Baseball’s Most Unbreakable Records

With the Yankees breaking the MLB record for consecutive games without an error last night (18) previously held by the 2006 Boston Red Sox, I wanted to take a moment to look at those records that will never be broken… at least not in my lifetime.   Baseball is a game of stats, and there are many records out there that may never be broken, but I am going to take the time to go through some of the more notable records, along with some of my thoughts.

1. Cy Young’s 511 Career Wins - I don’t care what anyone says.  This will never be broken, especially with the way the game is played today.  Pitchers are on strict pitch counts and they pitch once every 5 days.  Truthfully, in a few years, 300-win pitchers will be rarity as well.
2. Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 Career Strikeouts - I did the math.  Granted Nolan Ryan was a horse and pitched for 27 seasons, but if a pitcher wants to even have a shot at this record, he would need to throw 250 strikeouts a year for 20 years.  Good luck!
3. Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game Hitting Streak - It seems like every year someone ‘flirts’ with DiMaggio’s record.  I am using the word flirt lightly because in reality, no one has even come close.  The closest anyone has gotten to this record is Pete Rose, and he was 12-games shy.  This year, Ryan Zimmerman hit in 30 straight games, and currently, Ichiro has a 25-game hitting streak.
4. Ty Cobb’s .366 Career Batting Average - Wow… it’s not very often you even see anyone hit over .350 in a season, but to finish a career that spanned 24 seasons and end with a .366 batting average, that’s quite a feat.  He finished a season over .400 three times.  Along with the fact that no one in baseball has hit above .400 in a season in 68-years (Ted Williams being the last in 1941), I would say this record will never be broken.
5. Johnny Vander Meer’s Back-to-Back - Throwing one no-hitter in a career is quite a feat, but throwing a no-hitter in back-to-back starts is incredible.  This record has potential of being tied, but I don’t think anyone will ever throw back-to-back-to-back no-hitters.
6. Cal Ripken’s 2,632 Consecutive Games Played - Wow… Cal must have taken his Vitamin C everyday to have a record like this.   He played in every single game from May 30, 1982 - September 19, 1998.  This record is attainable, could potentially be broken, but not for a very long time.
7. Nolan Ryan’s 7 Career No-Hitters - The closest behind him (Sandy Koufax) has 4.  The only active pitchers with 2 no-hitters are Randy Johnson and Hideo Nomo.
8. Orel Hershiser’s 59 Consecutive Scoreless Innings - What a feat!  Especially with the way the games has changed since Orel pitched (i.e. the Steroid Era), the idea of pitching 6 complete games + 5 innings of shutout baseball is incredible.  This record will never be broken.

I could go on and on through all the baseball records, but I think this is a good start.  Do you think there are others that are more unbreakable?  Let me know your thoughts on these records, as well as others in MLB.