Why are individual records constantly raved about?

Answer 1

An excellent question and while not exactly a sociology major, I will try to answer. We live in a very competitive society. It is a part of our culture and nature to argue and discuss these things in an attempt to determine what or who is the best. We want to point our finger at something or someone and say they were "the best ever". Since the 'best' is a totally subjective conclusion, it conjures up discussion. And freedom of thought is never a bad thing. My feeling is that these records are a reflection of the era in which they were set and not a reflection of the game overall. Career records set by players like Cy Young (511 wins, 316 losses, 7356 innings pitched) or Walter Johnson (110 shutouts), by today's standards, will never be broken. They were set in what is called the 'Dead Ball Era'. Part of what fuels today's discussions about the career home runs record is that it will be set in what could be called the 'Steroid Era'. That means not only do we talk about the record but we talk about whether the person that breaks it was taking performance enhancing substances. I would be interested in hearing the opinions of other visitors here at WikiAnswers on this subject.