In a humorous twist, not only did Campbell’s streak get no notice when it happened, but Campbell also said he had no idea how long his streak was, and he didn’t know it was any sort of record until the recent debate over Bergen and Counsell.

Elias’s assertion prompted Dittmar to go back and scour the records again. He concluded that his research — done in 1997, when he wrote a piece on Bergen for SABR — was flawed. On one game scorecard, on July 14, 1909, the numeral that marked Bergen’s at-bats in the game was unclear. He initially thought it was a 3. But after double-checking against play-by-play records, he now thinks it was a 2.

Thus, Bergen’s streak was 45 at-bats without a hit.

“Player records of 100 years ago were kept manually, of course, and were prone to more human error than we come to expect in the digital age,” Dittmar said in an e-mail. “Even 14 years ago, there were fewer methods to confirm or deny research done using microfilm that often was blurred and streaked. For years my research was unquestioned until Craig Counsell became a contender. Even today, every AB by Bergen in his streak cannot be definitively confirmed, but as best as can be presently determined, it does appear Counsell has tied Campbell and Bergen for that infamous mark.”

The Elias vice president Steve Hirdt said his researchers were always confident their numbers were correct. “We are confident that is the modern-day record for a single season for at-bats without a hit by a position player,” Hirdt said. “And that’s what we’ve said all along.”