Larry Paladino of the Detroit MSBL Offers Some Season-Ending ‘Fun Facts’

Manager emeritus Larry Paladino of the 70+ Crawfords of the Detroit MSBL is an exceptional writer and humorist.  Though his Crawfords suffered a 7-16-1 season, Larry found a way to spin it positively.  He pulled out a few interesting facts from “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader: Extraordinary Book of Facts and Bizarre Information.”

Enjoy Larry’s personal favorites below!

• Alexander Graham Bell refused to have a phone in his study because the ringing drove him nuts.
• The day Judy Garland died, a tornado touched down in Kansas.
• According to a Gallup poll, one in seven Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a map. (And how many young people nowadays don’t even know what a map is?)
• Some “valuable” facts: Armadillos can get leprosy; walruses burp; the average person spends about six months on the toilet. And here’s one for a member of the Crawfords – Joan Crawford reportedly replaced all the toilet seats in her house whenever she remarried (she had five husbands).
• The spots on dice and dominoes are called pips.
• All the numbers on a roulette wheel add up to 666.
• Besides human sacrifice, the Aztecs offered the Gods tamales.
• The low man on a totem pole is the most important man in the tribe.
• According to the Ghost Research Society, there are 789 real haunted houses in the country.
• Police are sometimes called the fuzz because London police once wore fuzzy helmets.
• Famous mime Marcel Marceau’s record album of greatest hits consisted of 40 minutes of silence, followed by applause.
• You can make 75 million toothpicks from one cord of wood.
• There are 364 gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.
• Kangaroos are lactose-intolerant.
• It takes .46 seconds for a 90-mph fastball to reach home plate.
• Centipedes are carnivorous. Millipedes are vegetarians.

And, finally, looking ahead to next baseball season: It’s 89 days plus one hour for winter to come and go.