This gets my vote. That was in 1973 and was the first time I’d ever watched the Triple Crown. Disney’s movie (with Diane Lane) didn’t quite capture the dominating nature of his Belmont Stakes win. And in his Kentucky Derby win, Secretariat was accelerating throughout all 1¼ miles (10 furlongs) - each ¼ mile time was faster than the previous. Secretariat set speed records in all three races that still stand today. But his win in the Belmont Stakes was total annihilation, an awesome performance.
It will be remembered in 2273. Mark my words, and I’ll bump this thread at that time.
This may have some merit. Secretariat did what no other horse has done before, and what no other horse has done since. As a student of horse racing, I believe that his records will stand for a very long time.
As for human-powered sports, inasmuch as I am a fan of NFL, CFL, MLB, and NHL, I don’t see particular games or plays surviving into memory. The “immaculate reception,” Joe Carter’s hit, Russ Jackson’s last game (and Grey Cup win), and Paul Henderson’s goal–these will fade and be forgotten, sadly.
Similarly, Red Rum’s record at the Grand National is unlikely to be beaten. Mind you I doubt the Grand National will still be run in 300 years time - it’s a wee bit brutal.
I doubt the watches used in Parrott’s run are still around, but watches at that time were known to be accurate and were used for things like detemining longtitude. After all, he was running for money as part of a bet, for the equivalent of many weeks earnings for a costermonger like him. The route doesn’t seem to have any sharp bends, but I can’t say for sure there was no pavement hopping, but apparently there were men with whips chasing the crowd out of the way so they wouldn’t slow him down, who would have seen anything considered cheating, and the end result was that all parties agreed on the winner of the bet, that Parrott comfortably won.
This article in the Guardian mentions two other eighteenth century milers, one running the mile in 4:03 (naked) as part of a practice run for a four-minute mile, the final run not recorded, and one running in 3:58. In addition to Parrott.
As to downhillishness, this article by the former chairman of the British Athletic Federation, professor of sports science, double Olympic medallist and former world record holder Peter Radford, says that he has walked the route, and it’s flat, it’s a good road running track, it was known at the time as a sporting venue, and it had been used for time trials before, using accurate time pieces.
Not really “sporting events” but people who make difficult journeys for heroic / altruistic reasons do seem to be remembered:
The original “Marathon”
Paul Revere
Laura Secord (in Canada during war of 1812). Terry Fox’s run across Canada has also been iconic enough that it may well be remembered there in 300 years too.
That’s great, but as has already been pointed out, in just 24 years you managed to incorrectly state the home run won the World Series. It just won the first game. How well will the homer be remembered in 24 more years? And by what metric is it more famous than Bill Mazeroski’s homer, Bobby Thompson’s homer, or Joe Carter’s homer?
If in 24 years people forget that Gibson’s homer didn’t end the World Series, will it be remembered at all 300 years from now? I doubt it.
Poker is not well known even today. I doubt five out of 100 randomly selected people off the street could name anyone who has ever won the WSOP.
I also think the impact of Moneymaker on the poker boom is being a little bit overblown here. The boom was well underway; Moneymaker was arguably a result OF the boom, and it’s died down a bit in the last few years. The general starting point for the boom is the late 90s, not the Moneymaker victory. I’ve no doubt Moneymaker helped accelerate it but online poker had clearly sent poker on its way to higher levels of visibility.
A couple of other instances of fuzzy memory have been mentioned in this thread. One is that Babe Ruth called his shot for a little boy. 1) It is at best unclear if Ruth actually call his homerun, and 2) It wasn’t for a little boy, that was another event that may or may not have happened. The two were not related.
Second is a mention of the “Blacksox” game. It wasn’t one game, it was the entire World Series that got thrown. This one did happen.
How ephemeral things are. The OP cites the “immaculate reception” as most memorable, while virtually all historians of the NFL cite the '58 Giants/Colts championship as the most important game in NFL history. If we’ve already got a debate about it, then neither will be remembered.
I’d guess that maybe 5 out of a hundred people would know “WSOP” was anything other than the call sign of a radio or TV station. And that’s just in the US.
