Fifth Avenue Forum

Gretz obviously benefited from a spectacular line, but that top four is untouchable, IMO. I too am more impressed with Lemieux's 199, but that doesn't make me want to remove him from the "Big 4"

There isn't a controversy, is there?

Maybe not controversy, but mystery I think was the word used...

Mystery is kind of a misnomer.

Think about it: its, in my opinion, the greatest single game performance in sports history. He probably puts on an absolute clinic on how to play as a center and shoots the ball very well, especially on free throws where he went 28/32.

But well never be able to watch it, or awe at it or learn from it because there is no video.

There isn't a controversy, is there?

Maybe not controversy, but mystery I think was the word used...

Mystery is kind of a misnomer.

Think about it: its, in my opinion, the greatest single game performance in sports history. He probably puts on an absolute clinic on how to play as a center and shoots the ball very well, especially on free throws where he went 28/32.

But well never be able to watch it, or awe at it or learn from it because there is no video.

Understood. But I'm sure there is video of Wilt in his prime, no? I doubt the game looked that much different, except he actually made me free throws and he played in some old dump in the middle of Pennsylvania for whatever reason...

Everything i ever read that game is that the defense played was on par with what they do in an all star game.

I own a copy of this.

My father has that record.

I think its amazing that Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record for goals in a season and if you erased every single NHL goal he scored he would still own the record for most points in a career. That is mind boggling.

Shad's lgp post count was pretty remarkable

Cy young

Cy young

Yeah, talking in terms of records that will never be broken, his wins total is that.
DiMaggio's 56 is incredible.

His decisions totsl.

There's too much luck in hitting a baseball to put DiMaggio's record at the top. He didn't will himself to do it. He was fortunate that his hits came spaced out appropriately.

There's too much luck in hitting a baseball to put DiMaggio's record at the top. He didn't will himself to do it. He was fortunate that his hits came spaced out appropriately.

not sure if april fools joke

I scored 38 goals in 6 5th grade gym class hockey games. Pretty sure that record is unbreakable.

Wade boggs, at one point, was in mid summer and they were saying he had yet so swing and miss to that point in the season.

Wade boggs, at one point, was in mid summer and they were saying he had yet so swing and miss to that point in the season.

Tony Gwynns amount of multi-strikeout games was ridiculous too. Not sure if he has any records, but man he was good.

There's too much luck in hitting a baseball to put DiMaggio's record at the top. He didn't will himself to do it. He was fortunate that his hits came spaced out appropriately.

While I don't think DiMaggio's record will ever be topped, I am inclined to agree with you (mostly). Over that stretch, he hit .408, which is obviously great. There have been players since then that have put up similarly hot streaks in terms of BA, but have had the misfortune of having several games where nothing dropped in for a hit. Good hitters are better at hitting balls to certain parts of the field, but as shmenguin said, there is a definite luck factor in terms of things like:

1) How long a ball hangs up in the air
2) The ball just happening to find that hole in the infield
3) Great defensive plays on the other side

So in that respect, in terms of the good fortune it takes to actually space out hits in 56 consecutive games, that will never be achieved again. But I also agree that while it may very well be the most unbeatable, it's not the most impressive.

yeah...that.

it's baseball. the best player ever could go 0-5 with 5 strikeouts in game 7 of the world series, and it wouldn't mean anything about his ability. you need to be timely, and you can't control it.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archive ... f-streaks/

Purcell calculated that to make it likely (probability greater than 50 percent) that a run of even fifty games will occur once in the history of baseball up to now (and fifty-six is a lot more than fifty in this kind of league), baseball’s rosters would have to include either four lifetime .400 batters or fifty-two lifetime .350 batters over careers of one thousand games. In actuality, only three men have lifetime batting averages in excess of .350, and no one is anywhere near .400 (Ty Cobb at .367, Rogers Hornsby at .358, and Shoeless Joe Jackson at .356). DiMaggio’s streak is the most extraordinary thing that ever happened in American sports.

yeah...that.

it's baseball. the best player ever could go 0-5 with 5 strikeouts in game 7 of the world series, and it wouldn't mean anything about his ability. you need to be timely, and you can't control it.

Yeah that's one game. But... 56! That is not luck.

yeah...that.

it's baseball. the best player ever could go 0-5 with 5 strikeouts in game 7 of the world series, and it wouldn't mean anything about his ability. you need to be timely, and you can't control it.

Yeah that's one game. But... 56! That is not luck.

well that example of 1 game is precisely why it is luck

luck on balls put in play sure, but 0-5 with 5 Ks.. nevermind, this isn't going anywhere.

Obviously you need an extraordinary amount of talent to be able to get a hit in 56 straight games, but to say talent is the only thing you need to do it is very wrong. There was certainly a large amount of luck involved in the 56 game streak.

luck on balls put in play sure, but 0-5 with 5 Ks.. nevermind, this isn't going anywhere.

i didn't think we were at the "take my ball and go home" phase of this yet.

*meowshrug*

Okay then. So Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game was just luck of when he got all his points then right?