Bob Watson

Bob Watson was before my time as a Yankees fan, tho of course I was very aware of who he was and what he'd accomplished, so it was sad he died today. However, it served as a reminder of a brilliant baseball fact I for one had never known: he scored MLB's 1 millionth run!

Watson was credited with scoring the 1,000,000th run in major league history on Sunday, May 4, 1975, at 12:32 in the afternoon. Watson scored from second base on a three-run homer by teammate Milt May at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. It was known that the 999,999th run had already scored, with sponsored updates being provided by and to every ballpark. Despite the lack of in-game urgency, Watson ran at full speed, reaching home plate approximately four seconds before Dave Concepción, who had just homered in Cincinnati and was also racing around the basepaths. "I never ran so fast in my entire life," said Concepcion. But it was Watson who won $10,000 and one million Tootsie Rolls provided by the event's sponsor. The 1,000,000th run total only included runs scored in the National and American Leagues (not "third" major leagues, such as the Federal League). Watson joked that in the aftermath of the event, his fan mail doubled—from four letters to eight

Or....he didnt:

Later, more accurate recalculations of baseball's record-keeping showed that neither Watson nor Concepcion scored baseball's actual millionth run, and it is not known who did.

Him possibly losing that spot in history reminded me of a post from 2006 about Eugene Smith:

I was thinking this morning about Eugene Smith, who finished his career with 1,004 points. Just got into the hallowed club. I don't know Eugene Smith, never met him, he graduated from my high school I think in 1974. I knew of him only through old yearbook sports sections I'd memorize. Sometime when I was a junior, 1988-1989, someone discovered that there was a mistake, that Smith had been credited with 14 points from a scrimmage. 990 points. Goodbye hallowed club. Looking back, I have no idea how anyone discovered this; in my high school and district I'm shocked they kept track of old scores, much less individual scoring from 15 years back. I remember how sad I felt for Eugene, how devastated he must have been when he heard the news. As I'm thinking right now, I hope he never did find out. Maybe being a 1000-point scorer was the peak for him, maybe he thought about it a lot. Maybe not, maybe he went on to become a doctor, I have no idea. Why would someone dig up something like that and expose it? 

Poor guy. A great achievement, found a decade and a half later to be erroneous through no fault of his own; I wonder if he knew and if it had an affect on him. Ah well.

Of course if he stumbles on Xmastime and that's how he finds out I'll never forgive myself!!