Sports Records that will never be broken or very difficult to break.

[tower912]

I think that speaks to how obsolete the statistic is more than anything.

More indicative of how the game has changed than anything.    The first team that I obsessed over was the 1975 Reds.   9 man pitching staff.    4 starters, 4 relievers, one swing man.   It was big news that Sparky would use all of his relievers in one game.   (Borbon, Carroll, Eastwick, McEnaney)    (Gullett, Billingham, Norman, Nolan)     And yes, I did those 8 pitchers from memory. 



Will never see a 4 man rotation for an entire season again.   40 starts is the first step to winning 25 games.     

Cy Young was just ridiculously gifted.   

[GooooMarquette]

Marquette being undefeated in football for the past 60 years.

You can say that again...

Marquette being undefeated in football for the past 60 years.

Thanks!

[The Sultan]

More indicative of how the game has changed than anything.    The first team that I obsessed over was the 1975 Reds.   9 man pitching staff.    4 starters, 4 relievers, one swing man.   It was big news that Sparky would use all of his relievers in one game.   (Borbon, Carroll, Eastwick, McEnaney)    (Gullett, Billingham, Norman, Nolan)     And yes, I did those 8 pitchers from memory. 



Will never see a 4 man rotation for an entire season again.   40 starts is the first step to winning 25 games.     

Cy Young was just ridiculously gifted.   

Well the game changing is what has made the stat obsolete.  When you always had starters that went deep into games, it would roughly give you a sense of who the best pitcher was.  It was never perfect, because your team had to score to win and that's out of the pitcher's control, but it at least gave you a somewhat decent apples to apples comparison.  Now it doesn't really do that.

[CTWarrior]

Johnny VanderMeer's two consecutive no-hitters.  To break it you'd have to throw three.

As stated before, Cy Young's 511 wins are pretty safe, as are his 315 losses.  One caveat, the way specialization of pitching is going, if we ever get to the point where a guy is a fifth inning specialist, he may rack up 40 wins in a season, though I doubt we'll get to that point.

Also from baseball, a lesser known record unlikely to fall is Sam Crawford's 309 career triples, I think Ty Cobb is the last person to finish his career within 100 of that number.  Players aren't all that interested in triples anymore, plus the better defense and arms in the outfield and the smaller parks, triples are much harder to come by.

In basketball, Wilt's 100 point game will be tough to top without the co-operation of the other team.

Any recent record, like UConn's women's winning streak, is more likely to be broken, in my opinion, then records that have already stood the test of time.

However, even though it is as recent as it could be, the Howard brothers combined career scoring record will be tough to beat for two brothers.  You need two tremendous players who aren't really big time NBA prospects so they play four years.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Ricky Henderson stolen base record. Nobody will ever come close to touching that.

[CTWarrior]

White Sox 4 consecutive complete games in the MLB postseason.

That's not a record.  I just checked the first World Series in 1903 and the Boston Americans had 5 straight in that one.  I'm sure there are others.

Deacon Phillippe's 5 complete games for the Pirates in one World Series will probably never be broken.  Also from the 1903 Series.

[GooooMarquette]

I forgot to mention Hank Aaron's HR record. 

[Johnny B]

chamberlins 100

[ZiggysFryBoy]

chamberlins 100

Chamberlain's 20k, eh?   

[Warriors4ever]

Eric Heiden's sweep of the individual speedskating gold medals at the 1980 Olympics. No relays, and every distance from sprint to long-distance. In a gold suit, no less

[StillAWarrior]

As stated before, Cy Young's 511 wins are pretty safe, as are his 315 losses.  One caveat, the way specialization of pitching is going, if we ever get to the point where a guy is a fifth inning specialist, he may rack up 40 wins in a season, though I doubt we'll get to that point.

And to think he'll only have to do that for 12+ seasons to overtake Young.   

[muwarrior69]

Cal Ripken consecutive games played.

Emmit Smith's all time rushing record.

30 wins in a season.

Wilt's 50.4 scoring average.

Nicklaus' 18 majors.

Yogi Berra played in 75 World Series games and the only player to have 14 WS rings.

[JWags85]

Any of Gretzky's records. The gulf between him and others for career points is hilarious. Nobody is touching 92 goals in a season. There are a half dozen of his records that are laughably out of reach 

[MU82]

How about hockey? Gretzky's 92 goals in a season, 51 point scoring streak, and 215 points in a season (he had 200 points in a season four times). In the 215 point season, if you took away all of his goals he still led the league in points that season on assists alone.  His 163 assists in a season will also never be broken.

Gretzky's career scoring record is safe. He is the all-time leading scorer in NHL history by nearly 100 points on assists alone.

Lemieux had 85 goals, 114 assists and 199 points in a season, which makes me believe that Gretzky's single season records are very, very unlikely to get broken ... but not impossible to break the way all of those pitching records are.

[muwarrior69]

Will Ted Williams 406 batting average in 1941 be broken? Tony Gwynn hit 394 back in the 90s, so reachable.

[muwarrior69]

Lemieux had 85 goals, 114 assists and 199 points in a season, which makes me believe that Gretzky's single season records are very, very unlikely to get broken ... but not impossible to break the way all of those pitching records are.

How sports have changed over the decades.

[jesmu84]

Phelps gold medals and total medals.

[dgies9156]

Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 300+ innings pitched.

Gibson was incredible and virtually unhittable in 1968. I doubt anyone will ever have a qualifying ERA as low as Gibson's and no one will ever do it in 300 innings or more.

I agree with Cal Ripkin's record. As well as Brett Favre's consécutive start record.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Here are some other ones I don't think ever get beaten just based on the way certain sports have changed over time.

Nobody will beat Emmitt Smith's rushing yards record. Too many running back tandems and spread, passing offenses.

Kareem's 15,836 career high in 2pt field goals. I can see someone breaking his scoring record, but with an emphasis on the three point line, that one should be safe.

[warriorchick]

While I appreciate the brevity of this particular post about St. Louis, that's not a record.

This.  It's just trivia.

[buckchuckler]

I have to come in with a Whitw Sox one.  I wonder how many people could name the all time ERA leader without checking?


Well, it isn't Cy Young, Walter Johnson or Christy Mathewson.  It is White Sox great Ed Walsh, with a 1.82 ERA in about 3k innings.

Can't see anyone reaching that, with DHs and loaded balls, and just in general. 

Kershaw has had 2 seasons beneath that number. Maddux did it twice, Pedro did it once. 

[brewcity77]

Phelps gold medals and total medals.

I feel like those records are attainable because they can always add more events that allow athletes to get more opportunities. Obviously someone will need a lot of longevity to match Phelps, but I don't think it's impossible that we'll see it in the next 30-40 years.

[Dish]

That's not a record.  I just checked the first World Series in 1903 and the Boston Americans had 5 straight in that one.  I'm sure there are others.

Deacon Phillippe's 5 complete games for the Pirates in one World Series will probably never be broken.  Also from the 1903 Series.

Sure, to my point, 4 or 5, with pitch counts, specialized bullpens, will never happen again.

[Lighthouse 84]

In 1961-62, Oscar Robertson averaged a triple double.  He missed out on doing it 4 other times by less than an assist or rebound.

[Lennys Tap]

Stan Musial had 3,630 hits. Exactly half were at home, 1815, and half were on the road, 1815.

That's not a record. It's a coincidence.