16 articles
Baseball cards
Baseball cards are trading cards showing baseball players, originally given away in cigarette and candy packs from the 1860s and now a collectibles market with individual sales in the millions.
Chief Wahoo
Chief Wahoo: grinning Native American caricature mascot of MLB's Cleveland Indians, designed 1946 by Walter Goldbach, worn 1947-2018, retired from uniforms for 2019 amid racism protests; team became Guardians in 2022.
Curse of the Bambino
Curse of the Bambino: superstition blaming the Boston Red Sox's 1918-2004 championship drought on Harry Frazee's December 26, 1919 sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000; named in Dan Shaughnessy's 1990 book, ended by the 2004 title.
Curse of the Billy Goat
Curse of the Billy Goat: 1945 hex on the Chicago Cubs by tavern owner William Sianis after his goat Murphy was ejected from Game 4 of the World Series; ended by the Cubs' 2016 World Series title.
Curse of the Colonel (カーネル・サンダースの呪い)
Curse of the Colonel (カーネル・サンダースの呪い): Japanese baseball folklore blaming the Hanshin Tigers' 38-year title drought on a KFC Colonel Sanders statue fans threw into Osaka's Dōtonbori canal in 1985; recovered 2009, curse ended with the 2023 Japan Series win.
Jackson Olson
Jackson Olson, Savannah Bananas infielder and TikTok star (2.1M followers), former Hartford/Stetson D1 player and Instacart deliverer turned MLB content creator; competes on Dancing with the Stars season 35.
Jeffrey Maier incident
Jeffrey Maier incident: October 9, 1996 ALCS Game 1 play in which 12-year-old Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall, deflecting Derek Jeter's fly ball; umpire Rich Garcia ruled a game-tying home run the Yankees needed en route to the 1996 World Series title.
List of Major League Baseball mascots
List of Major League Baseball mascots: 28 of 30 MLB clubs have mascots as of 2024; Yankees, Dodgers, Angels do not. Covers Mr. Met (1964), Phillie Phanatic (1978), salaries, lawsuits, Chief Wahoo retirement, and Mascot Hall of Fame inductees.
List of most expensive sports cards
Most expensive sports cards: record is the 2007-08 Upper Deck Jordan/Kobe dual logoman at $12.932M (2025), ahead of the 1952 Topps Mantle at $12.6M; 2026 saw $11M Ohtani and $8.04M Flagg sales.
Morganna
Morganna, also known as Morganna the Kissing Bandit, was the stage name of Morganna Roberts, an entertainer who kissed baseball players on the field from 1969 to 1999.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, NY; nonprofit museum opened June 12, 1939 during baseball's centennial; honors inductees elected by BBWAA (75 percent threshold) and Era Committees; holds 40,000-plus artifacts.
Sports-related curses
Sports-related curses: folk hexes blamed for team failures, chiefly baseball's Curse of the Bambino (Babe Ruth sale, ended 2004) and Curse of the Billy Goat (1945, ended 2016), plus Mayo, Colavito, and Ramsey curses.
Steve Bartman incident
The Steve Bartman incident: October 14, 2003, Game 6 NLCS, Wrigley Field, when a Cubs fan deflected a foul ball from Moises Alou; Cubs lost 8-3, then Game 7, extending their World Series drought.
T206 Honus Wagner
T206 Honus Wagner: 1909-1911 American Tobacco Company baseball card of Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner, pulled early leaving roughly 50-75 copies; record sale $7.25 million in 2022.
Topps
Topps, the Brooklyn-founded chewing gum and trading card company behind the 1952 baseball card set, was acquired by Fanatics in 2022 for about $500 million and remains the flagship MLB card brand.
Zack Hample
Zack Hample (born 1977), New York ballhawk, author of How to Snag Major League Baseballs, caught A-Rod's 3,000th hit and Trout's first HR; over 13,000 baseballs from 68 MLB stadiums.