Open the Masters Records?

I get your point and realize this is just an off-the-cuff example, but wanted to point out that it's flawed example. :) Baseball statistics are influenced by others on your team (you can't bat in runners who aren't on base), who you are facing (opposing pitcher and defense), where you are playing (field effects), and more. Swimmers records aren't influenced by anything like this. I disagree with that, particularly at big meets your competition can definitely bring out the best in you and change the way you race. If you are way ahead of the field then you might back off either consciously or unconsciously and not get that world record. While I think the current fina world record holder would still have the fastest masters swim time should they care to do it, they set their record against a different field of performers with different things on the line. Occasionally it happens at a run race that an amateur, starting in a different wave has a faster time than the pros. In that case the amateur does not get the money simply because the pros were racing against each other, not the amateur. There is no way to say how the race would have played out had the amateur started with and ran with the pros. I find this to be pretty analogous. It's an interesting point to discuss anyway, which is what the author wanted.

I get your point and realize this is just an off-the-cuff example, but wanted to point out that it's flawed example. :) Baseball statistics are influenced by others on your team (you can't bat in runners who aren't on base), who you are facing (opposing pitcher and defense), where you are playing (field effects), and more. Swimmers records aren't influenced by anything like this. I disagree with that, particularly at big meets your competition can definitely bring out the best in you and change the way you race. If you are way ahead of the field then you might back off either consciously or unconsciously and not get that world record. While I think the current fina world record holder would still have the fastest masters swim time should they care to do it, they set their record against a different field of performers with different things on the line. Occasionally it happens at a run race that an amateur, starting in a different wave has a faster time than the pros. In that case the amateur does not get the money simply because the pros were racing against each other, not the amateur. There is no way to say how the race would have played out had the amateur started with and ran with the pros. I find this to be pretty analogous. It's an interesting point to discuss anyway, which is what the author wanted.