THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030550
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The night Cal Ripken played his 2,000th consecutive baseball game, the Rolling Stones kicked off their Voodoo Lounge tour with a concert in Washington, D.C.
In case younger readers are wondering, yes, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were just as ugly when Ripken's streak began.
To give them their due, in the realm of rock 'n' roll, Jagger and Richards are every ounce the iron men Ripken is, though Cal is easier on the eyes.
The Stones, of course, work according to a schedule of their own making, with off-days built in. Ripken's itinerary is set down by Major League Baseball. Now that America faces the prospect of baseball interruptus, it appears that the game's sacred rhythms will be sacrificed along with one or two potentially record-setting performances.
Although Ripken's perfect attendance streak will survive a strike, notable achievements in hitting and pitching would be warped by a shortened season.
Already, stat-crazed fans are warming up a few asterisks in the bullpen, a sure sign of the coming of unreliable, unsatisfying data.
This is a good time, then, to speak up in defense of the asterisk. Much maligned, the asterisk has all but disappeared from popular sports culture since then-commissioner Fay Vincent rewrote the record book in 1991.
Vincent removed the asterisk from Roger Maris' single-season home run record, settling a 30-year-old argument in favor of Maris over Babe Ruth.
A longer schedule - from 154 to 162 games - made it possible for Maris to catch and pass The Babe. Maris needed all eight of those games to hit his 60th and 61st.
Maris set a record, but he failed to break Ruth's.
Matt Williams, Ken Griffey Jr., and Frank Thomas are not chasing just Maris' record. Their slugging feats also are measured against Ruth's greater accomplishment.
With the luxury of eight additional games, there's no telling how many home runs The Babe could have hit in 1927.
Going into September of that season, Ruth needed 17 more home runs to break his own 59-home run record. He got them, with one game to spare.
In 1961, people howled when commissioner Ford Frick qualified Maris' record. Vincent, representing an era of devalued athletic accomplishment, took care of the controversy once and for all.
Now the matter hardly ever comes up for argument any more. But to be fair to the legends of past generations, what's needed are not fewer asterisks, but more.
Asterisks can be a useful tool in flushing out the half truths and voodoo statistics that fill our record books.
Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's career record for hits. But he needed 2,600 more times at bat to get 65 more hits than Cobb.
Hank Aaron holds the record for most career home runs. But he used 4,000 more at-bats to hit 41 more home runs than Ruth's 714.
Standards of excellence should not be compromised by changing times or defective memories.
When people hear that Eric Dickerson holds the NFL record for most yards rushing in a single season, they do not stop to think that he beat O.J. Simpson's standard because of an expanded schedule.
Dickerson, with two extra games to play in 1984, outrushed Simpson by all of 102 yards.
This is just a wild guess, but it's doubtful Simpson has spent much time lately worrying about the record book. Neither should we. There is an overemphasis, especially in baseball, on statistics.
Then, again, if we are going to go to the trouble of keeping records, we should see to it that they tell the whole story. by CNB