Records Are Made to Be Broken... Right?

Quietly, the Washington Nationals Ryan Zimmerman extended his hit streak to 30 games. While his accomplishment thus far is undoubtedly impressive, he’s just

Quietly, the Washington Nationals Ryan Zimmerman extended his hit streak to 30 games.

While his accomplishment thus far is undoubtedly impressive, he’s just passed the half way mark to reach Joe DiMaggio’s 56 games.

Whether or not, Zimmerman can extend his streak, or it stops today, it started turning my mental wheels to think about which records in sports will never be broken and which ones could soon be changed.

One thing to strongly consider however, is era, and how the game has changed since the records originated.

 

MLB

Although Zimmerman is 26 games away, he’s close enough for me to start thinking that this one may be possible. The game has started to drift from the long ball era to a variety of younger players who have shown the ability to hit, and hit consistently. It may take a while, but I think someone will get there.

With that being said, no one will ever hit Cy Young's 511 wins in a career. He was too good for too long, and the while there’s been certainly good if not better pitchers since his time, the way games are managed and careers are watched for longevity, I can’t foresee anyone getting within 100 wins of this feat.

The other that I don’t see getting touched is Nolan Ryan’s 7 no-hitters. Short and simple, there’s no way anyone comes close. 

Hockey

Call them what you must, Sid “The Kid”, Alexander “The Great”, or whatever, Wayne Gretzky owns most every scoring record, and while some will get close enough to think about them in the same breath, no one will actually surpass his numbers. With 894 goals and 2,857 points, he not only surpassed those before him, he may set himself past anyone after.

 

NBA

Unlike the aforementioned greats who not only paved the way for the athletes of today and still run the streets, I don’t see many NBA stats kept sacred. What the players of today are doing, namely Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, any record could fall. Bryant's playoff experience and consistency has already placed his name among the greats. James, just scratching the surface in his career is not only eyeing up championships, but just about anything that comes in his way. Before Bryant's 81 a few years ago, we thought 100 points in a game was untouchable, but now, even that seems at least feasible. 

 

NFL

Mr. Jerry Rice, please come and accept your trophy, and trophy and .....you get the point. The best receiver of all time has seen some great ones come after him and still not achieve what he was able to do. His all time touchdown record of 208 won’t be soon surpassed. Not even the likes of Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen, Walter Payton, etc could reach his level. 

Also, while I hate to say it, Brett Favre's consecutive games played, is impressive to say the least. In one of the toughest sports where just making the field every Sunday is a feat itself, Favre has managed to do it 291 times including playoffs. The only other record that even compares to this, is the amount of times he’ll retire and "unretire". 

 

Certainly, we only scratched the surface as some of the many astonishing records in sports. Heck we only covered 4 sports. Tennis, Golf, Track and Field, Boxing and a host of others still hold some records that make these seem attainable. But I caution the casual fan who likes the backyard argument about who some of the greats of all time were: Just because an athlete breaks records, don’t necessarily place them as the greatest of all time. They may have just been able to attain the centralized goal more times than any other. Ultimately, sports is about winning and losing and not much else. Ask Dan Marino if he’d trade his statistical accomplishments for a Super Bowl ring. Stats are great, they give us insight into the performance of some of the best, and worst. We use them in conversations and comparisons. But remember, the only stat that counts, falls under the win/loss column. 

 

Which statistics do you think will ever be broke or ultimately fall? Click here and share your opinions.