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# 10 Sports Records From Before 1930 That Will Never Be Broken
- URL: https://www.grumpybuck.com/10-sports-records-from-before-1930-that-will-never-be-broken/
- Published: 2026-08-25T17:11:23.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-25T17:11:23.000Z
- Description: Modern athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger than ever. Doesn't matter. These records are safe forever — and a few of them are so absurd you'll think we made them up.
- Author: Brad Riddell
- Tags: Sports History, Top 10

*Modern athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger than ever. That doesn't matter. These records are safe forever — and a few of them are so absurd, you'll think we made them up. (We didn't. We checked. Twice.)*

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## 10\. The 36-Triple Season Nobody Has Come Close To — Chief Wilson, 1912

![Chief Wilson's tobacco-era baseball card. Library of Congress / public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/10-wilson.jpg)

Chief Wilson's tobacco-era baseball card. Library of Congress / public domain.

Owen "Chief" Wilson of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit **36 triples in a single season**. Since 1913, nobody has come within 10 of it. Wilson himself never hit even half that many in any other year of his career — one perfect summer of speed, gaps, and cavernous dead-ball outfields, and then it never happened again. For anyone. Ever.

**Why it's safe:** Modern parks are smaller, and today's game trades triples for home runs. The active leaders retire with fewer triples in a *career* than Wilson hit in 1912's summer alone ... OK, not quite — but 20+ triple seasons are extinct, and 36 is on another planet.

## 9\. The Team That Lost 134 Games — 1899 Cleveland Spiders

![The Cleveland Spiders in 1892 — back when they still had the players the owners later shipped to St. Louis. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/09-spiders.jpg)

The Cleveland Spiders in 1892 — back when they still had the players the owners later shipped to St. Louis. Public domain.

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders went **20-134**, a .130 winning percentage, with a run differential of −723 — all still the worst in MLB history. The backstory is even better: The team's owners also owned the St. Louis Perfectos, so they simply shipped every good player (including Cy Young — yes, that Cy Young) to St. Louis. Fans stopped coming, opposing teams refused to travel to Cleveland, and the Spiders played almost the entire second half on the road and won one of their last 41 games.

**Why it's safe:** This is the rare unbreakable record no franchise is even allowed to chase — a modern team this bad would fire everyone by June. The 2024 White Sox lost 121 and were nowhere near it.

## 8\. A 17-Year-Old Wins a Major — Young Tom Morris, 1868

![Old Tom Morris (left) and Young Tom Morris — the father-son duel of the 1868 Open. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/08-morris-2k.png)

Old Tom Morris (left) and Young Tom Morris — the father-son duel of the 1868 Open. Public domain.

Young Tom Morris won the 1868 Open Championship at **17 years and 156 days old** — still the youngest major champion in golf history, more than 150 years later. He beat the defending champion by three strokes. The defending champion was his dad.

**Why it's safe:** No 17-year-old has seriously contended at a major in the modern era — and the average age of major winners keeps climbing.

## 7\. 187 Consecutive Complete Games — Jack Taylor, 1901–1906

![Deadball-era baseball, when starting a game meant finishing it. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/07-taylor-2k.png)

Deadball-era baseball, when starting a game meant finishing it. Public domain.

From June 20, 1901, to Aug. 9, 1906, Cubs and Cardinals pitcher Jack Taylor started 187 games and finished **all 187** — five straight years without ever being relieved from a start. Mixed in, he also made 15 relief appearances. When he was finally pulled in the 3rd inning of a start on Aug. 13, 1906, it was national news.

**Why it's safe:** In 2024-era baseball, there are entire *seasons* where all 30 teams combined don't throw 40 complete games. A modern ace finishing 10 straight would be the story of the decade. 187 is science fiction.

## 6\. 110 Career Shutouts — Walter Johnson

![Walter Johnson in 1924. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/06-johnson.jpg)

Walter Johnson in 1924\. Public domain.

Walter Johnson threw **110 shutouts**. He is the only pitcher in history to reach 100\. To break this record, a modern pitcher would need to throw four shutouts a year — every year — for 28 years. Active pitchers typically retire with fewer than 15.

**Why it's safe:** See above. Starters barely finish games anymore, let alone finish them without allowing a run 110 times.

## 5\. The 110-Round Boxing Match — Bowen vs. Burke, 1893

![Andy Bowen, half of the longest gloved fight ever recorded. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/05-bowen-2k.png)

Andy Bowen, half of the longest gloved fight ever recorded. Public domain.

On April 6, 1893, Andy Bowen and Jack Burke fought **110 rounds over 7 hours and 19 minutes** at the Olympic Club in New Orleans — the longest gloved boxing match ever recorded. Burke broke bones in both hands and kept fighting, then spent six weeks in bed. Spectators literally fell asleep in their seats. After round 110, the referee called it a no contest because neither man could continue.

**Why it's safe:** Championship boxing is capped at 12 rounds. This record is both unbreakable *and* illegal to attempt.

## 4\. 54 Races, 54 Wins — Kincsem, 1876–1879

![Kincsem after winning the Goodwood Cup — Illustrated London News, 1878. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/04-kincsem.jpg)

Kincsem after winning the Goodwood Cup — Illustrated London News, 1878\. Public domain.

A Hungarian mare named Kincsem raced 54 times across five countries — Hungary, Austria, England, France, and Germany — and **won all 54**. Nearly 150 years later, no thoroughbred with a comparable career has retired undefeated with anywhere near that many wins. The closest modern challenger, Australia's Black Caviar, retired a perfect 25-for-25 — not even halfway.

**Why it's safe:** Modern champions are whisked off to stud after 10–15 carefully chosen races. Nobody risks perfection 54 times anymore.

## 3\. 59 Wins in One Season (Or Was It 60?) — Old Hoss Radbourn, 1884

![Charles 'Old Hoss' Radbourn. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/03-radbourn.jpg)

Charles 'Old Hoss' Radbourn. Public domain.

![Bonus history: in this 1886 team photo, Radbourn (top left) delivers the first known photographed middle finger. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/03b-radbourn-finger.jpg)

Bonus history: in this 1886 team photo, Radbourn (top left) delivers the first known photographed middle finger. Public domain.

In 1884, Providence Grays pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won **59 games** — or 60, depending on which record book you trust. (Baseball-Reference officially moved him to 60 in 2019 after a SABR researcher re-scored a chaotic July game from 1884\. Historians are still arguing, and we love that for them.) Either way: The most wins a modern pitcher has managed in a season in the last 50 years is 27 (Bob Welch of the Oakland A's in 1990).

**Why it's safe:** A modern ace gets about 32 starts a year. Radbourn couldn't break this record today even if he won every single one of them — twice.

## 2\. A Career ERA of 1.82 — Ed Walsh

![Ed Walsh in 1911, photographed by Paul Thompson. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/02-walsh.jpg)

Ed Walsh in 1911, photographed by Paul Thompson. Public domain.

Spitballer Ed Walsh pitched 14 seasons for the White Sox and retired with a career ERA of **1.82** — the lowest in major league history. For 14 years, opponents averaged less than two runs a game off him. The best career ERA of the live-ball era (Mariano Rivera's 2.21) belongs to a closer who pitched one inning at a time.

**Why it's safe:** The spitball has been banned since 1920, the dead ball is gone, and a single *season* under 1.82 now happens about once a generation.

## 1\. 511 Wins — Cy Young

![Cy Young in 1911, photographed by Charles Conlon. Public domain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/08/01-young.jpg)

Cy Young in 1911, photographed by Charles Conlon. Public domain.

The record so unbreakable they named the award after him. Cy Young won **511 games** — 94 more than anyone else, ever. He also completed 749 of his 815 career starts, which might be the *more* unbreakable record hiding inside the famous one. To catch him, a pitcher would need 20 consecutive seasons of 25 wins. The last time anyone won 25 in even one season was 1990.

**Why it's safe:** It's beyond safe. If baseball is still played in the year 3000, Cy Young will still have 511 wins, and the award will still have his name on it.

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*Which one shocked you most? Argue with us on Twitter — especially about whether Radbourn deserves 59 or 60.*