# Can an NBA player remember 1,000 different games he played in? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295 "2015-08-19T23:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/1 "2015-08-19T23:01:19Z")
Since this question is difficult to answer in GQ, I am putting it in IMHO instead. If an NBA player played in only 10 games in his entire career, he’d probably vividly remember every single game for many years to come. But a very good NBA player might play 1,000 games in his career (if a career lasting well over a decade, with 82-game seasons, plus playoff games.) Is he capable of remembering every single game he played in, with a fair amount of detail? Or would his memory banks, at a certain point, just tune out most games and only remember the most memorable games? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/2 "2015-08-19T23:52:11Z")
Don’t know about NBA players, but I can only remember a few high and low points of a few days after 35 years working. I’d expect a pro athlete can recall the magic moments; the highest highs and lowest lows. And probably almost nothing of the rest of those games, much less every bit of all the other routine games. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/3 "2015-08-20T00:50:03Z")
> **[Kurkjian: Seventy years later, remembering Ted Williams' magical season](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/6996357/seventy-years-later-remembering-ted-williams-magical-season)** > > It's been 70 years since Ted Williams batted .406, the last time a player has finished a season at .400 or better. > [@](#): > > In 2003, comedian Billy Crystal was asked, on the field at Yankee Stadium before one of the league championship series games, for his first recollection of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. "I was sitting right up there [first-base side, upper deck],‘’ Crystal said. “In the second game of a doubleheader, Ted Williams strikes out against Bobby Shantz. Thirty years later, I meet Mr. Williams. I said, ‘I have home movies of you striking out against Bobby Shantz in the second game of a doubleheader at the Stadium.’ He looked at me and I swear, Tim, he says, ‘Curveball, low and away.’ He said, ‘Ellie [Yankees catcher Elston Howard] dropped the ball and tagged me, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s it!’” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/4 "2015-08-20T01:11:33Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > [Seventy years later, remembering Ted Williams' magical season - ESPN](http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6996357/seventy-years-later-remembering-ted-williams-magical-season) Yeah, but Ted Williams only struck out 709 times in nineteen seasons of play. Considering that to have the dropped third strike rule in effect, first base has to be unoccupied or occupied with two outs, and the catcher has to fail to catch the ball cleanly, that may be the only time that ever happened. I’ll bet it didn’t happen 10 times in his whole career. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/5 "2015-08-20T01:18:59Z")
'zactly. Now if Billy had asked Ted what happened 2 at-bats later the answer would’ve been crickets. That was a famous at-bat and Billy was very far from the first person to ask Ted about it. Maybe not even the first person to ask that month. I lived in STL during McGwire’s glory years. I saw his home run #60 from good seats on the first base side. I remember it well. I suspect McGwire does too. His next at bat? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/6 "2015-08-20T04:52:04Z")
Nah, the Ted Williams story is impressive. I wouldn’t expect him to remember that even if it was the only time a catcher ever tagged him on a dropped 3rd strike, which I doubt to be the case. And I don’t think it was a particularly famous strikeout, either. I’d never expect an NBA player to rattle off his stats or even one memorable moment from every one of a thousand games. Especially not several years after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/7 "2015-08-20T11:30:26Z")
Although extremely rare, some regular people do have savant-like individual date memory-recall abilities. Famously, [actress Marilu Henner\*!\*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UidGrceG5Z8#t=95) :eek: (saw this when it first aired…) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/8 "2015-08-20T12:32:32Z")
I recall reading, back in the 80s, an article about Jimmy Connors in which the interviewer/journalist insisted that Connors could remember the details of every match he had ever played. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/9 "2015-08-20T13:02:46Z")
I once heard a story of famous bridge player who, during a tournament, called the director to say that he had played this exact hand several years earlier and proceeded to name correctly each card in each of the hands. I can assume only that whoever had prepared the boards had prepared this one to see what would happen. Once Pete Rose was asked which NL player hit the highest percentage of fly balls. He thought about it for a few seconds and then correctly named him. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/10 "2015-08-20T14:40:44Z")
Why limit the question to pro athletes? I’m sure recall varies a great deal by individual, but I have played organized baseball/softball since I was 5 years old. I can clearly recall some moments from games that I played 40+ years ago but not all the details of any individual game I played last season. I think that is pretty much standard. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/11 "2015-08-20T14:49:14Z")
Wilt Chamberlain remembered boinking 20,000 women. Ok, he didn’t really, it was just an estimate. But still, 20,000 women! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/12 "2015-08-20T14:52:07Z")
**Moderator Action** Since this concerns basketball (and maybe other professional sports games), it is best suited to the Game Room. Moving thread from In My Humble Opinion to The Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/13 "2015-08-20T15:18:48Z")
What Marilu Henner (among others) has is what is known as **eidetic memory**. > [@](#): > > The ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory after only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for some time after exposure without using mnemonics. From Wikipedia article [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory) As to current athletes, Lebron James probably comes closest. > [@](#): > > It’s 2012, and James is asked after a game to name the most memorable dunks in his career. Listing them quickly off the top of his head – his slam on poor Damon Jones, or when he leaped over the top of John Lucas III – is not all that impressive… Most players remember their greatest hits. What’s remarkable is everything else: His ability, that day, to recall who was guarding the player who threw him an alley-oop pass from across the floor (James’ favorite alley-oop came on a pass from Daniel Gibson over the arms of Antonio Daniels, he says). Or how an opponent might have gotten away with a hand-check foul on the play before a dunk four years earlier (these often involve Kevin Garnett). Also from the article: > [@](#): > > “Sometimes when we come into our morning meetings on game days NBA TV will be on and there will be some classic game on,” Heat guard Mario Chalmers says. “LeBron will take one look at it and know what game it is. He’ll be like, 'Oh, that’s Game 2 of the ‘97 Finals,’ before they even put it on the screen.” Full article [here](http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11067098/lebron-james-greatest-weapon-brain) And [one more](http://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-memory-2014-7) to boot. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/14 "2015-08-20T15:28:39Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > What Marilu Henner (among others) has is what is known as **eidetic memory**. Marilu Henner is full of shit. I saw her on a TV show long ago say that someone taught her the trick. That was well before she started claiming she had eidetic memory, which is another load of crap. The trick is that you make shit up because no one is going to be able to prove what you did on a particular day 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/15 "2015-08-20T15:37:12Z")
There’s just no telling. SOME athletes forget games completely, as soon as they are over, and are exasperated by fans who expect them to remember epic moments as if they happened yesterday. Meanwhile, other athletes seem to remember every pitch they every swung at, every shot they ever took, and every block they ever threw. I mean, if a writer said to Ted Williams, “I saw you strike out once, with the bases loaded, against Eddie Lopat,” Williams was liable to interject, “I remember that- it was the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium, in 1952. On a 2-2 count, Lopat threw a floater way outside, and the ump called a third strike. I couldn’t believe it.” ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/16 "2015-08-20T15:59:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Marilu Henner is full of shit. I saw her on a TV show long ago say that someone taught her the trick. That was well before she started claiming she had eidetic memory, which is another load of crap. The trick is that you make shit up because no one is going to be able to prove what you did on a particular day 40 years ago. I dunno. I’ve seen clips of her talking about it and she seemed pretty convincing. A lot of those with eidetic ability like to claim they can tell you day of the week from any random date as Marilu does in the link above. That’s nothing more than memorizing the perpetual calendar which I’m sure -if one wanted to- could be done by just about anybody. When put to the test, I’ve seen Marilu recount what she did on a particular date with remarkable clarity. Now as you say it’s somewhat difficult if not impossible to definitively suss out whether what she claims actually happened as she said it but it convinced me. On a clip from **60 Minutes** , they interview others with the capacity and some said they would make a conscious effort to \*file \*the memories so to speak. I guess that could be the “trick” aspect of it. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/17 "2015-08-20T16:47:32Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > When put to the test, I’ve seen Marilu recount what she did on a particular date with remarkable clarity. Now as you say it’s somewhat difficult if not impossible to definitively suss out whether what she claims actually happened as she said it but it convinced me. I watched the clip linked above and others just now. On almost every occasion, the interviewer asked Marilu about a date on which something memorable happened. Elvis died, LA earthquake, Taxi won an Emmy award, and so on. And not that that makes it any easier, because she has to remember the date of every slightly memorable thing. You can ask me where I was when the OJ Simpson verdict was announced and I could tell you. But I couldn’t say what I was wearing or exactly who was in the room with me (it was a classroom) or even what the date was. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/18 "2015-09-05T01:03:08Z")
Jerry Lucas, a great college and pro basketball player in the 1960s, might be one of the few who could remember many individual games. He has written a book on memory training and recited chapters from the Bible and pages of Manhattan telephone numbers to audiences. > **[ESPN Classic - Lucas had a secret weapon, his mind](https://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/lucas_jerry.html)** > > Jerry Lucas was a three-time All-American at Ohio State who also is known for his amazing memory. Bill James for a while did some tracers on baseball stories told by various people. Basically these guys didn’t remember things. Basically everything becomes more vivid: it’s bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two men out, down a run and you get a home run off Walter Johnson. The truth is more mundane. Whitey Ford did remember correctly he gave up a home run to Billy Martin after the Yankees traded him to Kansas City but he is wrong about when that game happened. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-nba-player-remember-1-000-different-games-he-played-in/728295/19 "2015-09-05T03:44:07Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > You can ask me where I was when the OJ Simpson verdict was announced and I could tell you. But I couldn’t say what I was wearing or exactly who was in the room with me (it was a classroom) or even what the date was. I don’t often remember much of anything mundane in the past, but when I do remember something, it’s in absurd detail. Like down to what I ate, or which direction I was facing, and things like that.