Germanic Trivia
Miscellaneous Topics
German Cultural and Language Trivia
Germanic Trivia Contents > Miscellaneous
1. Babe Ruth and Other German Baseball Stars
Baseball may be an all-American sport, but several famous American baseball stars, all in the Baseball Hall of Fame, were of German heritage.
Babe Ruth (1895-1948) - The "Sultan of Swat" was born George Herman Ruth in Baltimore, Maryland to parents of German background. His mother, Katie Schaumberger, was the daughter of Pius and Anna Schaumberger, both born in Germany. Babe Ruth's father, saloon owner George Ruth, had German grandparents. Although Babe Ruth's German background is certain, few details are known about the family, and much of Babe Ruth's childhood is hazy (he was a bit of a juvenile delinquent). Ruth is widely considered the greatest baseball player of all time. He played for the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and the Boston Braves.
Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) - Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig was the son of German immigrant parents living in New York City. At home the Gehrig family spoke German. Gehrig played for the New York Yankees and was a one time a teammate of Babe Ruth. More...
Honus Wagner (1874-1955) - "The Flying Dutchman" was born John Peter Wagner in Mansfield (now Carnegie), Pennsylvania on February 24, 1874. (In Wagner's time, the term "Dutch" was a common nickname for Germans.) He was one of nine children born to German immigrants Peter and Katheryn Wagner. Wagner is considered one of the greatest shortstops in the history of major league baseball. He played for the Louisville Colonels and the Pittsbrgh Pirates. A rare Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $1.27 million in 2005. His nickname "Honus" was derived from the German form of his name (John, Hans, Johannes).
RELATED > Lou Gehrig (German-Americans) - Web > Lou Gehrig
RELATED > German-Americans by Category
2. The Names for Cobalt and Nickel
Cobalt is a hard ferromagnetic silver-white chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Co and the atomic number 27. The element was discovered by the Swedish chemist and mineralogist Georg Brandt (1694-1768) in 1735. Its name comes from German Kobalt, a word that was derived from the German word for goblin, Kobold. German miners gave it the name because of their belief that the "useless" substance had been mixed into the nickel or silver ore by goblins or spirits. Today cobalt has many practical and artistic uses in metal alloys and for colored glass and ceramics (cobalt blue).
Nickel (Ni, atomic number 28) is an ancient metal (often found with cobalt) that was first refined in 1751 by the Swedish chemist Axel Frederic Cronstedt (1722-1765). In 1754 he named the metal nickel, based on Swedish kopparnickel (German Kupfernickel), a term derived in turn from the German word Rotnickelkies used in the Erzgebirge (mountain range). Like cobalt, copper miners named the copper-like ore that could not produce copper for the spirits they believed had put a hex on the ore, in this case mountain spirits (Nickeln).
RELATED > Chemical Elements (German-English)
MYTHS > German Misnomers, Myths, and Mistakes
More trivia to come...
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