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Old 04-28-2005, 04:19 PM
Justin A Justin A is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: I travel the world and the seven seas
Posts: 494
Default Re: Who has the safest career stat lead??

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Career records that will never be broken are ones where the underlying strategy of the game has changed to the point that the conditions that lead to the records don't exist anymore. Case in point is starting pitching in baseball. Records for wins, losses, innings pitched, etc. were set in an era when the starting pitcher's role was different than it is today. They were expected to pitch more innings per game and games per season. Many of them had lengthy careers because their arms were not subject to the injuries modern players get, and they had economic incentive to keep playing vs. having to get a real job.

Another example is stolen base records, and tangentally, the 3 base hit. The stolen base is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the modern power game. IF they decide to deaden the ball, which I can't forsee happening, then the stolen base could become important again.

I think all the NFL career dropkick records are safe too.

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Yes, I agree with the pitching records that won't ever get touched. However, you say old pitchers weren't subject to the same injuries. They were, it's just that the game was so different that a starting pitcher rarely threw pitches at max effort. They used to just bare down when they needed to with runners on base. Now the home run is such an important factor that pitcher throw at max effort on nearly every pitch.

I could conceivably see the stolen base record being broken in the future if the game changed quite a bit. If at some point in the future pitchers begin to dominate like they have at certain points in the past, the stolen base could become a huge weapon again.
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