we don't need no stinkin' instant replay

October 19, 2010 5:36 AM

Earlier this summer a couple of sportscasters were talking about a baseball player whose career stats were revised (I think?) years after the fact because a diligent sports nerd went back to the box score, reconstructed the game, and saw that something should have been classified as something else...an error was assigned to the wrong player, or something like that. Who was it? And are there other examples?
posted by thinkingwoman to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

This?:

Sean Forman of baseball-reference.com reprinted a note on his website written by Lyle Spatz, chair of the Society For American Baseball Research records committee. In the note, Spatz details that Roger Maris was mistakenly given an extra RBI in a 1961 game. It also details that Mantle was given an extra run scored in the same year.

These statistics are significant because they change the AL and MLB leaders for the year.

posted by smackfu at 5:47 AM on October 19, 2010

Hack Wilson's single-season RBI record of 190 was revised upward to 191 based on some research done in 1999, as indicated in the Wikipedia article. There are probably other examples. This was also the plot of the Bernie Mac movie Mr. 3000.
posted by shadow vector at 5:50 AM on October 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

What's more, the correction of Maris's RBI total left Jim Gentile of the Orioles tied for the American League lead. That triggered a $5000 bonus in his 1961 contract, which the Orioles paid him, almost fifty years late.

Also, Mr. 3000 is a surprisingly high-quality movie.
posted by escabeche at 6:25 AM on October 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

61* also.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:52 AM on October 19, 2010

Deacon Jones long claimed to be the NFL's all-time sacks leader (and he even may have invented the term itself), but most of his sacks were made before the stat was officially recorded.

Finally, Pro Football Weekly went back and reviewed the tapes, giving him an unofficial total of 179 1/2, which now puts him third on the all-time list.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:28 AM on October 19, 2010

This probably isn't it, but here's something similar from this summer:

In 1991, a panel led by Fay Vincent "took a look at the record book and decided to throw out 50 no-hitters for various reasons." (cite) Most of these no-longer-no-hitters were rain-shortened, or games in which the pitcher lost a no-hitter in extra innings. (cite)

This summer, that decision was often cited as historical precedent underlying the argument that Bud Selig should have stepped in and reversed the call of umpire Jim Joyce which denied Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 12:34 PM on October 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Check this article on the 1910 batting title chase. On page 4 and 5. Ty Cobb's stats were revised at the end of that season and then again 70 years later.
posted by IanMorr at 2:04 PM on October 19, 2010

Response by poster: Verging-on-chatfilter-but: Does this happen in other sports?
posted by thinkingwoman at 3:42 PM on October 19, 2010