With Justin Verlander and Francisco Liriano both throwing no hitters last week, eyes were on their next starts, to see if they could equal Johnny Vander Meer’s unprecedented two straight no hitters. Liriano laughably failed, but Verlander threw 5 2/3 no hit innings, coming pretty close to reaching a mark that has been reached once in baseball history. That got me to thinking about a few records that would take a hell of a lot of effort to reach. For the record, I think that one day, someone is going to match Vander Meer’s back to back no hitters. I just don’t know when.
1) Sam Crawford’s 309 career triples
This one is just stupid. A player would have to average 15 triples a year for 20 seasons to come close to sniffing Crawford’s record. The only hitter under the age of 30 with more than 100 triples is Carl Crawford, who has 106 at the age of 29. So all Crawford has to do is average 20 triples for the next ten seasons of his career, and he’d be close! Keep in mind that there have only been 11 instances of a player 35 years old or older hitting 15 triples in a season, let alone 20, which only happened twice. And none of those seasons have come since 1938. Oh, and Crawford has never hit 20 triples in a season hiimself. The only other player under the age of 30 with more than 50 triples is Jose Reyes, with 89. I think Sam Crawford will have his name in the record books forever.
2) Cy Young’s 511 career wins
There are only 24 pitchers with at least 300 career wins. There are only two pitchers with at least 400 career wins. Cy Young absolutely laps the field here. If a pitcher wins 30 games for 15 seasons, he’s still got 61 wins to go. There is no pitcher under the age of 30 with at least 100 career wins. CC Sabathia is 30, and has 160. So if Sabathia starts 35 games for the Yankees over the next 10 years and wins every start, he’ll still be one win short of Young’s record. Not only would it be impossible to win every start you have, it would be impossible for you to not miss one start due to injury over ten years as a starter, even with how durable Sabathia has been over his career. A more realistic benchmark is getting to 300 wins, and not even thinking about Young’s record. If a starter has a 20 year career and wins 25 games a year, they’re still short. It’s unreal.
3) Rickey Henderson’s 1406 career stolen bases
There was never a player like Rickey Henderson, and there never will be again. The only two players under 30 with at least 300 career steals are two players we already mentioned: Carl Crawford, and Jose Reyes. Crawford has 419. So if he steals 100 bases a year for his next ten seasons, he’ll have the record! Keep in mind that his career record is 60. But what about Reyes? He’s a year younger, and has a higher career high (78). Well, if he stole 100 bases a season over his next ten seasons, he’d still be over 60 short. Reyes has also had leg problems recently, and has stolen 53 bases total since 2009. Also, there have only been eight 50 steal seasons by a player 35 or older. One is Rickey Henderson, one is Maury Wills, three are Otis Nixon, and three are Lou Brock. Nice to see so many players keep their speed as they get older.
4) Nolan Ryan’s 5714 career strikeouts and 2795 career walks
Nolan Ryan is one of the most divisive pitchers among sabermetricians. Some think he’s overrated, some think he’s great. He’s the career leader in strikeouts by 839, and the career leader in walks by 962. The only two active pitchers with more than 1000 career walks are the 44 year old Tim Wakefield with 1166, and the allegedly 36 year old Livan Hernandez with 1020. So if Hernandez pitches ten more years somehow, and walks 170 batters per year, he can get into sniffing distance of Ryan. There have only been 12 170 walk seasons in the history of baseball. All of those pitchers were 30 years old or younger. Getting to the strikeouts record is just as difficult. There have been 33 300 strikeout seasons in baseball history. If a player has 19 of them, he can reach Ryan’s record! A 300 strikeout season has been performed by no active player. So 250? That’s cool. No player under 30 has at least 1000 career strikeouts, but Tim Lincecum will get there this year. If Lincecum strikes out 250 for the next 12 years of his career, he’ll still be over 1700 strikeouts shy of Ryan.
5) Barry Bonds’ 2558 career walks
The only players under the age of 30 with at least 500 career walks are David Wright with 506 and Miguel Cabrera with 566. We’ll go with Cabrera. All he’s gotta do is walk 200 times over the next ten season, and he’s got himself a spot in the record books. He’s never walked as many as times as 90 in a year. There have only been eleven seasons of at least 150 walks in a season, and four are by Bonds. Three are by Ted Williams, and two are by Babe Ruth. Those are three of the greatest hitters in history. Cabrera is a good hitter, but could you see yourself mentioning him in the same breath as any of those players? I doubt it. If he averages 150, which has been done 11 times, over the next 12 seasons, he’ll still be shy of Bonds.
