It seems that the same old records are being discussed as the ones that will or will not be broken. Yet no one has touched upon a coveted hitter's record of batting average. Consider this: No one has hit above .400 since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. Think of all the other records that have been broken and re-broken since that time. All time home runs, most home runs in a season, most consecutive games with a hit, there's a lot. Now taking into consideration how hard it is just to hit .400, (it's been 66 years, soon to be 67) that wasn't even the highest average ever hit. The highest average accumulated during a season of major league baseball as we know it since 1900 is .426 by Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901. That's still not the highest if you count pre-1900. The highest then was .485 by a fellow named Tip O'Neill who played for the St. Louis Browns in 1887. And if you go by that record, the single season record for batting average has NEVER been broken.

Let's get real. The last person I remember that had a legitimate shot at .400 was John Olerud who hit .363 in '93. Before that, the closest anyone came to hitting .400 in my lifetime was George Brett who hit .390 in 1980. That was an amazing feat! No other hitter since Ted Williams in '41 had ever come that close to hitting .400. So why has this record never been discussed? Yes, Joltin' Joe's record of 56 consecutive games with a hit is monumentous. Yes, Cy Young's 511 wins is practically the Mt. Everest of baseball records, but to hit .485 in a single season is Herculean. No mortal human being could ever do it. Especially today when pitcher's are throwing some really nasty stuff towards the plate. Granted, you can't really compare today's baseball with last centuries baseball, but a record is a record and it's the same basic principles today as it was in the late 1800s. The hardest thing in the world to do is hit a small white ball with a wooden stick, and Tip O'Neill almost did it 50% of the time he was up to bat.

Let's think about it in today's terms. Tip hit .485. A player that just wants to get to .400 must have a hit in every 4 out of 10 at bats. That's an average of 2 hits a game folks. Yes, some players can have a great game and pull off 5 hits in one game, but to have an average of 2 hits a game for a season is ludicrous. No one can do it...NO ONE! I honestly don't think there are any points of contention, the batting average for a single season simply cannot be broken. It has not been broken for over 120 years. Even the great Cy Young set his 511 career victories record after the single season batting average record had been set. Try and debate it...I dare you. ;-).

Learn more about this author, Mark Burnett.
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