Era Of Sports

Records are what stand the test of time and what all athletes dream of breaking if they wish to be considered great. .366 batting average, 100 points, 38,387 points, 13 individual gold medals, 9.58 seconds; these numbers represent records that won’t likely be broken in the near or distant future. The athletes who set these records, Cobb, Wilt, Kareem, Phelps, Bolt, have or will be immortalized for centuries to come. The modern era of sports celebrates those who have set these records and has given them an almost god-like status. Their records set the bar for modern athletes and caused sports and athletes to develop in a way to make these records not only achievable but also breakable. The modern era of sports would not have taken the shape

Without either rationalization or specialization, sports we see today may look a little different or require athletes to be able to do a broader range of abilities, but as far as shaping what modern sports and the modern athlete look and behave like, the drive to push the limits of human capabilities and break records is what played the largest part in the modernization of sports. Rationalization would have developed to a certain capacity with the rise of equal sporting environments like stadiums or arena’s which controlled who was able to see the event. Specialization allowed athletes who excelled in certain areas to be a valuable commodity and have a place in modern sports. However, the athletes that excelled in all aspects of their sport were typically the ones who achieved the greatest recognition and became the sports heroes that America grew to idolize. Modern sports are about this recognition and fame. Those who look to play and excel at sports in today’s culture do so with the prospect of knowing that maybe one day you can turn your abilities into wealth and opportunity down the line. The athletes that have the most opportunity and wealth are the ones who are most recognizable. Typically, these are the athletes that post and break records. Usain Bolt for example has made a legend of

It was played with a “dead ball” and scores were accumulated slowly by advancing runners with hit after hit. Ty Cobb was the star player during this era and his combination of grit, intelligence, and all-around skill made him the best player while he was playing. When Cobb walked away from the game in 1928, he did so with 43 major league records including the still unsurpassed record of a .366 lifetime batting average (Davies 84-85). Cobb’s ability to excel in all aspects of the game was the reason he was able to set as many records as he did. Most of these records took years to eventually break by hall of famers in their own right, and some of his records still stand today. The longevity and difficulty of his records cemented the fact that, “his impact upon the game was fundamental; one of the initial five players elected to the Hall of Fame, he garnered more votes than any other candidate, including Babe Ruth.” (Davies 85) Cobb became the blueprint for a great baseball player and showed that records can immortalize an athlete in the history of their