Records are made to be broken; that is the way it is. But some records often proved exceptional, which do not get broken, not at least in a century.
Major League Baseball, commonly known as the MLB, has been happening every year since 1876. Fans have witnessed players setting new records every season, which other players would overshadow, and sometimes by the same player.
However, some records have remained untouched for a long time, and experts believe they will not be broken soon. In this article, we will feature the 10 best MLB records of all time that are unbreakable, at least for another few years or decades.
Best MLB Records of All Time
While listing the records, we considered the possibility of players breaking the records, how close players reached to touching it in recent years, and how difficult it can be considering other players in the league.
| Record | Player |
| Most Career Complete Games (749) | Cy Young |
| Most Career Wins (511) | Cy Young |
| Most Wins in a Season (59) | Charles Radbourn |
| Most Career No-Hitters (7) | Nolan Ryan |
| Most Career Triples (309) | Sam Crawford |
| Most Career Shutouts (110) | Walter Johnson |
| Most career hits (4,256) | Pete Rose |
| Most Consecutive Games (2,632) Played | Cal Ripken Jr. |
| Highest Career Batting Average (.3664) | Ty Cobb |
| Most All-Star Game (25) Appearances | Hank Aaron |
1. Cy Young: Most Career Wins (511)
Cy Young was not just a great pitcher; rather, he is considered one of the best MLB players of all time. He debuted with the Cleveland Spiders in 1890 and later played in 4 other teams in his two-decades-long career. He set many records, and one of them is the most wins in a career.
Young received a total of 511 wins in his career. Young retired in 1911, and since then, over a hundred years have passed, but the record is still unbroken. The current active players are nowhere near breaking his record, either.
It is hard to believe even today that Young really had so many wins. Walter Johnson, another great pitcher of all time, comes second on the list with 417 wins. You can see the difference between the first and second positions.
In fact, Johnson is the only second player to receive more than 400 wins. So, in the 150 years of MLB history, Young is the only pitcher to receive 500 wins. Many experts and analysts have already concluded that no one will be able to break the record. As no other player is not even close to breaking the record, it stands at the top of our best MLB record of all time list.
2. Cy Young Most Complete Games (749)
749 complete games! It is another impossible-to-break record set by the legend Cy Young. How rare is a complete game in the MLB? Only three active players have 25 or more complete games. Most of the pitchers are only receiving one or two complete games per season.
Then how did Young have so many? That is why he ranks among the best MLB pitchers of all time. With the prospect of the game, completing games is becoming rarer and rarer. Pud Galvin holds the second position with 646, and Young leads by 103 more!
You can bet on Young’s record to withstand another century without anyone coming close to even touch it. The difficulty of breaking the record makes it one of the best MLB records of all time.
3. Charles Radbourn: Most Wins in A Season (59)
Pitchers play the most crucial role in Baseball. Their role is quite difficult, and so is to break their records. Charles Redbourns set the record for most wins in a season with 59 wins in 1884. Since then, the record has been unbroken.
John Clarkson and Guy Hecker are the only two players to receive more than fifty wins. Even the great Cy Young did not have fifty wins in a season. In recent years, pitchers have found it difficult to have twenty wins, so breaking Redbourns’ record seems unlikely.
4. Nolan Ryan: Most Career No-Hitters (7)
The term “lucky seven” seems to fit perfectly for Nolan Ryan. He secured his position in the MLB record book with seven no-hitters in 1991. A no-hitter happens when pitchers do not give away any hits in a game.
A no-hitter is one of the rarest feats for a pitcher. It becomes a career highlight when a pitcher gets one. Many legendary pitchers like Cy Young and Larry Corcoran had only three in their careers. No other player has received five no-hitters in their career.
The last time fans witnessed a no-hitter in MLB was in 2020. So, you can say Ryan’s record is quite safe at the moment.
5. Sam Crawford: Most Career Triples (309)
Triples are often called the most exciting part of Baseball. A triple is when a batter reaches third base without any intervention. Hitting a triple is a difficult task for batters, and no batter has hit four triples in a game ever in the MLB.
Scam Crawford is the first and only player to hit more than three hundred triples in a career. He ended his career with a total of 309 triples. The only player who came close was Ty Cobb, who hit 297 triples. Among the current MLB players, only Dexter Fowler has close to a hundred triples.
Crawford was famous for hitting triples. In fact, he scored more triples in his career than doubles. He was an active player from 1899 to 1917. A hundred years have passed, and his record is still safe and most likely will remain safe for another century.
6. Walter Johnson: Most Career Shutouts (110)
A pitcher can cherish the memory of shutting a team out throughout his life. Imagine doing it more than 100 times! Walter Johnson, one of the best MLB pitchers of all time, recorded 110 shutouts in his twenty-year career.
How difficult is it to receive a shutout? To get a shutout, you have to pitch a complete game and cannot allow the opposing team to score a run. It is another difficult record to make for the pitchers, but Johnson was a master of it.
So how hard will it be to break the record? You can understand it from the fact that last season the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels had the most shutouts in 2022 with only two. At this rate, an entire team would need more than fifty years to break Walton’s record.
7. Pete Rose: Most Career Hits (4,256)
One of the finest hitters of the game, Pete Rose, had set many records in his career before retiring. But his record for most career hits is considered amongst the best MLB records of all time. Rose had a total of 4,256 hits in his twenty-three years career.
A hit refers to the action when a batter hits the ball into fair territory and reaches safely to first base. On pen and paper, it may sound easy, but there are only two players who have made more than 4000 hits in MLB history.
Earlier, Ty Cobb held the record for most hits with 4,191 career hits, which Rose broke with a total of 4,256 hits. Rose announced his retirement as a player in 1986, and since then, no batter has scored even four thousand hits. Though making a hit is common for batters, 4000 is too many to hit for them.
8. Cal Ripken Jr.: Most Consecutive Game Played (2,632)
With this record, Cal Ripken Jr. proved that no record lasts forever. When Lou Gehrig played 2,130 consecutive games, many thought this record would never be broken. But in 1995, broke this record and set his own with 2,632 consecutive games.
The 19-times all-star Cal Ripken Jr. had his debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 1981, and since then, he played every single game for sixteen years to set his record. He was given the nickname “Iron Man” for his strength and dedication to the game.
Apart from Ripken and Gehrig, no other player played even 1400 consecutive games. Ripken is ahead by twice more than Everett Scott, who stands third on the list with 1301 games. One will need at least 15 years to break the record, which makes it so difficult to break.
9. Ty Cobb: Highest Career Batting Average (.366)
Ty Cobb set several records in his career, some of which have already been broken. However, his record of the highest career batting average of .366 is still intact. After his retirement, Oscar Charleston came so close with an average of .364 when he retired in 1941.
So far, only five players have ended their careers with more than a .350 batting average. Among the twenty-first-century players, Albert Pujols has the highest batting average of .326, they also retired in 2022.
The record is almost a hundred years old and has earned the prestige of one of the best MLB records of all time. It is not going to be broken anytime soon.
10. Hank Aron: Most All-Star Game Appearance (25)
“All-star” refers to the top performers of a season. One can have many all-star appearances but 25? That is way too many for any player but Hank Aron.
Stan Musial set the record for the most all-star appearances with 24; then Willie Mays tied with him. But in 1976, Hank Aron, who is also considered the best MLB player of all time, broke the record with twenty-five appearances.
Aron had never missed the all-star game in his career. Since there have already been three other players to have more than twenty or more all-star appearances, you may think it is not impossible to break the record. Well, among the current players, Miguel Cabrera holds the first place for most all-star appearances with 12, and he has already passed his prime.
To break the record of Aron, one has to be on top of his game throughout his career, which is next to impossible. Therefore, it is regarded as among the best MLB records of all time.
Conclusion
There is no limit to greatness. And so no record lasts forever. However, some players set records too high to reach that those records are likely to stay for an eternity. Even if they are broken, they will be remembered for inspiring and challenging generation after generation to be better players. Thus, these records will remain the best MLB records of all time forever.
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