random sports stats/facts that surprise you when you first hear them

[Punker]

Saw this one in a yahoo news article today:

Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux spent 16 years together in the National League and faced each other 103 times. Not only did Gwynn bat .429 against Maddux, he never struck out.

[onlinebeginner]

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Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out in his NBA career.

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wow...did he just not even try on defense or what?

[onlinebeginner]

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Saw this one in a yahoo news article today:

Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux spent 16 years together in the National League and faced each other 103 times. Not only did Gwynn bat .429 against Maddux, he never struck out.

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hah for some reason that seams about right to me...a pitcher who trys to make the batters get themselves out...vs. a hitter who is just trying to hit a single and never gets himself out

[onlinebeginner]

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Here's a surprising stat (off the top of my head):

Mario Lemieux has more point-per game for his career than Wayne Gretzky.

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i don't know alot about hockey... but didn't mario end his career early so his per game numbers would be better because he retired while in his prime

[joel2006]

Tony Dungy and Flip Saunders were roomates and played on the same college basketball team at Minn. Dungy is the only player since the AFL-NFL merger to both throw and catch an interception in a game. As a former college quarterback, he was the Steelers emergency QB in 1977 and had to play when both Bradshaw and Kruczek went down. I actually saw the game on TV (Dungy was one of my favorite Steelers)

[Triumph36]

one i heard the other day about hockey was that gordie howe only had two gordie howe hat tricks in his career (that's a goal, an assist, and a fighting major).

dunno if it's true.

[4 High]

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Here's a surprising stat (off the top of my head):

Mario Lemieux has more point-per game for his career than Wayne Gretzky.

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i don't know alot about hockey... but didn't mario end his career early so his per game numbers would be better because he retired while in his prime

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The man also had cancer and back problems multiple times while Gretzky was healthy and on better/higher scoring teams most of his carrer.

[tuq]

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Saw this one in a yahoo news article today:

Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux spent 16 years together in the National League and faced each other 103 times. Not only did Gwynn bat .429 against Maddux, he never struck out.

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I remember seeing a stat like this when Maddux came out of the bullpen in the 1998 NLCS to nail down the save. He had to get out Gwynn for the victory and they showed that stat of total pwnage by Gwynn. He ended up grounding out to first IIRC.

[tuq]

Oh yeah, here's a good one that I've mentioned here before: the 2003 NLCS featuring the Chicago Cubs drew higher TV ratings in the Phoenix market than the 2001 World Series between the home town Diamondbacks and Yankees.

That's just mind-boggling, but I remember hearing it from a reputable source. It is true the Phoenix is overrun by a bunch of goddamned Chicago transplants so I believe it and have never bothered to check its authenticity.

[Silent A]

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Here's a surprising stat (off the top of my head):

Mario Lemieux has more point-per game for his career than Wayne Gretzky.

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i don't know alot about hockey... but didn't mario end his career early so his per game numbers would be better because he retired while in his prime

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The man also had cancer and back problems multiple times while Gretzky was healthy and on better/higher scoring teams most of his carrer.

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And, as I pointed out earlier, it's also not true. Gretzky had more points per game.

Also, it's not true that Gretzky never had health problems, even if they were never as serious as Mario's. Plus, having health problems after you peak is probably the best way to secure a high per game average in any stat in any sport.