# Sports records that will not be broken. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485 "2013-01-27T00:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/81 "2013-02-04T14:59:52Z")
Good point, Zeno, but the NFL measures yards in whole numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/82 "2013-02-04T15:21:27Z")
The 2004 Boston Red Sox feat of winning eight games straight in post-season play is very secure. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/83 "2013-02-04T15:32:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 2004 Boston Red Sox feat of winning eight games straight in post-season play is very secure. And the White Sox did it the very next year. Actually, just one game away from a perfect post-season. So, I wouldn’t particularly call that record secure. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/84 "2013-02-04T16:42:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 2004 Boston Red Sox feat of winning eight games straight in post-season play is very secure. As has been pointed out, since it was tied the following year - Chicago won ALCS Games 2-5 against the Angels, and then swept Houston in the World Series - maybe not. What would be particularly impossible about winning nine games in a row, anyway? You get hot, kaboom. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/85 "2013-02-04T17:15:42Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I hear this one a lot, but I’m not sure why DiMaggio’s streak is so venerated. First of all, Ted Williams had a higher batting average during the same span, which takes the edge off of the achievement for me just a bit. I think that’s because the hit thing just has this casual, aesthetically rounded appeal. It’s sort of like how we keep records on hitting for the cycle, even though, say, two doubles, a triple, and a home run is probably more of a feat. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/86 "2013-02-04T17:21:02Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > 109 yard kick return in the Super Bowl. > > Might be tied, but they’d have to change the rules for it to be broken. It’s officially 108. Which is a rip-off because the announcer said 109, and the records should be based on popular misconceptions not facts. Wait… maybe that should be the other way round. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/87 "2013-02-05T01:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Good point, Zeno, but the NFL measures yards in whole numbers. Except when they don’t. Last night after a play which was close to a first down, when they had to take the chains out on the field, the officials called it as “Third down, one half to go”, or some such. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/88 "2013-02-05T01:54:15Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 2004 Boston Red Sox feat of winning eight games straight in post-season play is very secure. You have this special give for posting wrong shit all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/89 "2013-02-05T02:12:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Except when they don’t. Last night after a play which was close to a first down, when they had to take the chains out on the field, the officials called it as “Third down, one half to go”, or some such. On the field, sure. The official uses the fraction of a yard he saw on replay to spot the ball, but it still goes into the books in whole numbers. Here’s the [play-by-play](http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=330203025&period=4) for the sequence you’re talking about (Ravens possession starting at 9:57): > [@](#): > > 2nd and 8 at BAL 38: (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short right to A.Boldin to BLT 46 for 8 yards (C.Rogers). Pass 5, YAC 3 The first down was measured for. San Francisco challenged the first down ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (Shotgun) J.Flacco pass short right to A.Boldin to BLT 45 for 7 yards (C.Rogers). Pass 5, YAC 2 The first down was measured for. > > 3rd and 1 at BAL 45: J.Flacco pass short right to A.Boldin to SF 40 for 15 yards (C.Rogers). Pass 15, YAC 0 Despite the half yard change on the spot of the ball, the pass was changed from an 8 yard catch to a 7 yard catch, and the next play was 3rd and 1, not 3rd and 1/2. Distances on the field are continuous, but the books are kept in integers. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/90 "2013-02-05T03:00:46Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > No it shouldn’t, that’s assumed. > > Leonard Mlodinow has a bit in his book, The Drunkard’s Walk, about DiMaggio. There’s some analysis that, IIRC, says it’s pretty much what you’d expect out of 100 years of the sport regardless of exceptional skill. Same thing with Maris. You take a ton of average hitters, in Maris’ case, or good hitters, in DiMaggio’s, and you’ll eventually get lots of homeruns and long hit streaks. It’s interesting, though, that nobody is close to DiMaggio. The second longest in modern baseball is 44, way off his mark. By comparison, when Maris hit hit 61 homers, people had already hit 60, 59, 58 (by two men) and 56 and 54… and so on. Whem the standard was reset, again you’ve got a clump of performances at the top; 73, 70, 66, 65, 64, 63. DiMaggio’s record is strikingly far from the clump of best hitting streaks. It’s a legitimately weird outlier. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/91 "2013-02-05T03:55:39Z")
And actually, vis-a-vis consecutive playoff wins by a baseball team, it just occurred to me the record’s not eight. It’s twelve; the Yankees once won three consecutive World Series appearances without losing a game: 1927: Swept Pittsburgh 4-0 1928: Swept St. Louis 4-0 1932: Swept Chicago 4-0 The bookend games were the Game 7 loss to St. Louis in 1926, and a Game 1 loss to the Giants in 1936. The Yankees then won ten playoff games in a row between 1937 and 1941: 1937: Beat the Giants in Game 5, ending the series 1938: Swept Chicago 4-0 1939: Swept Cincinnati 4-0 1941: Won Game 1 against Brooklyn And then in 1989-1990, Oakland won ten playoff games in a row: 1989: Beat Toronto in game 4 and 5 of the ALCS, then swept San Francisco 4-0 in the World Series 1990: Swept Boston 4-0 in the ALCS Also winning eight playoff games in a row were the 1975-1976 Reds; they won Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, and then went a perfect 7-0 in the postseason in 1976. They didn’t play another playoff game until 1990, and then lost Game 1. Sure, these are across multiple seasons, but that counts, right? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/92 "2013-02-05T16:26:33Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > As has been pointed out, since it was tied the following year - Chicago won ALCS Games 2-5 against the Angels, and then swept Houston in the World Series - maybe not. > > What would be particularly impossible about winning nine games in a row, anyway? You get hot, kaboom. 12 straight in a single postseason (one-game playoff, 3-0, 4-0, 4-0) is the maximum achievable under the current rules, but it’s not unreasonable to think that the divisional series might go to best of seven at some point, so even that would hardly be unbreakable. Thinking about that, posting an undefeated postseason is now a lot harder than it was when there were fewer rounds of playoffs; the Reds’ “most wins without a loss in a single postseason” might be hard to catch. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/93 "2013-02-05T17:00:13Z")
Couldn’t you have a one-game tiebreaker for the second Wild Card followed by the Wild Card play-in game, then the 11 “normal” playoff games? So 13 under current rules? Or do tiebreaker games count as regular-season and not post-season? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/94 "2013-02-05T17:33:24Z")
Mariano Rivera’s career saves (608 and counting). Walter Johnson’s career shutouts (110, mentioned in the earlier thread; closest active only has 20). Jesse Orosco’s career games pitched (1252; Rivera still needs 201 and only had nine last season). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/95 "2013-02-05T17:49:19Z")
There’ve been a lot of mentions here of records that were set when (whatever sport it is) was played very differently from the way it is today, sure. But to say they can \*never \*be broken means saying that the sport is \*never \*going to change significantly again. That assumption is, um, debatable. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/96 "2013-02-05T17:51:41Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Cy Young’s record for career victories (511) and losses (316) are also untouchable. > > The record for most pitching victories in a season is 59\* by [Charlie (Old Hoss) Radbourn](http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/radboch01.shtml) in 1884. That mark is now so incredible that it almost seems like something from a tall tale or an ancient legend passed down orally from storyteller to storyteller through the mists of time. This. And just further the point - of those 59 wins, **52** were complete games. In one season. That will never happen again. Also one record I firmly believe will never be broken : Hack Wilson, 1930. 191 RBI in a single season. I still can’t believe it even as I read it. 191. In one season, and that season was only 154 games. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/97 "2013-02-05T17:56:28Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > Also one record I firmly believe will never be broken : Hack Wilson, 1930. 191 RBI in a single season. I still can’t believe it even as I read it. 191. In one season, and that season was only 154 games. Only 2 of the 21 seasons of 160 or more were after 1938. [Wiki.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_runs_batted_in_records) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/98 "2013-02-05T18:03:36Z")
In the NFL, the dearth of Super Bowl wins by the Cincinnati Bengals will likely continue in perpetuity. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/99 "2013-02-05T18:27:47Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Mariano Rivera’s career saves (608 and counting). I don’t understand why this is unbreakable. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485/100 "2013-02-05T20:07:06Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Couldn’t you have a one-game tiebreaker for the second Wild Card followed by the Wild Card play-in game, then the 11 “normal” playoff games? So 13 under current rules? Or do tiebreaker games count as regular-season and not post-season? I am pretty sure that those are considered regular season games. The game result ends up in the team’s won/loss record and that player’s stats count for the regular season too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-records-that-will-not-be-broken/648485.md?page=6)