Strange Baseball Facts Poem by Kim Barney

Hey, I don't pretend that this is a poem.

It is not, but I am a baseball nut, intrigued by strange baseball facts, and I thought I would share these. I have left out the names of the players, replaced by asterisks. Each asterisk represents one letter.

How many of the names can you fill in?

1. In 1950 **** *********** of the Pittsburgh Pirates made one error as a first baseman, two errors as a second baseman, and three errors as a third baseman!

2. When the U.S. Army designed hand grenades for World War II soldiers, they made them the size and weight of a ********.
The reason?
'Any young American should be able to throw it.'

3. Only two MLB players have struck out their age in a single game: In a 1936 game, the Cleveland Indians 17-year-old ace *** ****** struck out 17 batters.
And in 1998, pitching for the Chicago Cubs,20-year-old ***** **** struck out 20 batters.

4. Speaking of *** ******, the only time his mother came to the park to see him play in his 18-year big league career, she was struck in the head by a foul ball, from a pitch he threw.

5. In the first game ever played in New York's Shea Stadium in 1964, Pittsburgh Pirates slugger ****** ******** hit a home run. That same player also hit a home run in the first game ever played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1966, and in the first game ever played at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh in 1970.

6. In the 1994 Season **** ******* won the MVP award for the National League, and ***** ****** won for the American League. Both players were born on 27 May 1968.

7. For 50 years, Hall of Famer **** ***** was the first player listed alphabetically in the Baseball Encyclopedia... until 2004, when San Francisco Giants pitcher **** ******* made his MLB debut.

8. What do the Mets, Astros, Athletics, Dodgers, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Rockies, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Cardinals all have in common? ******* ***** pitched for all of them, making him the only person ever to play for 13 major league teams.

I got these facts from Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader. If you have a copy, the answers are on page 340.
Originally posted 29 November 2019
No one commented, so I am trying again.
If you know one of the answers, please leave a comment. If you don't know any, please leave a comment anyway to let me know that you saw this and read it.