(Disclaimer: I have mentioned before these poll questions are not exactly scientific. However, it's alarming when you see some of the absurdity of fan voting, to say the least.)
Which record will be hardest to break?
- Wilt Chamberlain: 100-point game
- Joe Dimaggio: 56-game hitting streak
- Wayne Gretzky: 2,857 career points
- Jerry Rice: 208 career touchdowns
- Cy Young: 511 career wins
Now take a second or two to decide for yourself.
If you don't think Cy Young's 511 career wins or Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 career points are the only acceptable answers, you're crazy. Those records would be impossible to break. More impossible than any other records listed in this poll question.
Think about it. That's 25 wins per year for 20 years, and then a pitcher would have to win 11 more games on top of that just to tie Cy Young. With the way pitchers get injured now a days, and with five man rotations, and bullpens that rob wins from starters daily, no one will ever get close to that figure. Not even within 100 wins, in all likelihood. Greg Maddux pitched 23 years in the major leagues and won 355 games. And he never got hurt in his career. How could we ever expect to see another pitcher even reach Maddux, let alone Young?
That had 40% of the vote. How it didn't have a higher percentage is baffling. The only other record that seems impossible to break is Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 career points. Somehow, only six percent chose this one. Probably because they know nothing about hockey. Let me explain:
Wayne Gretzky's record of 2,857 career points is 970 points ahead of Mark Messier for first all time. Think about that. Almost 1,000 more points than any other player in history. That's insane. For someone to break that record, a player would have to average 115 points per year for twenty five straight years. Last year, just two players eclipsed the 100-point mark, just to give you an idea of how difficult this would be. I don't see anyone coming close to Gretzky. Ever.
The other records pale in comparison, but somehow Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game earned 36-percent of the vote. Kobe Bryant scored 81-points in a game just a year ago. There are plenty of NBA teams that make it their prerogative to play no defense. As great a performance as the hundo was, would you be shocked if someone did it in the next few years? I wouldn't be.
Joe Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak was amazing. But there have been players who have gotten "close" over the last few years. In 2005, Jimmy Rollins had a 36-gamer. In 2002, Luis Castillo had a 35-game. I know what you're thinking, they still needed 20 and 21 more games to tie Joe D. True. But it's not a record that could be impossible to break like Gretzky's or Young's. (The player to get closest to Joe Dimaggio's record since he set the record, FYI, is Pete Rose, who had a 44-game hit streak in 1978.)
Finally, Jerry Rice's record of 208 career touchdowns. Great, sure. All these records are great, or presumably they wouldn't make this poll question. But Rice isn't that far ahead of all his competitors. According to Pro-Football Reference, Rice had 197 career receiving touchdowns. The next man on the list? Terrell Owens, with 139 career TDs. Now T.O. has 139 career receiving touchdowns, 141 overall. He's only 67 touchdowns behind. Now I'm not saying he'll break Rice's record, because he probably won't. But he could potentially play five more years, and he'd have to average 13.4 touchdowns per season to get to that mark. If he hadn't gotten hurt in 2005, where he missed nine games, he might have six to ten more scores. Assuming he had ten more touchdowns on his total, he would only need to average 11.4 more touchdowns per year to get there. The point is, it's manageable. Someone will get there eventually. And for the record, it only received about two percent of the vote.
There's my take, now I want yours in the comment section. I would imagine this would drum up some discussion. Many thanks to my uncle Larry for pointing this out to me.
Great post! 511 wins. Imagine that Roger Clemens would have to pitch 10 more years at 15 wins a season to match that total. And he would be 55 years old. Not likely.
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