surprise! trivia

What I didn’t know, but learned while idly listening to some Senate voting today, is that the Water Resources Development Act marked only the 107th time a presidential veto had been overridden. That number is for the entire history of the country – 107. There have been 2,555 presidential vetoes overall – with FDR (655) and Cleveland (414) leading the way – so the percentage of success is only about 4%. Consider keeping that nugget under your derby for some quiz night at the pub in Boston. I would never have guessed the number to be so low. What other numbers are staggering (to me) that you need to know about? Glad you asked.

MLB no-hitters: 255
MLB players hitting for the cycle (single, double, triple, HR in a game): 276
MLB unassisted triple plays: 13

African-Americans elected to the U.S. Senate, history: 5
Women elected to U.S. Senate, history: 35

Number of HRs in Joe DiMaggio’s career: 361
Number strikeouts in Joe DiMaggio’s career: 369
Most strikeouts by a hitter in one year: 199
Most strikeouts in a career: 2,597

I think that’s plenty.

T.