20 baseball records that may never be broken
Orioles shortstop breaks Lou Gehrig’s durability record on Sept. 6, 1995, a quest that some called baseball’s salvation after 1994 work stoppage. Joe DiMaggio said during postgame ceremony, “Wherever my old teammate Lou Gehrig is today, I’m sure he’s tipping his cap to you, Cal Ripken.” Credit: AP
In honor of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941 . . . here are 20 other baseball records that may never be broken.
1. Cy Young's 511 career victories: A pitcher would have to average 20.5 wins for 25 years.
2. Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.
3. Nolan Ryan's seven career no-hitters. Sandy Koufax is second with four no-nos. No active player has pitched more than two.
4. Cal Ripken's record 2,632 consectutive games played: To break it, a player would have to play a 162-game schedule -- every day -- for more than 16 seasons.
5. Jack Chesbro's 41 victories in a single season for the New York Highlanders in 1904: With five-man rotations in place, today's pitchers don't even make that many starts.
6. Ed Walsh's 464 innings pitched for the 1908 White Sox: A pitcher would have to work nine innings in 51 games just to get close to that mark.
7. Sam Crawford's 309 career triples: Carl Crawford of the Red Sox is the active leader with 106, and he's 29 years old.
8. The 110 shutouts logged by Walter "Big Train" Johnson of the Senators: The active leader is Roy Halladay with 19 and he's in his 14th season.
9. Ty Cobb's lifetime batting average of .366. Ichiro Suzuki's .330 was the best among active players as of Tuesday.
10. Dutch Leonard's 0.96 ERA with the Red Sox in 1914. He gave up only 24 earned runs in 224.2 innings.
11. Sixteen shutouts in a single season: The modern record is held by Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Phillies (1916).
12. Rogers Hornsby's highest single-season batting average, .424 for the Cardinals in 1924: It's been 70 years since Ted Williams hit .406 for the Red Sox.
13. The Cardinals' Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in one inning, on April 23, 1999.
14. Nolan Ryan's 5,714 career strikeouts: A pitcher would have to average more than 300 strikeouts for 19 seasons to approach that mark.
15. Mickey Mantle's record 18 World Series home runs. Babe Ruth had 15 Series homers.
16. Connie Mack's mark of 53 years as a manager (50 with the Athletics): That's 7,755 games (3,731-3948, .486). He won nine pennants and five World Series with Philadelphia. The Cardinals' Tony La Russa, 66, would have to manage another 20 seasons to match it.
17. Joe Sewell's low mark of 114 strikeouts in 7,132 at-bats (that's a rate of one strikeout for nearly every 63 at-bats). Today's players routinely strike out three times in a game and 114 times or more in a single season.
18. Joe McGinnity's record of pitching two complete games in a doubleheader three times in one season: The "Iron Man's" accomplishment with the 1903 Giants is almost too much to comprehend.
19. Most consecutive seasons played with one club: Brooks Robinson spent 23 seasons with the Orioles and Carl Yastrzemski matched that with the Red Sox. Then again, free agency never coaxed them to move.
20. And just for fun, Mickey Mantle's 266 career home runs at old Yankee Stadium: No one will break that one as the old ballpark has been torn down!
