A regulation baseball must be nine to nine-and-a-quarter inches in circumference and weigh between five and five-and-a-quarter ounces.

A baseball bat must be no more than two and three-quarters inches in diameter at its thickest, no longer than 42 inches, and weigh no more than 36 ounces.

Historically, however, before these regulation weights and measures were introduced, some baseball bats weighed as much as three pounds.

The distance between the bases on a baseball diamond is 90 feet.

Baseball was originally played without gloves. One of the first players to adopt the practice was Doug Allison, a catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings. He only began wearing a glove in 1870 when he injured his hand and wanted to protect it from the ball.

The average baseball match lasts just under three hours. The actual gameplay, on average, lasts just 18 minutes.

The fastest MLB game in history lasted just 51 minutes. It was played between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1919.

The longest game in history, between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers in 1984, took just over eight hours.