Records are meant to be broken…..or not. Of course over the years, we have seen some incredible sports feats and records smashed. Most recently, we saw a “unobtainable” record broken when Russell Westbrook became only the second player in NBA history to average a triple double for an entire season. Even more impressive is that he came back the next season and did it again. In this article, I will be breaking down some of the most mind-boggling and unbreakable records in sports, some having been records for over 70 years, in no particular order. In the end, I will leave it up to the reader to determine in their own mind which record is truly the most untouchable.
Wilt Chamberlain’s array of NBA records
Wilt Chamberlain holds a ridiculous 68 individual records in the NBA. I don’t think you all care about each and every one so I picked 3 that I think are the most impressive and that we will never see again. The most obvious one is his single game record of 100 points. The closest anyone has ever come was 81 points by the late, great Kobe Bryant. In today’s NBA, the defense is just too good for one man to go off for triple digits. Devin Booker scored 70 recently and it felt like there was no way anyone could score 30 more points than that considering how hot of a hand Booker had in that game. Another single game record Chamberlain holds is his astonishing 55 rebounds in a single game. The closest we have seen was Charles Oakley snagging 20 less than Wilt’s record with 35. You see, Wilt was just a bigger and stronger guy than every other player in the league in his time. Today, the league is way more balanced and competitve from top to bottom so it is hard to imagine someone even grabbing 40 rebounds over someone else. If not physicality, then I am certain pride would kick in and there would be a certain scuffle or fight. Lastly, and this is the most unobtainable one of them all, Wilt averaged 50.4 PPG for a single season. Actually he has the top 4 greatest scoring seasons of all time until MJ comes in at #5 with 37.09 PPG. Just impossible in today’s game. No one scores at a clip that high anymore and my mind would be absolutely blown if anyone even came close.
Cal Ripken’s Iron Man Record
2,632 games played in a row. Think about that for a few minutes. Cal Ripken had to stay healthy day in and day out for 16 seasons. He had to play well enough and avoid injury to go out there for 14 consecutive years as his body aged and the game changed. The man whos record he broke did it while playing 1st base. Ripken did it while playing one of the most physcially demanding positions being a shortstop! This day and age we live in is an era where a guy sits out with cramps in his stomach. Not to mention that even if not injured, guys will usually just take a day off because we live in the era of load management. There is just absolutely no way this one ever gets broken. The closest active player with most consecutive games played? A whopping 256 by Freddy Galvis. You see, It just isnt even on the table as a record that will be touched.
Wayne Gretzky’s Career Points Record
This one is absolutely ridiculous. Wayne Gretzky tallied a whopping 2,857 points in his NHL career. In order for someone to get to that mark, they would need rack up 143 points for 20 straight seasons. No one has even tallied 140 points in a season since Jaromir Jagr had 143 in 1996. Gretzky also holds the top 11 highest point total seasons ever. The man was a god. To put this in perspective, Nikita Kucherov had an amazing season in 2019 and was the NHL points leader with….128 points. It is safe to say the Great One’s record will be safe for quite some time.
Joe Dimaggio’s 56 Game Hit Streak
56 straight games with at least one hit. Doesn’t seem crazy that someone could do it right? Wrong. Besides when Joltin Joe set the record in 1956 and Pete Rose doing it for 44 straight games in 1978, no player has even reached the 40 game mark. On average, the best hitters in baseball get a hit less than 40% of the time they come to the plate. That means that 7 out of 10 times they come to bat, they either get out or walk. Simply just the media attention the record gets when someone even starts approaching 20 games is a frenzy in itself. There is no way that one man can not let all the hoopla and attention get to their heads. I remember growing up and Luis Castillo of the Marlins reached 36 straight games and it aged him 20 years in just 5 weeks. He was a young vibrant second baseman and by the end of it he had gray hairs poking out of his baseball cap. There is just no way I see someone even coming close to this one. Besides Dimaggio being my favorite Yankee of all time, I just do not think it is obtainable at all. The likelihood of someone even playing that many games in a row without sustaining a minor physical setback is next to none, let alone getting a hit every game for 2 months straight.
Ted Williams Batting Average In A Single Season
This one technically is not a record however, Teddy Ballgame is the last player to bat .400 or better in a single season having batted .406 in 1941. The last person to even come close to a batting average that high was Tony Gwynn in 1996 batting .394. In today’s MLB, the level of competition and athletic abilities of both pitchers and the defense behind them is just far to great to honestly see anyone eclipsing .400 for quite some time. I do personally believe this to be the most obtainable record however because it is like Williams said after that historic season “I do no understand what all the fuss is about, that still means I failed every 6 out of 10 times I came up to bat”.
There are a few records that I did not mention for various reasons. The Boston Celtics won 8 straight NBA championships but in a time when there were only 10 teams in the league. UCLA won 7 straight Men’s National titles and 88 straight games but in a time where parity and turnover were at a far less rate. Emmitt Smith ran for 18,355 yards in his career but in a time where running back commitees did not exist. Smith carried the ball at least 240 times in 14 seasons. No back lasts that long anymore. For various reasons I did not include them but which record in your eyes is the most unreachable?
To The Rack With Mac 