Not Necessarily Set in Stone : While Ripken's Standard Appears Impossible to Match, Other Record-Holders Say No Season Mark is Unbreakable

By ROSS NEWHAN

Sept. 4, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

They were thought to be unbreakable records but . . .

--Henry Aaron hammered past Babe Ruth’s home run record and retired after 23 seasons with 755.

--Pete Rose eclipsed Ty Cobb’s record for hits and retired after 24 seasons with 4,256.

--Nolan Ryan buried Steve Carlton’s strikeout record and retired after 27 seasons with 5,714.

--And now Cal Ripken Jr. is about to break Lou Gehrig’s hallowed record of 2,130 consecutive games.

Have those records now been pushed to a point where they truly are unbreakable?

Said Rose from Florida: “As far as longevity records go, the Ripken record is the last of the Mohicans. I don’t think those [other] records will be challenged.”

Aaron agreed.

“Unless there are changes in the game, they should be No. 1 for a long time,” he said from Atlanta.

Their premise is simple:

--High salaries deprive players of the monetary incentive to play the 20-25 years required to break the most prestigious records.

--Players no longer have the desire, or are required or expected, to play every day.

--Frequent use of the disabled list--”clubs are overprotective of players because of the investment,” Rose said--further diminishes the possibility.

Ripken doesn’t totally agree, although he admits to a certain amazement at his own accomplishment.

Speaking at Anaheim Stadium recently, he said, “If someone had said to me 15 years ago that I was going to play 2,000 straight games, I would have said they were crazy. I would have said it’s inconceivable, like all the great records, the 56-game hitting streak, 60 home runs, 714.”

However, when Aaron passed Ruth’s record of 714 home runs in 1974, Ripken said, the impossible had become possible, though no less improbable.

“All you have to do is look at the numbers,” he said. “If somebody hits 30 home runs for 20 straight years, that’s still only 600. Where are the other 155 coming from?

“I certainly didn’t set out to do what I’ve done. As a young player trying to establish your career, you just hope the manager keeps putting you in the lineup. All of a sudden, 12 or 13 years have gone by and people have begun to talk about Lou Gehrig. I have no secrets. I can’t explain it other than to say I learned a work ethic from my father and think it’s important to the team and to my teammates to be in the lineup every day.

“The streak is just an extension of that philosophy. It just happened, and if it can happen to me, I’m sure it could happen again. It’s obviously not as inconceivable as I once thought it was.”

In his 15th season, Ripken is 35. He has two years left on a $30.5-million contract. There is no telling how long the streak will last, no telling if the assault on the series of seemingly unbreakable records will claim others.

Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak of 1941 lives on. So does Cy Young’s record of 511 victories in the heart of the dead-ball era--1890 to 1911.

No one has challenged Rogers Hornsby’s single-season batting mark of .424 in 1924, or Cobb’s 24-year lifetime average of .367. Hack Wilson’s single-season record of 190 runs batted in has lasted 65 years.

Rickey Henderson, in his 17th season, continues to add to his record for steals, advancing on 1,200, far beyond Lou Brock’s 938 and Cobb’s once “unbreakable” 892.

Rose, a statistical historian, said it’s only the longevity records that probably will go unchallenged. He said any of the single-season records--DiMaggio’s hitting streak, the 61 home runs by Roger Maris in 1961, the 54-year drought since anyone hit .400, are more vulnerable.

“Every time they expand, it enhances the possibility,” Rose said. “When I broke in, there were eight teams in each league and now there are 14. In three more years there will be 16, which means 20 more pitchers who should be in the minors. There’s not that much talent and not that many pitchers.

“I’d like to see how many runs a guy like Tony Perez or Johnny Bench would drive in with me, Joe Morgan and Ken Griffey [Sr.] ahead of him the way the pitching is now,” Rose said, referring to the lineup of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine. “I think a guy like Albert Belle, with the good hitters that Cleveland has around him, could break Hack Wilson’s record.

“I think a guy like Tony Gwynn, who puts the ball in play, can go on a tear and hit .400. Hell, he might have done it last year if the strike hadn’t stopped him.”

In addition to that watery pitching, Rose cited a livelier ball and smaller ballparks as reasons the single-season offensive records could fall. Matt Williams, Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. were all making a run at Maris’ homer record last year when the strike ended the season.

“I hate to think how many home runs Babe would have hit in Coors Field or Seattle,” Rose said. “There has to be a reason the top four home run hitters in the National League are on one team [a reference to the Colorado Rockies and the dimensions and altitude of Coors Field]. The parks are smaller and the ball is livelier. I see little guys hit the ball out of the park and say, ‘Damn, what are they using? Golf balls?’ ”

Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield dominate the career offensive categories. Both are close to retirement, but neither is close to a prominent record.

Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux, the most successful pitchers in the American and National leagues in recent years, are still working on 200 victories, let alone 300, and only Randy Johnson, 31 and leading the AL in strikeouts for a fourth consecutive season, may have a realistic shot at 3,000.

As for Ryan’s 5,714, forget it.

“I don’t think any of Nolan Ryan’s records will be broken,” Johnson said. “First of all, you need a pitcher with that kind of makeup, the kind of guy who strikes out a lot of batters, and you have to be that kind of pitcher for 27 years. I can’t image anyone pitching that long, and I certainly haven’t given it much thought.

“As for his seven no-hitters, all I can say is that I have a greater appreciation since throwing one myself. I realize how hard it is. I’ll be happy to get two.”

Ryan said the use of five-man rotations and relief specialists lessen the possibility of pitching records in which longevity is a factor.

“If guys manage their money wisely, they can be pretty well set early in their careers. That’s really the key,” he said from Texas.

Besides, how many pitchers are capable of striking out 329 batters at 25 and 301 at 42, as Ryan did?

How many players are capable of producing 209 hits at 24 and 208 at 38, as Rose did? How many can hit 44 home runs at 23 and 40 at 39, as Aaron did?

“The key to my success is that I hit a lot of home runs at an age when most people expect players to go the other way,” said Aaron, who hit 357 of his 755 after he was 32.

Frank Thomas, who is in his fifth full season and will have about 180 homers when it ends, will be 32 when his six-year, $42.5-million contract expires with the Chicago White Sox. He has said he will probably retire then.

He doesn’t expect to catch either Aaron or Ripken, although he has the second-longest consecutive streak among active players at 227 games, only about 12 years behind Ripken.

“I don’t think anyone is going to approach it,” Thomas said of Ripken’s streak. “Guys just don’t care about playing every game now.”

Gwynn agreed. The San Diego Padre star said he ranks Ripken’s imminent record with Young’s 511 victories as the toughest of them all, a test of ability and durability.

“I’ve probably missed more innings the last two years than he has in the entire streak,” Gwynn said.

Rose said of Ripken’s streak: “It’s basically about durability, but if you didn’t have the ability, the manager wouldn’t put you out there for 2,000 games, consecutive or not,” Rose said. “It’s an incredible accomplishment.

“The travel and schedule is much tougher than what Gehrig faced, and as a shortstop [Ripken is] involved in as many collisions as anybody. You have to know he’s played with a jammed knee or sprained ankle or bruised shoulder. Think about it. It’s unbelievable what he’s done.”

Ripken, of course, hasn’t faced the pressure of a timetable. Nor has his pursuit hinged on the dramatic countdown to one more hit or home run.

“We definitely faced different pressures,” Aaron said. “I was dealing with the biggest icon in baseball [Ruth] and with the sometimes threatening and bitter reaction to my being black.

“On the other hand, if I didn’t hit a home run today, I knew I’d have a chance tomorrow. If I needed a day off, I could take it. Ripken can’t take a day off and hasn’t wanted one. He’s had to be both tough and talented, always in the middle of the infield and middle of the game. It’s an amazing record.”

Said Frank Robinson, the Orioles’ assistant general manager and a Hall of Fame outfielder: “I’ve never seen a shortstop with Cal’s overall game. The only player I can compare him to is Ernie Banks, but he wasn’t the shortstop Cal is.”

Ripken holds the major league record for the most home runs by a shortstop and has set 11 American or major league fielding records. He is a two-time most valuable player and has averaged 23 homers and 91 RBIs a season.

The streak ensures his selection to the Hall of Fame, but he would probably have made it anyway. Steve Hirdt, an official of the Elias Sports Bureau, which maintains baseball’s statistics, referred to Ripken and Gehrig when he said:

“I’ve often thought the appreciation of both individuals as players has been obscured by their streaks. Mention Lou Gehrig and most fans under the age of 40 know two things about him: He had a long streak and died young. They don’t know he had seven seasons with 150 or more RBIs.

“In Ripken’s case, he’s a fantastic fielding shortstop. And he’s one of the best power-hitting shortstops of all time. But the streak is the first thing everybody thinks of when they hear his name. And it’s the only thing a lot of people think of, which is unfortunate.

“I mean, by any standards he’s absolutely a Hall of Famer. He’s been the best player in his league at his position for almost his entire career, and to me that’s the simplest standard of all.”

On the Yankee Stadium plaque honoring Gehrig, there is a reference to his 2,130 consecutive games that reads, “. . . a record that should stand for all time.”

Another of those unbreakable records is about to be broken.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Record Chase

Cal Ripken Jr.’s pursuit of Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played is likely to be the last challenge of one of baseball’s major marks for quite some time. Record-holders and active players pursuing their marks:

* CONSECUTIVE GAMES

1. Lou Gehrig 2,130

2. Cal Ripken 2,128

* CAREER HITS

1. Pete Rose 4,256

2. Dave Winfield 3,108

* HITTING STREAK

1. Joe DiMaggio 56 games

2. Greg Colbrunn 15

* HOME RUNS

1. Hank Aaron 755

2. Eddie Murray 474