American Sports and Records
| Published 12/10/04

Graphic by: Tim Tuley

First on that list is the MLB record for triples in a season, set by Owen "Chief" Wilson in 1912. It's 36. The only other person in MLB who recorded over 30 in one season did it just a few years ago in - wait, 1894. That's one year before a guy named George Herman Ruth was born.

That record is never going to be touched. With the advent of such ballparks as Tropicana (n?, Enron) Field and a decreasing number of 400-ft right- or left-field lines, the likelihood of anyone even coming close to Lance Johnson's 21 triples of 1996 is not that great. I'd bet internal organs nobody ever hits 30 again, barring a new rule requiring 500-foot foul lines.

Another baseball achievement, and one you rarely hear about from anyone up to and including Bill James, is Johnny van der Meer's record for consecutive no-hit innings. More specifically, it's the fact that van der Meer threw consecutive no-hitters against the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers on June 6 and 11, 1938. Sure, we could talk about the last man to hit .400 or drive in 191 runs (side note: Has anyone ever see a picture of Hack Wilson? The man looks about as athletic as a middle-aged financial planner), but what nobody ever talks about is the absolute last record that will remain standing. If we're still playing baseball in 2100 AD, and the rules haven't changed substantially, this record is the one I think will still be on the books. The odds of throwing one no-hitter are one in a number I don't get paid enough to calculate, and the odds of throwing two are one in a larger but still-looming number. I just don't see it happening.

Now, for those of us who would rather roll in mud than watch baseball, I will move on to basketball. Any discussion of basketball records usually involves Wilt Chamberlain. This is because the man was a beast - except when it came to fouling out - on the court. Many of us, this Knicks fan certainly included, have probably grown tired of hearing about his 100-point game, which announcers love to remind us wasn't televised. (I have a theory that when you go to sports journalism school, they make you sign an oath requiring that certain facts and "facts" in sports get brought up at least once a month. "In a game that wasn't even televised..." has to be near the top of that list.) It's more accurate, and more indicative of the point they're trying to make, to say that no television footage exists of this event; the only live account we have of it is radio coverage. Another fact you'll hear every time this game comes up is that it never technically ended; after Wilt scored his 100th point of the contest, fans came onto the court, which made ending the game rather difficult.

When Wilt's book came out, I got sick really fast of hearing people react to his claim, since admitted as a publicity stunt, of having bedded 20,000 women. (That also isn't a basketball record. I'm just saying, is all.)

The lesser-known record of his that I think will remain intact - again, unless the rules are changed significantly, like going back to allowing foul shots to be dunked - is his 50-ppg season of 1961-2 (that 100-point effort helped things, I think). He also averaged, not coincidentally, 25 rebounds per game for the season.

To put this in reasonable perspective, the past several scoring champions have averaged in the high 20s-low 30s PPG. Wilt Chamberlain holds the top three season PPG averages at 50.4, 44.8 and 38.4. 50 PPG, considering Wilt's poor free-throw shooting, is roughly analogous to 20 field goals a game. There was no 3-point line for much of Chamberlain's career, beside which he was a big man and played in the paint.

Go ahead and try to convince me of the odds of anyone coming even remotely close to Chamberlain's 50 PPG mark. The last person I can recall even doing so in college was "Pistol" Pete Maravich, and he averaged in the mid-40s. His lone NBA scoring title saw him average 31.1 PPG. 50.4 PPG is a number we will not soon see duplicated over an 82-game schedule.

When I think of hockey marks, there aren't very many that come to mind. One that does (thank you, ESPNClassic) is Stanley Cups. As a player, Jean Beliveau had nine; as a coach, Scotty Bowman equaled that mark. I doubt we'll ever see five in terms of active players, mostly because these days you just don't have dynasties like the Montreal Canadians, the New York Islanders or the Montreal Canadians (there's a good reason I mentioned them twice). The New Jersey Devils have won three Cups since 1995, giving five players on that team three Cups each. One of them would have to win six more just to tie Beliveau's mark.

Longevity is something we hear plenty about - in baseball. In football, the only name you generally hear is Brett Favre. Peyton Manning also deserves mention here, having not missed a start - and few snaps, for that matter - since 1998. The name I'm going to give you is one you probably don't know. The NFL record for consecutive starts at any position is held by former Minnesota Defensive End (DE) Jim Marshall, who started 270 in a row from 1961-79. That's 18 full seasons and part of a 19th without missing a start. Most of us can't manage being on-time for 18 consecutive classes, let alone being healthy enough to start in every game of every season for 18 years. Given increases in player size and game speed, I sincerely doubt anyone - let alone at a position as challenging as DE - is going to challenge for this mark. Favre will have to go four more full seasons and most of a fifth before he can tie that particular Marshall record (Marshall also holds the record for longest wrong-way fumble return).

Honorable Mention:

1. Consecutive starts, Cal Ripken. I anticipate hate mail for saying this, but I don't consider Ripken's streak, in light of the abysmal offensive production maintained during the latter stages of that streak, very impressive. Lou Gehrig stopped playing because he had a degenerative nerve condition that made moving difficult. He also played in a day of, by our standards, piss poor physical condition of players, not to mention the outright inferiority of the medical field at the time. Also, everyone knows about this streak, which is the main reason I placed it here.

2. Home runs. Give Barry Bonds two more full seasons and I'm pretty sure he'll top 800 career. He may be the best homerun hitter since Josh Gibson. Again, same reason as above for not including it.

3. 47 consecutive games with at least one touchdown, Johnny Unitas. Brett Favre is at 36, meaning he has a chance to break the mark in the first third of the 2005-2006 season - assuming he can keep up this season.

4. Stolen bases. In today's baseball, speed is more valuable in going first to third on a single to the outfield. I don't get paid enough to do a statistical analysis of the decline of the stolen base in the past 20 years, but Rickey Henderson has nothing to worry about, which is the main reason I didn't include his mark.

5. Consecutive games without fouling out. Another (surprise, surprise) Chamberlain mark, and one I seriously doubt we'll ever see challenged - mostly because almost nobody even keeps track of it. I doubt there were 100 people in America who knew this record even existed (the number is 1,045, just in case you're looking to win some beer or cash with bar room trivia) before Chamberlain died.

6. 33 consecutive wins, LA Lakers. The last team to come close to this was the 72-win Chicago Bulls. The 1981-1982 Los Angeles Lakers steamrolled over opponents, and while their team season mark of 69 wins didn't hold up to Jordan's Bulls, their consecutive victories stood that test, and I doubt we'll see anything come close.