Q1: After Oakland A’s pitcher Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Mother’s Day, one of the first people to be interviewed by sports reporters was New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Why?
A1: The Braden-Rodriguez connection traces back to an incident last month when Rodriguez violated an unwritten rule by jogging across the pitcher’s mound on his way back to first base after a foul ball. When Braden, the pitcher in the game, criticized Rodriguez for crossing “his mound” and then later threatened to punch Rodriguez in the event of a future infraction. Rodriguez dismissed the comment as a remark made by a “guy that has a handful of wins in his career,” but just three starts later, Braden hurled the 19th perfect game in major league history. He may have overreacted to A-Rod trespassing on his mound, but give Braden credit – he can put his money where his mouth is.
Q2: Who holds the NBA record for most personal fouls committed in a career?
A2: While lockdown defenders like Bruce Bowen or technical-foul enthusiasts like Rasheed Wallace are probably the first players to spring to mind, the NBA’s top all-time foul leader is actually Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Why? Well, the simple answer is that Abdul-Jabbar is also the NBA record holder, with 57,446 career minutes played – almost 7,000 more than runner-up Karl Malone logged in his career. With his 4,657 fouls, the former Mr. Alcindor is only barely ahead of Malone’s 4,578, though, so it’s safe to say that Abdul-Jabbar’s longevity is solely responsible for his high number of fouls.
Sports trivia
