Hi! Us folks at the Grand Central branch are big on baseball. In fact we're so knowledgeable, we can probably issue an open challenge to any other branch out there in baseball trivia and safely secure a win. It won't be cinematic either, it'll be lopsided.

All right, all right, we're playing! We're not really overly-brash like that here at Grand Central, we swear! But we do know and love baseball, and recently have been looking at baseball records of yesteryear. We have a lot of free time on our hands when the season is not going on. The Hall of Fame debates are now over (congrats to Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and New York's own Craig Biggio!) and aside from Max Scherzer and James Shields, the biggest fish of the offseason have already been caught and found homes, so the hot stove's died down just a tick. Spring training thankfully is just around the corner next month but until then, here are some baseball records we can safely assume will never be broken.

1. Hugh Duffy's Single Season Record for Batting Average (.440, 1894)
Ok, it was really .4397, but hey, round it up and you get a nicer looking number. Big Hugh Duffy turned in one of the greatest  single season performances in the history of the game in 1894 with that batting average. He also led baseball that season in hits (237), doubles (51), home runs (18), and total bases (374), all while playing outfield for the Boston Beaneaters (today's Atlanta Braves) of the National League. We fans today would love to have a player just hit .400, let alone .440. It's safe to say this record will never be touched. Absolutely astonishing number. What's even more astonishing? The Beaneaters actually failed to win their League championship that year. With the World Series not coming into existence until 1903, the 1894 Beaneaters only finished in third place, behind the champion Baltimore Orioles (the NL version!) and runner-up New York Giants. Nevertheless, Duffy played on 5 League Champions over his career, including the short-lived Boston Reds of 1891, their final season.

2. Old Hoss Radbourn's Single Season Record for Wins (59, 1884)
So ten years before Hugh Duffy set the hitting world on fire, Old Hoss Radbourn (born as Charles Radbourn) was busy putting up humongous numbers of his own. In a National League championship-winning season for the '84 Providence Grays, Radbourn wasn't just the ace of the staff, he more or less was the entire staff. He started 73 (!) of the club's 112 games, and won 59 of them (with 441 strikeouts and a 1.38 ERA to boot). You read all that correctly. Sure we're talking dead-ball era baseball here, but I mean come on. Fifty. Nine. Wins. You can bet the house and then some that we will never see this record broken. In fact, the live-ball era record for wins in a single season (Jack Chesbro, 41 wins, 1904 New York Highlanders) is 18 fewer than Radbourn's 1884 mark. That's simply outstanding. Though Radbourn had an excellent career, one that saw him enter the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee in 1939, he would however succumb to syphillis at the age of 42. For more information on Radbourne's unbelievable 1884 season, check out this book, Fifty-Nine in '84! 

3. Christy Mathewson's 1905 World Series Records
The man known as the 'Christian Gentleman' absolutely cemented his spot in the baseball history books with his performance in the 1905 World Series. That year's Fall Classic pit John McGraw's New York Giants against Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. The Series went to New York in 5 games, all of which ended via the shutout. However, in a Series chock full of future Hall of Fame hurlers (Eddie Plank, Chief Bender, Joe McGinnity) it was Mathewson's star whose shone the brightest. He pitched a record three complete game shutouts. That's 27 scoreless innings folks. Anyone think those records will be approached? I think not. Sure we were all treated to Madison Bumgarner's World Series dominance this past October, locking up a title for the San Francisco Giants. However, when talking about unattainable records, it was another Giant performance in 1905 that takes the cake. It truly was that Series where Mathewson established himself as one of the best players in the game.

4. Joe DiMaggio's Hit Streak (56 games, 1941)
Ah, here is perhaps the most popularized of all the baseball records. Any time a player even makes it halfway to 56, the media is all over it. How unlikely and rare was this feat by Joltin' Joe? Well put it this way. Besides DiMaggio's streak, there's only been 5 other instances of a player achieving 40 (let alone 50) or more consecutive games with a hit in the Majors, the most recent being Pete Rose (44 games) during the 1978 season. People have come close, but they never make it. What started on May 15 against Eddie Smith (surrendered hit #1) of the Chicago White Sox, ended over two months later against Joe Krakauskas (surrendered hit #56) of the Cleveland Indians on July 16. The following day, Al Smith and Jim Bagby of the Tribe held DiMaggio hitless over three at-bats (though he did draw a walk) and if not for a couple of nifty plays by third baseman Ken Keltner, who knows what the record would be today. DiMaggio's record is absolutely ridiculous and I feel all right saying it will never collapse to another. As for an interesting side note, there are actually 2 Minor League Baseball hitting streaks that are longer than DiMaggio's 1941 job. They actually ascended into the 60-game range! The first on that short list belongs to Joe Wilhoit, whose 69-game hitting streak in 1919 is baseball's all-time record. Second on that list? Joe DiMaggio in 1933 with 61 games. Absolutely extraordinary.

5. Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker's Most Years As A Double Play Combo (19 seasons, 1977-1995)
So here's a little curveball for our list of records. On September 9, 1977, both Alan Trammell (1984 World Series MVP) and Lou Whitaker (1978 American League Rookie of the Year) were called up to the big leagues for the first time. Little did people know it would be the start of something both special and perpetual in Detroit. Trammell and Whitaker took over the 'up the middle' duties for the Tigers for parts of 19 seasons. It came to an end when Whitaker retired after the 1995 campaign. One year later, Trammell too called it a career, playing out his final season in 1996 with the newly acquired Mark Lewis as his double play partner. Trammell and Whitaker's 19 years together is a special type of record, one that is unlikely to be broken with the way player salaries escalate today via arbitration, in addition to the money free agency can net a good player in need for a contract. The stars really have to align perfectly in my view for two middle infielders to spend that many years in the same uniform together. One player staying in the same uniform over the course of his career a la Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn, George Brett, is impressive enough. But two? Unless we're bringing back the reserve clause or something it just doesn't  seem likely we'll ever see this record broken. 

To check out other cool Major League Baseball records through The New York Public Library, please visit our catalog!