Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
April 5, 2002, Washington Post

Spinning Records

Play ball!

In 2001, baseball fans saw some of the game's biggest records smashed. Will this be another record-breaking year? Maybe. Barry Bonds, who had 73 home runs last season, hit four homers in his first two games.

But I do know that there are some records that will not be broken. Not this year. Or anytime soon. Today's players are as good as the old-time stars, but small changes in the game have made a big difference.

Here are some single-season records that absolutely, positively will never be broken:

Most triples: 36 in 1912 by John Owen "Chief" Wilson of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A triple is one of baseball's greatest thrills, but the three-base hit has gotten a lot tougher to get since Chief Wilson hit three dozen 90 years ago. Now 20 triples in a season is considered remarkable. Today's batters aren't the problem. They are hitting long drives that would have easily gotten them to third base in 1912. The difference is today's fielders. They are much faster and their throwing arms are a lot stronger. Getting to third is a lot more difficult.

Also, ballparks are smaller. Old-time parks were huge. Center field in the old Polo Grounds in New York City was about 500 feet from home plate. Nowadays, center field fences are just over 400 feet from home plate. If a batter at the Polo Grounds knocked the ball over the center fielder's head, he could cruise into third base, no problem.

Most stolen bases: 130 in 1982 by Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics.

Players are still stealing bases, but no one got even halfway to 130 last season.

Trying to steal a base doesn't make much sense in today's game. Why? Because everybody is hitting home runs. About one in every three starting players last year knocked 20 or more four-baggers. Why try to steal a base, and maybe get thrown out, if the next hitter might get you home with a home run? (Some record books say Hugh Nicol holds the record with 138 stolen bases in 1887, but stolen bases were counted differently then.)

Most innings pitched: 680 in 1879 by Will White of the Cincinnati Red Stockings (later the Reds).

In the early days of baseball, teams needed only a handful of pitchers. So pitchers got a lot of innings. Today's teams might have as many as a dozen pitchers, and rarely does any player throw more than 250 innings. Pitchers today, such as Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens, are throwing 95 mile-per-hour fastballs. They can't pitch every day. Their arms couldn't take it.

Old-time pitchers were not as hard-charging. They even allowed batters to request the kind of pitch they wanted -- low or high! And they were pitching from around 50 feet from home plate instead of today's 60 feet 6 inches. It was no big deal to pitch every day and pitchers didn't worry about wearing out their arms. Pitch every day and the innings pile up.

Most regular season games played: 165 in 1962 by Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Here's a record even "Iron Man" Cal Ripken couldn't break. That's because there are only 162 games in the regular season. That was true even in 1962. How did Wills play 165 games in a 162-game season? Simple. The Dodgers tied the San Francisco Giants for the National League pennant (championship) after 162 games. The teams played a three-game playoff, counted as regular season games, to see who would play in the World Series. And Wills played every game that season.

These days, in the event of a tie, the teams play a one-game playoff.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail (with "The Score" in the subject field): kidspost@washpost.com.

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