How many players in Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association have graduated from college?
The Wall Street Journal recently did a survey of Major League Baseball and determined that only 26 players and managers have degrees from four-year colleges. That would represent a little more than 3 percent of the 780 on the active 25-man rosters plus managers.
The National Football League was around 46 percent in a survey taken a couple of years ago. It has more than 1,700 players and head coaches on game rosters.
The National Basketball Association Players Association hasn't responded to repeated requests to supply a percentage of college graduates among its 400 or so players and head coaches. We did check with the Orlando Magic; a spokesman said five of the 11 players on its roster in early July were college graduates: Vince Carter, Adonal Foyle, Anthony Johnson, J.J. Redick and Jameer Nelson. Two of the others came straight to the NBA from high school (Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis) and three others (Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat) are international players.
The percentage of college graduates in the general population of the United States is 27 percent, according to the Census Bureau.
Baseball's two trading deadlines
Why do you hear of so many baseball trades being made after the so-called "trading deadline"?
There are actually two trading deadlines.
First up is July 31 — that's when to look for blockbuster deals. Until then, teams can make whatever trades they want — for example, in 2008 when Manny Ramirez was traded from Boston to the Dodgers.
After that, it becomes tricky. To be traded, a player must pass through waivers — baseball's system that gives almost every team a chance to get the player being traded. Many potential deals between Team A and Team B get blocked when Team C files a claim. When that happens, the player being traded typically is pulled off waivers and rejoins his old team.
The other trade deadline is Aug. 31. Teams must acquire players by then for them to be eligible in the postseason.
Worth of gold from Fort Knox
What is the weight of a gold brick at the Fort Knox depository, and how much would it be worth today?
Each gold brick or bullion stored at Fort Knox is slightly smaller than an average house brick and weighs about 27.5 pounds. Each gold brick is worth about $370,000 based on the recent open-market trading price of $930 per troy ounce. Fort Knox opened in 1937, and holds 147.3 million ounces of gold.
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