Most amazing, but little-known, all-time individual sports records

I was reminded of this topic as I contemplated Joe Dimaggio's career. He was before my time but I am not sure he gets credit for some of his records. (And I really dislike the Yankees!) Joltin' Joe hit t 361 home runs while striking out only 369 times, for a lifetime 1.02 ratio, the best of any player ever. I think the 369 strikeouts record is amazing. By comparison, Reggie Jackson struck out 2,597 times; A-Rod 2287, Derek Jeter 1840, MIckey Mantle 1710, Barry Bonds 1539. Dimaggio was one of the toughest outs in the history of baseball.

What's your nominee for the most amazing little-known individual record?

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Originally Posted by LA Ute

I was reminded of this topic as I contemplated Joe Dimaggio's career. He was before my time but I am not sure he gets credit for some of his records. (And I really dislike the Yankees!) Joltin' Joe hit t 361 home runs while striking out only 369 times, for a lifetime 1.02 ratio, the best of any player ever. I think the 369 strikeouts record is amazing. By comparison, Reggie Jackson struck out 2,597 times; A-Rod 2287, Derek Jeter 1840, MIckey Mantle 1710, Barry Bonds 1539. Dimaggio was one of the toughest outs in the history of baseball.

What's your nominee for the most amazing little-known individual record?

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If I may quibble before I post one that I like, DiMaggio is only 64th all time in OBP, meaning there were 63 better guys at not making outs, tough or otherwise. Just saying.

Hockey record for most points between brothers.... Wayne and Brent Gretzky, Wayne had 2,857 points and Brent had 4, for a total of 2,861. I just love the gap between them. Still amazing the records Gretzky holds.

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Originally Posted by LuckyUte

If I may quibble before I post one that I like, DiMaggio is only 64th all time in OBP, meaning there were 63 better guys at not making outs, tough or otherwise. Just saying.

Hockey record for most points between brothers.... Wayne and Brent Gretzky, Wayne had 2,857 points and Brent had 4, for a total of 2,861. I just love the gap between them. Still amazing the records Gretzky holds.

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DiMaggio's strikeouts were low....and so were his walks. For example Ted Williams only struck out 340 times more than DiMaggio....but he walked 1,231 times more than DiMaggio.

Williams had 2,100 more plate appearances. He walked 20% of his appearances. DiMaggio walked 10% of his. The strike out percentages were much closer. 4.8% for DiMaggio to 7.2% for Williams.


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On the subject of baseball..........Fernando Tatis hitting two grand slams in the same inning was cool.

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Originally Posted by UtahsMrSports

On the subject of baseball..........Fernando Tatis hitting two grand slams in the same inning was cool.

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It was at that.

Another one in a similar vein. Carlos Baerga and later Mark Bellhorn hitting 2 grand slams in the same inning one each from the left side and right side.

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Originally Posted by LuckyUte

If I may quibble before I post one that I like, DiMaggio is only 64th all time in OBP, meaning there were 63 better guys at not making outs, tough or otherwise. Just saying.

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Good point. I was just speculating about Joe being a tough out. I had no idea where he ranked. (Still, 64th ain't shabby.)

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Originally Posted by Diehard Ute

DiMaggio's strikeouts were low....and so were his walks. For example Ted Williams only struck out 340 times more than DiMaggio....but he walked 1,231 times more than DiMaggio.

Williams had 2,100 more plate appearances. He walked 20% of his appearances. DiMaggio walked 10% of his. The strike out percentages were much closer. 4.8% for DiMaggio to 7.2% for Williams.

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I'm one of those who thinks Teddy Ballgame was the greatest hitter ever. (His autobiography is a great read.) I speculate that one reason Dimaggio was walked more was that he was surrounded by great hitters most of the time he played, so the advantage to walking him was reduced. There was more upside to walking the Splendid Splinter. I have no idea if I am right.

Williams was the superior player and it isn't close, even accounting for DiMaggio's fielding and positional scarcity.

This isn't a 'record' per se, but it's interesting.

Hoyt Wilhelm, a pitcher, hit a home run in his first at bat. He never hit another one in 21 years and 493 at bats.


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Babe Ruth still holds the record for shutouts in a season by an LHP at 9 (tied by Ron Guidry in 1978). He also holds the record for most innings pitched in a World Series game at 14.

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Originally Posted by NorthwestUteFan

Babe Ruth still holds the record for shutouts in a season by an LHP at 9 (tied by Ron Guidry in 1978). He also holds the record for most innings pitched in a World Series game at 14.

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Speaking of LHP, Eddie Plank still holds the record for career shutouts. (3rd all time in wins for a LHP)

Eddie is a distant relative. He pitched from 1901 to 1917.


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Originally Posted by NorthwestUteFan

Babe Ruth still holds the record for shutouts in a season by an LHP at 9 (tied by Ron Guidry in 1978). He also holds the record for most innings pitched in a World Series game at 14.

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Now those are impressive. I did not know!

This one is guaranteed to generate some discussion.

What’s the best sports record ever? Researchers offer their top 10

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/...an-barry-bonds

secretariat's triple crown, esp. the belmont stakes.

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Originally Posted by concerned

secretariat's triple crown, esp. the belmont stakes.

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there's a new book out called Everybody Lies that delves into big data, it sounds like they've cracked the code about what makes one race horse faster than the rest.

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Davidowitz relays the story of how the race horse analyst Jeff Seder used modern data collection methods and statistical correlation to predict the greatness of racehorses, most notably 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Historically, horses were judged by their pedigree. If a horse’s parents or siblings were great performers, then it was thought they also had a shot at success on the racetrack, and would sell for a lot of money at auction. Agents might also examine a young horse’s size or gait. But Seder, who has an MBA and law degree from Harvard University, found that none of these factors were all that predictive of greatness. Armed with a variety of tools, including a portable ultrasound machine, he went on the hunt for more telling factors. After years of collecting data on the attributes of young horses and comparing them to their earnings on the track, Seder found one unusual physical attribute that was highly predictive: the size of the horse’s left ventricle. American Pharoah had an enormous left ventricle. Along with the fact that all of his other attributes were in the range of what’s expected of a good thoroughbred, this made American Pharoah a good bet to be a great horse.
Attributes of American Pharaoh as a 1-year-old

Attribute	Percentile
Height	56
Weight	61
Pedigree	70
Left Ventricle size	96.6

Davidowitz uses this story to make the point that new data sources are most powerful in domains where deep data analysis has been rare. There is not as much to learn from new data in analytics-saturated fields like finance or baseball, but there are still plenty of fields, like horse racing, that still rely heavily on traditions and gut feel.

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https://qz.com/1043019/how-big-data-...ly-became-one/

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Originally Posted by LA Ute

This one is guaranteed to generate some discussion.

What’s the best sports record ever? Researchers offer their top 10

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/...an-barry-bonds

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I love that #5 has already been broken............by a guy they suggested had the physical capability to do it.

Also, (to the author) hey Jack, I have loved reading a couple of your books, but you need a lesson on getting to the point my man!