Baseball’s most prestigious records and milestones aren’t likely to be approached anytime soon, which means Mets pitcher David Peterson and Blue Jays manager John Schneider probably won’t ever be in the position Islanders players and coaches find themselves in today as Capitals star Alex Ovechkin looks to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record.
But they wouldn’t mind it being on the mound or in the dugout as a potential record-breaking moment loomed.
“I think there’s an aspect to it that’s pretty cool,” Peterson said Saturday afternoon before the Mets beat the Blue Jays 3-2. “Just as a sports fan — if you could be in person and witness something like that live, and especially for us having a front row seat in the dugout, there’s something to that.”
“As a fan of the game and competition, it’s pretty cool,” Schneider said. “When you’re looking at historical stuff, it’s pretty sweet to be there.”
Of course, active baseball players and managers aren’t alone in understanding they’ll probably never get the chance to witness something on the level of Ovechkin’s record-breaker. Ovechkin tied Gretzky at 894 goals Friday night, when he scored twice in the Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Blackhawks.
While Ovechkin will be the second player in the last two-plus years to break a once-seemingly unbreakable mark — LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar atop the NBA’s all-time scoring list on Feb. 7, 2023 — the next potential iconic record-breaking moment is nowhere on the horizon.
James, who is averaging 24.6 points per game in his age-40 season, enters today 11,525 points ahead of Kevin Durant, the second-leading active scorer. Even if James retired right now, Durant — who has been limited to 274 regular season games since suffering a torn Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals — could maintain his career average of 27.2 points per game for the next five full seasons and still enter the 2030-31 season shy of the record.
Gretzky has been the NHL’s all-time goal leader since he surpassed Gordie Howe’s mark of 801 goals on Mar. 23, 1994. Thirty-one years from now is 2056, which may as well be a made-up number.
Ovechkin is signed through next season, has offered no indication he will retire anytime soon and averaged 41 goals per season the previous three years, so with good health, he could approach 1,000 goals (as well as Gretzky’s professional record of 1,072 goals counting his start in the WHA).
Only three active players — Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Evgeni Malkin — are even at 500 goals, and all are 35 years or older. Austin Matthews (398 goals) and Leon Draisaitl (397 goals) are approaching 400 goals at the end of their ninth and 10th full seasons, respectively.
“I feel like there’s some sports where there are records and you’re like ‘I’m probably not seeing that again in my lifetime,’” said the 29-year-old Peterson, who was born on Sept. 3, 1995, three days before Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record. Ripken extended the streak to 2,632 games, the equivalent of 16-plus full 162-game seasons.
Schneider didn’t hesitate to suggest Ripken’s record as baseball’s most untouchable mark.
“Like, not even close,” Schneider said. “In today’s game, no one’s touching that one.”
No active player is within 300 homers of Barry Bonds’ career record of 762 round-trippers. Aaron Judge, who turns 33 later this month, entered this season with 315 homers and would need to average 41 homers for the next 11 seasons in order to break Bonds’ mark. (Good news: Judge already has six homers this year)
Schneider said the one record he’d love to see approached is Pete Rose’s 4,192 hits. Freddie Freeman is “closest” to Rose at 2,270 hits and has averaged 164 hits per season the last 12 years — the pace he’s have to maintain for 12 more years in order to break Rose’s record during his age-47 season. Jose Altuve is right behind Freeman at 2,244 hits and has averaged 166 hits over the last 11 years, a pace he could maintain for the next 11 years and still would still leave him almost 100 hits shy of Rose entering the 2036 season, when Altuve will be 46 years old.
“Some of these things come up, it’s interesting to think about — does anyone ever sniff this?” Peterson said.
Peterson acknowledged the Islanders, who are seven points out of wild card spot with six games left to play, are in perhaps the perfect spot today to witness and appreciate history without it impacting their season.
“If it were in Game 7 of the World Series and we lost in the World Series, I’d probably feel a little different than a game in April,” Peterson said of potentially giving up a historic hit. “So I think it’s cool.”
Read the full article here
