Games-played streaks, Part 1: Billy Williams By JohnW53 on Apr 25, 2021, 7:03am CDT +
In some, the player rarely took an inning off, let alone missed a game.
Early in Cal Ripken Jr. s record streak of 2,632 games, he played 8,264 straight innings. The second-longest such stretch in the Modern Era is just 4,620. Ernie Banks had the second-longest since 1940: 3,223, less than 40 percent of Ripken s total.
Every long streak included games in which a player pinch hit, pinch ran or appeared only as a defensive replacement.
Some players kept their streaks going with what can only be described as gimmicks.
In the 1,427th of Lou Gehrig s 2,130 games, at Detroit in July 1934, he was listed as the Yankees shortstop and batted leadoff. He singled, then gave way to a pinch runner.
Sports and music have a lot in common. They both produce rabid fandom, the kind in which people camp out in line for days to get tickets to a major sporting event or the best position for a general admission rock concert. They both invoke a feeling of community people channeling the same passion and fandom at an event like the World Series or the two-night concert held last August by Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field. Both are the subject of “Let’s Play Two,” a quasi-concert film about the PJ shows at Wrigley that spends just as much time on the history of the Chicago Cubs and their remarkable 2016 season, which culminated in their first World Series win since most of the country developed electricity. The film is a bit formless and goes on way too long, but if you’re in that Venn Diagram crossover that includes both Cubs fandom and allegiance to Eddie Vedder’s band, you owe it to yourself to see the film. It is a fan letter to both the Cubbies and one of the biggest rock bands in
Evolution of Cubs career hits record, Part 4 bleedcubbieblue.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleedcubbieblue.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Cubs historical sleuthing: Bruce Sutter edition
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Bruce Sutter had a Hall of Fame career as a relief pitcher.
Unfortunately, because Cubs ownership under the Wrigleys couldn’t or wouldn’t pay him what he was worth, he had most of that career with the Cardinals and Braves.
The Getty supplied caption to this photo reads:
Cubs’ ace reliefer Bruce Sutter working the mound in the 10th inning against the Giants, got the win as Chicago beat San Francisco 1-0, breaking the Giants’ four game winning streak.
Yes, it says “reliefer.” My friend and former colleague Rob Neyer would be pleased; he uses that spelling.
Cubs historical sleuthing: Hank Aaron edition
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This photo is a great slice of Cubs and Wrigley Field history for a number of reasons.
First, Getty’s caption:
Chicago Cubs’ Rick Monday (7) beats Atlanta Braves pitcher’s throw to his first baseman, Hank Aaron on pickoff attempt in first inning of game.
That’s exactly what we are looking at. Let’s figure out when this was taken.
Monday and Aaron overlapped as a Cub and Brave in three seasons: 1972, 1973 and 1974. However, of those three seasons, Aaron played first base in just one of them: 1972.
And, Aaron played first base in just three games at Wrigley Field that year, July 14, July 15 and July 16.