Sports Records are Made to be Broken: Perhaps not All!

First published Oct. 31, 2020

Raphael Nadal’s thirteenth French Open tennis championship at Roland-Garros Stadium in Paris on Sunday, October 11, 2020 was something to behold. He trounced the number one player in the world, Novak Djokovic, in straight sets. He holds a match record of 100–2 at the French Open from 2005 to 2020 and is the only player to achieve this type of dominance at a Grand Slam tournament. He is the greatest clay court player ever to hold a racquet. Holding seven other grand slam titles, including playing on grass and hard surfaces, indicates his abilities are more broadly applied. Will this record, which is not yet finished, and, barring injury, could be extended, ever be broken? As I thought about that question, it brought me back to the baseball hit streak of Joe Di Maggio, now 79 years ago.

Years ago, I read a survey of sports experts who were asked in which sport was it the most difficult to reach an elite status. The top three were baseball, golf, and tennis. Golf and tennis are individual sports, dependent on the skill of one person for success. Baseball is a team sport, but the achievements of individuals are tracked exhaustively. In baseball, it is not unusual for an unsuccessful team (few or no pennants or World Series wins) to have extraordinary players. Brain-eye-hand coordination is essential in the three sports. In golf, with the distances required to get from tee to hole, a few degrees difference in the angle at which the ball leaves the club head can result in missing the fairway, requiring extra strokes to reach the green. In addition, to avoid under hitting or over hitting shots from the fairway to the green requires remarkable coordination. In recent years, muscular development to achieve very long tee shots has been added to the coordination required to shoot low scores. Putting on a sloped or undulating green requires exceptional targeting of the path and speed of the ball to have highly competitive scores. In tennis, the remarkable power off the racquet of elite players on their serve or ground strokes requires quickness and agility to get to the ball and make the return in such a way as to keep the ball in play, make the shot a winner or to force an error. This rapid decision-making about the placement and power of the shot requires exquisite brain-eye-hand coordination and placement, often made on the run. The play of multiple sets of tennis, sometimes at high ambient temperature, requires extraordinary fitness and endurance to maintain high performance. In baseball, the ability to hit a sinking fast ball or hard breaking curve ball approaching a hitter at 90 to 100 mph, and to do it consistently, is so difficult that if one can do it three times out of ten that player is likely to be considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Outstanding, sustained excellence in pitching and fielding have their own challenges.

Although most sport records are made to be broken, one of the exceptions to that rule is the baseball hit streak of Joe DiMaggio in May 1941, now 79 years ago. It has never even been approached.

Growing up in the Bronx, I was a devoted, indeed fanatic Yankee fan and why not. I lived a block from the Stadium, they had become a storied team from the time they acquired Babe Ruth and he was joined by Lou Gehrig. They had won an unequalled four world series in a row from 1936 to 1939. Then, in the prime of my boyhood, ages 7 (1941) through 16 (1950), they won the World Series in 1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950. The Yankees in those years, the 1940’s had one star after another, although many were gone during the years of World War II, 1942-1945, resulting in the loss of 2 or 3 years of play in their prime. In 1944 and 1945, baseball had few notables, most being in military service. The Yankees star was Snuffy Stirnweiss, a diminutive infielder, who was voted fourth and third most valuable player in the American League in those two years, 1944, 1945. He is now lost to posterity.

DiMaggio went into military service in 1943. Before the war, however, his base hit streak began on May 15, 1941. I was five weeks shy of 7 years old when DiMaggio started his streak. Fifty- six games later it ended. During the streak he got 91 hits, including 16 doubles, 4 triples and 15 home runs and batted .408. He scored 56 runs in 56 games and batted in 55 runs. When it started the Yankees were in fourth place in the American League and when it ended the Yankees were in first place, six games ahead of the second place team. After being held hitless in his 57 th game, although he did get on base with a walk, DiMaggio went on another 16 game hit streak. So his streak of getting on base was 73 games. As a San Francisco Seal of the AAA league, he had had a 61 game hit streak. In his last season for the Seals, 1935, before being sold to the Yankees, he hit .398 with 49 doubles, 18 triples, and 34 home runs, stole 24 bases out of 25 attempts and was the most valuable player in the Pacific Coast League. His hit streak in 1941 made him, along with Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox who hit .406 during the 1941 season the two premier hitters in baseball. DiMaggio was voted the Most Valuable Player in the American League in 1941 as a result of his streak and leading the Yankees to a World Series win. Although disappointed for not being selected Most Valuable Player, Ted Williams said of DiMaggio’s streak “I believe there isn’t a record in the books that will be harder to break. It may be the greatest batting achievement of all time.”

Nadal’s achievements on a clay court may never be equaled. Consider Jack Nicklaus’s 72 PGA championships that includes 18 major golf tournament wins. Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods’ golf career wins, which is technically listed at 82 and includes 15 major wins, and is tied with Sam Snead for total PGA wins. Some argue the number of significant wins for Woods is, actually, greater (~95). Moreover, Snead has credit for wins in 18 and 36 hole events that the PGA no longer recognizes to be counted in the Woods era (must be at least 54 holes). Michael Phelps has won 18 Olympic gold medals in his swimming career and won eight gold medals in one Olympics, both achievements exceed that of any past Olympian. What about Babe Ruth’s pitching and hitting accomplishments. Few appreciate his incredible dual career as a record- breaking pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and a record-breaking outfielder for the Yankees. Will Serena Williams overcome the wear and tear on ligaments and tendons of a long career and meet or exceed Margaret Court’s Grand Slam singles tennis wins. Consider, however, that Court won 24 Grand Slam women’s singles titles, 19 Grand Slam doubles titles, and 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. That sounds unbeatable to me. There is, also, the matter of the greatest single performance (e.g. most points in a pro basketball game, perfect game pitched in a World Series), the greatest performance in a season (e.g. winning all four golf majors or tennis Grand Slams), the greatest in a career (e.g. the most home runs, most NBA championships) or a champion in multiple sports (Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias).

Written August 2020