Andrew Segal / AskMen.com

Whenever the inevitable debate arises among sports fans concerning the record that is the least likely to ever be broken, many people are quick to cite Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak.

But there are many other — perhaps lesser-known — achievements by athletes or teams that are likely to still be standing well into the future. Here are the Top 10 unbreakable sports records.

10. Rocky Marciano's 49-0

Marciano began his professional career in 1947 by beating Lee Epperson, and over the next eight years, he proceeded to defeat all 49 of his opponents — 43 by knockout. In doing so, Marciano became the first heavyweight to go undefeated throughout his entire career.

Marciano's record was challenged in 1985 by Larry Holmes, who got to 48-0 before losing to Michael Spinks. However, with today's crop of heavyweights being underwhelming, his mark seems likely to stand the test of time.

9. Michael Schumacher's seven championships

Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991, and just one year later, he managed a third-place finish in the overall drivers' standings. By 1994, Schumacher had truly arrived, winning the first of his seven F1 points titles. He performed the feat again in 1995, then moved over to the Ferrari team and won each year between 2000 and 2004. His 2003 season victory moved him ahead of Juan Fangio, who finished atop the standings five times.

Schumi also holds the F1 record for most race wins with 85 (Alain Prost is a distant second with 51) and most wins in a season with 13. All three records are unlikely to be overturned.

8. Ty Cobb's .366 career batting average

The Georgia Peach played 24 seasons from 1905 to 1928, and outside of his rookie year, he never hit below .316. Regardless of one's opinion of Cobb as a person, his incredible statistics are indisputable: he hit over .380 nine times, batted above .400 three times, and finished with a career batting average of .366, well ahead of Rogers Hornsby, whose .358 places him second.

The closest active player was Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies, who entered the 2005 season hitting .339. However, that average has since fallen to .333, meaning that Cobb's lofty average is in no danger of being surpassed yet.

7. Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters

Nolan Ryan broke into baseball in 1966 as the second-youngest player in the league. By the time he retired as Major League Baseball's oldest in 1993, he had thrown seven no-hitters, making him by far the all-time record holder (Sandy Koufax sits second, with four). Ryan's first no-no came on May 15, 1973, and he recorded his second exactly two months later.

He then proceeded to record one in each of the next two seasons, threw another in 1981 to set the record, and then added one no-hitter per season in 1990 and 1991 (made all the more incredible by his advanced age of 43 and 44 years old, respectively) to seal his position on top.

6. Wayne Gretzky's 215-point season

While all of Gretzky's records seem unbreakable (with 2,857 points, he's nearly 1,000 ahead of second-place Mark Messier), this mark set in 1985-'86 simply can't be surpassed. A player not only needs scoring punch but durability; during this magical season, The Great One averaged 2.69 points per game. In NHL history, only Mario Lemieux has even come close to matching that pace over a campaign, but he didn't play all 80 games, as Gretzky did.

Also, with the style of NHL play having changed so much — 2005-06 scoring leader recorded just 55 points — multiple-point outbursts just won't happen.

5. Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point night

Like Gretzky's and some of the other records that follow on this list, Wilt's 100 points in a game will not be challenged simply because the sport has changed so much. In an era in which entire teams often struggle to score 100 points in a game, a repeat of what happened on March 2, 1962 isn't likely.

During the game, Chamberlain also set records for most field goals (36), free throws (28 of 32), points in a quarter (31), and points in a half (59), while breaking his own record of 78 points in a game set earlier that season. Incidentally, Wilt also holds another scoring record (20,000) that's unlikely to be broken, but we'll leave that for another article.

4. John Wooden's 88 straight wins

Another relic of a bygone era, this record harkens back to when college players stuck around for four years and turned their programs into dynasties. Under the tutelage of the Wizard of Westwood and with Bill Walton leading the way, the UCLA Bruins won 88 straight games — between two losses to Notre Dame on Jan. 23, 1971 and Jan. 19, 1974 — a span that included three of the record seven straight NCAA championships won by UCLA from 1967 to 1973.

To get an idea of just how hard these feats are to replicate, reflect on the fact that no team has gone undefeated for even a single season since 1976, and no other school has ever won more than two straight titles.

3. Cy Young's 511 wins

Young had the benefit of pitching from 1890 to 1911, an era in which hurlers could finish what they started. He picked up wins by throwing 749 complete games out of 815 starts on his way to setting a record that will undoubtedly never be topped. In 1903, Young got his 365th win, passing Pud Galvin for the record, and proceeded to add nearly 150 more victories for good measure.

A pitcher today would need to average 25 wins a season for 21 years to surpass Young; with an average of just 35 starts each year, that's an all-but-impossible task.

2. Jerry Rice's 22,895 receiving yards

This record, and the one that follows it for top spot, earn their positions by virtue of the fact that they were set quite recently, and yet are still of mythic proportions. In other words, Rice is playing the same style of game as current players, and yet he's so far above and beyond them that his accomplishments can't be touched.

This is the most iron-clad of Rice's records set during his career that began in 1985, although he also holds the records for most catches with 1,549 and touchdowns with 197. The next-closest player is Tim Brown, who is nearly 8,000 yards behind. Even for a young star like Randy Moss to catch Rice, he'd have to average nearly 1,400 yards per year for the next 10 seasons, at which point he'll be 38. Don't count on it.

1. Cal Ripken's 2,632 consecutive games

Likewise, Ripken set his record in the modern era, and that lends it extra credence in the pantheon of sports accomplishments. Lou Gehrig's "Iron Man" record of 2,130 games was widely regarded as "unbreakable," but Ripken not only passed it on Sept. 6, 1995, he also added an extra 500 straight games before he finally decided to take the pressure off and end the streak. That move, on Sept. 20, 1998, brought to a close a remarkable run that had begun over 16 years earlier on May 30, 1982, and that included a string between June 5, 1982, and Sept. 14, 1987, in which Ripken played 8,243 straight innings.

Considering that only four players were present in all 162 of their team's games in 2004, Ripken's record looks even more impressive, and beyond challenge.

Source: FOX Sports

For me, Cy Young's 511 wins is the one that is basically impossible to break for the exact reasons cited above. All of the others may be extremely difficult to break, but Young's is almost impossible.



Don Cardi

A record that I don't think will be broken are Sam Crawford's carrer record for triples at 309. The most triples by an active player are 124 by Steve Finley, who is 41. Carl Crawford has 64 and is only 24 years old, but reaching 200 triples would still be a stretch for him. The triples decline substantiallyin your 30's. The smaller ball parks and symmetrical outfields of today cut down on triples.

Another record that likely won't be touched is Charley Radbourn's 59 victories in a singlr season for the Providence Grays in 1884. Even the modern day record of 41 victories by Happy Jack Chesboro of the Yankees appears unattainable for the same reasons that Cy Young's record of 511 career wins is beyond reach. Cy Young also has the career record of losses (316) that won't be broken.

Walter Johnson's record of 110 creer shutouts won't be broken either.

121 Years ago on Saturday 12th September 1885 Arbroath defeated Aberdeen side Bon Accord 36-0 in a Scottish Cup tie.

That remains the highest score recorded in a senior football match. But, after delving into the history books, some doubt exists over the accuracy of that scoreline.

Arbroath fans have no problems in counting goals nowadays. Last season the Red Lichties managed just 18 home league goals from 18 games.

Wow, I was thinking Denny McClain had the record at 30 wins. 41 is amazing. Nobody is going to even hit 30 in a regular season, IMO.

Another one is Brett Favre's consequtive starts at the QB position.

Finally, I do not think anyone will touch George Blanda's 340 NFL games played in a career. That's over 21 regular seasons during a 16 week schedule and I'm fairly certain he did most (if not all) on a 14 week season.

The most unbreakable record in sports is Johnny Vander Meer's back to back no-hitters. In order for someone to break the record, they'd have to throw three no-nos in 3 consecutive starts! No way in hell is that ever going to happen.

But you cannot deny that these records do have the ptoential to be broken. It is not totally impossible for someone to come along and break these records. Difficult but not impossible.

But the Cy Young record is probably the only record amongst all those mentioned here that is virtually impossible to ever break.


Don Cardi

I agree Ripken's record will probably never be broken. Even though that is what people said before he did it. But really A player would be an idiot to even try. Ripken's career suffered because of the record, and even worse the O's suffered also. I do like the mentallity of wanting to play for the ridiculous money ball players make, but as a fan I would hate for a over the hill player to keep playing when he was hurting my team.

Here's another one I thought of that should never be broken. About 5 years ago, a player hit 2 grand slams in the same inning and hit them off the same pitcher, Chan Ho Park. Why I say it will not be broken is because no manager will ever be dumb enough to keep his pitcher in there to have the potential of the same pitcher giving up 2 slams in the same inning.

That was Fernano Tatis, then of the Cardinals.

Did you now in major league history, only one player has hit two first inning homeruns in the same game. Can you name him?

I agree. It will have to take medical breakthroughs generations from now to allow a pitcher to be effective when he's in his 50s.

True. While Ripken's feat is truly amazing, and remains one of the great personal accomplishments in the history of team sport, the streak took on a life of its own, and prevented Oriole managers from making moves in games. Ripken played a demanding position and likely would have benefited from a few rests. Certainly, in the early 90s he would have been rested if it weren't for the streak.

I don't think any manager or team would allow a player to come close to the record.

I guess we can add congrats to Notre Dame for setting the NCAA record for most consecutive bowl losses at 9 in a row. That's quite an accomplishment and won't be broken anytime soon. I'm already looking forward to their 10th consecutive loss next year.


Notre Dame's nine-game bowl losing streak, courtesy of SI.com

Season Bowl Opponent Score

1994 Fiesta Colorado 41-24
1995 Orange Florida St. 31-26
1997 Independence LSU 27-9
1998 Gator Georgia Tech 35-28
2000 *Fiesta Oregon St. 41-9
2002 Gator NC State 28-6
2004 Insight Oregon St. 38-21
2005 *Fiesta Ohio St. 34-20
2006 *Sugar LSU 41-14
* - BCS Bowl

As the results indicate, ND had absolutely no business being in any of the BCS bowls.

Wow, that's a VERY bold statement there my friend. So, Notre Dame has a 10-2 season (entering last night's game) and you're just gonna decide they don't "deserve" to be in a BCS bowl game? I'm glad you're not in charge of such decisions.

Take a look at this article today regarding the ND loss. I'm not saying anything that the national writers are not.

ESPN.com

"Against LSU, Notre Dame once again proved it doesn't deserve to play in BCS bowl games, which have become its birthright because of the school's national stature and ability to draw high TV ratings."

They beat nobody of worth this year and were destroyed in all three of their losses. It would be one thing if they lost to Michigan or USC by a few points. Their closest lost was by 20 points.

The fact that they did not so much as compete in any of the three BCS games is further vindication that they don't belong.

So Penn State is not a team of worth? Yet who did UT play last year that was of worth? 1 team, Ohio State, and what did they do? Play for the national title. WTF is that!?

Ohio State beat UT when the latter was ranked #2. OSU beat Michigan when the latter was ranked #2. OSU won their conference and went undefeated - that's why they're playing for the title. I'm not sure where you were going with that comment.

Penn State sucked this year, especially compared to last year. PSU lost 4 games in 2006 and had only 1 loss last year. I should amend my statement - the games that ND won weren't against very high quality opponents and they lost all of their games in convincing fashion against good teams. They certainly deserved a bowl bid, but I don't think they were worthy of a BCS game and they proved to be an inferior team the past two years in BCS games.

I know you root for them - just because a criticism of ND is written does not, in any way, mean it's an attack on you.

I'm not debating Ohio State's qualification, I'm debating's UT's shot at the title last year. You said Notre Dsame beat no one of significance this year and I say UT beat no one of significance this last year except Ohio State. I know Ohio State beat UT and Michigan. As far as I'm concerned, they shouldn't even have to play Florida but should of had the trophy just presented to them.

Notre Dame is by far the most popular team in the nation. One of the national sporting journals, I think it was the Sporting News, conducted a comprehensive national poll that indicated there were twice as many ND fans as the next most popular school, Penn State. Certainly, they didn't need a poll to confirm this basic fact, which merchandising sales and tv ratings bear out.

No other school can get its own major national network deal. In fact, their games have been broadcast by radio "from coast to coast and around the world" for decades. Does any other school capture such a national audience?

That said, like the Yankees and the Cowboys, ND is also the most reviled. You love them or hate them. Therefore, it is rare that you get a disinterested opinion about them. The detractors always tend to claim that ND has no right to play in a bowl game and overstate how bad they are while the supporters tend to overstate how good they are.

The way the stystem is now, ND will always be invited to the most prestigious bowl game, for which any argument can be made for them to attend because the sponsors want them and beg for them as they bring the most fans from across the country, who spend the most money. The school creates a big buzz and guarantees a huge TV rating for them. The haters watch them as much as the supporters, if not more.

It is not accidental that they've lost 9 bowl games as they have been placed in bowl games that other teams of comparable talent would not have been considered for. When ND was picked over Oregon, which had a similar record as ND, for a BCS bowl game and lost to Ohio State, I think. Some detractors clamored in hindsight that ND didn't belong. The fact is that they did belong because they delivered the pay day whereas nobody east of Salem gives a rat's ass about the University of Oregon. If Florida and Ohio State had three losses, they would be a mere blip on the national radar and buried in the Liberty Bowl.

Right or wrong, that's just the way it is until there's a play-off.

Well said klydon1

I wish they would hand OSU the trophy without playing Florida! I think the game will be much closer than some of the experts are predicting.

You are quarreling with the BCS system with Texas from last year. I don't disagree with you at all that the system is faulty. But that's where there will continue to be a problem using the BCS - if a big school like Texas goes undefeated (as they did last year), they're pretty much a lock to have a shot at the title. The Boise State's of the world are on the outside looking in until a playoff is used.

USC really screwed themselves by losing to UCLA this year. It can be argued that, if there were a playoff, they'd have a terrific shot of winning it all this year. It's similar to an NFL team getting hot going into the playoffs. IMO, USC would have given Ohio State a better game than Florida. By the same token, OSU was really hot last year heading into the bowl game. I think they could have beaten Texas in a BCS title game rematch because Troy Smith had really blossomed at that point.

The NCAA is really making no sense in continuing the BCS debacle. Cut out 1 regular season game, have a playoff and make the fans happy. There still will be tons of revenue for the colleges & universities to make if the system changes.


**********

Klydon - I can't disagree with anything you've said. I would just add that, most likely (not guaranteed0, next year would be a bit of a down year for ND since they are losing Quinn. I think it would be an injustice if they were in a BCS game with 3 or 4 losses, just based on the fact of their popularity and name recognition.

I agree. This year I think LSU and USC would give OSU a better game than Florida, which is still a pretty darn good team. I think OSU last year would have been stiff competition for Texas. This year, I think nobody could expect to beat OSU.

With three or four losses, I don't think there could be any justifiable argument to get them in. Popularity can only go so far.

By the way if the first round of New Year's bowl games were the play-offs, what a story Boise State would be. Kind of like George Mason in the basketball tourney.

I agree. This year I think LSU and USC would give OSU a better game than Florida, which is still a pretty darn good team. I think OSU last year would have been stiff competition for Texas. This year, I think nobody could expect to beat OSU.

With three or four losses, I don't think there could be any justifiable argument to get them in. Popularity can only go so far.

By the way if the first round of New Year's bowl games were the play-offs, what a story Boise State would be. Kind of like George Mason in the basketball tourney.

Has anyone heard if the Boise State game will be replayed on ESPN classic anytime soon? I've only seen highlights and would love to see the entire game. I was bowled out by the time that game was played.

I'm sure it will be replayed, but I don't know how soon because it was a FOX broadcast. I watched the game into the late third quarter, but fell asleep, only to wake up at 3:30 AM. I switched on ESPN News and saw the score pasted on the screen and waited to see the highlights, which amazed me. I would have loved to have seen it live.

I agree and I would rather have seen OSU vs USC than the current title game of OSU vs Florida. I think OSU will walk all over them if they've already beaten UT and Michigan this year.

Instead of Texas WHO should have played in the title game? (G*d damn I can't wait to hear this awnser!!! )

(And this yr's Penn St compared to Ohio St?? It's really frightening to think you have posted over 30,000 times on this website )

BTW--Texas' strength of schedule was #11 last yr. ( http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/2005_archive_computer_rankings.html ) GRANTED this is calculated w/ the USC game, but still, come on.
Nice try, but we all know you hate everything Texas and that your logic ends there.

EDIT--Stick w/ word games and Yankees!

Yeah and Notre Dame's strength of schedule was #7

Why hasn't Stephen Hendry's seven snooker World Championships been mentioned?

I don't think Wilt's 100 point game is unbreakable anymore, since Kobe scored 81 last season. I think someone else might tie it or even break it someday.