1.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants
2.
Los Angeles Dodgers
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division. Established in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the moved to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. They played for four seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to their current home of Dodger Stadium in 1962, the Dodgers as a franchise have won six World Series titles and 21 National League pennants. 11 NL MVP award winners have played for the Dodgers, winning a total of 13 MVP Awards, Eight Cy Young Award winners have pitched for the Dodgers, winning a total of twelve Cy Young Awards. The team has also produced 17 Rookie of the Year Award winners, including four consecutive from 1979 to 1982 and five consecutive from 1992 to 1996. In the 20th century, the team, then known as the Robins, won pennants in 1916 and 1920. In the 1930s, the changed its name to the Dodgers. In 1941, the Dodgers captured their third National League pennant and this marked the onset of the Dodgers–Yankees rivalry, as the Dodgers would face them in their next six World Series appearances. Following the 1957 season the team left Brooklyn, in just their second season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won their second World Series title, beating the Chicago White Sox in six games in 1959. The 1963 sweep was their victory against the Yankees. The Dodgers won four pennants in 1966,1974,1977 and 1978. They went on to win the World Series again in 1981, the early 1980s were affectionately dubbed Fernandomania. The Dodgers share a rivalry with the San Francisco Giants. Both teams moved west for the 1958 season, the Giants have won two more World Series, the Dodgers have won 21 National League pennants, while the Giants hold the record with 23. When the two teams were based in New York, the Giants won five World Series championships, after the move to California, the Dodgers have won five in Los Angeles, the Giants have won three in San Francisco. The Dodgers were founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Atlantics, taking the name of a team that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the American Association in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the National League in 1890 and they promptly won the NL Championship their first year in the League
3.
Minnesota Twins
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The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area comprising Minneapolis and they played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009. They played their game at the newly completed Target Field on April 12,2010. The team was founded in Washington, D. C. in 1901 as one of the eight teams of the American League. Manager Clark Griffith joined the team in 1912 and became the owner in 1920. The franchise remained under Griffith family ownership until 1984, in 1960, Major League Baseball granted the city of Minneapolis an expansion team. Washington owner Calvin Griffith, Clarks nephew and adopted son, requested that he be allowed to move his team to Minneapolis and instead give Washington the expansion team. Upon league approval, the moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season, setting up shop in Metropolitan Stadium. Success came quickly to the team in Minnesota, through the 2016 season, the franchise has won three World Series championships, and has fielded 18 American League batting champions. The Washington Senators spent the first decade of their existence finishing near the bottom of the American League standings and their fortunes began to improve with the arrival of 19-year-old pitcher, Walter Johnson, in 1907. Johnson blossomed in 1911 with 25 victories, although the Senators still finished the season in seventh place, in 1912, the Senators improved dramatically, as their pitching staff led the league in team earned run average and in strikeouts. Johnson won 33 games while teammate Bob Groom added another 24 wins to help the Senators finish the season in second place, the Senators continued to perform respectably in 1913 with Johnson posting a career-high 35 victories, as the team once again finished in second place. The Senators then fell into another period of decline for the next decade, the Senators faced John McGraws heavily favored New York Giants in the 1924 World Series. The two teams traded wins back and forth until the reached the seventh and deciding game. Two runners scored on the play, tying the score at three, an aging Walter Johnson then came in to pitch the ninth inning, and held the Giants scoreless into extra innings. In the bottom of the inning with Ruel at bat, he hit a high. The Giants catcher, Hank Gowdy, dropped his protective mask to field the ball but, failing to toss the mask aside, stumbled over it and dropped the ball, thus giving Ruel another chance to bat
4.
Sandy Koufax
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Sanford Sandy Koufax is a former American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched 12 seasons for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1955 to 1966, Koufax, at age 36 in 1972, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Koufaxs career peaked with a run of six outstanding years from 1961 to 1966 and he was an All-Star for six seasons and was the National Leagues Most Valuable Player in 1963. Koufax also won the NL Triple Crown for pitchers those same three years by leading the NL in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average, Koufax was the first major league pitcher to pitch four no-hitters and the eighth pitcher to pitch a perfect game in baseball history. Despite his comparatively short career, Koufaxs 2,396 career strikeouts ranked 7th in history as of his retirement, Koufax, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and Nolan Ryan are the only four pitchers elected to the Hall of Fame who had more strikeouts than innings pitched. Koufax is also remembered as one of the outstanding Jewish athletes in American sports and his decision not to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur garnered national attention as an example of conflict between professional pressures and personal beliefs. Koufax was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family and his parents, Evelyn and Jack Braun, divorced when he was three years old. His mother was remarried when he was nine, to Irving Koufax, shortly after his mothers remarriage, the family moved to the Long Island suburb of Rockville Centre. Before tenth grade, Koufaxs family moved back to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Koufax attended Brooklyns Lafayette High School, where he was better known for basketball than for baseball. At the time, school sports were not available because New Yorks teachers were refusing to supervise extracurricular activities without monetary compensation, as an alternative, Koufax started playing basketball for the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst local community center team. Eventually, Lafayette had a team, Koufax became team captain in his senior year. In 1951, at the age of 15, Koufax also joined a youth baseball league known as the Ice Cream League. He started out as a catcher before moving to first base. While playing first base for Lafayette High Schools baseball team with teammate and friend Fred Wilpon, he was spotted by Milt Laurie, Laurie recognized that Koufax might be able to pitch, and recruited the 17-year-old Koufax to pitch for the Coney Island Sports Leagues Parkviews. Koufax attended the University of Cincinnati and was a walk-on on the basketball team. He later earned a partial scholarship, in spring 1954, he made the college baseball varsity team. That season, Koufax went 3–1 with a 2.81 ERA,51 strikeouts and 30 walks, Bill Zinser, a scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers, sent the Dodgers front office a glowing report that apparently was filed and forgotten. After trying out with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, during his Pirates tryout, Koufaxs fastball broke the thumb of Sam Narron, the teams bullpen coach
5.
Metropolitan Stadium
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Metropolitan Stadium was a sports stadium that once stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Millers minor league team played at Met Stadium from 1956 to 1960. The Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings then played at the Met from 1961 to 1981, the North American Soccer League soccer team Minnesota Kicks also played there from 1976 to 1981. The area where the stadium once stood is now the site of the Mall of America, after the rejection of numerous sites, a stadium committee appointed by Moore approved a 160-acre plot of farmland in Bloomington. The stadium would replace Nicollet Park as the home of the American Associations Minneapolis Millers, as the site in Bloomington was approximately equidistant from the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, it was thought this would be the best location for a prospective Major League team. After a plan by architects Thorshov & Cerny won approval, groundbreaking was scheduled to begin on June 20,1955. The construction was almost delayed, however, when the owners of the property on which the stadium would be built on began a protest, one of these owners created a barricade of farm equipment along his property line that ran directly through where the stadiums infield would be. The dispute was settled in time for the groundbreaking to move forward as planned, many spectators and dignitaries attended the groundbreaking, including Minneapolis mayor Eric G. Hoyer and several members of the Minneapolis Millers. On February 7,1956, an accident occurred on the site when a portable heater used to cure concrete exploded in the stadiums basement. The Millers were then the top team of Stonehams New York Giants. Under major league rules of the time, the Giants owned the major league rights to the Minneapolis area, negotiations were also held with the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators. However, the Giants chose to follow the Brooklyn Dodgers to the west coast at the urging of Dodgers owner Walter OMalley, who owned the Millers crosstown rivals, the St. Paul Saints. San Francisco had long been home to the Pacific Coast Leagues San Francisco Seals, as part of the deal, the Millers parent team then became the Red Sox, who had no plans to move anywhere. The latter game brought 15,990 fans to the stadium, including Calvin Griffith, in October 1960, Calvin Griffith announced that his Washington Senators would move to Metropolitan Stadium and later became the Minnesota Twins. The Twins played their first home game on April 21,1961 with a loss to the new Washington Senators, the Millers and their perennial crosstown rival St. Paul Saints were then promptly folded by Major League Baseball. To ready the stadium for the Twins, a $9 million renovation increased the capacity from about 22,000 to over 30,000 by the completion of the Twins inaugural season. During the Twins first 10 seasons at the Met, they outdrew the average American League team each year, the National Football League was also interested in placing a team at the Met. Conversations were had with Violet Bidwill Wolfner, owner of the Chicago Cardinals, the Cardinals moved two of their regular season home games against the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants to Bloomington for the 1959 NFL season
6.
Arizona State University
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Arizona State University is a public metropolitan research university on five campuses across the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, and four regional learning centers throughout Arizona. The 2016 university ratings by U. S. News & World Report rank ASU No.1 among the Most Innovative Schools in America for the year in a row. ASU is the largest public university by enrollment in the U. S and it had approximately 82,060 students enrolled in 2014, including 66,309 undergraduate and 15,751 graduate students. ASUs charter, approved by the board of regents in 2014, is based on the New American University model created by ASU President Crow, ASU is classified as a research university with very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The Center for Measuring University Performance ranks ASU 31st among top U. S. public research universities, ASU was classified as a Research I institute in 1994, making it one of the nations newest major research universities. Students compete in 25 varsity sports, the Arizona State Sun Devils are members of the Pac-12 Conference and have won 23 NCAA championships. Along with multiple clubs and recreational facilities, ASU is home to more than 1,100 registered student organizations. To keep pace with the student populations growth, the university continuously renovates, the demand for new academic halls, athletic facilities, student recreation centers, and residential halls is being addressed with donor contributions and public-private investments. The campus consisted of a single, four-room schoolhouse on a 20-acre plot largely donated by Tempe residents George, classes began with 33 students on February 8,1886. The school accepted high school students and graduates, and awarded high school diplomas, in 1923 the school stopped offering high school courses and added a high school diploma to the admissions requirements. In 1925 the school became the Tempe State Teachers College and offered four-year Bachelor of Education degrees as well as two-year teaching certificates, in 1929, the legislature authorized Bachelor of Arts in Education degrees as well, and the school was renamed the Arizona State Teachers College. Under the 30-year tenure of president Arthur John Matthews the school was given all-college student status, the first dormitories built in the state were constructed under his supervision. Of the 18 buildings constructed while Matthews was president, six are still in use, Matthews envisioned an evergreen campus, with many shrubs brought to the campus, and implemented the planting of Palm Walk, now a landmark of the Tempe campus. His legacy is being continued to this day with the campus having been declared a nationally recognized arboretum. During the Great Depression, Ralph W. Swetman was hired as president for a three-year term, although enrollment increased by almost 100 percent during his tenure due to the depression, many faculty were terminated and faculty salaries were cut. In 1933, Grady Gammage, then president of Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff, became president of ASU, like his predecessor, Gammage oversaw construction of a number of buildings on the Tempe campus. He also oversaw the development of the graduate programs. The schools name was changed to Arizona State College in 1945, at the time, two other names considered were Tempe University and State University at Tempe
7.
Yomiuri Giants
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The Yomiuri Giants are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball and they play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The teams owner is the Yomiuri Group, a conglomerate which includes two newspapers and a television network. The Giants are the oldest team among the current Japanese professional teams and their main rivalry is with the Hanshin Tigers, a team especially popular in the Kansai region. The Yomiuri Giants are regarded as The New York Yankees of Japan due to their popularity, past dominance of the league. The English-language press occasionally calls the team the Tokyo Giants, instead, the team is officially known by the name of its corporate owner, just like the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes. The team is referred by fans and in news headlines and tables simply as Kyojin. The Yomiuri Giants name and uniforms were based on the New York Giants, the teams colors are the same colors worn by the National Leagues Giants. While prior Japanese all-star contingents had disbanded, Shōriki went pro with this group, in 1936, with the formation of the Japanese Baseball League, the team changed its name to Tokyo Kyojin. It won eight league championships under that name from 1936–1943, including at one point six championships in a row, pitcher Victor Starffin, nicknamed the blue-eyed Japanese, starred for the team until 1944. One of the premier pitchers, he won two MVP awards and a Best Nine award, and won at least 26 games in six different years. He followed his performance with another 38 wins in 1940. Pitcher Eiji Sawamura co-starred with Starffin on the Kyojin and he pitched the first no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball, on September 25,1936, as well as two others. In 1937, he went 33-10 with a 1.38 earned run average, from 1937 to 1943 Sawamura had a record of 63-22,554 strikeouts, and a 1.74 ERA. Sawamura enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Army in 1943, and was killed in battle when his ship was torpedoed near the end of World War II. Outfielder Haruyasu Nakajima was a featured hitter during the franchises first decade-and-a-half, Tetsuharu Kawakami was a team fixture from 1938–1958, winning the batting title five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for the most hits in a season. He was the first player in Japanese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the leagues MVP three times, leadoff man Shosei Go starred for the team from 1937–1943, winning league MVP in 1943. Only 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds, he was nicknamed The Human Locomotive due to his speed, pitcher Hideo Fujimoto pitched for the team for 12 seasons from 1942–1955
8.
Monterrey
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Monterrey, is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, in Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation, Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the base of many significant international corporations. It is one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico with a GDP PPP of 130.7 billion dollars in 2012, Monterreys GDP PPP per capita is of approximately 32,000 dollars. It is considered a Beta World City, cosmopolitan and competitive, rich in history and culture, Monterrey is considered one of the most developed cities in the entire country and often regarded as the most americanized in Mexico. A. Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery and Heineken, which features Norteño capital and Grupo ALFA, Monterrey is located in northeast Mexico, at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The uninterrupted settlement of Monterrey starts in 1596, with its founding by Diego de Montemayor, in the years after the Mexican War of Independence, Monterrey became an important business center. With the establishment of Fundidora Monterrey, the city experienced a great industrial growth, prior to the European foundation of the city, there was no established nation state, and the population instead consisted of some indigenous semi-nomad groups. Carved stone and cave painting in surrounding mountains and caves have allowed historians to identify four major groups in present-day Monterrey, Azalapas, Huachichiles, Coahuiltecos and Borrados. In the 16th century, the valley in which Monterrey is located was known as the Extremadura Valley, in 1580 he arrived in the newly granted lands but it was not until 1582 that he established a settlement called San Luis Rey de Francia within present-day Monterrey. The New Kingdom of León extended westwards from the port of Tampico to the limits of Nueva Vizcaya, Monterrey was also the point of emigration from Europe, people from Portugal, Spain, France, Russia went to Monterrey seeing it as a good place to live in. Most of the Monterrey people descent from a creole Spanish heritage, during the years of Spanish rule, Monterrey remained a small city, and its population varied from a few hundred to only dozens. The city was a place that facilitated trade between San Antonio, Tampico and from Saltillo to the center of the country, tampicos port brought many products from Europe, while Saltillo concentrated the Northern Territories trade with the capital, Mexico City. San Antonio was the key trade point with the foreign colonies. In 1824, the New Kingdom of León became the State of Nuevo León, in 1846, the earliest large-scale engagement of the Mexican-American War took place in the city, known as the Battle of Monterrey. Mexican forces were forced to surrender but only after successfully repelling U. S. forces during the first few advances on the city, the battle inflicted high casualties on both sides, much of them resulting from hand-to-hand combat within the walls of the city center. Many of the generals in the Mexican War against France were natives of the city, including Mariano Escobedo, Juan Zuazua, during the last decade of the 19th century, the city of Monterrey was linked by railroad, which benefitted industry. In 1986, several games of the 1986 FIFA World Cup were hosted. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert caused great damage to the city, the conference resulted in the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus, which has become one relevant reference point for international development and cooperation
9.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
10.
Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
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The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award, given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America, MVP voting takes place before the postseason, but the results are not announced until after the World Series. The BBWAA began by polling three writers in each city in 1938, reducing that number to two per league city in 1961. The BBWAA does not offer a definition of what most valuable means. First basemen, with 34 winners, have won the most MVPs among infielders, followed by second basemen, third basemen, of the 24 pitchers who have won the award,15 are right-handed while 9 are left-handed. Walter Johnson, Carl Hubbell, and Hal Newhouser are the pitchers who have won multiple times. Barry Bonds has won the most often and the most consecutively, jimmie Foxx was the first player to win multiple times,9 players have won three times, and 19 have won twice. Frank Robinson is the player to win the award in both the American and National Leagues. The awards only tie occurred in the National League in 1979, there have been 18 unanimous winners, who received all the first-place votes. The New York Yankees have the most winning players with 22, the award has never been presented to a member of the following four teams, Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, and Tampa Bay Rays. The most recent recipients are Mike Trout in the American League, in recent decades, pitchers have rarely won the award. When Justin Verlander won the AL award in 2011, he became the first pitcher in league to be named the MVP since Dennis Eckersley in 1992. Verlander also became the first starting pitcher to win this award since Roger Clemens had accomplished the feat in 1986. The National League went even longer without an MVP award to a pitcher—after Bob Gibson won in 1968, the 1910 race for best average in the American League was between the Detroit Tigers widely disliked Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians. On the last day of the season, Lajoie overtook Cobbs batting average with seven bunt hits against the St. Louis Browns, American League President Ban Johnson said a recalculation showed that Cobb had won the race anyway, and Chalmers ended up awarding cars to both players. The following season, Chalmers created the Chalmers Award, a committee of baseball writers were to convene after the season to determine the most important and useful player to the club and to the league. Since the award was not as effective at advertising as Chalmers had hoped, in 1922 the American League created a new award to honor the baseball player who is of the greatest all-around service to his club. Winners, voted on by a committee of eight baseball writers chaired by James Crusinberry, received a bronze medal, voters were required to select one player from each team and player-coaches and prior award winners were ineligible
