Alex Ovechkin: 895+ goals
Martin Brodeur: 691 wins
Lebron James: 42,100+ points
Barry Bonds: 762 home runs
Mariano Rivera: 652 saves
Tom Brady: 649 Touchdowns
Alex Ovechkin: 895+ goals
Martin Brodeur: 691 wins
Lebron James: 42,100+ points
Barry Bonds: 762 home runs
Mariano Rivera: 652 saves
Tom Brady: 649 Touchdowns
Comments
Barry Bonds because roids aren’t cool anymore.
Ovechkin’s goals.
Not many realize the kind of long term health and longevity it would require to reach this. And incredible consistency.
Today’s current stars like McDavid, MacKinnon & Matthews all lack either: health year to year, or consistency.
It’s just not happening anytime soon.
Of those, the hardest might actually be the all-time saves record. It’s requires a closer to not only have a lengthy career, but also be on teams that are consistent winners. And that’s before taking into account how many pitchers blow their arms out these days.
The hardest one to beat will be Marita Koch in the 400m. She was doped to the gills to achieve that, and doping was prohibited soon after so nobody has come close in the 40 years since.
Hardest: Lebron’s points. Have to be healthy for 22 years and counting and play like a top 10 scorer the whole time.
LeBron James’s record is going to be very difficult to beat. Nobody else even comes close- the second highest career scorer is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387. The highest active player (aside from LeBron himself) is Kevin Durant with just 30,571.
What makes LeBron James’s record so incredible is that he’s both one of the best players in league history and also one of its longest careers, tied with Vince Carter for most seasons played (22).
LeBron’s has gotta be impossible to beat
The Lebron James record involves a combination of both extraordinary skill and also extraordinary longevity both of which are not too likely to line up again.
Of the ones listed? Ovechkin or maybe Bonds (bc steroids). The actual untouchables: Emmitt Smith 18,355 career rushing yards or Cal Ripkin Jr. 2632 consecutive games played.
All require unbelievable health and longevity, but the games have changed enough that the latter two almost certainly can’t happen again.
Patrick Marleau’s 1779 NHL games played is also gonna be hard to beat. That’s basically 22 full seasons.
It took Tom Brady 20 years to set that record… It’ll be a long while before we get another QB lasting long enough to challenge that.
I’d go Brodeur. Games played for starting goalies has decreased drastically in the last 10 or so years, so no career records for goalies will be touched. Fleury is likely going to be the last goalie to play 1,000 games, and Brodeur played 1,266.
Most games played for a goalie in a season in the last 8 seasons is 67. Brodeur had a 12-season stretch where he played no fewer than 67 games.
Even beyond that, you have to be on a consistently great team to challenge 691 even if you do somehow play that many games.
They’re all great but I don’t see the goals record getting broken anytime soon.
LeBron’s record would require a freak athlete who can play in the NBA for over 20 years to beat. I think people don’t understand sometimes how rare of an athlete LeBron is. Jordan played in the NBA for 15 seasons and started when he was in his 20s and took a few years to really hit his stride. The Lakers, Celtics, and Pistons were all the top teams for his first 6 seasons in the NBA. LeBron was a phenom player right out of high school and took the Cavs to the NBA finals in his 3rd season.
Landon Donovan’s 58 assists for the USMNT. Was an international record until recently, but will be extremely difficult for any American to break that record. The American with the 2nd most assists all-time is Michael Bradley and he had only 23. Christian Pulisic is already halfway through his career and he only has 18 and he’s well behind Donovan’s pace.
Ripken’s 2632 consecutive games played. Or William’s being last to bat .400+ and his career OBP.
Not an option you gave but Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 2,632 consecutive games is completely unbreakable.
It’s over 16 seasons of baseball without missing a single one. The random luck of injury and poor performance, plus how baseball players are used situationally a lot more these days, makes this record absolutely unbreakable
Just to clarify I only included records that were set in the last 20 ish years since some of the really old records are actually impossible cause of how sports have evolved. The Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Emmit Smith type records aren’t even worth discussing lmao
Brodeur. Goalies just don’t play that much anymore.
He started 70 games in 11 seasons. Hellebuyk is the workhorse right now and generally starts 60+ games.
Write-in vote: Cal Ripkin Jr 2,632 consecutive games