27 MLB records that will never be broken
. Will White. 1879. 75 Complete Games in a Season. 4. player. 61
Simply put, players don’t throw complete games with regularity anymore. Things were a lot different in 1879 and 1904.
As we discussed earlier, Will White pitched a record 680 innings in 1879, which included a record 75 complete games. His team played only 80 games that season. Pitchers were used slightly less in the early 20th Century, and Jack Chesbro set the modern record with 48 complete games in 1904.
Pitching for the New York Highlanders (who eventually became the Yankees), Chesbro went 41-12 during 1904 in 55 games and 51 starts – he led the American League in wins, winning percentage, games and starts. In fact, Chesbro’s 41 wins are more than anyone recorded in a single season during the 20th Century. He also posted a 1.82 ERA across a league-best 454.2 innings and faced 1,720 batters, which was more than anyone else that season.
Of course, White and Chesbro’s marks will never be broken because pitchers don’t even start as many games per season as they used to, much less finish them. Ten pitchers shared the Major League lead with 34 games started in 2015. No one has started 35 games in a season since Chris Carpenter and Dan Haren in 2010, and the last pitchers to top that were Roy Halladay and Greg Maddux, with 36 apiece in 2003.
As for Halladay, he retired as the game’s active leader in career complete games with 67 (or eight fewer than White had in 1879 and only 19 more than Chesbro in 1904). And Halladay amassed his across 16 big league seasons.
Next: 1,406 Career Stolen Bases