When Ted Williams Reached Base 84 Games in a Row
ALSO: SHUTOUTS HAVE GONE THE WAY OF THE BUFFALO NICKEL
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Shohei Ohtani, still recovering from the dislocated shoulder suffered while sliding in Game 2 of the 2024 World Series, won’t return to the Dodgers rotation before May . . .
New Atlanta left-fielder Jurickson Profar hit .380 with a .451 on-base percentage and 1.071 OPS as a leadoff man for San Diego last year, when the Padres also deployed him in five other lineup slots . . .
He or Michael Harris II is expected to top the Atlanta lineup until former MVP Ronald Acuna, Jr. returns with his healed but surgically-repaired torn left ACL . . .
Ex-Brave Max Fried, always a class act, impressed the Yankees with his polished dress and performance when introduced to the New York media . . .
Rookie managers facing formidable obstacles: Clayton McCullough (Marlins), Will Venable (White Sox), and Dan Wilson (Mariners) . . .
Venable and fellow Princeton alumnus Chris Young are the only major-leaguers who were also first team all-Ivy League in both baseball and basketball . . .
Managers of age who might be entering their final seasons: Ron Washington (Angels), Bruce Bochy (Rangers), and Brian Snitker (Braves).
Leading Off
Ted’s 84-Game On-Base Streak Of 1949 Was Finally Stopped By Ray Scarborough
By Andrew Sharp
From July 1 until September 27, 1949, Ted Williams reached base safely by a hit or a walk in 84 consecutive games, which stands as the all-time record. On September 14 in Detroit, Williams passed Joe DiMaggio’s 1941 mark of 74 games, a streak that overlapped Joe D’s 56 consecutive games with a hit. Those two consecutive on-base streaks remain the longest in A.L and N.L. history. A 69-game on-base streak by Williams, also in 1941, ranks third.
These streaks of reaching base in consecutive games drew no attention in newspapers and magazines or on radio at the time they happened -- nor did the concept of on-base average or percentage. The Sporting News Baseball Guide and Street & Smith’s Baseball Yearbook, for example, didn’t begin including on-base percentages until 1984. An article in a 2002 edition of SABR’s Baseball Research Journal by Herm Krabbenhoft helped draw attention to the on-base streaks of Williams, DiMaggio and others.
Krabbenhoft noted that Allan Roth, hired as a statistician for the Brooklyn Dodgers by Branch Rickey, produced an analysis that revealed a strong correlation between on-base percentage and runs scored. So in an August 1954, article in Life magazine, Rickey, by then the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, stated: “The ability to get on base, or on-base average, is vital.”
Recognized or not, the pitcher who snapped Ted’s 84-game streak on September 28 at Griffith Stadium was right-hander Ray Scarborough of the Washington Senators. The game was played on a Wednesday night before an estimated 17,000 fans, a decent crowd for the last place Senators. The stadium’s seating capacity in late 1940s was just over 25,000.
Scarborough, who had a winning record for a team that would lose 104 games, struck out Williams twice and got him to fly out to short center in his three plate appearances. Williams was on deck when Johnny Pesky was retired for the third out in the top of the ninth.
Scarborough pitched a four-hitter to beat the Red Sox. Two of the four hits were by the opposing pitcher, Chuck Stobbs. The rookie Stobbs doubled in the sixth and scored the lone Red Sox run on a single by Dom DiMaggio. But the Nats rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a win that critically damaged Boston’s pennant drive. The loss became part of Red Sox lore as “the Scarborough Game.”
Stobbs, a future Senator, had Washington shut out on four hits until a leadoff single by Robert Ortiz in bottom of the ninth. Gil Coan, running for Ortiz, was bunted to second. An infield single by Eddie Robinson moved Coan to third base. Al Kozar’s single scored Coan and tied the game, 1-1. Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy lifted Stobbs for Ellis Kinder, who gave up a single, loading the bases with one out.
Mel Parnell replaced Kinder. Red Sox infielders expected a suicide squeeze. Indeed, on Parnell’s third pitch to light-hitting Al Evans, Robinson broke a bit too soon from third. Parnell’s pitch, a called strike, allowed catcher Birdie Tebbetts to move over quickly to make a tag. Robinson was caught trying to steal home for the second out.
Former all-star Buddy Lewis pinch-hit for Evans with the count still a ball and two strikes and runners now on second and third. Parnell’s next pitch was a curve ball that bounced wide of home plate, out of Tebbett’s reach. Kozar scored from third on the wild pitch to give the Nats a 2-1 victory.
“What do you do against a guy like Scarborough, who is giving you the business all night?” Williams complained to reporters after game. “Nobody ever had more stuff or pitched a better ball game since I’ve been in American League,” Williams was quoted by Shirley Povich of the Washington Post in a Sept. 30 column. The iconic Post sports writer made no mention of the on-base streak by Williams having been stopped.
“Scarborough threw a game that was 99 percent perfect,” Washington owner Clark Griffith told Povich.
The Red Sox had defeated Washington 16 of 19 times prior to the September 28 game. Both the Yankees in New York and the Red Sox in Washington were rained out on Sept. 29, adding to the drama of the pennant race.
Although the Sox beat Washington on Sept. 30, they lost the pennant by losing their last two games to the Yankees in New York. Williams reached base in each of the last three games. His on-base percentage for the season was .490, down from .497 in 1948 and .499 in 1947. Hard to believe? His OBP was .553 in 1941 and .526 in 1957, when he hit .388 at age 38.
Was he, overall, the greatest hitter of all-time? Just take a look at his main Baseball Reference page for all the bold type.
Here’s what the esteemed author David Halberstam, wrote about the September 28 game in his famous baseball book Summer of ’49:
“Scarborough could decoy Williams better than any other pitcher in the league. It was not just a matter of his selection of pitches, it was his motion as well. He would show fastball, and then at the last minute, go to his curve. Forty years later, Williams paid Scarborough the ultimate accolade: He said that that he probably chased more balls out of the strike zone with Ray Scarborough than with any other pitcher.”
At least it wasn’t some bum who stopped the longest streak of all-time.
Andrew C. Sharp is a SABR member and a retired newspaper journalist who lives in central New Jersey. He blogs about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com
Cleaning Up
Shutouts Were Once a Dime a Dozen
By Dan Schlossberg
Here’s a shout-out to the shutout, a game of nine or more innings in which one team fails to score.
When Clayton Kershaw renewed with the Dodgers for his 18th season, a sharp-eyed IBWAA writer noticed that he had more shutouts (15) than any active pitcher.
Justin Verlander, now with the Giants, ranks second — with only nine.
We’re not talking combined shutouts here but a route-going effort by a single pitcher. It may be following the buffalo nickel into the dustbin of history.
Kershaw, for his part, hasn’t thrown a shutout since 2016, two years after he pitched the only no-hitter of his illustrious career. That was a shutout too, by the way.
The lean Los Angeles left-hander had three shutouts in 2015 and three more in 2016. But he’s had only one complete game since — and it wasn’t a shutout.
In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that the great Walter Johnson pitched 110 shutouts, a major-league record, and also finished on the wrong end of a myriad of 1-0 games that could have gone either way.
Grover Cleveland Alexander threw 90, Christy Mathewson 79, and Cy Young 76, but there’s no mention of a recent pitcher until Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, who both threw 61.
Alexander threw a single-season record of 16 in 1916, one year after throwing 12, while Bob Gibson and Jack Coombs both hurled 13.
Lots of pitchers threw 9, including Babe Ruth in 1916, but those halcyon days are over.
Now complete games are almost as extinct as one-pitcher shutouts.
Cy Young, who had 749, remains the only pitcher to post at least 700. Warren Spahn — remember him? — had 382 in a career that ended with 363 wins (the guy could hit and was rarely removed for a pinch-hitter).
Among current pitchers, Justin Verlander leads with 26, followed by Kershaw with 25, and Chris Sale with 16. As for single-season leaders, the Phillies led the National League with five, led by Cristopher Sanchez with just two. Zack Wheeler, whose 16 wins led the club, failed to go the route even once.
That makes it awfully hard to pitch a shutout, unless we’re talking about the time the Houston Astros utilized six different pitchers while no-hitting the Yankees in the Bronx.
Thanks to pitch counts that usually limit starters to 100 tosses an outing, complete games and shutouts have come casualties of a changing game.
Don Sutton would not like that; the late Dodgers righthander once said he was trained to go nine and if he didn’t, his day was considered a failure.
But 110? That’s a record virtually certain to stand forever.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is weekend editor of Here’s the Pitch, editor of Here’s the Pitch 2025, columnist for forbes.com and Sports Collectors Digest, contributor to Sports Collectors Digest, and writer for USA TODAY Sports Weekly and Memories & Dreams. He is also the author of 42 baseball books. Email Dan via ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: Chris Sale Comments & Notes
“I like our chances as much as anybody’s. We’ve got guys who can hit a bunch of homers and guys who can keep runs off the board. Our defense is unbelievable too.”
— Chris Sale on the 2025 Atlanta Braves
Sale surrendered only one unearned run last season while winning 18 games en route to his first Cy Young Award . . .
He wound up in Atlanta in an even exchange for second baseman Vaughn Grissom, who spent most of last year on the Red Sox injured list and has now been displaced by the signing of Alex Bregman . . .
Sale shares the record for consecutive All-Star Game starts with Robin Roberts and Lefty Gomez . . .
With the departures of Charlie Morton and Jesse Chavez, the 35-year-old Sale is the oldest man on the Atlanta pitching staff.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.