Sports Records Need No Asterisk

The asterisk is one of those cute little bits of punctuation that writers use on occasion when they are too lazy to properly footnote but when their lawyer insists that something be done to avoid a lawsuit. In sports, though, it has become a tedious device to suggest that some great achievement is, in fact, not all that impressive. Roger Maris’ single season home run record started it off, Barry Bonds’ lifetime home run record may or may not suffer the same fate, and now, Don Shula, coach of the only ever undefeated team (Miami 1972) in NFL history, says New Englands Patriots should have an asterisk by their record if they go undefeated. What nonsense.

When Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961, he broke the record set by Babe Ruth of 60 from 1927. However, the 1961 season had 8 more games than the 1927 season did. Since Mr. Maris hit the 61st after the 154th game of the season, some argue he didn’t really break the Babe’s record. The asterisk in the record book is there to note that statistical difference. Yet, 61 is more than 60. Had the numbers junkies really wanted to do this right, they would have established a game per home run statistic. Mr. Ruth’s 154 games divided by 60 home runs means he hit a homer every 2.567 games. Mr. Maris’ 162 games divided by 61 home runs means he homered every 2.65 games, a not quite as impressive result. Mr. Ruth didn’t have people sending him death threats either.

As this journal has noted before, Barry Bonds has a rather unlikable public persona who may or may not have taken steroids to bulk up, thus cheating in the minds of many. Steroids are serious stuff, but one isn’t entirely comfortable with drawing this particular line. A diet high in protein can build muscles, but it can also result in the build up of ketones in the body that can cause liver and kidney damage. The argument that diet is natural and steroid use is “unnatural” rather belies the fact that the human body itself produces steroids. Training 12-hours a day isn’t natural either, but some athletes do it. Sure, Mr. Bonds is a vastly bigger jerk than Henry Aaron, whose record he broke (indeed, Mr. Aaron is gentleman by even the harshest of standards) but he hit more home runs than Mr. Aaron. And by the way, Japan’s Saduharo Oh hit 868 home runs in Japan. Why isn’t this recognized as the World Record?

This brings up a particularly silly argument about baseball records in particular. There are no two fields in pro ball that are identical. Fenway Park is about as twisted a design as one could make with the Green Monster in left (a wall ridiculously high – the one dividing East and West Berlin was shorter), and Pesky’s Pole, which Wikipedia describes as “the pole on the right field foul line, which stands a mere 302 feet from home plate, the shortest right field porch in Major League Baseball.” Moreover, playing a mile up in Denver changes the game vastly. Running is harder for the average Charlie Flatlander, and the ball doesn’t curve as much. Should there be asterisks for Denver’s coming records?

This isn’t just a baseball matter, though. Don Shula believes that if the New England Patriots are undefeated Super Bowl Champions this year their record deserves an asterisk because of their illegal (by NFL rules) use of videotape to steal signals and plays from the other side. Mr. Shula said, “I guess you got the same thing as putting an asterisk by Barry Bonds' home run record. I guess it will be noted that the Patriots were fined and a No.1 draft choice was taken away during that year of accomplishment. The sad thing is Tom Brady looks so good, it doesn't look like he needs any help.” True, but they will have won every game they played, and they will have played 2 more regular season games than the Dolphins of 1972.

Records were made to be broken; indeed, they are kept solely for the drama that a run at a record entails. The asterisk diminishes the drama. It’s a great device for lawyers, but sports suffers from enough bickering as it is. Why not a put an asterisk by those Yankees World Series wins before interleague play? Why not put one next to every championship won between 1942 and 1945 when most pros were off fighting fascists? How about one next to every record in baseball prior to Jackie Robinson breaking the color line? Soon, there will be more asterisks than records.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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