MLB: Top Ten Unbreakable Records in Baseball History
By Keaton Moore
Old Hoss Radbourn’s 59-Win Season
Long before the founding of American League, Charles Radbourn stood out as the most menacing pitcher in baseball’s primitive days. No pitcher in baseball has come close to breaking Radbourn’s record-setting 59-win season in 1884 in over 130 years.
Old Hoss Radbourn, as he fondly went by, burst into the National League in 1881 as a 26-year-old rookie. From there, he pitched until 1891 and retired with an impressive career under his belt. Through his first three seasons, Radbourn was 106-55 with a 2.19 ERA, leading baseball with 48 wins in 1883.
However, the most impressive feat of his career was yet to come. During his second to last season with the Providence Grays, Radbourn went 59-12 with a microscopic 1.38 ERA. He pitched 75 starts in Providence’s 112-game schedule and received the win for just over half of them.
Once the regular season ended, Radbourn contributed three complete games to the Grays’ World Series sweep. Due to his utter dominance, Radbourn earned the NL pitching title and NL triple crown in 1884.
While there is some debate as to whether Radbourn won 59 or 60 games in 1884, the accomplishment was such that it is considered to be unbreakable. Nowadays, winning only 20 games is nearly a surefire way for a pitcher to win the Cy Young award. Even if a pitcher were to win each of his starts, they would fall well short of Radbourn’s 59-win mark.