A Brief History
On September 23, 1986, Houston Astros’ pitcher Jim Deshaies set a record, striking out the first eight batters he faced. We ask you, what MLB record is the hardest to top?
Digging Deeper
We list some possible answers below but go ahead and tell us your own ideas if you prefer.
Denton “Cy” Young, Most Wins by a pitcher, 511, 1890-1911
(Young is also the only pitcher to have pitched over 700 Complete Games)
Ty Cobb, career Batting Average, .366, 1905-1928
Joe DiMaggio, 56 game hit streak, 1941
Nolan Ryan, 7 career No Hitters, 1973-1991
(Nolan Ryan and Bob Feller both threw 12 career One Hitters)
Cal Ripken, Most Consecutive Games Played, 2,632, 1982-1998
Barry Bonds, 73 Home Runs in a season, 2001
(Bonds also has the most career Home Runs, 762)
Mark McGwire, career At Bats per Home Run Ratio, 10.6, 1986-2001
Question for students (and subscribers): Who is your All Time favorite baseball player? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hetrick, Hans. Baseball’s Record Breakers. Sports Illustrated, 2017.
Sugar, Shea, Samelson. The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac: The Absolutely, Positively, and without Question Greatest Book of Facts, Figures, and Astonishing Lists Ever Compiled. Sports Publishing, 2016.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by thotfulspot of Jim Deshaies of WGN autographing hats, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
