Sir Don Bradman
Athlete Extraordinaire!
Alright already! Yes, we have honored Willie Mays on a previous page and spoke of his accomplishments. Which is fine. But then there was the audacity of the Yank to suggest that - or at least to ask if - Willie should be ranked above Sir Don!
After all with a batting average of 99.41 that certainly beats Willie's average of 0.302.
Crikey!
True, the discerning sports fan will point out that the two averages are not the same. First, in cricket if you get on base, you score. So batting averages are certainly higher in cricket.
And the average in cricket isn't total hits to total at-bats. Instead it's total runs to total outs.
But Sir Don's fans will point out that his batting average is akin to Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. It stands out so far above the others that it has to show a skill so elevated that no one can argue who is the best player.
But it's also been shown that Joe's hitting streak arose because
- It's very likely two of Joe's hits should not have been counted as such. On-base, yes, but hits, no.
- The number of games with a hit forms a highly skewed distribution and Joe's streak is actually from such a distribution.
We will not question whether Sir Don's hits should not have been counted. After all, to do so would be "showing dissent" to the umpire. That's not considered - ah - "cricket" in cricket but is de rigueur in baseball.
But is hitting percentage in cricket a normal distribution or skewed as in hitting streaks in baseball. Perhaps the world will never know.