Greatest Accomplishments

[Don Wassall]

I've been following baseball for over 40 years now and Roger Clemens reaching 350 wins ranks up there with the top feats I've seen in my lifetime. Here's my top four:


1. Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak, and then adding another 500 games to it.


2. Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb's career hits record.


3. Nolan Ryan shattering the career strikeout record.


4. Roger Clemens winning 350 games.


When I was a kid the first two marks were routinely mentioned as among baseball's "unbreakable" records. I consider Clemens' win total comparable to at least 425before thefive man starting rotation became commonplacesome 20 years ago. Right behind Clemens is Greg Maddux, who looks to be a good bet to surpass Clemens' win total before he's through.


The top single season feats I've seen are Denny McLain's 31 wins in 1968, and Mark McGwire's 70 home runs in '98. George Brett hitting .390 in 1980 is another that comes to mind. Yours?Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[PitBull]

Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters.

Steve Carlton winning 27 games--one half of his team's wins on the season.

 

[Don Wassall]

Carlton's '72 season was the best ever by a pitcher.

 

[Bart]

Steve Carlton winning 27 games--one half of his team's wins on the season.

That is an amazing statistic! To win 27 games on a team that lost nearly 100 games is awesome.


Another great accomplishment was that of Wade Boggs hitting over .400for 162 consecutive games over the span of two seasons. I heard this mentioned once on a radio program.


From a message board:


Wade Boggs hit .400 (.4003, in fact) over the course of 162 consecutive scheduled Red Sox games, from June 10, 1985 to June 6, 1986. 637 AB, 255 H. (In fact, you can go back a day earlier, when he went 2-5, to get .4003 over 163 scheduled games).

I know that I wrote a few people at the time -- Gammons, maybe -- but I don't recall anyone printing it.

You'd think that everyone would know this. You'd think that any time someone asked the question "is it possible in this day and age to hit .400?", the standard answer would be "of course it is, since Wade Boggs did it over 162 straight games; they just happened not to be all in the same season." But since you never hear that answer, I have to assume that this fact, to say the least, is not widely known. And I think it's remarkable.

 

[Don Wassall]

1972 Phillies: 59-97 (season shortened by 6 games due to a players' strike at the beginning of it)


Steve Carlton in '72: 27-10, 31 complete games, 8 shutouts, 346 innings pitched, 310 strikeouts, 87 walks, 1.97 ERA.


Unquestionably the greatest season by a pitcher in baseball history when taking into account the quality of the team he played for.


Bonus tidbit about Lefty: Carlton didn't speak to the media for much of his career. Near the end of it he granted an interview to a Philly sportswriter, wherein he went on in detail about a "Jewish conspiracy" running the U.S. Carlton denied making the statements after the article was published but it's unlikely the writer made it up out of thin air.

 

[JoeV]

What about the year Phil Niekro led the league in wins and losses?

 

[GWTJ]

All great accomplishments. I think we have to add Ichiro's 262 hits in one season to the list of great single season accomplishments.

I would also include Maddux's 4 Cy Young awards in a row. His performance during those years compared to the Major League average was the greatest difference in Major League history.

 

[PitBull]

I disagree with Ichiro's hits record. George Sisler had a shorter season by
7 games and 70 (!) fewer at bats. Ichiro only broke the record by 4 hits.
Sisler hit .407 that year, and with 70 more at bats, would have had about
285 hits for the year.

I also go with Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in a season with no steroids, 154
games, and longer outfield walls than the imposters of today have.

Ted Williams hitting .400. No power hitter in the last 60 years has come
close to that except maybe George Brett.

Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak.Edited by: PitBull

 

[Bart]

Babe Ruth hit a home run every 11.76 times at bat. Hank Aaron hit one every 16.3appearances at the plate.Many fansdon't know that Mark McGwire has the best ratio in history at 10.61. Of course, it is easier today to hit homers than in Ruth's era for a variety of reasons, so Babe must be considered the best ever.


However, I think Jim ( Rodney Dangerfield ) Thome deserves credit for approaching 500 homers and remaining pretty much invisible to the public. His homer ratio is an astounding 13.58. Consider some other big names: Sosa 14.4, F. Thomas 15.2, A. Rod 14.35, Manny Ramirez 14.27, Griffey 14.64.Only Bonds exceeds him at 12.94. Big Jim also has great slugging stats. The media rarely mentions his name in comparison to the other players.

 

[Don Wassall]

Ted Williams hitting .400. No power hitter in the last 60 years has come
close to that except maybe George Brett.

Tony Gwynn hit .394 in the strike shortened season of 1994.


Jeff Bagwell, one of my all-time favorite players, unfortunately had his peak year alsoin thetruncated '94 season. He hit 39 homers (and had 116 RBIs) in just over two-thirds of a season that year.

 

[white lightning]

Ron Guidrey alson know as Louisianna Lightning went 25-3 to win the Cy Young for Yankees in the late 70's.He was incredible.One game he had 18 strikeouts.That will always be one guy that I remember.

 

[bigunreal]

I want to offer up just two of Babe Ruth's many, many incomparable seasons as all-time greatest acccomplishments. First, for the best overall season by any hitter, ever, imho, look at what the Babe did in 1921:

.378 avg., 177 runs scored, 204 hits, 44 doubles, 16 triples, 59 HRs, 171 RBI, 457 total bases, 145 BB, 119 extra base hits, .846 slugging pct., .509 on base pct., 17 stolen bases(!) He also managed to go 2-0 as a pitcher in a handful of spot appearances. This season was incredible all around. He set 3 single-season records that still stand today; runs scored, total bases, and extra base hits. Imagine a power hitter, swinging from the heels like the Babe did on every pitch, batting .378 for a season (and .342 for his career!) Think of someone the Babe's size having 16 triples in a season, and 17 stolen bases! 16 triples in a season is incredible for anyone; it's only been bested a handful of times in the modern era (post 1950). Obviously, the Babe was not slow.

Then, let's look at his 1919 season, which I believe is the most incredible combination-season by any athlete in the history of any sport. Here are his hitting stats for that season:

.322 avg., 103 runs scored, 139 hits, 34 doubles, 12 triples, 29 HRs, 114 RBI, 101 BB, 7 stolen bases.

Now here are his pitching stats for the same season:

9-5 WL record, 2.97 ERA, 15 games started, 12 complete games, one save.

While the hitting stats are only a hint of what was to come, think of the remarkable, and never approached accomplishments this man achieved that season. In transition from the best young left-handed pitcher in the majors (already a two-time 20 game winner), because he was too great a hitter not to play every day, the Babe still was pitching enough to win 9 games. While only playing 130 games because he was still partially in the pitching rotation, he managed to both score and drive in over 100 runs (on only 139 hits), have an impressive triple total again (12), and lead the league in HRs with 29. He also had a save. So, in one season, a single player led the league in HRs, won 9 games as a pitcher, and had a save. No other player, in any sport, has ever been this multi-talented.

When Ruth made the transition from STAR pitcher to the greatest power hitter the game had ever seen, it was something that had never been done before, and has never been done again. What he did was tantamount to the NFL's best middle linebacker becoming the greatest QB of all time. Or maybe the NHL's greatest goalie becoming a record-breaking forward.

As you can tell, I'm kind of high on Babe Ruth.

 

[bigunreal]

I wanted to mention a few of the most impressive lifetime records. I think that the most unbreakable record in any sport is Cy Young's lifetime total of 511 wins. That one will never, ever be broken. Just do the math- a pitcher would have to AVERAGE 20 wins a season for 25 years, and he'd still fall short. With the best pitchers in the game now often going their 20+ year careers with only a few 20 win seasons, I think Cy's spirit can rest comfortably in the knowledge that his record will last forever. In the same vein, Cy Young's incredible lifetime total of 749 complete games will never be approached. Since a "quality start" is now 5-6 innings, I don't think Cy has to worry about that one, either. Another record that will remain intact for eternity is Walter Johnson's 110 career shutouts. Since even the best pitchers don't complete but a handful of games each season now, they obviously could not accumulate that many shutouts. I also think that Ty Cobb's lifetime avg. of .367 (I refuse to acknowledge the attempt to rob him of a point and lower it to .366) will never be topped. The best career avg. hitter among modern players (who started their careers after 1950), was Tony Gwynn, whose .338 avg. ranks 17th all time. Other than Gwynn, the only player who started his career after 1950 who ranks in the top 30 hitters in career avg. is Todd Helton, whose .333 is tied for 23rd (man, is Helton underrated or what- this guy should be talked about all the time by the jock-sniffers on Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter, but he remains largely unknown to the public at large).

The other greatest single-season accomplishment I'd like to note is Paul Hornung's 176 points scored in 1960's 12 game season. Although Ladanian Tomlinson "broke" the record last year (I guess it's irrelevant that he "broke" it in four extra games), this season comes closest, in my view, to matching what Babe Ruth did in his great transition from star pitcher to superstar hitter. Imagine any of the present-day primadonnas in the NFL scoring 15 TDs, and kicking 41 PATs and 15 FGs in the same season! Too bad Hornung turned into a Caste whore, just like all the other great old players.

 

[GWTJ]

I disagree with Ichiro's hits record. George Sisler had a shorter season by
7 games and 70 (!) fewer at bats. Ichiro only broke the record by 4 hits.
Sisler hit .407 that year, and with 70 more at bats, would have had about
285 hits for the year.

It is true that Sisler had less games and less at bats, but Sisler had advantages as well. It can be futile to compare records from such different era's but considering nobody in about 70 years has made a run at Sisler's hit record, Ichiro's breaking of it was an incredible feat.

Below is a chart of the all-time single season hits leaders, notice how many of the top 20 happened between 1920 and 1930. This is because of the start of the live ball era in 1920. The defensive equipment and pitching staffs(there were less relievers on a team at that point) had not adjusted to the live ball and the 20's and 30's saw some of the most prolific offense in MLB history.

Hits
Single Season Leaders
'Top 100'

Name  &n bsp; Hits Year Team League Rank
Pete Browning 275 1887 Louisville Colonels AA 1
Tip O'Neill275 1887 St. Louis Browns AA
Ichiro Suzuki 262 2004 Seattle Mariners AL 3
George Sisler 257 1920 St. Louis Browns AL 4
Denny Lyons256 1887 Philadelphia Athletics AA 5
Lefty O'Doul254 1929 Philadelphia Phillies NL 6
Bill Terry254 1930 New York Giants NL
Al Simmons253 1925 Philadelphia Athletics AL 8
Oyster Burns251 1887 Baltimore Orioles AA 9
Rogers Hornsby 250 1922 St. Louis Cardinals NL 10
Chuck Klein250 1930 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Ty Cobb 248 1911 Detroit Tigers AL 12
George Sisler 246 1922 St. Louis Browns AL 13
Ichiro Suzuki 242 2001 Seattle Mariners AL 14
Babe Herman241 1930 Brooklyn Robins NL 15
Heinie Manush 241 1928 St. Louis Browns AL
Wade Boggs240 1985 Boston Red Sox AL 17
Jesse Burkett 240 1896 Cleveland Spiders NL
Darin Erstad240 2000 Anaheim Angels AL
Rod Carew239 1977 Minnesota Twins AL 20
Willie Keeler 239 1897 Baltimore Orioles NL
Ed Delahanty238 1899 Philadelphia Phillies NL 22
Don Mattingly 238 1986 New York Yankees AL
Hugh Duffy237 1894 Boston Beaneaters NL 24
Harry Heilmann 237 1921 Detroit Tigers AL
Joe Medwick237 1937 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Paul Waner237 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Jack Tobin236 1921 St. Louis Browns AL 28
Rogers Hornsby 235 1921 St. Louis Cardinals NL 29
Paul Radford235 1887 New York Metropolitans AA
Kirby Puckett 234 1988 Minnesota Twins AL 31
Lloyd Waner234 1929 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Joe Jackson233 1911 Cleveland Naps AL 33
Earl Averill232 1936 Cleveland Indians AL 34
Nap Lajoie232 1901 Philadelphia Athletics AL
Matty Alou231 1969 Pittsburgh Pirates NL 36
Earle Combs231 1927 New York Yankees AL
Fred Lindstrom 231 1928 New York Giants NL
Fred Lindstrom 231 1930 New York Giants NL
Tommy Davis230 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers NL 40
Reddy Mack230 1887 Louisville Colonels AA
Stan Musial230 1948 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Pete Rose230 1973 Cincinnati Reds NL
Joe Torre230 1971 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Willie Wilson 230 1980 Kansas City Royals AL
Rogers Hornsby 229 1929 Chicago Cubs NL 46
Kiki Cuyler228 1930 Chicago Cubs NL 47
Stan Musial228 1946 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Jim Bottomley 227 1925 St. Louis Cardinals NL 49
C. Gehringer227 1936 Detroit Tigers AL
Billy Herman227 1935 Chicago Cubs NL
Rogers Hornsby 227 1924 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Lance Johnson 227 1996 New York Mets NL
Nap Lajoie227 1910 Cleveland Naps AL
Sam Rice227 1925 Washington Senators AL
Jesse Burkett 226 1901 St. Louis Cardinals NL 56
Ty Cobb 226 1912 Detroit Tigers AL
Joe Jackson226 1912 Cleveland Naps AL
Chuck Klein226 1932 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Bill Terry226 1929 New York Giants NL
Jesse Burkett 225 1895 Cleveland Spiders NL 61
Ty Cobb 225 1917 Detroit Tigers AL
Harry Heilmann 225 1925 Detroit Tigers AL
Johnny Hodapp 225 1930 Cleveland Indians AL
Paul Molitor225 1996 Minnesota Twins AL
Bill Terry225 1932 New York Giants NL
Eddie Collins 224 1920 Chicago White Sox AL 67
Tommy Holmes224 1945 Boston Braves NL
Bill McClellan 224 1887 Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers AA
Joe Medwick224 1935 St. Louis Cardinals NL
George Sisler 224 1925 St. Louis Browns AL
Ichiro Suzuki 224 2006 Seattle Mariners AL
Hank Aaron223 1959 Milwaukee Braves NL 73
Frankie Frisch 223 1923 New York Giants NL
Chuck Klein223 1933 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Joe Medwick223 1936 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Kirby Puckett 223 1986 Minnesota Twins AL
Yank Robinson 223 1887 St. Louis Browns AA
Lloyd Waner223 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Paul Waner223 1928 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Frank Fennelly 222 1887 Cincinnati Red Stockings AA 81
C. Jamieson222 1923 Cleveland Indians AL
Tris Speaker222 1912 Boston Red Sox AL
Sam Thompson222 1893 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Richie Ashburn 221 1951 Philadelphia Phillies NL 85
Jesse Burkett 221 1899 St. Louis Perfectos NL
Heinie Manush 221 1933 Washington Senators AL
Juan Pierre221 2004 Florida Marlins NL
Lloyd Waner221 1928 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Zack Wheat221 1925 Brooklyn Robins NL
Michael Young 221 2005 Texas Rangers AL
Kiki Cuyler220 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates NL 92
Lou Gehrig220 1930 New York Yankees AL
Tony Gwynn220 1997 San Diego Padres NL
Billy Hamilton 220 1894 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Stan Musial220 1943 St. Louis Cardinals NL
Dante Bichette 219 1998 Colorado Rockies NL 97
Cecil Cooper219 1980 Milwaukee Brewers AL
Ed Delahanty219 1893 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Ralph Garr219 1971 Atlanta Braves NL 100
Derek Jeter219 1999 New York Yankees AL
Willie Keeler 219 1894 Baltimore Orioles NL
Chuck Klein219 1929 Philadelphia Phillies NL
Lefty O'Doul219 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers NL
Cy Seymour219 1905 Cincinnati Reds NL
Paul Waner219 1937 Pittsburgh Pirates NL
Jimmy Williams 219 1899 Pittsburgh Pirates NL

Current Through 2006 Season
Edited by: GWTJ

 

[Realgeorge]

I've been following baseball for over 40 years now and Roger Clemens reaching 350 wins ranks up there with the top feats I've seen in my lifetime.  Here's my top four:
1. Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak, and then adding another 500 games to it.
2. Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb's career hits record.
3. Nolan Ryan shattering the career strikeout record.
4. Roger Clemens winning 350 games.

My Top Achievement? Pete Rose crunching Ray Fosse at the plate in bottom of 12th Inning in the 1970 All-star Game. Watched the game with my dad at a dive called "Steve's Bar and Grill" ... went there because they had a Color TVEdited by: Realgeorge

 

[Bart]

I don't know if it it would be considered a great accomplishment, but it sure was impressive. Of all the powerful left handed hitters who have ever played in Yankee stadium, Mickey Mantle came the closest to hitting one out of the park.The ball hit the facade and barely missed clearing it by 18". He did it twice, and to my knowledge, heis the only slugger to park one waaaay up there.

 

[Realgeorge]

I don't know if it it would be considered a great accomplishment, but it sure was impressive.  Of all the powerful left handed hitters who have ever played in Yankee stadium, Mickey Mantle came the closest to hitting one out of the park.  The ball hit the facade and barely missed clearing it by 18".  He did it twice, and to my knowledge, he is the only slugger to park one waaaay up there.

Great post Bart!
Hitting a ball out of a stadium [Fenway and Wrigley Field don't count, neither does the new S.F. ballpark with a short poke to the Bay!] ... Rare and difficult, never saw one live, but remember three of them on the 11 O'clock news:

1) Reggie Jackson, Tiger Stadium
2) Frank Howard, Tiger Stadium
3) Frank Robinson, Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

Others?Edited by: Realgeorge

 

[jaxvid]

Great post Bart!
Hitting a ball out of a stadium [Fenway and Wrigley Field don't count, neither does the new S.F. ballpark with a short poke to the Bay!] ... Rare and difficult, never saw one live, but remember three of them on the 11 O'clock news:

1) Reggie Jackson, Tiger Stadium
2) Frank Howard, Tiger Stadium
3) Frank Robinson, Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

Others?

Tiger Stadium was a hard ballpark to hit it out of, only a few did it to left field, Frank Howard and Cecil Fielder did for sure.

I don't know that Reggie ever hit one out of the park. His most famous shot there was off of the light towers on the second deck in right during the All-Star game in 1971.

A bunch of guys hit them over the right field roof. Norm Cash hit a few over the right field roof and I was at a game where Lou Whitaker hit one over the roof. Most mammoth blasts to right would hit the light towers and bounce back.

 

[Freedom]

The greatest accomplishment I saw was Mike Bordick only making 1 error in a season as a shortstop, just one season after replacing Ripken!

The Mariners winning 117 games, but managing to succumb to the Yankees.

The Brewers doing as well as they do without getting much publicity and without many Hispanics. I think Estrada is their only starting one. Although they do have several blacks.

Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling's pitching for the Diamondbacks in '01.

Curt Schilling's "bloody sock" performance.

Minnesota, on the verge of contraction, making the ALCS.Edited by: Freedom

 

[Average American]

To the original post.. One of the greatest (baseball) accomplishments I was a spectator to, was the '88 World Series. Underdog Dodgers winning that Series, featuring a hobbled Gibson's home run.

Great baseball accomplishment in general, for me will always be Ruth's home run hitting in an era of dominant pithcing & gap hitting etc.. Specifically in the '20s when Ruth twice hit more HRs than entire opposing American League teams were hitting (understood the AL was smaller then, but.. damn). It's unbelievable, & will be a Ruth accomplishment that is never broken, no. :first:

 

[knightedsoldier5000]

Even though he's black I gotta say Vince Coleman's first 3 years in the majors with 100+ SBs each year was amazing. Even more amazing is his OBP was a measly .301 and .320 his first 2 years.