27 MLB records that will never be broken
There have been great teams in Major League Baseball history, and there have been terrible ones. While the 2001 Seattle Mariners set the American League record and tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for most wins in a big league season with 116, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders have held the record for most losses in a single season for 116 years.
In an incredible display of futility, the Spiders were 20-134 in 1899 and obviously finished dead last among 12 National League teams. You’d expect more from the likes of outfielder Sport McAllister and pitchers Crazy Schmidt and Highball Wilson, but alas they were part of the worst team in MLB history – possibly because all the team’s best players were shipped out of town.
As Sports Illustrated pointed out in 1999 – the 100-year anniversary of the infamous squad:
"“Think of the fire sale that led to the Florida Marlins’ collapse, and then imagine an uglier version. Picture the 1962 New York Mets, and then imagine a team half as successful. That’s the kind of sorry squad that closed out the 19th century. Essentially the Spiders were undone by the greed of their owner, Frank Robison. Under the rules of the 12-team National League at the time, one man could own stock in more than one National League team, which Robison did when he bought the St. Louis Browns. Cleveland had produced an 81-68 record in 1898. But Robison believed that a good team in St. Louis, where the Browns had finished in last place, would draw bigger crowds, so he stripped Cleveland of talent so brazenly that Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga would have gasped.”"
Among those that were sent to St. Louis was Cy Young – the legendary pitcher for whom the most valuable pitcher award in each league is named, and a man that will appear later on this list.
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