Most unbreakable baseball record?

Question

Of all the records in baseball what do you see as the most "unbreakable"? Here's a few possibles...

-Cy Young's 511 wins
-Ty Cobb's .367 lifetime batting average
-Ty Cobb's .367 lifetime batting average
-Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters (2)
-Nolan Ryan's 5,714 career strikeouts
-Rickey Henderson's 130 stolen bases in a season
-Orel Hershiser's 59 consecutive scoreless innings

Which record is the most unbreakable?
Which of these records will fall first? And who do you think will do it (if a currently player)?

Here's Ripken's, I didn't include it only because I saw a question specifically to that not too long ago.
Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games

I also didn't include Bond's home run record. All records are up for mentionining. I just named a few.

Answer 1

Ichiro has a career .332 BA. I think he'd come closest to Cobb's but .367 lifetime average. Jeter has a lifetime .318. Clemens has 350, Cy Young accumulated 511 wins over 23 years. Clemens has already played one more year than Cobb with 24, and theres no way hes gonna stay in the league long enough to catch up. Clemens is also runner up to Nolan Ryans K record. Clemens is trailing by about 1,100. Once again highly unlikely to pass. Pedro's only played 15 years in the league, but with shoulder problems, injuries he wont pass. He is 15th on the all time ks list. All of the other pitchers close are Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Schilling, and Smoltz. Who are all old and been playing since '88 or before. Henderson's 130 SB in 1 season is unbelievable. Reyes had 64 last year, trailed closely by Pierre and Crawford. In '05 it was Figgins with 62, trailed by Reyes with 60. Reyes could do it, its only his 5th year in the league, I think he'd have to do it before year 10 though before the legs start breaking in. I think Johnny Vander Meer's record would be the easiest to break, even though it wouldnt be easy at all. I wouldnt be surprised to see Johan Santana do it. Orel Hershiser's 59 consecutive scoreless innings is dirty. i cant even think of whod pass that. Im gonna have to go with Cy Young's 511 wins. Johan Santana has been playing for 7 years and only has 89, plus hes an unbelievable pitcher. All of the pitchers that are close I think are too old, and the young guys are sooo far away. The first to be broken I think will be Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters which could be broken by Johan.

Answer 2

From a pitcher's standpoint, definetely the 511 wins. Most pitchers nowadays can't make 511 starts. That's literrally winning 20 games a year and never going on the DL, plus having an extremely lengthy career.

For a hitter, I'd say Cal Ripken's games played. That would be over 16 straight seasons without missing a game because of injury, problems, suspension, etc.

I would say Hershiser's 59 scoreless innings streak would be the first to be broken. It's hard for anyone to keep up hitting .367 for a single season, much less a career. Henderson's 130 steals in a season probably won't be broken. I think Reyes is about as good as you can get in basestealing.

Answer 3

The shorter time span involved, the quicker it can be broken.

I could see someone throwing a no-hitter and then, if their next start was going well, the manager leave him in until someone got a hit. A chance at a historic moment like this wouldn't be passed up.

Unlike a lot of folks, I think Joltin' Joe's hitting streak could be surpassed someday. Sure, it took a lot of luck for Joe to do it but whose to say another hitter could not be as lucky?

The same applies to Orel's streak. He was in a zone. I can imagine another hurler getting there.

Some season-long records would be tough.
Hugh Duffy's .440 batting average in 1894. or Rogers Hornsby's .424 in 1924. (let's not talk about the guy who hit .492)
What starter is going to have a lower ERA than Tim Keefe's 0.857 (from 1880).
Charley Radbourn's 59 wins in 1884... or even Jack Chesbro's 41 wins in 1904.
Matt Kilroy's 513 Ks in 1886 (Ryan's 383 is the modern record).

In 1879 Will White, at the age of 24, started 75 games, completed ALL of them, pitched 680 innings and faced 2906 batters. All still records to this day.

Among Career records:
I can't see anyone batting .367 for 10+ years.
Or slugging % better than .690 (Ruth)
Some of Cy Young's numbers are unapproachable. Especially his CGs. The Complete game is vanishing from the sport. The most in one season, since 2000 has been 9. In the 1990s the highest was 15. In the 80s it was 28. In the 70, it was 30.

Answer 4

Cy Youngs 511 career wins an also his career loss record of 316 will never be broken. After Glavine and Johnson I don't think we'll ever see another 300 game winner because of the way bullpens are used now and the 5 man rotation. I think Hershiser's 59 inning scoreless streak could be broken and I think it will be. I don't know who will do it, but I'm guessing it's going to be a dominant reliver that does it and not a starter.

Answer 5

i believe the univerally accepted unbreakable record is DiMaggio's 56 game in a row hitting streak

this is considered unbreakable because it takes so much more than just playing skill. It requires a lot of luck as well.

Out of the records you listed I think the consectuive no-hitters would be the toughest to break - it is highly unlikely that anyone can get three no-hitters in a row especially since the record for total no-hitters is 7 by Nolan Ryan over a three decade career. The one that has the best chance to go first is Ricky Henderson;s stolen base record.

Oh in regards to any record - I think most pros would say that one day A-Rod will be the all-time home run king even if he never breaks the single season record.

Answer 6

Of all the records you mentioned, Cy Young's 511 wins will never be broken. It is just not possible in today's game. Also of the records you mentioned Hershiser's 59 consecutive scoreless innings is the one I see falling first. The single season SB record could fall, but nobody has stolen 100+ bases since 1987.

But if we include all types of records, nobody will ever win 30 games in a season and the career HR record will be broken again after Bonds does it.

Answer 7

Cy Young's 511 wins.

Baseball has changed drastically since the days of Cy. Now teams use a 5 man rotation. That means most pitchers will only get 32 starts per year at most. So if a pitcher wins every game he starts it would take 16 years to reach 512 wins. That seems a bit unreachable. A pitcher has a great year if he wins 20 games in a season in this era. That means a pitcher would have to have around 25 dominant seasons. Every way I try to work it, pitchers would never get a chance to reach 400 wins, let alone approach 511.

Answer 8

Are you kidding. You are missing the most unbreakable record ever. Cal Ripkens consecutive games streak of 2,632 games. Nobody will ever even come close to that. In these days there are very few guys who play in every game of the season. Even superstars like Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Prince Fielder take a day off every once in a while. A player would have to play in about 17 consecutive seasons playing in every single game to break Cal's record.

Answer 9

I'd say Orel Hershiser's 59 consecutive scoreless innings is the most unbreakable record. Offense is to good now. Rickey Henderson's record is in jeopardy with people like Jose Reyes, Carlos Gomez, and Michael Bourn.

Answer 10

Where's Ripken's Consecutive games played?

I would go for a tie between Cy Young's 511 wins and Vander Meer's consecutive no-nos.