Longest Hitting Streaks In Red Sox History
BOSTON (CBS) -- Jackie Bradley Jr. is hitting his way into Red Sox history this season.
The Sox' center fielder extended his hitting streak to 29 games on Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies, and is now just one game away from becoming just the fourth member of the team to have a hitting streak of 30 or more games.
So as a current member of the team looks to join a fairly historic group, let's look back on the longest hitting streaks in team history:
Dom DiMaggio: 34 Games in 1949
"The Little Professor" holds the club record for the longest hit streak, collecting a base knock in 34 straight games from June 29 to August 7 in 1949. DiMaggio hit .353 with a .430 OBP and .934 OPS, clubbing 11 doubles and three homers during the streak.
He made his fourth All-Star squad that season, finishing the year with a .307 average and 186 hits in 145 games.
DiMaggio also had a 26-game hitting streak during the 1951 season.
Tris Speaker: 30 Games in 1912
Surprisingly, baseball stats are hard to come by from the 1912 season, but there's no denying Speaker did something special that year. His 30-game hitting streak was just one of three lengthy streaks he put together that season, with additional streaks of 23 and 22 games to set a single-season record with three hitting streaks of 20 or more games.
Speaker won MVP in 1912, finishing the year leading the league with a .384 average, 53 doubles and 10 home runs (yes, he led all of baseball with just 10 homers).
Nomar Garciaparra: 30 Games in 1997
NOMAH's rookie year was special for a lot of reasons, and his 30-game hitting streak was one of them. Nomar absolutely raked from July 26 until August 29 in 1997, going 54-for-141 (a .383 batting average) with nine homers, nine doubles and 26 RBIs. He had a ridiculous 1.059 OPS during those 30 games.
Garciaparra easily won Rookie of the Year that season after leading the league with 209 hits and 11 triples, finishing with a .306 average and .875 OPS.
He also had a lengthy hitting streak early in the 2003 season, recording a hit in 26 straight from April 27 to May 26.
Johnny Damon: 29 Games in 2005
A year after Damon helped a bunch of idiots break an 86-year-old curse, he ripped off a 29-game hitting streak for Boston between June 10 to July 17 during the 2005 season. Damon hit .348 during the streak with a .916 OPS, compiling 11 of his 35 doubles that season. He finished the year with a .316 average and 197 hits, and earned his second (and final) All-Star nod in the middle of the year.
Wade Boggs: 28 Games in 1985
Wade Boggs had one of the more impressive streaks, hitting .402 with a .481 OBP in a 28-game streak in 1985. He had three hits in five of those games, with 12 total multi-hit games during the streak.
Boggs made his first All-Star team and finished fourth in MVP voting in 1985, leading the league with a .368 average, a .450 OBP and 240 hits in 161 games.
David Ortiz: 27 Games in 2012-13
Ortiz's hitting streak spanned two seasons, with a 12-game streak in 2012 before an Achilles injury ended his season early, then opening his 2013 campaign with a 15-gamer.
Ortiz didn't show any lingering effects from the injury, going 24-for-58 to start his 2013 season. In all, he went 41-for-97 during the 27-game streak for a .423 average, and we all know how his 2013 ended.
Manny Ramirez: 27 Games in 2006
Ortiz's partner at the plate had a 27-game hit streak of his own back in 2006, spanning from July 15 to August 12. Manny hit .400 during the streak while clubbing eight homers and driving in 28 runs.
Johnny Pesky: 26 Games in 1947
Two years after returning to baseball following a three-year absence due to military service, Johnny Pesky had a 26-game hit streak from August 30 to September 20, 1947. He hit .402 during the streak and led the league in hits for the second year in a row with 207.
