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10 Unbreakable Sports Records

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  • 10 Unbreakable Sports Records

    According to Ask Men/Fox Sports World (bolding mine) :

    Whenever the inevitable debate arises among sports fans concerning the record that is the least likely to ever be broken, many people are quick to cite Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak.

    But there are many other — perhaps lesser-known — achievements by athletes or teams that are likely to still be standing well into the future. Here are the Top 10 unbreakable sports records.

    10. Rocky Marciano's 49-0

    Marciano began his professional career in 1947 by beating Lee Epperson, and over the next eight years, he proceeded to defeat all 49 of his opponents — 43 by knockout. In doing so, Marciano became the first heavyweight to go undefeated throughout his entire career.

    Marciano's record was challenged in 1985 by Larry Holmes, who got to 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks. However, with today's crop of heavyweights being underwhelming, his mark seems likely to stand the test of time.

    9. Michael Schumacher's seven championships

    Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991, and just one year later, he managed a third-place finish in the overall drivers' standings. By 1994, Schumacher had truly arrived, winning the first of his seven F1 points titles. He performed the feat again in 1995, then moved over to the Ferrari team and won each year between 2000 and 2004. His 2003 season victory moved him ahead of Juan Fangio, who finished atop the standings five times.

    Schumi also holds the F1 record for most race wins with 85 (Alain Prost is a distant second with 51) and most wins in a season with 13. All three records are unlikely to be overturned.


    8. Ty Cobb's .366 career batting average

    The Georgia Peach played 24 seasons from 1905 to 1928, and outside of his rookie year, he never hit below .316. Regardless of one's opinion of Cobb as a person, his incredible statistics are indisputable: he hit over .380 nine times, batted above .400 three times, and finished with a career batting average of .366, well ahead of Rogers Hornsby, whose .358 places him second.

    The closest active player was Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies, who entered the 2005 season hitting .339. However, that average has since fallen to .333, meaning that Cobb's lofty average is in no danger of being surpassed yet.

    7. Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters

    Nolan Ryan broke into baseball in 1966 as the second-youngest player in the league. By the time he retired as Major League Baseball's oldest in 1993, he had thrown seven no-hitters, making him by far the all-time record holder (Sandy Koufax sits second, with four). Ryan's first no-no came on May 15, 1973, and he recorded his second exactly two months later.

    He then proceeded to record one in each of the next two seasons, threw another in 1981 to set the record, and then added one no-hitter per season in 1990 and 1991 (made all the more incredible by his advanced age of 43 and 44 years old, respectively) to seal his position on top.

    6. Wayne Gretzky's 215-point season

    While all of Gretzky's records seem unbreakable (with 2,857 points, he's nearly 1,000 ahead of second-place Mark Messier), this mark set in 1985-'86 simply can't be surpassed. A player not only needs scoring punch but durability; during this magical season, The Great One averaged 2.69 points per game. In NHL history, only Mario Lemieux has even come close to matching that pace over a campaign, but he didn't play all 80 games, as Gretzky did.

    Last season, the San Jose Sharks' Joe Thorton led all NHL players with 125 points (in 81 games). Will anyone ever come close to The Great One's record? It's not likely.

    5. Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point night

    Like Gretzky's and some of the other records that follow on this list, Wilt's 100 points in a game will not be challenged simply because the sport has changed so much. In an era in which entire teams often struggle to score 100 points in a game, a repeat of what happened on March 2, 1962 isn't likely.

    During the game, Chamberlain also set records for most field goals (36), free throws (28 of 32), points in a quarter (31), and points in a half (59), while breaking his own record of 78 points in a game set earlier that season. Incidentally, Wilt also holds another scoring record (20,000) that's unlikely to be broken, but we'll leave that for another article.

    4. John Wooden's 88 straight wins

    Another relic of a bygone era, this record harkens back to when college players stuck around for four years and turned their programs into dynasties. Under the tutelage of the Wizard of Westwood and with Bill Walton leading the way, the UCLA Bruins won 88 straight games — between two losses to Notre Dame on Jan. 23, 1971 and Jan. 19, 1974 — a span that included three of the record seven straight NCAA championships won by UCLA from 1967 to 1973.

    To get an idea of just how hard these feats are to replicate, reflect on the fact that no team has gone undefeated for even a single season since 1976, and no other school has ever won more than two straight titles.

    3. Cy Young's 511 wins

    Young had the benefit of pitching from 1890 to 1911, an era in which hurlers could finish what they started. He picked up wins by throwing 749 complete games out of 815 starts on his way to setting a record that will undoubtedly never be topped. In 1903, Young got his 365th win, passing Pud Galvin for the record, and proceeded to add nearly 150 more victories for good measure.

    A pitcher today would need to average 25 wins a season for 21 years to surpass Young; with an average of just 35 starts each year, that's an all-but-impossible task.

    2. Jerry Rice's 22,895 receiving yards

    This record, and the one that follows it for top spot, earn their positions by virtue of the fact that they were set quite recently, and yet are still of mythic proportions. In other words, Rice is playing the same style of game as current players, and yet he's so far above and beyond them that his accomplishments can't be touched.

    This is the most iron-clad of Rice's records set during his career that began in 1985, although he also holds the records for most catches with 1,549 and touchdowns with 197. The next-closest player is Tim Brown, who is nearly 8,000 yards behind. Even for a young star like Randy Moss to catch Rice, he'd have to average nearly 1,400 yards per year for the next 10 seasons, at which point he'll be 38. Don't count on it.

    1. Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games

    Likewise, Ripken set his record in the modern era, and that lends it extra credence in the pantheon of sports accomplishments. Lou Gehrig's "Iron Man" record of 2,130 games was widely regarded as "unbreakable," but Ripken not only passed it on Sept. 6, 1995, he also added an extra 500 straight games before he finally decided to take the pressure off and end the streak. That move, on Sept. 20, 1998, brought to a close a remarkable run that had begun over 16 years earlier on May 30, 1982, and that included a string between June 5, 1982, and Sept. 14, 1987, in which Ripken played 8,243 straight innings.

    Considering that only four players were present in all 162 of their team's games in 2004, Ripken's record looks even more impressive, and beyond challenge.

    Sports exploits

    Tennis great Pete Sampras came close to making the list, with his 14 Grand Slam titles placing him tops among male players of all time. The same goes for Ted "the Splendid Splinter" Williams of the Boston Red Sox, who finished his career with an on-base percentage of .482.
    But while challengers may take aim at Sampras' and Williams' marks, and at the other records mentioned above, it will take a truly phenomenal player to eclipse any of these incredible athletic achievements.


    Pretty North American-centric, to be sure. Any soccer (football) records that should be on the list? Agree/disagree with those listed?
    "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
    "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
    "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

  • #2
    American football, try Shula's 347 career wins. Say you're an average coach who wins and loses with equal frequency. Say you get your head coaching gig at the age of 40. You'd have to coach for every year until you're 85. Even if you average an excellent ten wins a season, you still have to coach until you're 75.
    "You're the biggest user of hindsight that I've ever known. Your favorite team, in any sport, is the one that just won. If you were a woman, you'd likely be a slut." - Slowwhand, to Imran

    Eschewing silly games since December 4, 2005

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    • #3
      Personally, I find the mention of Sampras' 14 Grand Slam titles to be somewhat odd considering Federer already has 9 and is dominating the game moreso than Sampras ever did.
      "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
      "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
      "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

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      • #4
        For Nolan Ryan, I believe his strike out total will last longer than his no-hit record. His Walk record probably will too.

        And Wilt's 100 point night will probably fall too. There's so much ego in the NBA these days, that someone will give it a run.
        It's almost as if all his overconfident, absolutist assertions were spoonfed to him by a trusted website or subreddit. Sheeple
        RIP Tony Bogey & Baron O

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        • #5
          Wilt's record won't fall. There's too much defense in the game today (though less so with the ego players as you mentioned). That's why teams struggle to break 100 as a team.

          Yeah Sampras' record I don't expect to hold.

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          • #6
            american football, Shula's record is impressive. it's too difficult to field a super dominant team now days.

            Many other football records may be broken, however. Especially with rules changes. It makes some stats meaningless (or less significant I should say). But it will be a while before someone breaks Emitt Smith's all time rushing yards. It will take a durable back to do this.

            Jeryy Rice's record may be broken if they incorporate more rules changes to help the passing game. Although that isn't too likely as the recievers got it pretty good right now as it is.

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            • #7
              Pelé's goal record will never be matched:
              729 competitive games for Santos FC and 784 goals scored, 79 apps for the New York Cosmos and 57 goals, 92 apps for Brazil and 77 goals.

              I highly doubt that Lampards games in a row record will be matched by an outfield player anytime soon.
              When it all comes to it, life is nothing more than saltfish - Salka Valka

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              • #8
                Jerry Rice's record will definitely fall, probably in the next 20 years. Overall passing yards go up every year, and the rules favor receivers more than ever.

                John Wooden's record could fall, but not in Division 1-AA.

                I'm predicting a renaissance of no-hitters. With the lame talent level in baseball, along with the ability to study batters between innings on portable media players, there's definitely room for a dominant pitcher to make a run at it. Wildcard: a no-hitter takes as much luck as it does talent. Seven is a LOT -- Koufax is alone in second on the list, with 4. No one active (other than the ancient Randy Johnson and Hideo Nomo) has more than one, so 7 seems safe, but with all the crap players in towns like KC and Tampa, who knows...

                Rocky Marciano's record could easily fall. With all the crap heavyweights out there, boxing is primed to be dominated. Plus, the sport has no integrity. And 49 just doesn't seem like like that big a number.

                The others seem pretty safe (although I know nothing about F1 racing).
                Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
                RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-Arms

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                • #9
                  I would have thought that Armstrong's consecutive Tor de France wins would stand out as well. Its highly unlikely anyone could ever come close
                  You don't get to 300 losses without being a pretty exceptional goaltender.-- Ben Kenobi speaking of Roberto Luongo

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                  • #10
                    yeah, plus they will probably get better drug testing standards making it harder for someone to dominate the "sport" the way Lance did
                    To us, it is the BEAST.

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                    • #11
                      gretzky = cool dude. he has bad breath tho.

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                      • #12
                        Schumi

                        His record for number of wins in a season is pretty unassailable, too.
                        THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
                        AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
                        AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
                        DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

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                        • #13
                          Bobby Orr's +128


                          nobody will break that
                          To us, it is the BEAST.

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                          • #14
                            orr > gretzky

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                            • #15
                              Tony Dorsett's 99 yard TD run is impossible to break.
                              Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
                              "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
                              He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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