Modern Records That Won't Be Broken
- Thread starter Phil Plantier
- Start date
I think you were being at least partially humorous, but Kap’s probably way down the list. Without putting too much thought into it, I’d say Brady has to be in the runnin for that one - he’s a prolific winning QB and his coach very rarely subs him out. Belichick’s recent frustrating trend of not going for one more score at the end of the first half has upped those numbers as well.
If he doesn’t miss any, Mickelson will play in his 53rd Masters in 2045, two months shy of his 75th birthday. (For reference, Tom Watson is 68 now.) And while he has much farther to go, Jordan Spieth got an earlier start and is a couple years ahead of Mickelson’s pace.
It won’t happen soon, but I think Player’s record will eventually fall.
How about Secretariat's 31-length margin of victory in the Belmont Stakes? Steroid testing. His 2:24 time also seems fairly safe too, but I feel like that margin of victory would be hard to duplicate in modern times where all of the best horses are being given the most high tech training, care, and whatever else.
Agree. I'd take someone breaking Player's Masters record before someone else winning four modern golf majors in a row (Tiger 2000-01).
My recollection is that when Secretariat died, there was an autopsy that revealed that his heart was much larger than normal. Not "enlarged" as in damaged - just much larger than normal but otherwise healthy.
This gave him a natural advantage in terms of aerobic capacity, which is why many of his speed records are unlikely to be broken. Watching the race again now is almost funny. Chic Anderson (the announcer) is clearly in disbelief at what he is seeing. His call as they come around the final turn "Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine!" still gives chills.
The most amazing performance in horse racing history.
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Agreed - the call is one of the classics but the TV coverage is just as descriptive as the camera had to pan back to find the rest of the field after Secretariat crossed the line.
The camera crew was working all race.
(race starts at 0:49 or so); he's near even at 1:35, and then he starts moving ahead. At about 1:55, 2:08, and 2:28 the view jumps out as they went to increasingly wider views to capture the race.
By the end, there's nothing they can do, really; at about 3:10 they give up on everyone else, and then like you say they have plenty of time to pan back and focus on the rest of the field after Secretariat finishes.
“He is moving like a tremendous machine!” is a fantastic call.
Outside the thread parameters for modern, but in 1945 Byron Nelson won 18 PGA Tour events, and 11 in a row. Those are the 2 most untouchable golf records.
Tiger's record of 142 consecutive cuts made is modern and may be # 3 on the golf list of untouchables. As a frame of reference, Nelson is 2nd with 113, then Jack Nicklaus with 105. The highest current active streak is Dustin Johnson at 20.
Tiger's record of 142 consecutive cuts made is modern and may be # 3 on the golf list of untouchables. As a frame of reference, Nelson is 2nd with 113, then Jack Nicklaus with 105. The highest current active streak is Dustin Johnson at 20.
Tiger also won the 2000 US Open by 15 strokes. That margin of victory in a major is untouchable IMO. The game is too competitive for anyone to get near that, let alone in a major. Granted it was competitive when he did it, but still, he's Tiger. Not happening.
Clearly the tour didn't have as much depth then as now, especially during the war, which is why those records will likely never be broken, but both Ben Hogan and Sam Snead played (and won multiple times) in 1945. Beating both Snead and Hogan 11 times in a row is impressive no matter who else might have been missing.
The other thing is Nelson also set a season scoring record (68.33) that year that lasted 55 years until Tiger broke it in 2000. War or not, it was an incredible year for him.
He didn't beat them 11 times in a row. Hogan only played in one or two during the streak while he was on leave, and Snead had a broken wrist. They both came back later in the year and won multiple tourneys after the streak was over.
Thanks for the correction, I read a very misleading account of it. So I did some more digging and found the references to Hogan only playing a couple events during the streak and Snead breaking his wrist, although Nelson did beat Snead in a playoff for win #2 and best I can tell Snead broke his wrist after the 6th win (playing softball?!). Nelson did beat both Hogan and Snead twice after the streak ended after they came back at the end of the season.
So anyway, he had an amazing year, but yes, the records were certainly not accomplished while playing against all the best players in the world for an entire season, mostly because of the war. Which is exactly why they will never be broken. Unusual circumstances and/or changes to the games explain several of the older untouchable records.
and which is part of the reason the thread stipulates "modern", and draws the line closer to the present day than it is to 1945.
Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak in 1941 is usually cited as the most unbreakable record in sports, mostly because it was so black-swan-level fluky, and because it was such an extreme era for contact and lack of strikeouts. If you're going to go back to the 1940s, a whole lot of crazy things happened.
Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak in 1941 is usually cited as the most unbreakable record in sports, mostly because it was so black-swan-level fluky, and because it was such an extreme era for contact and lack of strikeouts. If you're going to go back to the 1940s, a whole lot of crazy things happened.
Was on my phone when I made my original comment and could not figure out how to embed it (and then I forgot a day or so later) so thanks for posting the video.
Fantastic every time I see it ...
Edit: The race also produced one of the greatest horse racing photos ever, as Ron Turcotte looks back in wonder right before hitting the wire.
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Digging into early 80's NHL stats is dizzying when comparing against the modern game. Gretzky was mentioned up thread but the league has a whole has completely changed.
1983-84 Oilers scored 446 goals (5.6 a game). Only 3 teams this century have broken 300.
1983-84 Oilers scored 446 goals (5.6 a game). Only 3 teams this century have broken 300.
August 5-13: Kent Tekulve, then with the Phillies, pitching 9 days in a row. That's days (and also games).
I don't see the circumstances of a pitcher with a low stress pitching style and schedule karma combining again in our lifetimes.
I don't see the circumstances of a pitcher with a low stress pitching style and schedule karma combining again in our lifetimes.
August 5-13, 1987, to be specific. He pitched 10 innings during this stretch and gave up 1 run. Not bad ....
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=tekulke01&t=p&year=1987
Tiger is at 79. I think you’re right that he won’t win 3 more.
Only 3 others have won more than 52 (Nicklaus, Palmer, and Nelson). With the increase in prize money, today’s players have a greater incentive to play every week, but that’s more than offset by the greater depth of talent in today’s game.
After Tiger, Mickelson is next among active players with 43 wins. No one else has as many as 20. Spieth has 11 wins and will celebrate his 25th birthday later this month, so he’s worth mentioning, but the odds are against him.
Mariano Rivera’s 110 career postseason strikeouts as a relief pitcher. (No one else has as many as 65.)
For me, it's Nolan Ryan, three times. It was mentioned earlier in the thread, and Joe Pos has talked about it, but his strikeouts (5,715) and walks (2,795) totals will never, ever, ever be touched, IMO. We all saw Chris Sale work his ass off last year to reach 300 k's, and we saw Scherzer do it this year. Someone would have to AVERAGE 300k's for 19 years, and they would still need to come back for a 20th to break it. That's never, ever being touched.
But even if I grant you that someone could break those records, Ryan has another one that will never be broken. 7 no-hitters. And that's not just a modern record. That's an every era record. Only one pitcher in baseball history has ever had more than half that many, it's Koufax with 4, and only 3 other guys (Cy Young, Bob Feller and Larry Corcoran) have had more than 2.
Ryan's last no-hitter came at age 44, which will probably never be broken either (make that four records that won't be touched). Every time this question has come up since I was a kid, my answer has always been Nolan Ryan's 7 no-hitters. Plenty of other ones in this thread that probably won't be broken either, but that one..no chance.
But even if I grant you that someone could break those records, Ryan has another one that will never be broken. 7 no-hitters. And that's not just a modern record. That's an every era record. Only one pitcher in baseball history has ever had more than half that many, it's Koufax with 4, and only 3 other guys (Cy Young, Bob Feller and Larry Corcoran) have had more than 2.
Ryan's last no-hitter came at age 44, which will probably never be broken either (make that four records that won't be touched). Every time this question has come up since I was a kid, my answer has always been Nolan Ryan's 7 no-hitters. Plenty of other ones in this thread that probably won't be broken either, but that one..no chance.
Putting up 613 total yards of offense and losing the Super Bowl.
That one's very painful and gonna be very hard to "beat".
That one's very painful and gonna be very hard to "beat".