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December 15, 2017

Strange But True!

Q. Before 1954, when Major League Baseball instituted rule number 3.10, the game could be decidedly unpredictable if not unsafe. What exactly is rule 3.10?

A. Picture the scene on the field: The inning ends and the baseball players run off, leaving behind their gloves where they stood, in the outfield, the infield, into foul territory, says Dan Lewis on his Now I Know website. Opposing teams would often steal or hide each other's gloves, “causing panicked fielders and delayed games.” If word got around that a player had an aversion to certain creatures, that player “immediately became a target”: New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto, for one, found all kinds of dead things in his glove — mice, rats, frogs, lizards (Sports Illustrated).


 
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