By Ryan Bologna
Records are meant to be broken, but with the way the four major sports have evolved some records are here to stay. Many of these are obvious, like the Cal Ripken and A.C. Green consecutive games played record. Here are the most forgotten about unbreakable records in each major professional sport.
NFL – Most Career Receiving Touchdowns (Jerry Rice, 197 Touchdowns)
The fact that the NFL has become so much more offense-friendly makes this the most impressive record. The way that players hop from team to team now compared to the past makes it hard to see this being broken, especially given that no one else is even in the same range as Rice in this category. Randy Moss is second on the list with 156 touchdowns, which is 41 less than Rice.
Rice was doing this in an era that was nowhere near as passer-friendly as today, and it is not like he compiled against weaker opponents. He has the most career touchdowns in the playoffs as well with 22, so he showed up when it mattered.
NBA – Single Season Minutes Per Game (Wilt Chamberlain, 1961-1962)
It is no shock that Chamberlain is the one to be named here, as he holds many records that will not be broken. But 48.5 minutes per game in the 1961-1962 season is unbelievably impressive. Being over 48 minutes per game obviously requires overtime minutes, and he played more overtime minutes than he sat out in the entire regular season.
Chamberlain played 3,882 of 3,890 available minutes that season, which comes out to 99.79% of minutes played. There is much discussion that at least some of the minutes he missed were due to fouling out, which makes it even more impressive that some of the minutes he sat out were not by design.
Being in the era of load management in the NBA, this is the most impressive unbreakable record when looking back.
MLB – Single Season On Base Percentage (Barry Bonds, 2004)
The dominance of Bonds in the early 2000s is well-documented and there are the obvious steroid implications, but this record is just too ridiculous to not include. Bonds had a .609 on-base percentage in 2004. Want to know what the second-highest for a single season is? Also Bonds with a .582 on-base percentage in 2002. The fear Bonds put into his opponents was unlike anything we have ever seen, and we all know the famous moment when Buck Showalter intentionally walked him with the bases loaded in the 9th inning.
To put it in perspective, Mike Trout led the league in on base percentage from 2016 to 2019. Those numbers ranged between .438 and .460. Those numbers are ridiculously good and part of why Trout is already viewed as one of the greatest. We will not see anyone reach the level Bonds did in 2004.
NHL – Most Goals as a Rookie (Teemu Selanne, 1992-1993)
One might expect to see one of Wayne Gretzky’s records here, but Selanne’s 76 goals as a rookie is the most impressive. Because of how it has gotten harder to score and how hard the transition to the NHL for rookies is nowadays, this record will not be threatened.
When looking at the all-time leaderboard no one else is even in the conversation. Mike Bossy is second for goals as a rookie with 53. Selanne being that good in his first year in the NHL and to be completely in his own conversation for all-time rookies is an unprecedented accomplishment.
Picture Credit: Onetwo1
