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The 14 Most Unbreakable Records in American Sports

By YPB Team

A few of these have stood for over a century and nobody has come close. The rest only look safe until somebody has a very good season.

  1. Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak — ranked #11
    Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak
    Set in 1941; the closest anyone has come since is Pete Rose's 44 games in 1978.
    1000pts
  2. UCLA's 88-game winning streak — ranked #22
    UCLA's 88-game winning streak
    John Wooden's teams went unbeaten from 1971 to 1974 across three seasons.
    695pts
  3. Byron Nelson's 11 straight wins — ranked #33
    Byron Nelson's 11 straight wins
    Won eleven consecutive PGA Tour events in 1945, a streak nobody has half-matched.
    579pts
  4. Richard Petty's 200 NASCAR wins — ranked #44
    Richard Petty's 200 NASCAR wins
    Won 200 Cup races and seven championships; second on the list sits at 105.
    525pts
  5. Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters — ranked #55
    Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters
    Threw no-hitters in consecutive starts in 1938; no pitcher has repeated it.
    463pts
  6. Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game — ranked #66
    Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game
    Scored 100 against the Knicks in 1962; Kobe Bryant's 81 in 2006 is the nearest attempt.
    463pts
  7. Secretariat's 2:24 Belmont — ranked #77
    Secretariat's 2:24 Belmont
    The American record for a mile and a half on dirt since 1973; nobody has come within a second.
    392pts
  8. Bill Russell's 11 championships — ranked #88
    Bill Russell's 11 championships
    Won eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons with the Boston Celtics.
    392pts
  9. Cy Young's 511 wins — ranked #99
    Cy Young's 511 wins
    Retired in 1911 with 94 more wins than anyone else has managed in the 115 years since.
    392pts
  10. Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters — ranked #1010
    Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters
    Three more than any other pitcher, thrown across nineteen years and four different teams.
    309pts
  11. Ted Williams' .406 season — ranked #1111
    Ted Williams' .406 season
    Batted .406 in 1941; nobody has reached .400 in the 85 years since.
    309pts
  12. Bob Beamon's 1968 long jump — ranked #1212
    Bob Beamon's 1968 long jump
    Jumped 8.90m in Mexico City, beating the world record by 55cm in one attempt.
    211pts
  13. Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 points — ranked #1313
    Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 points
    Scored more career points than any player has managed goals and assists combined since.
    0pts
  14. Cal Ripken Jr's 2,632 straight games — ranked #1414
    Cal Ripken Jr's 2,632 straight games
    Played every game for over sixteen seasons, ending a streak that began in 1982.
    0pts

Comments 3

Filed here as unbreakable: Gretzky 2,857 points, a year after the goals record everyone said was safe changed hands: https://youpick.best/articles/ovechkin-vs-gretzky-ranked

YP
ypb-team
Aug 21

Fifty-three years on, nobody has come within a second of the 1973 Belmont time. It still has to outlast DiMaggio's 56 games: https://youpick.best/articles/secretariat-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team
Aug 25

Two entries on this fourteen-item list are the same rivalry: a hundred-point night, and eleven championships in thirteen seasons: https://youpick.best/articles/wilt-chamberlain-vs-bill-russell-ranked

YP
ypb-team
Sep 6