# Which famous sport stars finished just shy of a milestone? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 31, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771 "2017-05-31T13:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/61 "2017-06-07T01:43:37Z")
Slight tangent. Frank Beaurepaire won 3 silver medals and 3 bronze medals in swimming at Olympics from 1908-1924. However, he was barred from competing in the 1912 Olympics, because he was employed as a PE teacher and therefore a ‘Professional Sportsman’. The Australian 4x200m relay team won gold in 1912. Frank Beaurepaire was the reigning Australian 200m champion. You work it out… The decision to ban him was reversed in 1914. He missed 1916 Olympics because…1916. Won Silver and Bronze medals at both 1920 and 1924 games. Later became Lord Mayor of Melbourne, did Sir Frank. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/62 "2017-06-07T13:37:53Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Meh, the Haddix game was a fluke by a middling pitcher. I’d say the Martinez, Stieb and Mussina near misses were worse. I would agree Haddix is the least of those four pitchers - Martinez is in the Hall ,Mussina should be, and Stieb is a borderline case - but Harvey Haddix was a pretty darned good pitcher in his own right. Calling a guy with 30 career WAR and who won two games in a World Series his team won just “middling” seems a little off to me. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/63 "2017-06-07T13:50:51Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Losing a perfect game to the 27th batter has happened 11 times, but the worst instance (imo) was Pedro Martinez losing his to the _28th_ batter. 9 perfect innings, but a scoreless game. I’d say losing it on the 27th to a obvious-to-a-blind-man umpire error is worse. And even worse is even though MLB went back decades to eliminate no-hitters based on a new rule, they wouldn’t fix that one the same day. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/64 "2017-06-07T17:09:00Z")
MLB can say all they want that Armando Galarraga didn’t throw a perfect game, but the fact of the matter is that he did, and Bud Selig’s stupidity doesn’t change that. I don’t care what the MLB record book says; it’s wrong. Indeed, I would submit to you that he threw the most perfect game ever; 28 batters, and he got every one of them out. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/65 "2017-06-10T08:38:04Z")
Obligatoryish sumo post! 🙂 Takamiyama, the great American sumo trailblazer, one stated in an interview that he wanted to be the first ever 40-year-old sekitori. In the May 1984 basho, he went 2-13 from Juryo 12, a mark guaranteed to knock him out of the sekitori ranks; he retired rather than face this humiliation. Age…39 years, 11 months. :eek: On a related note, long-time survivalist Kaio had just turned 39 when he went kadoban (for a record 14th time). As he was ozeki and had much farther to fall, he almost certainly could’ve become the first ever 40-year-old sekitori if he wanted to. But he was tired of the physical grind and wanted to get started as an oyakata, so he retired immediately. Kyokutenho would finally be the one to break through in the September 2014 tournament. He was still in Makuuchi when he retired at the age of 40 years, 10 months. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771/66 "2017-06-10T16:22:13Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > If by that you mean nobody bothered to offer him a new contract (for whatever reasons), then, yeah. It could refer to all of the [del]pitchers pussing out[/del] intentional walks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-famous-sport-stars-finished-just-shy-of-a-milestone/787771.md?page=3)