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Unbeatable records
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Author:  G-Fin [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 5:02 am ]
Post subject:  Unbeatable records

No way

I guess this has been around a while, but it ran in our paper today and I cringed. Rice's and Ripken's are a matter of endurance – no one can touch 511 wins. Second place should go to Wilt the Stilt for 100 points/game.

Author:  Matthew Grieco [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:44 am ]
Post subject: 

Agreed. Barring deep, fundamental changes in the way baseball is played -- or in human longevity -- Young's record is effectively impossible to equal.

Among records that are possible to break but unlikely to be broken, the hardest to break is probably Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. According to Stephen Jay Gould (scientist and noted baseball fan), the odds against hitting in 56 games are so great that it should never have happened even if hundreds of thousands more major league games had been played than have been. It was a statistical aberration of the highest magnitude.

Incidentally, statheads and traditionalists alike will enjoy Gould's book "Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville," a collection of his baseball essays over the years. It's got some numbers here and there, yeah, but it's really just a pure ode to baseball written by a man who happens to have also been a scientific genius.

Author:  G-Fin [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:31 am ]
Post subject: 

Sounds like a great combination. I'll have to check it out.

Author:  ADKbrown [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:57 am ]
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Likewise, his 749 complete games (I assume that's the record) will never be matched.

Author:  wordygurdy [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:43 pm ]
Post subject: 

No one's ever going to throw three consecutive no-hitters, either. The soul of Johnny Vander Meer can rest easily.

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