One of the great aspects of baseball is the rich history of statistical data, allowing fans to compare players from different eras.
Of course, other factors have to be taken into account. Pitchers dominated during the “dead ball era” of the late 1800s and early 20th Century. Sluggers took over the game in last half of the 20th century. Many records have fallen as players and managers get better and better at analyzing the game and fine-tuning their approaches.
So, every record eventually will get broken, right?
Not so fast.
A consensus exists among professionals, sports writer and many fans about some records considered unbreakable. As with many things in baseball, this is a topic of much debate. But that’s one of the things that makes being a baseball fan enjoyable.
So, consider this list our opinion of 5 baseball records unlikely to ever be matched or broken. And if they ever are, it will be a very memorable moment in baseball history.
Baseball Records: Back-to-Back No Hitters
In 1938, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer did something no one has done before or since. On June 11, Vander Meer pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Braves. Just four days later, in the first night game ever at Ebbet’s Field, he no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers. Few would expect this to ever get duplicated, primarily because no one ever has in more than 140 years.
Most Pitching Wins
Cy Young racked up 511 wins during his career, all of it in the “dead ball” era before 1920. He played from 1890 to 1911. The likelihood of anyone reaching this milestone is miniscule. It’s worth noting that since the dead ball era ended, the most wins by any pitcher are the 363 won by Warren Spahn.
Most Pitching Wins in a Season
Again, unless the league goes back to the dead ball era, no one will touch the astonishing 59 games won by Old Hoss Radbourn in 1884. No one has won even 25 since Bob Welch in 1990. Radbourn reached the total in 1884 with the Providence Grays, after agreeing to start 40 of the team’s last 46 games after another pitcher, Charlie Sweeney, got pulled from a game and left the stadium in a drunken fury. By this, we mean he was drunk during the game. And he still made it to the 7th inning before getting pulled.
Most Career Strikeouts
So, it’s easy to keep going with dead ball era pitching records which likely will never get broken. So here is one from the modern era. Nolan Ryan retired after pitching 27 years having recorded 5,714 strikeouts. The closest person, Randy Johnson, is more than 800 strikeouts behind. It will take another person with the endurance and grit of Ryan to reach that record, and no one else has come close, yet.
Most Career Hits
Pete Rose had an amazing 4,256 hits over the course of his career. We list this among the unbreakable because no one except Ty Cobb has ever hit more than 4,000. However, it should be noted that Ichiro Suzuki has more hits than Rose – but the first 1,278 came in the Japanese league. That said, Suzuki does have the record for most consecutive seasons with 200 or more hits, doing it for 10 straight years.
Many more tough-to-beat records exist, but these five baseball records certainly rank among those that look unbreakable. Of course, as with everything in baseball, that’s debatable.
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