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POLL: Who had the best season (statistically speaking) in any sport ever?

Best Season?

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Midnighter

Midnighter

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Please feel free to submit a 'write in' (and if you do, list said accomplishments)....


1. Wilt Chamberlain - 1961-1962 - 50.4 PPG, 25.7 RBG

2. Wayne Gretzky - 1985-1986 - 52 Goals, 163 Assists, 215 Points

3. Babe Ruth - 1921 - .378 BA, .846 SLG, 59 HR, 171 RBI

4. Oscar Robertson - 1961-1962 - 30.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 11.4 APG

5. Tom Brady - 2007-2008 - 4,806 Yards, 50 TDs, 8 INT

6. Ted Williams - 1941 - .406 BA, 37 HR, 120 RBI

7. LaDanian Tomlinson - 2006-2007 - 1,815 Rushing Yards, 508 Receiving Yards, 31 TDs

8. Steffi Graf - 1988 - 75-2 Record, 4 GS Victories, Olympic Gold Medal

9. Pele - 1961 - 55 Goals, 8 Hat Tricks, Responsible for 48% of Team Scores

10. Tiger Woods - 2000 - 9 PGA Tour Wins, 3 Major Wins

 
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GrimReaper

GrimReaper

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Lionel Messi, just under $170mm a year (yes, I have a warped view of the world, or maybe not).
 
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BrucePa

BrucePa

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Not your typical Midnighter poll, for sure. My vote goes to the Bambino. He simultaneously saved the sport of baseball from the Black Sox scandal while also transforming it into the power sport that is today's game. The guy came out of an orphanage after his parents gave up on him, and he single-handedly strutted across the front pages of the New York Times and ate and drank his way into the record books.

Also, let's not forget that Babe Ruth did all of this when baseball, boxing, and horse racing were the only sports being followed in this country. Football and basketball were irrelevant by comparison until TV was invented. We get words like "Ruthian" from his exploits.
 
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Midnighter

Midnighter

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Connorpozlee said:
I went with Babe.
Fir Gretzky, I would say his ‘81-‘82 season was even better with 92 goals and 120 assists.
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I think both 162 assists and 215 total points are records that still stand which is why I went with 85-86. Could argue he was the best player on a team of great players, but any team he was on in his prime was going to be great (until a few years into his Kings run, when he became 'normal').
 
Connorpozlee

Connorpozlee

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Midnighter said:
I think both 162 assists and 215 total points are records that still stand which is why I went with 85-86. Could argue he was the best player on a team of great players, but any team he was on in his prime was going to be great (until a few years into his Kings run, when he became 'normal').
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Neither is obviously a bad choice. 92 goals is also a record though, and more impressive to me than the assists.
 
S

s1uggo72

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you forgot Lefty.....

Pitching for a 97-loss team​

Steve Carlton’s 1972 season is one of the greatest performances by a pitcher in the last 100 years. The National League Cy Young Award winner, Carlton went 27-10 for a last-place Phillies team that finished 37 1/2 games out of first place.

Any way you measure it, Lefty’s season was one of the ages. For those who cling to traditional stats, Carlton led the league in wins with 27, ERA at 1.91, and strikeouts with 310. He was remarkably durable – his 41 starts and 30 complete games also paced the Senior Circuit, as did his 346 1/2 innings pitched.

The 1972 97-loss Phillies were dismal. Carlton was the pitcher of record for 45.7% of his team’s wins. Carlton’s winning percentage was .730. The rest of the staff combined for a .269 mark. The only pitcher since Carlton to win as many as 27 games in a season is Bob Welch whose 1990 A’s team won 103 games.

If SABRmetrics are your measurements of choice, Carlton’s numbers show his dominance. His 12.5 WAR led all of baseball in ’72. It was the highest single-season mark for a pitcher since Washington’s Walter Johnson in 1913. Carlton led all big league pitchers in ERA+ (182), and fielding-independent pitching (2.01
 
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Connorpozlee

Connorpozlee

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psuro said:
Edwin Moses. Undefeated in the 400m Hurdles for not just one season, but nine consecutive.
Click to expand...
You’d have to pick one of those years to be his best for this poll, wouldn’t you?
Damn impressive though, isn’t it?
 
Mufasa94

Mufasa94

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Oddly enough, none of the listed players on a team in the North American major sports won a championship for the respective season. Another oddity, a few won their share of titles in other seasons.
 
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Midnighter

Midnighter

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Mufasa94 said:
Oddly enough, none of the listed players on a team in the North American major sports won a championship for the respective season. Another oddity, a few won their share of titles in other seasons.
Click to expand...

Personally, on the list I think the following are most impressive:

4 GS Wins in One Year
Averaging a Triple Double for the season
Batting over .400 in a season

There are a lot of ridiculous numbers up there but I don't think the competition in basketball was all that great, especially when Wilt played (I read that in his first year, there was only one other 7 footer and that for the rest of his career, fewer than half the teams he played in a given year had a 7 footer compared to now, when there are 40+ 7 footers).
 
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Omar81

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Traveling and on my iPad so it’s too much hassle to report on all of Ruth’s insane stats from 1921, but: he also had 44 doubles (second in the AL), 16 triples! (2 off the AL lead), and had 35 MORE home runs than the guy who had the second most that year. Those are insane numbers in comparison to his peers that year.
 
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StamfordBridgeVikingatLeftOffensiveTackle

StamfordBridgeVikingatLeftOffensiveTackle

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delcoLion said:
Those are some incredible records. As a baseball fan first and foremost, I lean to Babe Ruth, but, as a Philly guy, Wilt Chamberlain was my favorite player until Dr J and Moses Malone came along.

Have to go with the Babe. GOAT, in my opinion, and would have been HoF as a pitcher.
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That's wild. I could have written that post. My sentiments exactly.
 
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Shep

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They are all unbelievable. If I ranked them by "dominant season by less than a physically dominant player relative to others in the sport"
it would be Gretzky hands down. He wasn't the biggest, strongest, or fastest.......simply the best and to have those statistics is unreal.

Otherwise, its Tiger, because being dominant in an individual sport is very impressive. And with the growth of the game no one will come close to that season ever.

Surprised Bonds 2001 season didn't show up. Ruth RBI total was fantastic, but Bonds (steroid enhanced) performance was exceptional. I heard an unconfirmed stat that in 2001 he had more home runs than "out swings" of his that connected with nothing but air (ie swings and misses). And if that is true, steroids aren't helping that feat. As he had 73 home runs versus only 93 total strikeouts, it might have been true as called strikeouts no doubt made up a good portion of that total.
 
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Connorpozlee

Connorpozlee

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Shep said:
They are all unbelievable. If I ranked them by "dominant season by less than a physically dominant player relative to others in the sport"
it would be Gretzky hands down. He wasn't the biggest, strongest, or fastest.......simply the best and to have those statistics is unreal.

Otherwise, its Tiger, because being dominant in an individual sport is very impressive. And with the growth of the game no one will come close to that season ever.

Surprised Bonds 2001 season didn't show up. Ruth RBI total was fantastic, but Bonds (steroid enhanced) performance was exceptional. I heard an unconfirmed stat that in 2001 he had more home runs than "out swings" of his that connected with nothing but air (ie swings and misses). And if that is true, steroids aren't helping that feat. As he had 73 home runs versus only 93 total strikeouts, it might have been true as called strikeouts no doubt made up a good portion of that total.
Click to expand...
Steroids help with recovery, don’t they? Or HGH? I’m not really well versed in this stuff but that’s what I seem to hear about it’s biggest effect on baseball players. Being able to recover better than others over a 162 game season would absolutely help that feat.
 
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Georgia Peach

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Add to your list the 1969 season of Rod Laver. 106-16 record in all matches. He won 18 of 32 tournaments, including the calendar year Grand Slam. He beat the likes of Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith, John Newcomb, Arthur Ashe and Tony Roche to win the slams. Nobody, even the current big 3, have come close to that match and tournament record and, of course, no man since has won the Grand Slam in a calendar year.
 
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Nohow

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Babe Ruth. In 1920, the era of the dead ball, Babe Ruth hit 54 homers. The next best hit 19. Ruth hit more homers than all but two teams. Oh, and he had a .376 ba.
He hit 59 in 1921. The next best was 24.
 
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Georgia Peach

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91Joe95 said:
Secretariat - Holds all the records in all three triple crown events, and it isn't close.


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Of all the amazing stats about this animal was the Kentucky Derby stat of having run each successive quarter of the race faster than the previous quarter. What living being can possibly be running faster at the end of a mile and a quarter race than during the previous stages. As the writer Heywood Hale Broun wrote after the race: "one more quarter and he would have sprouted wings and flown away"
 
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Midnighter

Midnighter

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Shep said:
They are all unbelievable. If I ranked them by "dominant season by less than a physically dominant player relative to others in the sport"
it would be Gretzky hands down. He wasn't the biggest, strongest, or fastest.......simply the best and to have those statistics is unreal.

Otherwise, its Tiger, because being dominant in an individual sport is very impressive. And with the growth of the game no one will come close to that season ever.

Surprised Bonds 2001 season didn't show up. Ruth RBI total was fantastic, but Bonds (steroid enhanced) performance was exceptional. I heard an unconfirmed stat that in 2001 he had more home runs than "out swings" of his that connected with nothing but air (ie swings and misses). And if that is true, steroids aren't helping that feat. As he had 73 home runs versus only 93 total strikeouts, it might have been true as called strikeouts no doubt made up a good portion of that total.
Click to expand...

Not included because of roids. And I think he had a record amount of walks that year right?
 
Midnighter

Midnighter

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Georgia Peach said:
Add to your list the 1969 season of Rod Laver. 106-16 record in all matches. He won 18 of 32 tournaments, including the calendar year Grand Slam. He beat the likes of Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith, John Newcomb, Arthur Ashe and Tony Roche to win the slams. Nobody, even the current big 3, have come close to that match and tournament record and, of course, no man since has won the Grand Slam in a calendar year.
Click to expand...

I think the most widely recognized 'most dominant' single season of men's tennis is John McEnroe in '84. Record: 84-3, 13 Tournaments Won (only entered 15), 2 Slams, 65.7 Game Winning Percentage. Laver lost five times as many matches, but he did have two more slams. But, in '84, most big time players passed on playing the Australian Open (finalists were Mats Wilander and Kevin Curen) and McEnroe won both the US Open and Wimbledon and lost the French to Lendl. Laver played in 32 tournaments in 69 and had a remarkable year no doubt.
 
LionJim

LionJim

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Here's a nice article on Mickey Mantle. It's important to remember that in his time Mantle was the fastest man to first base.

 
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Connorpozlee

Connorpozlee

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Nohow said:
Babe Ruth. In 1920, the era of the dead ball, Babe Ruth hit 54 homers. The next best hit 19. Ruth hit more homers than all but two teams. Oh, and he had a .376 ba.
He hit 59 in 1921.
Click to expand...
Amazing
 
Connorpozlee

Connorpozlee

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Nohow said:
Golf is not a sport. It is a game. A sport is a game requiring athletic skills.
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I agree with you, but because in my mind a sport has to include another human being able to directly stop you from accomplishping what you are attempting.
 
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Midnighter

Midnighter

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Connorpozlee said:
I agree with you, but because in my mind a sport has to include another human able to directly stop you from accomplishping what you are attempting.
Click to expand...

I'd add anything that is athletic, but based on a subjective score/rating (gymnastics, snowboarding, etc.) is also not a 'sport'. But, what about something like downhill skiing? It's very athletic, but you are essentially racing a clock, not another person.
 
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johnmpsu

johnmpsu

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This is no contest. Ruth was hitting more home runs than entire teams were. Nothing even comes close.
 
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