Legendary Baseball Codes That May Never Be Cracked

It seems that there are small records in the major leagues that are broken almost daily.

For instance, two weeks ago, Reds' outfielder Chris Heisey hit three home runs against the New York Yankees.  He was the first man to do it against the Yankees in interleague play. 

These are the kinds of things that will not be making this list.  Some records in all sports are set, and are simply not meant to be broken. 

Take into consideration as you Bleacher-holics read this list how old some of the records are.  They will say a lot about the modern day game.

Nolan Ryan's Career Strikeout Record

Nolan Ryan is one of the greatest pitchers to ever grace the mound, and that can be judged by one number:  career strikeouts.  He finished his career with 5,714 of them.

Allow me to put this into perspective:  the man in second place is Randy Johnson, who retired with 4,875 strikeouts, almost a solid 1,000 shy of Ryan's record.

In fact, no active player exists in the top 34 pitchers all-time.  Javier Vazquez is the active leader with 2,436 strikeouts.

This argument will factor into many of the current pitching records, but let's face it - pitchers just aren't pitching as long or as often as they used to, even as recently as Ryan's days.  In 1974, Ryan started 41 games; Vazquez's career high in his 14 seasons is 34. 

Of course, it also factors in that Ryan played a whopping 27 seasons in the bigs.  I can personally guarantee you:  THAT in and of itself is also a record that will never be broken.

Cy Young's Career Wins

511 wins over a career that spanned 22 seasons:  tell me a guy who is capable of either of those.  There is no such man.

Young's career high for wins in a year was 36.  Forget that he also is the career leader in losses, the fact that he has over 500 wins is simply unbelievable.

There is a lot of debate about whether or not there will ever be another 300-game winner, let alone one that goes 500 or better.

Think about it:  a pitcher could play 20 years and win 20 games in all of them and they would still be over 100 wins shy of that record.  Honestly, pitchers aren't man enough to pitch nearly as much as Young did.  With all the concerns about injuries and having to have "proper rest" there aren't enough games in a year to allow any pitcher to gather 512 career wins.

Tim Wakefield is the active leader in wins with 197 of them.  Clearly, if this record has any shot of being broken, it won't come in the lifetimes of anyone reading this. 

The .400 Batting Average

I almost called this record Ted Williams' record, but reminded myself that he's not the record-holder for a season's best batting average.  He was just the last man to do it, and that was in 1941. 

60 years later, no one has really come anywhere near having a .400 batting average over the course of a season.  I really can't come up with a reason for it:  guys like Ichiro have played in 150 games or better in every season they've played, but just don't hit that well.

The fact that makes Williams' .406 mark in 1941 more impressive is that he did it over 143 games.  This is way above the average number of games played in the majors today. 

Joey Votto, Joe Mauer, and Ichiro have all had incredible seasons and won batting titles, but no one came close to the .400 pinnacle.

Ted Williams' Career on-Base Percentage

A .482 on-base percentage is a pretty good season - but that mark is Ted Williams' career number.

Think about that for a second:  Ted Williams, over 19 seasons, was on base just under half the time.  Largely, that doesn't happen over the course of a single year, with the exception of a few incredible seasons. 

This year, Jose Bautista leads all players with a .467 on-base percentage this year, still below Williams' career mark.

Albert Pujols is the current active leader in the category, having a .423 on-base percentage.  Still, Pujols is beginning to appear to be on the decline.  This is not to say that the machine's career is all over, but even a man who some will argue is the best to play can't clip Williams' outstanding record.

Pete Rose's Hit Record

Say what you want about Pete Rose, but he holds the record that I don't think will ever be broken. No one is ever going to top 4,256 hits.

His life off the field is certainly no secret, but Rose possessed a hitting secret that will never be matched by another man.  He clipped the 200-hit mark in 9 of his 24 seasons, playing in a remarkable 3,562 games. 

Like Cy Young's win record, allow me to put the record into perspective: if you had a 20 year career (nowadays largely unseen) with 200 hits per year, you would still be 256 hits shy of tying Rose.

Players aren't playing 20 years anymore and, for the most part, won't consistently reach 200 hits in a year.  Derek Jeter is the active hits leader with 2,994 hits, good for 28th all-time.  

Jeter is one man who has the ability, based on how many games he consistently plays every year.  Still, after 17 seasons, Jeter is just now closing in on 3,000 hits, and at 37 years old, likely doesn't have the time left to clip the record.