How about this — Wayne Gretzky's record is so extraordinary that even if he had never scored a single goal in his entire NHL career, his 1,963 assists alone would still make him the all-time leader in points.
Although hockey didn’t make your discussion, Gretzky’s 894 goals is itself pretty hallowed, which makes Alex Ovechkin’s likely catching him, while having lost 155 games (almost two full seasons!) to two lockouts and Covid, a pretty huge deal.
I am old enough to remember when Steve Garvey set the NL record for this and when he jammed his thumb to end the streak at 1207. This was a Very Big Deal at the time because no one thought that anyone would ever break Gehrig's streak. In this day and age of load management and overly-cautious managers, I don't see either record ever being broken.
As an aside, there is a rumor that Cal once got into a fistfight with Kevin Costner and hurt himself quite badly, so much so that the Orioles claimed a power outage so that the streak may continue. However, this happened in 1997 which is after Cal broke Lou's record.
> No horse has come closer than two seconds to Secretariat’s time of 2:24.0 in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
At its full distance of 1½ miles, this is true. A few times because of covid and because of renovations to Belmont Park, it was run at a shorter distance and a faster time was run. Since Secretariat, the fastest time at the full length was 2:26.0, run by Easy Goer in 1989. This was a highly anticipated race because Sunday Silence was going for the Triple Crown. The irony of American Pharoah winning the Triple Crown in 2015 is that it greatly diminished the interest in the Triple Crown races.
It is an anomaly of sports history that we still have separate record books for the AL and NL. After all, the two leagues are no longer separate legal entities and no longer have presidents. There is now one common umpiring staff and one common rule book, and teams now play 46 games (out of 162) per season against the other league. Granted this is a lower percentage than the other major sports but it's higher than it used to be; when Judge set the record in 2022 the Yankees played 18 games against the NL, with Judge collecting 10 out of 62 home runs against the NL. This means he proportionately did better against the NL teams, since he hit 52 home runs in 144 games against the AL.
I'm sure nobody thinks of Kobe Bryant as having the Western Conference record for most points in a game, even though he does, strictly speaking. Also, out of the 15 times someone has cracked the 70-point mark, only twice has it happened for teams currently in the Eastern Conference: Donovan Mitchell (71) of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023 and Joel Embiid (70) of the Philadelphia 76ers this past season.
Not a record per se, but it's amazing to me that as it stands, Judge has yet to reach 1000 hits. That will probably change sooner rather than later in Washington, but he is currently at 999 🤯
While the Yankees hit three home runs tonight, Judge wasn't one of them so he is still at 51. However he did single in the 9th so at least he has his 1000 hits for his career.
When Manning threw for 55 TD's in 2013 he surpassed Brady's record of 50 by a whopping 10% (the equivalent of someone passing for 61 TD's today, with no one passing for 56-60 previously - very unlikely). But that pales in comparison to what Marino did in '84. 48 TD's, surpassing the then record of 36 by YA Tittle in '63 - 32%!
In today's topsy turvy world, where winners are losers and losers are sacred, (and due to my extreme lack of interest/knowledge) I offer the Chicago Cubs- who went 107 seasons without winning the World Series between 1909 and 2016.
Olympic swimming is ridiculous. Phelps was dominant certainly, but there are so many closely related events that it is the only sport in which it is even possible to win double digit gold medals. 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters in every stroke plus medleys, relays, etc. I'm more impressed by the long term dominance of Ledecky in the distance races.
Had no idea the highest average was so low. I think baseballs entertainment value has suffered immensely with analytics honing in on a specific type of player. Seems like every player has a similar style, hitting 270 with 25hrs. Not a lot of diversity, and to the extent you see a different type of hitter it’s always sacrificing average for power (eg Kyle Schwarber).
In 2001, the NL and AL MVPs were Barry bonds and Ichiro, respectively. You’ll never see that kind of variation in play styles again at the top of the league.
That's awful. For the right balance between average and power, the target should be that the batting champion of each league hits at least .330 and the home run champion hits at least 40 HR.
At least the AL has two over .330 and a third who is close.
I’ve gotten into combat sports recently, both boxing and MMA, with boxing being my favorite sport to watch.
I think Manny Pacquiao being an 8 weight world champion has to be in the conversation for the greatest athletic accomplishments of all time. He won titles at:
-Flyweight (112lbs)
-Super Bantamweight (122)
-Featherweight (126)
-super featherweight (130)
-lightweight (135)
-super lightweight (140)
- welterweight (147)
- jr middleweight (154)
If you count the fact that he skipped over super flyweight (115) and Bantamweight (118) he jumped 10 weight classes in his career. It’s almost inconceivable that someone could jump so high and STILL HAVE KO POWER, and really isn’t talked about nearly enough how batshit insane of an athletic accomplishment it is. Oscar De La Hoya is the next most, being a 6 weight champion.
It’s a record that in all likelihood has a 0% chance of ever being broken.
How about this — Wayne Gretzky's record is so extraordinary that even if he had never scored a single goal in his entire NHL career, his 1,963 assists alone would still make him the all-time leader in points.
Indeed.
Although hockey didn’t make your discussion, Gretzky’s 894 goals is itself pretty hallowed, which makes Alex Ovechkin’s likely catching him, while having lost 155 games (almost two full seasons!) to two lockouts and Covid, a pretty huge deal.
The points stat in hockey is a silly synthetic stat, they should just separate goals and assists and leave it at that.
Or at least weight goals more than assists in calculating points, especially since you can record up to two assists on a goal.
"Ripken’s mark of playing in 2,632* baseball games"
* consecutive
(he played in every game for 16 seasons!)
I am old enough to remember when Steve Garvey set the NL record for this and when he jammed his thumb to end the streak at 1207. This was a Very Big Deal at the time because no one thought that anyone would ever break Gehrig's streak. In this day and age of load management and overly-cautious managers, I don't see either record ever being broken.
As an aside, there is a rumor that Cal once got into a fistfight with Kevin Costner and hurt himself quite badly, so much so that the Orioles claimed a power outage so that the streak may continue. However, this happened in 1997 which is after Cal broke Lou's record.
It was obvious later in Ripken's career that the detractors were right and playing in every game hurt his production overall.
> No horse has come closer than two seconds to Secretariat’s time of 2:24.0 in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
At its full distance of 1½ miles, this is true. A few times because of covid and because of renovations to Belmont Park, it was run at a shorter distance and a faster time was run. Since Secretariat, the fastest time at the full length was 2:26.0, run by Easy Goer in 1989. This was a highly anticipated race because Sunday Silence was going for the Triple Crown. The irony of American Pharoah winning the Triple Crown in 2015 is that it greatly diminished the interest in the Triple Crown races.
It is an anomaly of sports history that we still have separate record books for the AL and NL. After all, the two leagues are no longer separate legal entities and no longer have presidents. There is now one common umpiring staff and one common rule book, and teams now play 46 games (out of 162) per season against the other league. Granted this is a lower percentage than the other major sports but it's higher than it used to be; when Judge set the record in 2022 the Yankees played 18 games against the NL, with Judge collecting 10 out of 62 home runs against the NL. This means he proportionately did better against the NL teams, since he hit 52 home runs in 144 games against the AL.
I'm sure nobody thinks of Kobe Bryant as having the Western Conference record for most points in a game, even though he does, strictly speaking. Also, out of the 15 times someone has cracked the 70-point mark, only twice has it happened for teams currently in the Eastern Conference: Donovan Mitchell (71) of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023 and Joel Embiid (70) of the Philadelphia 76ers this past season.
What about Wilt's 20,000 women?
Besides a one-named female singer, some men can top 20,000 men.
Not a record per se, but it's amazing to me that as it stands, Judge has yet to reach 1000 hits. That will probably change sooner rather than later in Washington, but he is currently at 999 🤯
While the Yankees hit three home runs tonight, Judge wasn't one of them so he is still at 51. However he did single in the 9th so at least he has his 1000 hits for his career.
I would have thought the fastest human over 100 metres would be it.
When Manning threw for 55 TD's in 2013 he surpassed Brady's record of 50 by a whopping 10% (the equivalent of someone passing for 61 TD's today, with no one passing for 56-60 previously - very unlikely). But that pales in comparison to what Marino did in '84. 48 TD's, surpassing the then record of 36 by YA Tittle in '63 - 32%!
In today's topsy turvy world, where winners are losers and losers are sacred, (and due to my extreme lack of interest/knowledge) I offer the Chicago Cubs- who went 107 seasons without winning the World Series between 1909 and 2016.
Olympic swimming is ridiculous. Phelps was dominant certainly, but there are so many closely related events that it is the only sport in which it is even possible to win double digit gold medals. 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters in every stroke plus medleys, relays, etc. I'm more impressed by the long term dominance of Ledecky in the distance races.
Batting .400 is up there for me. Love to see someone make a run at it but looks unlikely. Highest batting average in NL this year is .308
Excuse me .305
Had no idea the highest average was so low. I think baseballs entertainment value has suffered immensely with analytics honing in on a specific type of player. Seems like every player has a similar style, hitting 270 with 25hrs. Not a lot of diversity, and to the extent you see a different type of hitter it’s always sacrificing average for power (eg Kyle Schwarber).
In 2001, the NL and AL MVPs were Barry bonds and Ichiro, respectively. You’ll never see that kind of variation in play styles again at the top of the league.
While I basically agree, Shohei Otani is a different beast. He could go 50-50, which is pretty awesome (even if steals are slightly easier now)
That's awful. For the right balance between average and power, the target should be that the batting champion of each league hits at least .330 and the home run champion hits at least 40 HR.
At least the AL has two over .330 and a third who is close.
Steve, does Wilt Chamberlains alleged record of banging 20,000 groupies count?
Wilt's 100 points in a game stands out to me most. He was literally and figuratively larger than life.
I also remember Johnny Unitas' record of passing for a TD in 47 consecutive games--I hadn't realized that Dree Brees had broken it!
My understanding is that Joltin' Joe's record is the least mathematically likely record to be equalled
I’ve gotten into combat sports recently, both boxing and MMA, with boxing being my favorite sport to watch.
I think Manny Pacquiao being an 8 weight world champion has to be in the conversation for the greatest athletic accomplishments of all time. He won titles at:
-Flyweight (112lbs)
-Super Bantamweight (122)
-Featherweight (126)
-super featherweight (130)
-lightweight (135)
-super lightweight (140)
- welterweight (147)
- jr middleweight (154)
If you count the fact that he skipped over super flyweight (115) and Bantamweight (118) he jumped 10 weight classes in his career. It’s almost inconceivable that someone could jump so high and STILL HAVE KO POWER, and really isn’t talked about nearly enough how batshit insane of an athletic accomplishment it is. Oscar De La Hoya is the next most, being a 6 weight champion.
It’s a record that in all likelihood has a 0% chance of ever being broken.
Good work - very candid analysis and fair judgment