Only a serious baseball fan would know these MLB team facts

For over 140 years, baseball has been known as America's pastime. Many teams have come and gone and with them, hundreds of players giving their best for millions of fans. Here's some fascinating trivia about some of your favorite teams.

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The Los Angeles Angels were founded by country singer and actor Gene Autry in 1961, who owned the franchise until his death in 1998. The number 26 was retired in his honor in 1982 and when the team won the world series in 2002, Autry’s widow sent signature cowboy hats to the field.

Despite a rich tradition of facial hair history, from 1914 to 1972 all baseball players were clean-shaven on the field. After outfielder Reggie Jackson showed up to spring training with a moustache, owner Charles Finley paid the rest of the team to grow a moustache, guessing Jackson would shave if he didn’t stand out. The plan backfired, creating an iconic look for decades to come.

The Houston Astros were known as the Colt .45s between 1962 and 1965 until the gun manufacturer of the same name threatened to sue.

Founded in 1977, the Toronto Blue Jays are the only non-US MLB franchise to win the world series, earning that distinction in 1992. With the relocation of the Montreal Expos in 2004, it seems that it will remain like that for a long time.

The Atlanta Braves is the only major league franchise to have played every single season since professional baseball came into existence in 1871.

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The Milwaukee Brewers are the only team to play in four different divisions of the MLB. They started out in the West Division of the American League in 1969, switched to the East Division in 1993, then to the Central Division in 1994, and switched to the Central Division of the National League in 1997.

Although a cardinal bird is in the logo of the St. Louis Cardinals, that’s not the origin of the team name. In 1899, a female fan of the then St. Louis Perfectos was quoted by a local newspaper commenting on “the lovely shade of cardinal” of the team’s uniforms. The name stuck and the team was renamed The St. Louis Cardinals in 1900.

The Chicago Cubs have played more games than any other team in the Major Leagues: Over 21,861 games by July 2022. They are closely followed by the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have the distinction of being the fastest expansion team to win a championship in American professional sports. They played their first season in 1998 and won the World Series against the New York Yankees in 2001!

With 56,000 seats, the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is the largest baseball stadium in the United States and in the world, with 1,000 more seats than Havana’s Estadio Latinoamericano in Cuba.

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The name change in 2021 wasn’t the first for this Cleveland team: It has been the Grand Rapid Rippers, the Cleveland Lake Shores, the Cleveland Bluebirds, the Cleveland Blues, the Cleveland Broncos and the Cleveland Napoleons.

The New York Mets were founded in 1962, after the Dodgers and the Giants relocated to California in the late 1950s. This is reflected in the team colors: Blue from the Dodgers and orange from the Giants. Blue, white and orange are also the colors of the flag of New York City.

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In 2020, the San Francisco Giants made Alyssa Nakken the first full-time female MLB coach. Nakken began her career with the team in 2014 as a front office intern and worked as an assistant coach.

The team was born in 1977 after the city of Seattle and the state of Washington sued the American League for breach of contract in the aftermath of the Seattle Pilots relocating to Milwaukee. The AL granted the city an expansion team in return for dropping out of the lawsuit.

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In 2020, the Miami Marlins made Kim Ng general manager, becoming the first team in the MLB to have both a woman and a person of Asian ancestry in an executive position.

Before moving to Washington, D.C. in 2005, the All-American Washington Nationals were founded in 1969 as Canada’s Montreal Expo. This is the eighth professional baseball to settle in America’s capital and the latest relocation since the Washington Senators moved to Texas in the 1970s.

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To show you how confusing professional sports history can be: The current Baltimore Orioles franchise began in 1901 as the Milwaukee Brewers, then became the St. Louis Browns and finally settled in Baltimore in 1951. The name pays homage to a 19th-century team that moved to New York in 1902 and ultimately became the New York Yankees.

Although the San Diego Chicken has been associated with the Padres for a long time, the San Diego Chicken began as a radio station mascot and has never been officially affiliated with any professional sports team in the San Diego area.

One of the oldest professional sports teams in the United States, the Phillies have the biggest number of games lost in the MLB. They had their 10,000th defeat in 2007!

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Originally founded as the Pittsburgh Alleghenies, the Pirates moniker was given in 1890 when a Philadelphia team protested that the Alleghenies were plundering their players. The nickname stuck, and the team became the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1891.

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Former US President George W. Bush owned the Texas Rangers from 1989 to 1998, making him so far the only US President to also be the proprietor of an MLB franchise.

The team derived its name from the Atlantic Devil Ray, a species common on the Florida coast. Since the mid-2000s, the name has been reworked as a reference to the sunny tropical gulf coast.

Formed in 1866, The Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional baseball team in 1869. The team dropped the “Stockings” part of their name to avoid confusion to a new, emerging Boston team that today are better known as the Boston Red Sox.

Between 1918 and 2004, the Boston Red Sox didn’t win any championship in what was coined ‘The Curse of The Bambino’, after selling Baby Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. Since then, they have become the first team in the 21st Century to win the World Series four times: in 2004, 2007, 2013 y 2018.

The first professional sports team to use the name the Colorado Rockies was in fact an NHL franchise that lasted from 1976 to 1982, before becoming the New Jersey Devils in 1983. The name was taken over by the baseball team, which debuted in the NL in 1993.

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Founded in 1961, the name is derived from the American Royal, an annual rodeo and livestock show held every year in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area since 1901. The franchise also follows something of a local professional sports theme such as the NBA’s former Kansas City Kings and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

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The only AL team to keep its original name and city for over 120 years, the Detroit Tigers franchise has been owned, at different times, by the founders of Domino’s and Little Caesars.

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The name Minnesota Twins was chosen specifically to avoid alienating fans from either St. Paul or Minneapolis.

The Chicago White Sox played the longest game ever in MLB history. A May 8, 1984, game against the Milwaukee Brewers lasted eight hours and six minutes, almost three times more than an average match. The 25-inning game was played over the span of two days at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, ending with a 7-6 victory for the home team.

The New York Yankees have the distinction of having more players in the Baseball Hall of Fame than any other team, with 27. Second place is the New York Giants with 20 followed by the St. Louis Cardinals with 18.