In the early days of lacrosse, the ball was a great deal smaller than it is today (modern rules state that the ball must be about eight inches in circumference and weigh about five ounces). Early players learned to hide the ball in their mouths as they ran toward the goal. There was only one way to find out who had the ball, and that was to smack the opposing players across the body to make the ball pop out.
On August 13, 1910, the Pittsburgh Pirates played the Brooklyn Dodgers. After nine innings the game was tied, but darkness stopped play. The nine-inning statistics showed that each team had scored 8 runs on 13 hits, and committed 2 errors. Both clubs had sent 38 men to the plate, both sets of fielders were credited with 27 put-outs and 12 assists. There were 5 strike-outs recorded against each team, and each side had given up 3 walks. It was the evenest game ever played.
From The Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
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