Typically when an athlete breaks a career record, they're at the tail end of their careers and no longer leading the league in that category. However Barry Bonds is leading the league in home runs (as of May 11). Has this ever happened before for a major category in baseball? Other sports?
2007-05-11 05:33:01 · 4 answers · asked by aladou 5 in Sports ➔ Baseball
In 1991 Rickey Henderson led the AL in stolen bases and passed Lou Brock for the all-time record.
In 1930 Babe Ruth led the majors in walks and took over the record.
Bonds did the same thing with walks in 2004 from Rickey Henderson.
In 1913 Wahoo Sam Crawford took over the lead in triples and led the majors.
Trevor Hoffman led the NL in saves in 2006 and took over the lead from Lee Smith.
Cy Young took over the record in wins from Pud Galvin in 1903 and led the AL.
In 1921 Walter Johnson took over the strikeout record and led the majors.
The strikeout record with regards to Ryan and Carlton was already mentioned earlier.
2007-05-11 06:11:55 · answer #1 · answered by Deacon101_98 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In 1983, Nolan Ryan caught Walter Johnson in career strikeouts on 27-April (or passed him; Johnson's got a 1-K dispute in his official stats, someday it'll be resolved), then passed him (for certain) on 02-May. Steve Carlton passed Johnson on 20-May. Carlton first caught up to Ryan (who had missed about a month) on 07-June. They hopscotched each other for another two months or so, then Carlton took the lead for good on 28-July, finishing the season with a +32 lead on Ryan and leading the NL with 275 Ks.
In 1984, Ryan very briefly passed Carlton in late May, then took the lead on 05-September and finished the year at +2. They both pitched on Opening Day 1985, Carlton taking a +1 lead for a few hours, but Ryan then buried him -- Lefty was pretty much outta gas, and missed a long stretch with injuries -- and never looked back.
So, yeah, Carlton did it for strikeouts, though it was more dramatic than usual, dueling with Ryan.
2007-05-11 12:46:20 · answer #2 · answered by Chipmaker Authentic 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It will never happen. I think that the season HR total may be broken by Ryan Howard or A-Rod, not Barry. After the career record is broken, he will slow down on purpose due to the hype.
2007-05-11 16:03:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Babe Ruth set the career record for homeruns very early in his career (1921 I believe) and led the league in homeruns many seasons after that.
2007-05-11 13:00:58 · answer #4 · answered by Brian 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋