DiMaggio's Record is Not Unbreakable

Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla saw his MLB season long 33-game hit streak ended on Sunday, mostly thanks to a stellar running catch by Chicago Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney. It was a very impressive streak, even more impressive than most because Uggla was hitting well below the Mendoza line before it began. Yes, Uggla hit in 33 straight, which is good enough for tied for 13^th all time, but amazingly it was still 23 more games away from tying Joe DiMaggio’s all time record of 56 consecutive games with a hit. That is the primary reason why many think that DiMaggio’s record is unbreakable. In fact, the next closest all time was Willie Keeler who hit in 45 straight games in 1897. That’s not even within 10 of DiMaggio. The closest player that I’ve ever seen come to DiMaggio’s record was Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins who got to within 18 games of the mark with a record that spanned from the end of the 2005 season to the very beginning of the 2006.

I’m not going to say that DiMaggio’s record is the most unbreakable record in sports, as some may, because it’s simply not and I do think that it can be approachable and possibly broken someday. Uggla put up a valiant effort and came up 23 games short, but I have hopes that one day someone will at least sniff DiMaggio’s mark a little closer and that would truly be must see TV.

Greatest Numbers in Sports

There are a lot of uncertainties in the world of sports, but one certainty is that sports are all about numbers. If somebody came up and asked me how many career home runs Hank Aaron hit I’d instantly say 755. If they came up and asked me how many career race wins Richard Petty had I’d instantly say 200. Numbers are simply engrained into sports.

ESPN recently had a SportsNation poll of the greatest single-game or single-season numbers in sports history.

Here is a list of those numbers in chronological order from oldest to most recent:

.406- Ted Williams’ batting average (last player to bat .400 in a season), 1941
56- Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak, 1941
61- Roger Maris’ home runs, 1961
31-13-11- Oscar Robertson’s points/rebound/assist average, 1961-62
100- Wilt Chamberlain’s single-game point total, 1962
1.12- Bob Gibson’s ERA, 1968
92- Wayne Gretzky’s single-season goals record, 1981-82
2,105- Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, 1984
5,084- Dan Marino’s single-season passing record, 1984
73- Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record, 2001
31- LaDanian Tomlinson’s single-season rushing touchdowns record, 2006
296- Adrian Peterson’s single-game rushing record, 2007
50- Tom Brady’s single-season passing touchdowns record, 2007
9.58- Usain Bolt’s record time in the 100 meters, 2009
59- Lowest round score on PGA Tour; occurred five times; most recently by Paul Goydos & Stuart Appleby, 2009

SportsNation fans listed these numbers as the top 5:

1. .406- Ted Williams
2. 100- Wilt Chamberlain
3. 56- Joe DiMaggio
4. 1.12- Bob Gibson
5. 9.58- Usain Bolt

My Top 5:

1. 100- Wilt Chamberlain … I don’t think anybody will ever do this again.
2. .406- Ted Williams … I also don’t think anybody will ever do this again.
3. 1.12- Bob Gibson … Once again, I don’t think anybody will ever do this again.
4. 56- Joe DiMaggio … Certainly possible, but the closest anybody has ever gotten was within 12 games.
5. 61- Roger Maris … 61 single-season home runs is still the record in my mind … Bonds’ 73 means absolutely nothing.

There are six numbers that I would like to see added to the list though:

130- Rickey Henderson’s single-season stolen base record, 1982
20- Record for strikeouts in a game; held by Roger Clemens (twice) & Kerry Wood (1998)
15- Number of strokes Tiger Woods beat the field by in the 2000 U.S. Open
14- Number of laps Ned Jarrett won a NASCAR race by at Charlotte, 1965
12- Most RBIs in a single-game held by Jim Bottomley (1924) & Mark Whiten (1992)
7- Most sacks in a single-game by Derrick Thomas, 1990

What do you think is the greatest number in sports?