Hagstrom
Ryan Howard has been rung up 195 times in 2007 to put him in the record books along with Adam Dunn as MLB's single-season strikeout king. Inevitably the 2006 NL MVP will pass even Dunn, as Philadelphia has five more games before the year concludes.

Howard's feat got me thinking about some of the other shame-filled records in sports.

As tempting as Joe Sullivan's 106 errors during the 1893 season is, or the 23 fumbles by quarterback Kerry Collins in 2001, I can safely say there's one record that trumps all others: the longest streak without a hit.

You see, unlike some of the notorious records in the sporting world, batting in baseball is all about the individual. But in the case of Bill Bergen, he sure could have used a teammate to hit for him. Bergen owns MLB's record for most at-bats without a hit. In 1909 Bergen went through an 0-for-46 slump en route to the worst single-season average ever for a player who had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, .139.

Not even Bernie Mac came close to that mark in the movie "Mr. 3000," and he's an actor, not an athlete.

In fact, I'm sure Peewee Herman could get a hit in 46 opportunities. That is, if he could remain out of legal trouble for the two weeks required to get that many chances.

In fact, Bergen also owns baseball's worst career batting average (.170) among hitters with over 2,500 at-bats.

The former Brooklyn Superbas catcher truly holds a record no one wants to beat.

Point: Bergen.

Voelkel
Sure, there are a lot of records you wouldn’t want to hold. Holding or breaking one of the worst records forever infamously brands you a disappointment on some level.

The New York Mets lost 120 of 160 games in 1962, the Duke football team recently won for the first time in 22 tries, and George Blanda has completed more passes to members of the opposing team than any other quarterback (coincidently, also probably more passes than the reportedly ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman completed to his own team). All those are records few would ever want to touch with a 10-foot pole.

But none of those records are the worst to ever hold. In fact, none are even in the same league. When looking for the worst record in all of sports, one need look no further than his proverbial backyard and charcoal grill.

That’s because the worst record to hold is actually the "wurst" record. And the wurst record holder is none other than world-renowned professional eater Takeru Kobayashi of Japan.

Just last year at Sheboygan’s own World Bratwurst Eating Championship, Kobayashi-san polished off 58 brats in just 10 minutes.

Now, being a native-born Wisconsinite, I was born to appreciate a good brat every now and then. Fifty-eight brats in 1/6 of an hour is a bit excessive, though. Also, consuming the nearly 17,000 calories and 1,450 grams of fat he did has to make the wurst record also the worst record for his health.

Sure, it would suck to go 40-some-odd at-bats without a base hit, but in the big picture, does it really hold a candle to eating more brats in 10 minutes than most people do in a year?

Plus, the fact that the wurst record was set in Wisconsin gives it bonus points, which puts the record over the top.

Wurst. Count it.