ANDREWS AFB, Md. –
Editor's Note: This article is the first of a five part series counting down the 10 most unbreakable records in sports from 10 to 1.
For argument's sake, I chose records set in the modern eras of sports. Therefore, records like Cy Young's 511 wins, Ty Cobb's career .366 batting average and Walter Johnson's 110 shutouts (all set in the "dead ball era" of baseball) were not included.
Additionally, as truly impressive as records like the Boston Celtics winning eight championships in a row or the UCLA Bruins basketball team winning 88 straight games are, I decided to go with individual records only.
Finally, I chose only to include season or career records and thereby excluded single game marks. Who truly knows what single game marks are unbreakable if the right athlete is at the right place at the right time. Is it out of the realm of possibility for a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady to throw eight touchdowns in a game? Could Albert Pujols forget he's human and hit five home runs in one game? What's scary is neither of those records is safe because anyone can have the day of their life, but a record spread out over an entire season or career is something that is truly amazing.
10. Rocky Marciano's 49-0 record - Boxing is in a different era than it was when Marciano reigned supreme. Nowadays, the money that boxers take home is astronomical, and most of them take a great deal of time between bouts. With other genres of entertainment taking their interest-promoting, movies, music etc., boxers don't need the sport as much as they did when Marciano was around.
Take one of the best fighters in boxing right now, 32-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr., who currently has a 39-0 record. He's already retired once and is contemplating a comeback to fight Manny Pacquiao. Even if he gets past Pacquiao, does anyone think he'll fight undefeated for several more years, which is what it'd take to pass Marciano's mark?
9. Rickey Henderson's 1406 career stolen bases - Think about this for a second: a player could have stolen 100 bases every season for 14 years and only then tie Henderson's mark. To take it a step further, in the past 100 years a player has reached 100 SB in a season eight times (three times it was Henderson himself).
Nowadays, it seems like leg injuries are about as common as the flu. With the millions of dollars these athletes are being paid, they and their teams are not going to risk giving them the green light on the base paths as often as in Henderson's time.
The series will continue next week with #8, Barry Bonds single season home run record; and #7, Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game.