Most people assume either Fernando Alonso or Sebastien Vettel have all of the “youngest to ever…” records in Formula 1, but the youngest driver to ever set fastest lap in a Grand Prix is Nico Rosberg, who set it at over a year and a half younger than 2nd-best Alonso.
The often-mocked Jacques Villeneuve holds a genuinely impressive record: the most wins in a driver’s first season of F1, with 4. He now shares this record with Lewis Hamilton.
In a sport well-known for certain drivers and teams dominating, the record for the most finishes in a rookie season belongs to one of the hundreds of drivers even well-informed fans often forget about, Tiago Monteiro, who finished 18 of the 19 races in the 2005 season, and had the driveshaft of his car not exploded during the Brazilian GP, it would likely have been 19 of 19. This record was later equalled in 2011 by Paul di Resta.
Fun fact: Monteiro wouldn’t have had the record at all if it weren’t for unlikely help. In the week before the 2005 Turkish GP Monteiro had a horrible tootache, severe enough to stop him competing. But his team boss, Colin Kolles, happened to also be a dentist. He performed root canal surgery, and Monteiro was fit to race.
An unfortunate record: while several other high profile drivers may not have a race seat for the 2013 season, Charles Pic does, despite during this past season setting the record for the most times being passed, with 70 in the 19 races.
I was fascinated by the Dale Berra fatoids and looked up father-son combos.
Hall of Famer Earl Averill also had a son in MLB, Earl Averill Jr. I honestly had forgotten that guy existed, he was a catcher in the late 50s/early 60s.
Anyway, who do you think holds the all-time record by reaching base in 17 consecutive plate appearances? Ruth? Williams? Cobb? Bonds? It’s Earl Averill Jr., career .242 hitter. He did in in 1962.
It’s not too surprising that Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. are co-holders of the record of most consecutive games with a home run, 8. But the other co-holder of the record is Dale Long, who hit only 132 homers in a 10-year career.
Especially given that the record wasn’t set by Josh Beckett last year, or John Lackey the year before.
The classic answer would be that the record for most pitching wins in a career by an MLB performer with 0 career losses and a 0.00 career ERA is held by Rocky Colavito, with 3.
Not sure if you count it as a sport, but the record for fastest circumnavigation of the world used to be held by Arnold Palmer, in his then-new Learjet.
And both went to Florida State! Man, those were the days. Every punt/kick-off was a possibility. Loved the tweet from Danny Kanell this week about how cool it was that they did an ESPN special on the second-best athlete from the 80s, but how ironic it was that they showed the special in Prime Time.
And, in the category of most Super Bowl rings won as a player: Joe Montana or Ronnie Lott? Terry Bradshaw or Mean Joe Greene? Shucks, there are dozens of guys who’ve racked up four of 'em, from kicker Adam Vinatieri to receiver Lynn Swann – but it’s Charles Haley who somehow got five.
A.C. Green is the NBA’s Iron Man with a record 1,192 consecutive games played. He made the All-Star team in 1990 and played on three NBA championship teams, but was rather an everyday average role-player.
Larry Kenon and Kendall Gill co-hold the NBA’s single-game steals record with 11.
The NBA season is only 82 games long, but Walt Bellamy played 88 games during the 1968-69 season in which he was traded from the Knicks to the Pistons. The Knicks’ schedule was offset by that much.
It’s difficult to understate how amazing it was when he came back. Halladay being a disaster in 2000 was kind of predictable; you could tell in 1999 it was only a matter of time before someone hammered him. He could throw hard but had no other skill; he lacked command and his pitches didn’t have any movement on them. In '99 he struck out 82 and walked 79, which is math for “they’re going to tee off on this guy any day now.”
Whatever they did to him in early 2001, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball literally the day he came back. I couldn’t believe it was the same guy; he was throwing the nastiest stuff with precise command, and everything was low in the zone. I have never in my life seem a professional athlete so dramatically transform their game; even Jose Bautista’s emergence wasn’t as impressive.
Um, Charles Haley was not exactly a slouch. 5 pro bowls, twice first team All Pro, 100 career sacks, twice a finalist for the Hall of Fame. Also had a unique skill set - how many hybrid DE/LBs are there? And how many of those can be dominant?
Another Grand Slam record in baseball: the only player to hit a Grand Slam from both sides of the plate in a single game is Bill Mueller, who was a decent player but mainly a singles-and-doubles hitter with a good on-base percentage; only 85 career home runs.
