Records are meant to be broken. In sports, there are many decades old achievements that could be broken one day. Other records will be impossible to replicate today and some are simply so impressive that nobody will be able to even get close to surpassing that level of greatness.
You could argue for the Celtics eight straight NBA championships, Wayne Gretzky’s 2857 points in his career and the UConn women’s basketball team’s 111 game win streak, but I think the most impressive sports record of all-time is Cy Young’s astounding 749 career complete games.
Born #OTD 1867,The Legendary Cy Young.When they talk about,unbreakable records,His 511 Wins and 749 Complete Games are at top of the list.#Cleveland #Boston #legend #hof #mlb #1900s pic.twitter.com/ErN0ZiGSrl
— Tom's Old Days (@sigg20) March 29, 2021
Whenever you see a pitcher in today’s MLB get a complete game, (pitching the full nine inning game) you know that they’ve had a dominant and effective day on the mound. Now imagine a pitcher being so effective and having an arm that seemed to never get tired, that was Cy Young.
Knowing that Cy Young pitched for Boston, Cleveland, and St. Louis between 1890 and 1911, you can tell that the most obvious reason why this record won’t ever be broken is because of the era Young pitched in. Today’s pitchers almost rarely get the opportunity to pitch complete games, whether it is to maintain a pitch count to prevent injuries or managers turning the ball over to the bullpen to get the job done.
Cy Young pitched 749 complete games in his 815 starts throughout his remarkable 22 seasons, which means he pitched the full nine inning game over 90% of his games. You read that right, 90% of his games! The pitcher (who also pitched around the same time as Young) who is second to Young’s record has 646. You’re probably wondering now, who is the active pitcher with the most complete games? That would be Adam Wainwright, with get this, 28 complete games!
(Pexels / Mark Milbert)
It’s safe to say that no pitcher will ever get even close to Cy Young’s record, making it the most impressive sports record of all-time. I can see why the award for the best pitcher each season is called the “Cy Young award” because he must have been doing something right to be able to pitch that many complete games.
As a sports fan it is always exciting to track players as they approach a new record, but with Cy Young’s record I think you can just lock it away in the record books for good. Every time you watch a pitcher in today’s game have a commanding showing, just remember that Cy Young has been there and done that…. 749 times.