Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, October 8, 2004, Washington Post

Some for the Books
Ichiro Suzuki just broke the record for most hits in a Major League Baseball season by rapping out 262 hits. The old record of 257 by Hall of Famer George Sisler had stood for 84 years.

They say that "records are made to be broken." But lots of sports records have been hanging around for a long time. Let's take a look at some.

Baseball: Here's a record that is even older than the one Ichiro broke -- triples! John Owen "Chief" Wilson had 36 triples in 1912. No one has come close to that record lately because players don't hit many triples these days.

Players still hit doubles. But no one has overtaken Earl Webb's record of 67 in 1931. Funny thing, Webb never had more than 30 doubles in any other season during his career.

Football: Paul Hornung scored 176 points for the Green Bay Packers in 1960. That's the most for any season. Hornung, who was known as "The Golden Boy," could run, catch and kick. He scored 15 touchdowns and kicked 41 extra points and 15 field goals during the Packers' 12-game season.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino had a golden arm. He threw 48 touchdown passes in 1984. So Marino has held that record for 20 years.

That's not as long as Washington Redskins legend "Slinging" Sammy Baugh has held the record for punting. Baugh, also a quarterback known for throwing the football, averaged an incredible 51.4 yards a punt in 1940.

Basketball: Forget Shaq or Kobe or even Michael Jordan. Wilt "the Stilt" Chamberlain set records that have lasted more than 40 years. During the 1961-62 season, the 7-foot-1 center poured in 4,029 points for the Philadelphia Warriors. That's more than 50 points per game. Wilt wasn't just a scorer. In the 1960-61 season, Chamberlain grabbed a record 2,149 rebounds, an average of 27.2 per game.

In college hoops, "Pistol Pete" Maravich averaged 44.5 points per game as a senior at Louisiana State University in 1970. That broke the record of 44.2 points a game he set the year before. And Maravich set those records before there was a three-point shot in college basketball.

Hockey: Wayne Gretzky owns almost every scoring record in the National Hockey League. For example, "The Great One" notched nine of the top 11 point-scoring seasons. Gretsky set the record for most goals (92) in a season in 1981-82.

Soccer: Any kid knows it's tough to score a goal in soccer. And it's real tough to score in the World Cup, soccer's biggest tournament. French forward Just Fontaine scored an unbelievable 13 goals in the 1958 World Cup competition. No one has come close to that record.