Remarkable: one-season performances: here are some extraordinary accomplishments achieved by batters and pitchers that are among the greatest in baseball history

Baseball Digest, Sept, 2005 by George Vass

IT'S PERHAPS NOT SURPRISING THAT George Sisler's mark for most base hits in a season, surpassed by Ichiro Suzuki in 2004, was almost never listed among the game s hallowed achievements in speculation about which records were at risk or remained invulnerable.

In a rare instance, in 1998, the year Mark McGwire (70) and Sammy Sosa (66) topped Roger Marls' total of 61 home runs in 1961, their assault making iconic marks a hot topic, a newspaper story headlined "Breakable Records Few" listed Sisler's total of 257 hits in 1920 as virtually unattainable.

A comment noted: "The benchmark for greatness is 200 hits, which is a far cry from 257. A speedy singles hitter would have the best shot because he could bat first (and therefore more). But.... until somebody comes close, it isn't even worth discussing."

Well, somebody did come along, an outstanding player known as Ichiro, no surname required. He did bat leadoff for the Seattle Mariners, and topped Sisler with 262 hits last season, although it took him 161 games compared to the former St. Louis Browns first baseman's 154 four score and four years earlier.

A singles hitter? You might say that. Among Ichiro's' 262 were 37 extra-base hits (24 doubles, five triples, eight home runs) and 225 singles. He led the American League in batting for the second time with .372.

Oddly enough, few if any in the media have bothered to break down Sisler's 1920 total as to singles and extra base hits. To do so is revealing, even astonishing.

Among Sisler's 257 were 86 extra-base hits (49 doubles, 18 triples, 19 home runs) and 171 singles. He was no singles hitter. In fact, his 19 home runs were second only--admittedly a distant second--to Babe Ruth's 54 for the New York Yankees in 1920.

Sisler led the A.L. in batting (.407), total bases (399), was second in slugging average (,632), third in stolen bases (42), and second in RBI (122).

Sisler surpassed his 1920 average with .420 in 1922, and also led the league in hits (246), runs (134), and triples (18), although his home run output fell to eight. He batted in 105 runs, and hit safely in 41 consecutive games.

His performance drew raves from two of the game's most respected experts, Branch Rickey, who signed Sisler for the Browns in 1915, and Frank Shaughnessy, a front office kingpin for more than a half century.

"I never saw anything like it." recalled Shaughnessy of Sisler's hitting in 1922. "Even when they got him out, he hit line drives."

Rickey, best-remembered for the historic signing of Jackie Robinson a quarter of a century later, was not given to superlatives, but Sisler inspired him.

"In that one season," said Rickey years later, "Sisler was the greatest ballplayer who ever lived."

While Sisler appreciated such flattering judgments, he disagreed with Rickey and Shaughnessy.

"I always thought that the year I had in 1920 was better," he said.

The figures cited here for 1920 suggest he had a point. What's certain is that Sisler enjoyed a remarkable season, even if the passage of time has effaced much of its impact on fan and media awareness.

There is no intent in this comparison with Sisler in 1920 to diminish Suzuki's record-setting achievement of 2004, which added luster to his standing as one of the great hitters of the present generation.

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove marvels at his right fielder's talent, on both offense and on defense.

"He swings at balls you wouldn't teach anybody else to swing at, but he hits them hard and he runs well enough that fielders have to hurry on almost every ground ball," said Hargrove. "I don't think there's anybody that compares with him. He does things on the field and at the plate that sometimes you just wonder, 'How'd he do that?'"

However Suzuki did it, he enjoyed a remarkable season in 2004, which no comparison can deprive of greatness.

So did Sisler in 1920, although until Suzuki's challenge came along it was almost lost in the mists of time. which tend to obscure many of the game's notable achievements, as well as some of its less well-known records.

A few of the greatest accomplishments escape such a dismal fate, of course, and remain constant teasers to imagination and conjecture decade after decade..

Such headlines as "Are baseball's unreachable goals actually attainable?" or the previously cited "Breakable records few" and the like frequently remind us of the most famous milestones. Among them are Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Nolan Ryan's 383 strikeouts in a season, Nap Lajoie's .426 batting average and Rogers Hornsby's .424, Hack Wilson's 191 RBI, and Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA.

Such deeds are kept ever in the forefront of public consciousness by virtually unrelenting media and fan speculation. The questions as to whether anyone will ever again bat .400, capture a batting Triple Crown, or win 30 games as a pitcher never really die, even if they lie dormant for a time.

For instance, when Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee got off to a sizzling start during the 2005 season, at one point in June leading the National League in batting, home runs and RBI, Triple Crown talk became endemic in the media.