PEORIA — Baseball fans have been treated to a pair of historic home run chases this fall.
We witnessed St. Louis Cardinals icon and former Peoria Chiefs player Albert Pujols conclude his Hall of Fame career with more than 700 home runs, just the fourth player in baseball history to reach that plateau.
On Tuesday night, New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge belted his 62nd home run of the season, surpassing the great Roger Maris for the most home runs in a single season in American League history. Judge’s total is the seventh-most in a single season in baseball history.
Whether you want to credit Red Auerbach or Mark Spitz or someone further back in time with the adage “Records are made to be broken,” the question is whether there are some that likely never will be.
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As Major League baseball winds down the regular season and heads into the playoffs, here are 12 baseball records most likely to stand forever:
2,632 — Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 consecutive games, an MLB record that ended when he took himself out of the lineup on Sept. 20, 1998. Only one player — Miguel Tejada — has even reached 1,000 straight games since then. Built-in days off are a standard of game management in this era.
232 — Barry Bonds drew 232 walks in the 2004 season, shattering Babe Ruth’s 170 in 1923.
5,714 — Nolan Ryan piled up 5,714 strikeouts in his Hall of Fame career. With pitch counts and season-long innings limits it’s unlikely anyone is going to have the longevity required to beat that. Justin Verlander is the current MLB active leader, with 3,198 in 17 seasons at age 39. Max Scherzer (15 seasons, age 37) is right there with him at 3,193.
511 — Cy Young’s 511 wins in 22 seasons, earned over 120 years ago. Former Peoria Chiefs ace and Hall of Famer Greg Maddux is eighth on the MLB list with 355.
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.366 — Ty Cobb’s .366 career batting average hasn’t been challenged since Ted Williams retired at .344 in 1960. MLB’s active career leader is Miguel Cabrera at .308 (minimum 500 career games/3,000 plate appearances).
56 — Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941, which came to an end against the Cleveland Indians.Johnny Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters in 1938. The Cincy lefty did it four days apart against the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers.
1,406 — Rickey Henderson had 130 steals in the 1982 season and finished with 1,406 for his career, both MLB records. Dee Strange-Gordon, at age 34, has 336 in his 11-year career, the current active leader. In an era of swing plane and power hitting, the stolen base record is safe.
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464 — Ed Walsh’s 464 innings pitched in the 1908 season for the Chicago White Sox. That included 49 starts and 17 relief appearances, and 40 wins. MLB pitchers in this era consider 200 innings a huge workload.
25 — Most All-Star Game appearances? Hank Aaron had 25.
762 — Barry Bonds’ mark of 762 career home runs seems out of reach, even though his single-season mark of 73 could be doable in baseball’s current home run era. Aside from Pujols, at 703, the only other active MLB player to reach 500 is Cabrera (507).
2 —Johnny Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters in 1938. The Cincy lefty did it four days apart against the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers.
4,256 — Pete Rose produced 4,256 hits in his career, setting the record in 1985 for most career hits. Albert Pujols, at age 42, is the active leader with 3,383 as of this week.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
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