1. Ty Cobb's .366 lifetime batting average.
2. Nolan Ryan's career strikeout total of 5,714 (it will be rare to see a pitcher get to 3,000 Ks again).
3. Cy Young's 511 career wins as a pitcher.
4. Johnny Vander Meer's two straight no-hitters (a pitcher would need to pitch three straight in order to break this record).
It's no coincidence that most of the "unbreakable" records are pitching records. That's because pitching is the one part of the game that has changed most dramatically -- in ways that make it harder to even approach these numbers -- since these records were set.
One of the ways I determine just how difficult a record is to break is to look at the gap between the record and the second-best figure.
Hack Wilson's 190 RBIs is an amazing figure, but in the modern age of performance-enhancing drugs and occasional periods of ridiculous offensive numbers this figure isn't outlandish. Cy Young's 511 career wins, on the other hand, is almost 100 more than the next pitcher on the career list for victories (Walter Johnson, with 417). Greg Maddux had 355 career wins, the most ever by a pitcher who retired after 1965. The way pitching has changed in recent decades, the 250-win career has replaced the 300-win career as a benchmark for "great" pitchers.
Great comments and analysis. Many thanks
Cal Ripken’s record is way, way up there. Completely agree about the Pitching aspect changing the most and leaving all these unsurpassable marks.
Here’s some mind blowing stuff:
1971, 334 IP, 1.91 ERA
1972, 376 IP, 2.52 ERA
1973, 359 IP, 3.46 ERA
1974, 320 IP, 3.60 ERA
376 innings will never be topped. Especially with a 2.52 ERA.
Not exactly a superstar name, but a run that good will never be duplicated since it happened. It just can’t be done with a pitch count.
Freegards
‘It’s no coincidence that most of the “unbreakable” records are pitching records. That’s because pitching is the one part of the game that has changed most dramatically — in ways that make it harder to even approach these numbers — since these records were set. ‘
http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2014/09/02/babe-ruth-greatest-world-series-game-pitched/
“A frequent refrain from supporters of Jack Morris’s Hall of Fame candidacy is that he pitched the greatest game in World Series history. Certainly, Morris placed himself in unique company in 1991 when he became the third Fall Classic pitcher to hurl a 10-inning shutout after Clem Labine in 1956 [hat tip to Devon Young] and Christy Mathewson in 1913. Morris is also the 10th and most recent pitcher with a Game 7 shutout, joining men like Dizzy Dean in 1934, Sandy Koufax in 1965 and Bret Saberhagen in 1985. In addition, Morris is the only pitcher in World Series history with an extra inning, complete game victory in Game 7.
For some fans, all of this may be more than enough to anoint Morris. By various objective measures, though, Morris’s masterpiece is far from the greatest World Series pitching performance. There’s Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956 or journeyman Howard Ehmke’s surprise start in 1929 where the junkballer set a record at the time by striking out 13 stunned Chicago Cubs including Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby, Hack Wilson and Kiki Cuyler twice apiece. Then there’s Bob Gibson’s five-hit shutout in 1968 where he set a World Series record that still stands with 17 strikeouts.
By Game Score, the best World Series pitching performance came in 1916 by Babe Ruth with a 97. [Morris is tied for 38th at 84.] Ruth set a World Series record that still stands when he went 14 innings for the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 on October 9, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-1. He even drove in one of Boston’s runs, the New York Times noted, when Brooklyn second baseman George Cutshaw juggled a grounder in the third inning, allowing Everett Scott to score.
No one ever really talks about Game 2 of the 1916 World Series anymore, though it’s a great story. The day after it happened, the New York Times described the game as “the most thrilling world’s series battle ever fought.”
It was Ruth’s first start in a postseason game, as the 21-year-old..
http://baseballpastandpresent.com/2014/09/02/babe-ruth-greatest-world-series-game-pitched/