Atlantic None Here's a stumper. The longest game in professional baseball history was a minor-league matchup between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings in 1981. How long did that one game take to finish? About 6 hours, all in one night 33 innings, played across three different days 18 innings over a single very long evening Two full games' worth of innings, finished by midnight None Time's up
