In the world of sports, there has been a debate on the most impressive individual accomplishments by professional athletes that in some cases are more than 50 years old.
In December 2006, Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers scored 81 points in a game vs. the Toronto Raptors. However, while that is impressive, a famous NBA player surpassed that number when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points on March 2, 1962 for the Philadelphia Warriors over the New York Knicks.
In the world of sports today, much more focus is placed on how do I help my team win a game and championships are won with that mentality, not how to necessarily pad my stats in a game that one’s team may lose in a blowout.
I have compiled a list of what I believe are the greatest individual accomplishments in each of the 4 major sports.
In baseball, that is a real difficult one, you have DiMaggio’s 56 game hit streak, Rickey Henderson with 1000 stolen bases and Cal Ripken Jr. who had a streak of 2,652 consecutive games played from May 30, 1982 to September 19, 1998. To me Ripken’s consecutive games played streak wins the title of most impressive individual accomplishment in baseball. The longest consecutive games streak played by one Major League Baseball player in the 2000’s was Miguel Tejada, who played 1,152 consecutive games that covered a 7 year span. It is truly amazing that one player was able to play every single game for a span of more than 15 years and considering that injuries are part of any game. Plus you consider that players on every team go through slumps and it is not uncommon for a manager to sit a struggling hitter for a game or two.
In basketball, there is a competition for rights to the most impressive individual stat. The Chicago Bulls won 3 consecutive titles twice in the 1990’s and the LA Lakers won 3 consecutive titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. This is an exceptional stat because one of the most difficult accomplishments in any sport is to repeat as champions. I’ve seen it many times, the season after a team in whatever sport wins a title, the feeling of we can repeat often does not exist because the rest of the league has it sights set on defeating the reigning champs and tends to bring their A game more often than not. Having said that, the Boston Celtics won 8 consecutive NBA championships from 1959-1966. While the Bulls and Lakers records were impressive, that comes no where close to beating the Celtics record and considering the 21st Century NBA lives in a salary cap era, that record is safe.
In football, this one is not as difficult considering how dangerous the sport is. The accomplishment is kicker and quarterback George Blanda, who played for the Chicago Bears, Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Colts and the Houston Oilers, he holds the record of seasons played, that being a whopping 26. I’ve mentioned that the NFL has seen players like Terrell Davis, who played for the Denver Broncos retire at the age of 29. The problems for football players often do not end after they retire. The average life expectancy of a retired NFL player is just 55 years. One other factor to take into consideration is the fact that despite making millions during one’s playing career, a good chunk of that money is gone after a career is over to treat injuries like concussions. These two factors are starting to make more people who would want to play football otherwise to think twice.
Lastly, comes hockey where I think the most impressive individual accomplishment is when Wayne Gretzky when he scored 215 points in one season while playing for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980’s. Since 2000, the highest point total by one player was Joe Thornton in the 2005-2006 season for the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins. In today’s NHL, there is lots of emphasis on defense and shot blockers, thus that tends to cut down on the amount of goals scored. Another factor that doesn’t get as much attention is goalies and how much of the net that many tend to take up such as Anders Lindback of the Arizona Coyotes, he stands at 6’6 and 210 lbs.
What does this list have in common? It is very unlikely that these accomplishments will ever be broken partly because while we see many great athletes in every sport, they pale in comparison to the likes of Gretzky.
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