Friday, June 5, 2009

Greatest Records in Sports

One of the greatest sports debates of all time is over which records are the best. By the best, I mean those records that were the hardest to obtain, and have the least likelihood of being broken. I don't break these down between single season records and career records because some single season records simply will never be broken, so they need to be included. It is tough to break it down to just ten, but here we go:

10. Jim Brown's 5.22 career rushing average: The next closest was Barry Sanders at 5.0, I believe, so if Barry can't do it, I don't think anyone can
9. Wilt Chamaberlain 50.4 NBA single season scoring average: There simply isn't anyone who could dominate the league like Wilt did. We make a big deal when someone scores 50 in a game, averaging 50 just isn't going to happen
8. Richard Petty's 200 career wins: Jeff Gordon is like 50 back of this record, if not more, and the way NASCAR is set up now, this will never fall.
7. Hack Wilson's 191 RBI in a single season: Manny came close in 99 with something like 160. In my opinion, this is one of the more underrated records in baseball history.
6. Bill Russell's 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons: I can't imagine a situation where this could happen in any sport. It is just an abused record that no one will come close to. 11 titles will be tough enough, but in 13 years just isn't going to happen
5. Wayne Gretzky's 92 goals in a single season: Put it this way, the league leader in goals this year was Ovechkin and he had 56, 36 behind The Great One. The next closest scorer was at 87 and that was Wayne Gretzky. The closest this decade was 59 back in 2000-01 season.
4. Joe Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak: For a long time I considered this is the top baseball record (though I have since changed my mind). The closest this decade was Jimmy Rollins with 38. It just isn't going to happen. The consistency among hitters just isn't there any more.
3. Phil Jackson's 43-0 record after winning first game of playoff series: I hate to include this and jinx Phil after the win last night, but this is simply an amazing record. I didn't know about it till this year, but winning 43 playoffs series is one thing, but 43-0 after winning the first game is insane and will never be matched.
2. Cy Young's 511 careers wins: The closest modern day player to this record is Greg Maddux and he is 156 wins behind. I am not sure when the next pitcher to win 300 will come around, and nobody, nobody, I mean nobody will ever get even close to this record. I bet that, from today on, nobody gets with 175 wins of this record.
1. Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games played: Simply the greatest feat in all of sports. There is no question, no argument, nothing compares to playing 2,632 consecutive games, especially in the modern era. Lou's record was amazing, but in that time it was expected. Today, guys take off every four days or during a day game. I don't care the sport, the distance, the person, anything, nothing will ever compare to this record.

Please share your own if you disagree.