Unbreakable baseball records
- Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 career strikeouts
When most people hear “strikeouts,” Nolan Ryan is usually the first name that comes to mind. Throughout his 27-year career, he struck out an unprecedented 5,714 batters. The closest active pitcher to that feat is CC Sabathia with more than 2,500 strikeouts in his 14 year career.
- Ty Cobb’s .366 career batting average
To put into perspective: Miguel Cabrera top all active players with a .321 career batting average after 13 seasons. He would have to hit over .400 for the rest of his career to come close to the Georgia Peach.
- Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak
Every season a player starts a good hit streak and every season we hear about the Yankee Clipper’s famous record. But no one ever gets close to 56. The closest an active player has come is Jimmy Rollins in 2005 with a 38-game streak.
- Pete Rose’s 4,256 career hits
Rose’s record of 4,256 hits, set 30 years ago, is safe. Alex Rodriguez is the closest active player with Ichiro behind him. Both near the end of their careers and more than 1,200 hits behind Charlie Hustle.
- Walter Johnson’s 110 career shutouts
In today’s world of pitch counts and specialty relievers, it’s safe to say the Big Train’s 110 career shutouts won’t be messed with. Tim Hudson leads active MLB pitchers with 13 shutouts after 17 seasons.
- Cal Ripken’s 2,362 consecutive games played
With the obvious desire of manager to rest star players by giving them a day off every now and then, it is unimaginable anyone will come even close to Ripken’s streak.
- Johnny Vander Meer’s two straight no-hitters
It’s hard enough to throw a no-hitter, let alone two in a row. That’s what Vander Meer did in 1938. To break this record, one would have to pitch three consecutive no-nos, which is virtually impossible.
- Cy Young’s 511 career wins
People wonder when we’ll see another 300-game winner. There won’t be any in the near future (active leader Tim Hudson has just 219). Young’s 511 career wins is untouchable the way the game is played now, with five-man rotations and few complete games. A pitcher would have to average 25 wins over 20 seasons to get there.
- Cy Young’s 749 career complete games
To put this into perspective, a pitcher would have to complete the game pretty much every start in his career over 22 seasons to come close to Young’s 749 career complete games.
- ‘Old Hoss’ Radbourn’s 59 wins in a season
With five-man rotations, it is literally impossible for any starter to make enough starts to win 59 games in a season.
