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Posted By: Scott Forrest

What peevs me most is the people who try to re-write old stats so that they can compare players of the past with modern day players. It's not possible - the balls were different, the mentality of the game was different, the rules, gloves are lack-thereof, etc. How can you possibly compare the stats of a starting pitcher who in the 1800's was expected to go the distance, (like Radbourne), with someone like Pedro Martinez whose outings are based on pitch-counts? Was Radbourne better? I seriously doubt it...but the stats...

My favorite one-year performance was Roger Maris hitting 61 in '61. Second would be Denny McLain winning 31 in '68. To me these feats were especially impressive because these two players managed to go beyond their normal abilities for one season, and didn't even use steroids to do so.