Avid baseball fans don’t have to watch a game to appreciate Juan Marichal. Just watching him train, winding up for a right-handed pitch can be entertaining enough. Marichal is known for his pinpoint accuracy. However, it is his high leg kicks, perhaps the highest in Major League history, that immediately distinguishes him from his peers.
This picture was taken on August 8, 1970, of the San Francisco Giants, who he played, for thirteen years.
CAL RIPKEN, JR.
Nobody thought Lou Gehrig’s record would be broken. It had withstood generations of baseball players without being threatened. His record for playing consecutive games is 2,130, and it remained untouched for 56 years.
Then came Cal Ripken Jr., nicknamed “The Iron Man,” a shortstop for Baltimore. The two-time (AL) MVP is featured in this photograph when the Angels faced the Orioles on Sept. 6, 1995. He jogs around the crowd that congratulated him for breaking Gehrig’s record, surpassing it by 502 games.
Oscar Robertson The Offender
The NBA had a crazy year from 1961-62. The defense playing practically disappeared and the number of possessions each team had per game sky-rocketed. Beyond Wilt Chamberlain, almost no one gained anything more from this offensive boom. Unless you were Oscar Robertson. His triple-double average was buoyed by the fact that the team points per game average that year (118.8) was the highest in the league's history.
Of course, we will never see that little emphasis placed on defense ever again, so the probability of a player being able to maintain that kind of output for an entire season is non-existent.
JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE
By simply judging this photograph, one would not know that Jackie Joyner-Kersee used to suffer severe asthma. But her discipline and dedication as a track and field athlete would help her overcome this and many other obstacles. She is ranked among the greatest athletes in long jump and heptathlon.
On Sept. 29, 1988, the four-time Olympic gold medalist leapt 7.40 meters to set what was then an Olympic record in long jump before an ecstatic crowd in Seoul, Korea. There were many rumors at the time linking her to supposed illegal substance use, but investigations would never prove any such claims.
ABEBE BIKILA
Before Ethiopian marathon runner, Abebe Bikila, started his athletic career, he first joined the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, and rose to the rank of captain. It was part of his regular exercise to run 20km a day through the Sululta Hills, and he was subsequently trained for the marathon by a Swedish coach who was the first to spot his potential.
Abebe Bikila runs barefoot in this photograph as he crosses the Arch of Constantine. With a time of 2:15:16.2, he set the Olympic world record on Sept. 10, 1960. Such competitions are held at night to avoid the sweltering heat of the daylight hours.