The sports asterisk.
The sign of “not quite right” or “something was different”, or outright illegitimacy in the eyes of many.
The asterisk’s career in sports began, to my knowledge, when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s single season home run record of 60 homers set in 1927.*
Maris topped Ruth’s record with 61 home runs in 1961 (a relatively low year for offensive output overall, compared to 1927.). But Maris did it in a 162 game season, rather than a 154, like Ruth. So a friend of Babe Ruth’s, sportswriter Ford Frick, suggested Maris’ achievement should be indicated in the record books with “a distinctive mark”, to distinguish, but really, diminish it, from Ruth’s.