Top 20 UNBREAKABLE Sports Records

LeBron James

Now, we understand that there was probably a time after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989 that people thought his career points mark of 38,387 was a record that would never be broken. And while Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant made runs at it, they both ended their careers about 2000 and 5000 points behind Abdul-Jabbar respectively. Then along came LeBron James - and on February 7, 2023 he scored the 38,388th point of his career and took over the top spot on the career points list. A spot that now stands at over 40,400 points - and growing. The closest active player to James is Kevin Durant - and he’s about 12,000 points behind.

Richard Petty

Richard Petty’s nickname is “the King” - and looking at what he did on the racetrack, that moniker looks to have been well-earned. Petty has a whole host of racing records that will probably never be broken, including most wins in a season (27), most Daytona 500 wins (7) and most consecutive wins (10). But the one that stands above all others, the King of his records, has gotta be his 200 NASCAR wins. The consistency needed to get that many victories over a long career is impressive. But even more impressive is how far ahead of the pack he is. David Pearson sits in second place and he ended his career with 105 wins.

Henri Richard

The Montreal Canadiens were a dominant force in the NHL throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s - taking home 16 Stanley Cups throughout those decades. One player who was a key part of those teams from 1955 to 1975 was Henri Richard. And over the course of his 20 year career, Richard won 11 Stanley Cups as a player, a record that we feel is unlikely to ever be broken. The only other players close to 11, like Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer with 10 were teammates of Richard’s for most of their wins. Even Wayne Gretzky, the greatest player of all time, only has 4 Stanley Cups.

Nolan Ryan

It’s true that there have been more no-hitters in major league baseball over the past few years. In fact, 2021 saw nine no-nos - which is the most ever for one season. However, while there have been more of them league-wide, there hasn’t been one pitcher racking them up like Nolan Ryan did decades ago. Ryan pitched his first 5 no-hitters between 1973 and 1981. The current active pitcher with the most no-hitters is Justin Verlander with 3, and it took him 12 years (2007-19) to do that. Ryan also got his 6th and 7th when he was 43 and 44 years old respectively - which on its own is also pretty amazing. There’s no-breaking this no-hitter record.

Martina Navratilova

On February 15th, 1984, Martina Navratilova lost to Hana Mandlikova in the finals of the Silicon Valley Classic. She wouldn’t lose again until December. Starting with her next match on February 20th Navratilova would spend the next 10 months defeating everyone in her path. A path that included 74 consecutive matches and three majors: The French Open, Wimbledon, and The US Open. She also made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open which is where her streak ended (2 matches away from a possible Grand Slam). Not only is she the only player to reach 74 match wins in a row - no one else has even gotten to 50. Bjorn Borg got to 49 once, and the great Serena Williams’ longest streak was 34.

Julio César Chávez

Sure, Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s career record of 50-0 is impressive. But it isn’t as impressive as 87-0 - which was Julio César Chávez’s record before he fought to a draw against Pernell Whitaker in 1993. In February of 1990 when Buster Douglas shocked the world and ended Mike Tyson’s 37 fight win streak, Chávez was already 68-0 and would go on to win 19 more before that draw. These days most boxers don’t have more than 50 or so fights in their career - let alone win them all as Mayweather did. Which makes Chávez’s record feel extra safe.

Rickey Henderson

While the stolen base isn’t a big part of the major league game these days, that definitely wasn’t always the case. Up until the turn of the century, the stolen base was a very important part of the game - and Rickey Henderson is the greatest player to ever do it. Henderson played 25 years from 1979 to 2005 and led the league in stolen bases 12 times. He ended his career with 1,406 of them - which is almost 500 more then Lou Brock who sits in second place. Now, maybe with the slightly-bigger bases and the new limits on throws to first base, steals will begin to rise. But they’ll never rise to Henderson’s level again.

Jerry Rice

When it comes to wide receivers and NFL records Jerry Rice could be a complete list all by himself. From receptions to receiving yards, Rice had more in his career than any other player in history. But the unbreakable record we wanted to focus on here was his career touchdown mark of 208. An impressive number made even more so because of the era in which Rice played which - unlike today - didn’t have the same strict rules against certain defensive plays and protection for quarterbacks. But even with this being, what some might call, a golden age of receiving, Rice still stands over 100 TDs ahead of Davante Adams who is the highest among active players with 95.

Bill Russell

Bill Russell played 13 seasons in the NBA for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. And during those 13 years, not only was he one of the most dominant players in the league, but there were also only two seasons in which he didn’t win the championship. And one of those years his Celtics lost in the finals - so he only missed going to the finals one time. Add to that a stretch of 8 championships in a row and Russell’s 11 wins is as safe as safe can be. Michael Jordan would’ve needed two more 3-peats to surpass Russell’s ring count. That’s air even Jordan could never reach.

Novak Djokovic

In case you didn’t realize that this century you’ve been watching 3 of the 3 best tennis players to ever play the game, allow us to give you some number 1 numbers. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have 20 or more grand slam titles (numbers we aren’t likely to ever see again). But Nadal is the only player to ever be world number one in 3 separate decades, Federer spent a record 237 straight weeks at number one - and Djokovic has held the top spot 427 times as of the last week of May 2024! There’s more likely to be 427 more seasons of “Grey's Anatomy” than for any player to reach that many weeks at number one again.

Jack Nicklaus

After Tiger Woods won his 14th major, there were probably a lot of people in 2008 who were pretty confident that it was only a matter of time before he surpassed Jack Nicklaus on the all-time majors leaderboard. But here we are, over 15 years later, and Woods sits at 15 titles and Nicklaus’ record seems safer than ever. There are some great players out there winning majors, but that’s the problem - they’re all winning them. If Tiger couldn’t pass The Golden Bear then we’re pretty sure no one ever will.

Cal Ripken Jr.

Can you think of something you’ve done consistently for over 16 years? Well, Cal Ripken Jr. can. Because from May 30th, 1982 to September 19th, 1998 Ripken played in every single baseball game for the Baltimore Orioles. In 1995 he broke Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 games and with the 501 he added on to it this thing will stand tall forever. Especially given all the emphasis on load-management and athletes getting rest throughout the long season. Exhibit A: Whit Merrifield’s 553 game streak - which is the longest streak that began since 2010 - spanning 4 years from June 25th, 2018 to July 10th, 2022.

Lewis Hamilton

Michael Schumacher is one of the greatest F1 drivers ever, and in his 308 races he earned the pole position an impressive 68 times. Or at least that was an impressive number until Lewis Hamilton came along and blew it away with his 104 poles. And as of 2024, Hamilton is still racing and could see even more pole positions in his future. While Max Verstappen seems to be winning everything these days, he stands about 65 poles behind the leader, and would need to pole in 44% of his next 147 entries to match Hamilton’s totals, which is a whole lot more than the 20% average he currently enjoys. This record is Hamilton’s to keep.

Pele

Soccer fans today might just assume that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo hold every record in the sport. But as older fans know, there was a guy named Pele from Brazil who might just be the greatest to ever play the game - and has a few records to his name as well. This includes his almost unbreakable record of three World Cups championships. Even more impressive is the fact that only three countries have more World Cup trophies than Pele does. So, if it’s almost unheard of for a country to win three (especially within the span of any player’s career) - then how is any one player going to win that many - Let alone a 4th to break the record? It’s not gonna happen!

Emmitt Smith

Walter Payton’s 16,726 career rushing yards might’ve looked unreachable when he retired in 1987. But three years later a guy named Emmitt Smith made his debut in the NFL and started rushing towards the record, eventually amassing a career total 18,355 yards on the ground. And why won’t this record also be broken? Because the game has changed. It’s much more of a passing league than it’s ever been. And while quarterback stats have continued to rise, running back stats have gone down. Also, Smith plays for 14 seasons, something most players - let alone running backs - don’t do very often these days. Especially at a level high enough to rack up so many yards.

Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Grstzky is another one of those athletes who could have an entire list like this all to himself. Upon his retirement in 1999 “The Great One” held 61 NHL records. And today, over two decades later he still holds 58 of them. One of those records that stands out from the crowd is his career points total of 2,857. Yes, it looks like Alex Ovechkin has a good chance of surpassing Grestzky’s career goals record of 894 - but Ovi is still 1,300 total points behind Gretzky. Not only is Gretzky the only player to ever score more than 2,000 points, but his 1,963 career assists is more than any other player’s total career points. 2,857 is here to stay!

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods will probably never surpass Jack Nicklaus for the most Majors, but there are plenty of records that Woods will likely hold forever. These include his time spent as world number 1. We’re talking 683 total weeks - and if that number sounds huge… it is! Only three golfers have ever spent a full calendar year at number one. And while Nick Faldo and Greg Norman each did it once - Tiger did it 8 times in the aughts. His 683 weeks is 352 more than 2nd place Norman. And his record streak of 281 consecutive weeks is more than any golfer’s career total besides Norman. Between 1998 and 2005 Woods also made 142 straight cuts - another record that we think is pretty safe as well.

Cy Young

Cy Young isn’t just the name of the award given to the best pitcher in each league. The award is named after a former pitcher - a pitcher who won 511 games throughout his career from 1890 thru 1911? That’s right. This is a record that’s stood from pretty much the beginning of the sport. And will forever. With health concerns and “Moneyball” analytics - they just don’t pitch as many games or as many innings within games. Only 7 pitchers had 20 win seasons between 2017-2023 - whereas a couple decades ago it wasn’t uncommon to have 6 in one year. This also means Young’s 749 complete games is also safe. The active leader on that front is Justin Verlander with a paltry 26.

John Stockton

If it wasn’t for John Stockton, Jason Kidd could’ve seen his name atop a couple NBA records lists. But alas, when Jason Kidd ended his playing career in 2013 his 2,684 steals and 12,091 assists left him far behind the aforementioned Stockton. Stockton played all of his 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz and the team made the playoffs every year. They also reached their only two NBA Finals in that time (losing both times to Michael Jordan’s Bulls). But while he never got a ring, he stands 600 steals and over 3,000 assists ahead of second place. And when it comes to the assists - we don’t see anyone ever catching him.

Michael Phelps

When it comes to domination, no athlete has ever dominated their sport like Michael Phelps. But Phelps’ records don’t just stand above all swimmers - they’re also tops among every other athlete to ever compete in the Olympics. Before Phelps showed up, the record for most career Olympic Gold medals was 9 - and it was held by four different people. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens - Phelps won 6. Then in 2008 he competed in 8 events and won 8 Gold medals. But he wasn’t done yet. In 2012 he won 4 and in 2016 he took home 5 more. Phelps’ 23 Gold Medals is more than any other athlete’s. His reign as the Gold Medal King should last longer than Queen Elizabeth’s.

Which of these records are you most confident will never be eclipsed? Let us know in the comments.