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Wed 11 Feb, 2004 11:34 am
... is the reply one usually hears when they proclaim a record will never be broken.
the first one that comes to mind is joltin' joe dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak in '41. no one's seriously challenged it since pete rose's 44 in '78.
also in '41, "teddy ballgame" ted williams was the last man to hit .400 in a season. if i'm not mistaken, tony gwynn's .394 in '94 was the last valiant effort at shattering that magic number.
how about wilt chamberlain's 100 point game in '62?
wayne gretzky's more or less re-wrote the NHL record book, shattering just about every scoring, assist & point record.
what else? what other accomplishments are in the books for good?
60 HRs was unbreakable until Maris hit 61, and that was unbreakable until the recent HR explosion, so who knows?
However, it's hard to imagine, given the present state of the NBA, that anyone will ever top 100 points in a game. Course, the game goes through changes, but sometimes -- like when I'm watching a Detroit-Indiana game -- it's hard to imagine how a team can score a 100 any more...
Perhaps Steffi Grafs number of titles will stand for a long time. Hell, even she needed a little help from a knife-wielding fan to win so many.
patiodog wrote:
Perhaps Steffi Grafs number of titles will stand for a long time. Hell, even she needed a little help from a knife-wielding fan to win so many.
I sincerely doubt that you suggesting, she had any knowledge about or asked for that.
[hell, just changed my avatar and didn't recognize me now]
of course not...but Monica was in her prime too and won 3 french opens i think in a row...so who knows...but NO i do not think steffi had foreknowledge of the incident...but she did benefit from it.
pete sampras & his 13 grand slam championships are probably out of reach...
Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak is very unlikely.
Cy Young's records of 751 complete games, 7,356 innings pitched and 511 wins are pretty much a lock. Pitchers back then pitched pretty much every game, with no relief.
And it may be a while before Anna's streak of "hottest female tennis player" might hold a while, too.
...depends on what you mean by "tennis player"...
The pitching records Slappy lists, for sure, are unbreakable. The game has changed too much, and no one will stick around that long.
The 300-win career is becoming less common, and that trend will probably continue.
Another record unlikely to be broken: The run of UCLA's NCAA championships during the Wooden era. Those were great UCLA teams, but the tournament was different then. Regions were based on teams in that region (not the mix-and-match we have now), and the West was a relatively easy draw...
Yeah, those are all good. I'd say the Celtic's nine straight NBA titles are pretty unlikely to be surpassed, too. More than twice as many teams now, and lots and lots of player movement.
slap, what about maria sharapova?
but i digress...
agreed, patiodog.
player movement is the main reason most team records will remain intact.
many teams no longer have recognizeable traits that set them apart from the rest.
remember how the orioles were pitching & defense year in, year out? these days its hard to tell them apart from, say cleveland.
however, i think individual records will continue to fall as long as there are incentive bonuses written into player's contracts.
One of the least likely baseball records to be broken (unless the game changes dramatically) is one of the most obscure--
Chief Wilson hit 36 triples in 1912 for the Pirates. Since 1960, the highest single season total for triples has been Willie Wilson's 21 in 1985. The highest total other than Chief's, since 1900, is 26, almost a third fewer. Most years, the leader has two-thirds fewer.
How about Emil Zatopek winning the olympic 5,000 meters gold, 10,000 meters gold and the marathon gold, all within a week?
Nolan Ryan had, what, 7 no-hitters in his career? I think that's unlikely to be broken, but not impossible.
Who has the record for most perfect games (e. g. has anyone pitched more than one)?
Ty Cobb's career batting average
Cal's consecutive games
Marino's single season TD and yardage records
Jerry Rice's Career TD's
Bill Russell's and Bill Walton's Dynasties(the record being consecutive championships one..)
When I say Bill Walton's Dynasty I mean UCLA...
The UCLA dynesty began before Walton, mon ami...
It was most definitely and emphatically the Wooden dynasty. (The first practice every year began with an extended lesson on how to tie your shoes, or so the coaches' lore seems to go...)
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