The Most Unbreakable Records in Baseball History
A Blog By Dean
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The title is a little misleading, because I am not putting ALL the unbreakable records on this list. Frankly, everyone knows that Cy Young’s 511 wins is never going to be touched and while some of the records below are pretty obviously never getting touched, some you probably have never heard of. I threw in some popular ones.
1. Old Hoss Radbourn’s 60-Win Season (1884)
In the modern game, 20 wins was considered elite for a starting pitcher. Now we are in the ultra modern game and arm angle is considered elite.
Radbourn won 60 games in one season, pitching 678.2 innings and throwing 73 complete games. This was possible due to his teammate quitting/getting kicked off the team after getting black out drunk in the dugout.
No pitcher today will even start 60 games in a season, let alone win that many.
2. Sam Crawford’s 12 Inside-the-Park Home Runs in a Season (1901)
In today’s game, most players won’t hit 12 inside-the-park homers in their entire career. Crawford was able to do this as stadiums back then were gigantic and some didn’t even have walls early on.
3. Barry Bonds’ 688 Intentional Walks
No other player even has 400. With today’s drug testing, no player would be good enough to strike as much fear into pitchers hearts then Bonds was fully juiced.
4. Tony Mullane’s 343 Career Wild Pitches
Mullane was a great pitcher, but control was not his strong suit. His 343 career wild pitches remain unmatched, with the next closest pitcher nearly 100 behind.
Again, due to the modern game, Mullane probably would have been brought out back and put down somewhere in little league due to his lack of control.
5. Red Barrett’s 58-Pitch Complete Game (1944)
There is a slight world where this could happen as hitters today just swing so much. However, I don’t think pitchers can attack the zone as frequently because how good hitters are. Plus, the analytical czars on the team would probably run down to the dugout and make sure the manager tells the hitters to stop swinging.
6. Joe DiMaggio’s 56-Game Hit Streak (1941)
There is a great interview with Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio about their streaks. I encourage everyone to go to The Dean Ciriaco Show YouTube channel and you will see it in the shorts section. It is a much watch.
Pete Rose got to 44 games in a row, and the closest since 2000 is 39. DiMaggio’s streak of 56 straight games with a hit is one of baseball’s most iconic and unbreakable records. Again, I believe the aforementioned analytical nerd from the closet upstairs would run down and tell the pitcher to just walk him if the player was this hot.
7. Walter Johnson’s 110 Career Shutouts
The all-time shutout leader, Johnson pitched 110 complete-game shutouts in his career. The closest active pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, has 15. Nobody is coming close.
8. Hank Aaron’s 6,856 Career Total Bases
People talk about Aaron’s 755 home runs, but his total bases record is even more untouchable. Miguel Cabrera, one of the greatest hitters of our time, was still 1,500 away when he retired.
9. Ted Williams’ .482 Career On-Base Percentage
A .400 OBP for a single season is elite in today’s game. Ted Williams had a career .482 OBP—nearly reaching base half the time over his entire career. Hitters do not have the patience for this.
10. Maury Wills’ 165 Regular Season Games Played in 1962
How did Wills play more than 162 games? A rare quirk—a three-game tiebreaker series against the Giants counted as regular-season games. No one will ever get the chance to break this one. Therefore, it is unbreakable.
11. Ernie Banks’ 2,528 Career Games Without a Postseason Appearance
"Mr. Cub" played for 19 seasons without ever reaching the playoffs. With expanded playoffs today, it’s almost impossible for a superstar to go their entire career without a postseason appearance. Beyond that, no player would ever be dedicated enough to stay on a losing team that long.
12. Johnny Vander Meer’s Back-to-Back No-Hitters (1938)
Throwing one no-hitter is rare. Throwing two in a row is impossible. To break Vander Meer’s record, someone would need three straight no-hitters. Not happening. Even if the player had a second no hitter going some analytic nerd up in the closet would wire down to the manager that it is time to take him out because it is statistically improbable that he will throw another no-hitter.
13. Chief Wilson’s 36 Triples in a Season (1912)
Hitting 10 triples in a season is impressive today. Chief Wilson had 36. With modern stadiums and the way the game is played today, this record is untouchable.
14. Rickey Henderson’s 1,406 Career Stolen Bases
The is another one that is probably obvious but I want to show how crazy it is. If you did not see it, I had a 40 year MLB The Show Franchise that I ended the other day. It was insane and I am very proud of it. In that franchise I had one particular player that I made a 99 overall across the board every season. I wanted him to try and break Rckey Henderson’s stolen base total. He did, but it took him 40 years.
16. Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 Career Strikeouts
Honestly, I threw this in here because it is his birthday today and when I post this as a thread later it will help with the algorithm. That being said, with the way that baseball is played today, o pitcher will throw enough innings to ever break this record.
21. Babe Ruth Out-Homering Entire Teams (1920 & 1927)
Ruth didn’t just dominate his era—he embarrassed it.
1920: Ruth hit 54 HRs—more than every team except one.
1927: He crushed 60 HRs, out-homering half the league by himself.
With modern power numbers spread across lineups, no player will ever single-handedly out hit full MLB rosters again.
That is all I got for today! You will probably see this as a thread later tonight or tomorrow. My last two threads have combined total done 13 million views the last few days. So, I am probably due for a dud. Hopefully, this is not it.