But is the 72-10 Bulls' record, really that impossible to break?
Personally, I don't think so. Moreover, I think that sports are blessed to have records that truly are impossible (or almost impossible) to break. Some of them follow in the next lines.
1. Baseball - Ty Cobb stealing home: 54 times in his career
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| Ty Cobb. The most notorious stealer ever |
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. Paul Molitor, the Hall of Famer who retired in 1992 stole home 10 times. Before him, Rod Carew, who retired in 1985, stole it 17 times. MLB players simply do not steal home these days. Other than them, every other player is from the "dead ball" era. But as of today, there are no active players who have stolen home at least ten times.
Why it is hard to break: Let's put it this way. Rickey Henderson, the greatest base stealer of all time, stole home four, yes FOUR times in his career. But let's put that aside. Stealing home requires A LOT of factors that don't depend on the player, like for instance, the ball game has to allow the player to reach third base. This sounds simply but it's tricky. Trickier than one might think. Then of course, you have to do this, 55 times in your career.
2. Baseball - Ty Cobb Stealing second base, third base and home in the same inning: 5 times in his career
Why it's breakable: Come on. It's just steal three bases, and five times in your career. How hard can it be?
Who are the closest active players: Miami Marlins' second baseman Dee Gordon actually achieved this rare fact once in 2011. Jayson Werth, an outfielder who plays for Washington also achieved it one time in 2009. All they have to do is, do it five more times.
Why is it hard to break: Apart from Gordon and Werth, and of course Cobb's five, stealing second, third and home in the same inning has only been done FIFTY times in all MLB history, by a total of 44 players. Of those 44, only FOUR players have done it more than once. Also and similar to the home stealing record, it depends on too many factors. Anything can happen in the game that can prevent the player from stealing the three bases. More importantly, in order to break it you have to do it... six times.
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| Here we go again !! It's GONE!! |
Why it's breakable: Any MLB team can get into a rally of hitting and hitting, letting the same player bat twice in the same inning, with the other team begging for the third out. The entire roster can bat and load the bases with no problem. What's the big deal?
Who are the closest active players: Any MLB player who bats a grand slam at any given time, automatically becomes a candidate to tie and break Tatis' record.
Why is it hard to break: This one combines the external variables mentioned in Ty Cobb's records, and adds on another complicated factor as well. The team has to load the bases, not twice, but three times. And the player has to hit home runs on each three of his at-bats, to break the record. Think about it this way. If I'm a pitcher and a guy of the rival team has hit two grand slams in the same inning (to either myself or the previous pitchers), screw that... I'm intentionally walking the guy!
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| Pistol Pete. The Greatest |
Why it's breakable: You just have to finish the year as #1 player for Seven straight years. That's all you have to do.
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. Roger Federer, who holds the most Grand Slam titles in tennis, could only finish #1 for four straight years. Novak Djokovic, current #1 player starts 2016 having been ranked #1 for two straight years. He still has a long way to go.
Why is it hard to break: As you can infer, to tie the record, you have to finish the year as #1 player for six straight years. To BREAK the record, you have to finish the year as #1 player for SEVEN straight years. That's all you have to do.
Why it's breakable: All you need is a good slugger and a crappy team with weak players.
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. But if it helps, in 2011 the Houston Astros hit 135 HR That year Jose Bautista led the league with 43. Had he hit 93 more, he would have broken it.
Why is it hard to break: I guess hitting more than 100 HR in a single season doesn't come up handy, does it?
6. Baseball - Ty Cobb's .367 career batting average.
Why it's breakable: Just hit some ++.370 seasons, while not hit under .360 through your career and you're fine
Who are the closest active players: Actually, there are many active players who have a chance on this one. Miguel Cabrera has .321, Ichiro Suzuki has .313, Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols both have .312. They just have to hit over .500 in their next 8 seasons.
Why is it hard to break: When you look at the names of great MLB legends (not players, LEGENDS) who fell short to Cobb, you kind of have to give in on the fact that this record is HARD. To put it in perspective, the second highest average belongs to Rogers Hornsby, and with .358, he's 8 points below Cobb. Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived (and the last guy who hit over .400), batted .344. Babe Ruth .342. Tony Gwynn, the greatest hitter of the last 50 years, hit .338. This is one of those records that not even Jesus could break!
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| The Fischer Juggernaut |
Why it's breakable: Because 21 comes after 20.
Who are the closest active players. Nobody. Period. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Why is it hard to break: Beating a top ranked Chess player with a clean sheet of six wins, no losses and no draws (6-0-0) is something that simply put, doesn't happen. Let alone, beat three consecutively! For non-chess players, the equivalent would be a baseball team beating three teams up 100-0. Or a basketball game between NBA teams ending up 200-0. Or beating a boxing heavyweight champion with one arm tied behind one's back. Or Germany beating Brazil 30-0, in Brazil's World Cup, then beating Argentina and Netherlands 30-0 as well.
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| Guy would rather die before being struck out |
Why it's breakable: Actually this one is really easy. All you have to do is... just don't swing your bat... well... just try to hit balls close to the strike zone, but please hit them, well ... just... well...just... don't...
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. Ichiro Suzuki, regarded as the greatest hitter in current times, who rarely strikes out, struck out 51 times last season (438 at bats).
Why is it hard to break: If you have been struck out twice all through season, you're pretty much done for it.
9. Baseball - Johnny Vander Meer back-to-back no hitters.
Why it's breakable: All you have to do is throw three straight no hitters. Seems fair enough.
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. Period.
Why is it hard to break: After achieving the notoriously rare and quasi-impossible feat that is throwing back-to-back no hitters, all you have to do is throw a third one.
10. Hockey - Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 career points.
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| The Great One |
Who are the closest active players: Actually there is one active player who has a chance. Florida Panthers' Jaromir Jagr is REALLY close. He has 1,851 points! Considering he has scored in average 77 points per season (and he has played 25 seasons in the NHL), he just has to score 1,007 points the next season... if he plays.
Why is it hard to break: Did you not get the sarcasm in the previous paragraph? They don't call Gretzky "The Great One" for no reason. This record is so ridiculous, I had to wash my face and clean my eyes when I was doing research on it. If you open this link you'll notice that the list of players with highest point goes something like:
1. Wayne Gretzky 2,857
2. "some guy" 1,887
3. Jaromir Jagr 1,851
4. "some guy" 1,798
5. "some guy" 1,771
you might as well re-write the article and phrase it this way:
1. Wayne Gretzky 2,857
2. .....
3. .....
4. .....
5. .....
6. .....
7. ......
8. .....
9. .....
10. .....
11. .....
12. "some guy" 1,887
13. Jaromir Jagr 1,851
14. "some guy" 1,798
15. "some guy" 1,771
11. Basketball - Oscar Robertson 1961-62 Triple Double Season
Why it's breakable: Well, you know what they say, "Records exist so we can break them", right?
Who are the closest active players: Nobody and not by long shot. Not even by 1,000 miles. To put it in perspective, LeBron James, the best player in the NBA in recent years, doesn't even have a "Double-Double" -if the term applies.
Why is it hard to break: Like Gretzky's, this is another ridiculous record. Achieving a Triple Double in ONE (1) NBA game, already is an incredibly difficult, hard, rare and monumental achievement. This guy (Robertson) achieved it during an entire season.
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| The Ryan Express |
Why it's breakable: MLB pitchers start in average between 600 and 800 games in their lifetime. All you have to do is throw eight (8) no hitters in your career. Just... eight. And there is no pressure of throwing them consecutively, just do it whenever it pleases you.
Who are the closest active players: There are about ten active MLB pitchers with one no-hitter. There are three with two (Max Scherzer, Justin Velander and Tim Lincecum). I wish them the best of luck.
Why is it hard to break: I kind of have mental breakdowns and seizures when I think that Sandy Koufax is second to Ryan in the no-hitter list with four, and only three pitchers (Cy Young, Larry Corcoran and Bob Feller) have three.
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| 555 consecutive wins... |
Why it's breakable: This record has the benevolence of allowing ANY sportsman practicing ANY sport, to try to break it.
Who are the closest active players: My best friend beat me 38 straight times consecutively in Mortal Kombat X. We had to call it a night so I could come and write this article.
Why is it hard to break: I can't imagine what could go in one's mind once you reach 278 consecutive wins (which is half of the record).
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| 276 losses... |
Why it's breakable: If it's true that you learn more from a defeat than a victory, then all you have to do is set yourself the goal of becoming the smartest man on the planet.
Who are the closest active boxers: Some British guy called Peter Buckley lost 256 fights. He recently retired though. Other than him, Floyd Mayweather Jr could be a candidate, metaphorically speaking.
Why is it hard to break: Oh man, I can't really pull myself together to think that someone in his sane mind would like to go to the grave holding the title of biggest loser in history.
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| Only the Yankee Clipper |
Why it's breakable: I can't get over how ridiculously easy it sounds to hit for 57 consecutive games. All you have to do is HIT THE BALL.
Who are the closest active players: Nobody. There are several players who have hit yesterday. Let's see how they do today.
Why is it hard to break: When you think that Pete Rose got as close as 44, Ty Cobb had previously managed 40, Paul Molitor got to 39, and many others have fallen short at 35 or less, you know that a record is HARD.
Finally, as you may have thought, I left out some records that are notoriously hard to break as well. Most notably, I left out the ones that are truly impossible to break, because the sport has changed and is not played the way it was played when the record was established. For instance, Cy Young's 511 wins is impossible to break. Pitchers back then used to pitch with three, two and even next day notice. Pitchers today have five days of rest, making it mathematically near-impossible. Think about it this way: Greg Maddux started 744 times in his career.
I also left out records that seem impossible but I do in fact consider they can be broken, like Michael Schumacher's seven F1 titles, or Pele's 1,000 goals.
Cheers !
H
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