I love achievement that's out of proportion--numbers that loom like mountains no one will ever climb. Good stuff, here. My favorite unmentioned record? Cael Sanderson's collegiate record of 159 wins, ZERO losses. He wrestled at Iowa State, and I'm a Hawkeye fan, but this one doesn't hurt. It's so huge and impressive. Anyone with an inkling of what elite wrestling requires knows what that number means.
Three of the greatest achievements in sports history: Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He ran each quarter-mile leg of the race FASTER than the one before -- meaning the horse was still accelerating as he crossed the finish line. It was the fastest Derby ever run (1:59 2/5), and only one horse (Monarchos in 2001) has since finished the race in under 2 minutes -- two horses did it that day in 1973: Secretariat, and his rival, Sham. Secretariat wins the 1973 Preakness. And, of course, the thrilling, amazing, jaw-dropping, never-will-we-see-it-again performance of Secretariat at the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The horse won by 31 lengths. Thirty-one lengths! It was the fastest mile-and-a-half ever run (2:24), beating the old record by 2 seconds. To this day, no horse has ever run that distance in less than 2:25. Whenever I want to see pure athletic excellence in action, I watch replays of the 1973 Belmont Stakes, possibly the greatest non-human athletic achievement ever captured on film. Most racehorses' hearts weigh between 8 and 10 pounds. At autopsy, Sham's heart was found to weigh 19 pounds. Secretariat's heart (which was never formally weighed as the horse's owners wished him to be buried intact) was estimated to have weighed about 22 pounds. We may someday see a horse like that again, but we will never, ever see a performance like the 1973 Belmont Stakes. I wanted to make this a FPP, but figured I'd just put it here.
Nice work, BOP.
I think Orel Hershiser's 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched in 1988 is going to be tough to beat. But even harder to beat is Bob Gibson's 1968 ERA of 1.12. That same year, in World Series Game 1, Gibson struck out 17 Tigers, another record.
One last thought. Let's not forget about Pat Summit's 983 wins and 8 NCAA Women's Basketball titles and still going. And Eddie Robinson's 408 wins at Grambling University in football at a time when the college football season was only 10-11 games. That's 40+ consecutive 10 win seasons. Joe Paterno would need 36 more wins to tie. If he coaches until he's 90, he might make it.
No love for Edwin Moses? The man won every 400M hurdle race he ran for almost 10 straight years.
Ripken's record is so overrated that it annoys me. Baseball is not physical enough for that record to be so highly touted. Its great that he showed up everyday for work, 6 months out of the year, for 16 years, but it ain't that great. I liked the suggestion about Cael Sanderson, 159-0 is a very impressive feat.
Maddux' record of 116 decapitated hookers in one season will surely not be broken in a post-steroids world. Edwin Moses definitely belongs. How about Larsen's World Series perfect game? I guess not so much a record as a feat. Although in that case the Secretariat thing is more of a feat, albeit an amazing one (several).
I think Gretzky's 92 goals in the 81-82 season is more unsurpassable (new awesome word) than his 215 points.
Maddux' record of 116 decapitated hookers in one season will surely not be broken in a post-steroids world. That made beer come out my nose. AND IM NOT DRINKING BEER
In 1971, Australian swimmer Shane Gould held all freestyle world records from 100 m to 1500 m simultaneously. Given the way swimming has changed, I'm not sure this will ever be equalled, for men or women.
Australian swimmer Shane Gould held all freestyle world records from 100 m to 1500 m simultaneously. For the water-hater in me, what'd be the track equivalent? Would it just be the same?
Just because the snooker's started again, no one's ever going to make a maximum 147 break as quickly as this again. Unless Ronnie does it himself of course.
For the water-hater in me, what'd be the track equivalent? Would it just be the same? I'm not sure but I think in the late 1970s Kenya's Henry Rono once held all the track world records from 3,000 m to 10,000 m. That is pretty damn good. But I think Shane Gould's feat is a bit more impressive since 100 m is a 'sprint', while 1500 m is long distance. Rono's records are (probably) achievable for another runner, given they are in a similar category of distance.
