The Most Unbreakable Record in Sports
January 5, 2010 · Chris Vafinis · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
It is extremely difficult to compare many different sports and claim one record as the most unbreakable over another. In fact, in each respective sport, it takes great skill to achieve professional status, let alone hold a record above every other player that has played or currently plays the game.
I am attempting to determine the most difficult record to break in all of sports that is still feasible . What I mean is that many players do not play the game the same way it used to be played. For example, Cy Young won 511 games in his career; however, keep in mind that this was the era of no pitch count, pitchers working two games in a row, some in the same day, and pitch rotations consisted of fewer players. Therefore, I begin a comparison of records through many different sports, culminating in the most unbreakable record in sports.
The first sport that I want to discuss is basketball. Basketball, as is the case with most sports, is seeing many leaps in the advancement of players’ abilities and the early age at which they are beginning to play. As I skimmed through the list of accomplishments, none stood out to me as absolutely unbreakable.
Most career assists, points, rebounds, and the like are all career statistics that can be matched or beaten with the increasing length of players’ careers and greater skill development. Even Wilt’s 100 points in a game has been approached by Kobe and others, and it doesn’t look impossible in the coming years.
If I had to pick one that stands out in this sport, Bill Russell’s 11 career NBA championships is the hardest feat to compare with in the NBA. This will take a player being consecutively on many above average teams throughout his career. However, it is not impossible.
The second sport is football. There are tons of players that I can see developing now who have the chance to beat Emmitt smith, Jerry Rice, Brett Favre, or even the ’72 Dolphins for their respective records. In fact, many players are on their way to setting records with the 2009-2010 NFL season.
Even Eric Dickerson’s rushing yards in a season record has been approached in the past two decades multiple times.
With the increased strength of the game and increase of injuries, my pick for most impressive record in this sport is Brett Favre’s consecutive games played. His career spans three decades (barely counting 2010 though) without missing a start.
The third sport is hockey. I don’t watch much hockey (if any), but I do know that Gretzky is called “The Great One” for a reason. His career points total is a big reason for that, too. I know I will get much grief from hockey fans, but I believe that another record beats Gretzky’s by a marginal amount. In fact, I will put this hockey record third in the all-time best records.
In considering college sports, very few records truly stand out since we have seen many teams in women’s and men’s sports that simply dominate, sometimes for years at a time.
The second greatest accomplishment that truly will take decades to even match is the seven consecutive titles won by UCLA. It will take consecutive classes of players that are consistently great. However, there have always been schools that consistently remain in the top 10 every year. I have to believe that at some time, a team will make a run on this record.
Finally, I come to the world of baseball. I have watched baseball for many years and I know that there is one record that takes the trophy as most unbreakable. Since baseball injuries are not as likely as other sports, Cal Ripken’s consecutive games played did not stand out to me as the greatest as it did in football.
My pick for most unbreakable is a record that is not one that is sought after like career stats or most titles are. In 1941, Joe DiMaggio solidified his name as one of the greatest, and arguably the greatest, hitter in baseball history. Between May and July, he went on a tear that is still possible to be beat but definitely unlikely.
In 56 straight games, he successfully had a hit at-bat sometime during the game. If you had to imagine, this is longer than 1/3 of the entire season where you do not go hitless in a game. Consider the pressure. A player gets three to five at-bats in a game. That includes the starting pitcher and relief pitchers.
In fact, the next closest hit streak for one season is 44 games, a whole 12 games shy of DiMaggio. One game is no small task, let alone 12 more to tie DiMaggio. What you also have to imagine is that hitting one out of three at-bats is considered very good. Most batters will be hitting less than that, which puts one hit a game very unlikely. Plus, the MLB now has more pitchers who throw faster speeds and more viewers, creating more pressure for the batters.
Every record is likely to beat at some time; however, this one will likely reign for many decades to come.
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