To read an introduction to the list, click here.

For numbers 50-46, click here.

—————————–

45. Brett Favre throws 336 career interceptions

While it sounds as though this is a bad record, it’s really not. Favre played for 20 seasons, in every game during those years, and threw the ball a lot during all those games. Naturally, INTs will add up. But the obvious factor in Favre’s pick-throwing prowess is that he was good enough to play all those years, games, and snaps. Favre’s INT % is actually a respectable 3.3%. That’s better than 22 Hall of Famers (including Jim Kelly, Roger Staubach, and Johnny Unitas). The closest active players to Favre’s record are Peyton Manning (198) and Manning’s current “fill-in,” Kerry Collins (196). Eli Manning (114) is the only active player with over 100 INTs under the age of 30. (The all-time low for career INT % is Green Bay’s current QB Aaron Rodgers at 1.9%.)

–Joey Sparks

—————————-

44. Oscar Swahn wins an Olympic athletic competition medal at age 72

Oscar Swahn was able to compete in more than one Olympiad, winning a total of 6 medals. It is his silver in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, though, that gets him on this list. Swahn, a Swede who competed in several shooting events, was 72 years of age when he finished second in something called “team 100 meter running deer, double shot.” Interestingly, when Swahn won two gold medals in the 1908 Olympics, he was 60 years of age, which was just 1 year younger than the oldest medalist at that time, so Swahn actually broke the record in 1912, then again in 1920.

Ridiculous Fact: This entry is called “athletic competition medal” because, from 1912 until 1952, there were also art competitions in the Olympics. A British man named John Copley, who competed in “engravings and etchings” in the 1948 London Olympics, won a silver medal at the age of 73.

——————————

43. Hack Wilson’s 191-RBI season

I remember watching Juan Gonzalez hit two homers off of Randy Johnson on the last game before the All-Star break in 1998. This gave him 101 RBI. He finished the year with 157. In 1930, Hack Wilson had 191 RBI for the Chicago Cubs. He only played 155 games. He almost had as many RBI (191) as hits (208). Nobody has been close to his record in 81 years. The closest recently was Manny Ramirez (165) 1999.

Footnote: How good was he? They used to think he only had 190, but in 1999 they checked every box score and actually found one more – so apparently, Hack is still knocking them in!

–Jeremiah Tatum

—————————–

42. Ron Hunt takes 50 hit by pitches in one season

Technically, Hunt’s 50 HBPs is not the record. In 1896 Hughie Jennings was hit 51 times. However, in the modern era, when hitting became far more prominent, the hit by pitch became more rare.

Ron Hunt, of the Montreal Expos, was hit 50 times in 1971. To give you an idea of how far out this record is, the next-closest player since 1900 was Don Baylor, with 35 HBPs in 1986. So, whether you count Jennings or Hunt, this record is not going to be broken anytime soon.

———————————-

41. Wilt Chamberlain’s 55 rebounds in one NBA game

We did not include Chamberlain’s 100-point game, because, with the 3-point line being in place, that record could conceivable go down. However, to grab 55 rebounds in a single game? That will not happen again.

For several seasons, Chamberlain and Bill Russell went back and forth with the record, but Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to top 50 rebounds in a single game. Since 1985, the most rebounds any player has ever grabbed was Charles Oakley’s 35-board effort in 1988. The most by an currently-active player was Kevin Love’s 31 in 2010.

Someone might bomb 3-pointers and get 101 points in a game. But to grab 56 rebounds in one game? Just not going to happen.

———————————–

Ten records down, 40 to go. What are your impressions so far?