September 27, 1949: Ted Williams reaches base safely for a record 84th consecutive game

Joe DiMaggio – a 56-game hitting streak. It’s a statistic engraved in the minds of almost anyone who has followed baseball.

Ted Williams had a record streak of his own, an equally impressive one. In 1949 he reached base safely in 84 consecutive games.

DiMaggio’s celebrated 1941 hitting streak ended when he failed to get a hit on July 17 – but he did draw a fourth-inning base on balls in the New York Yankees’ win over the Cleveland Indians. He then hit safely in his next 16 games. Including a walk on May 14, the day before his hitting streak started, DiMaggio reached base safely in 74 consecutive games. He was finally kept off base in the first game of the Yankees’ August 3 doubleheader with the St. Louis Browns.

DiMaggio’s 74-game on-base streak had an immediate challenger: Ted Williams, who reached base in each of the Boston Red Sox final 69 games of 1941, the season that he batted .406. Williams also reached base in his first five games of the 1942 season, giving him a DiMaggio-tying streak of 74, split over two seasons.

Over the course of Williams’s career (1939-1960), he got on base more often than anyone who has ever played the game. His lifetime on-base percentage was .482. In other words, he reached base 48.2 percent of the time – almost half of the times he stepped into the batter’s box.

Williams’s success stemmed from a good eye and good discipline. His mantra was “Get a good pitch to hit.” If not, don’t go chasing a pitch outside the strike zone. If you do that, you’re doing what the pitcher wants. In more than 20 percent of his plate appearances, Williams walked. He drew 2,021 walks in 9,792 plate appearances – 20.64 percent.

In some ways, a walk was as good as a base hit. You got on base, maybe advanced a runner, maybe unnerved the pitcher a bit, and were in a better position to score.

Through the 1948 season, Williams had led both leagues in on-base percentage five years in a row, sandwiched around three seasons of military service during World War II. He did so six more times, including 1949. In 1948 he had a .497 OBP. Excluding two pinch-hit appearances, there were only three games all season when pitchers kept Williams off the bases. In 1949 it happened only five times. Over the 292 games in which Williams appeared in those two years, there were only 10 games (two as a pinch-hitter) in which he didn’t reach with at least a hit or a walk.1

Williams began his 84-game on-base streak on July 1, 1949. He singled and drew a base on balls in an 11-5 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics. The next game in which he failed to reach base – one way or another – was on September 28 that year.2

There’s a good chance Williams never knew he had a streak in progress. While newspapers in 1941 did acknowledge DiMaggio’s on-base streak,3 coverage of such streaks was sporadic at this time. But on Tuesday evening, September 27, at Washington’s Griffith Stadium, Red Sox manager Joe McCarthy had Williams penciled in at his typical third spot in the batting order. Williams entered the game batting .348, with a .494 on-base percentage, 43 homers, and 158 RBIs.

There weren’t that many games left on the schedule, but every one counted. The Red Sox, who had been fifth in the American League standings, 12 games out, on July 4, had surged into first with 59 wins in 78 games, including 10 straight victories. They had beaten the Yankees in each of the previous three days – two wins at Fenway Park and one at Yankee Stadium – to take a one-game lead over New York.

The 48-101 Washington Nationals were 46 games behind. Washington manager Joe Kuhel’s starter was right-hander Paul Calvert, who was 6-16 with a 5.40 ERA.4 Starting for Boston was Joe Dobson, another right-hander, with a 13-11 record (3.84).

Williams flied out to center in the first, the Red Sox going down in order. Dobson walked Eddie Yost in the bottom of the inning but then retired the next three.

The Red Sox scored once in the top of the second, when Bobby Doerr doubled to center, driving in Vern Stephens, who had led off with a walk on four pitches.

Dobson singled to right to lead off the third. Dom DiMaggio singled to left, Dobson taking second. Johnny Pesky grounded into a force play, DiMaggio out at second.

With runners at the corners, Ted Williams singled to center, driving in Dobson. Williams had reached base in his 84th consecutive game, and his 159th RBI of the season led the American and National Leagues. It was 2-0, Red Sox.

It likely would have been 3-0 a few moments later, when Pesky tagged and crossed the plate on Stephens’ one-out fly ball to left. But Williams also attempted to move up on the play and was out at second before Pesky scored.5 Stephens – who had driven in 155 runs so far in 1949, more than anyone but Williams – was denied the RBI.

Washington’s Sam Dente singled in the fifth, the first hit off Dobson. He got no farther than first.

The next runs scored were all Red Sox runs as well – four more in the top of the sixth. Pesky led with a single to left. He took second when Williams grounded out, short to first. Stephens singled to center, scoring Pesky and pushing his RBI count to 156.

Doerr singled, Stephens going to third. Al Zarilla hit a grounder to second and Stephens was trapped off third base, caught in a rundown and thrown out, while both Doerr and Zarilla moved up to third and second.6 Billy Goodman was walked intentionally, loading the bases. Catcher Birdie Tebbetts swung at the first pitch and singled to center, driving in two more runs. Dobson singled to center, driving in the fourth run. Sid Hudson relieved Calvert and DiMaggio grounded into an inning-ending force play at second base.

The Red Sox led 6-0 and scored no more. They spent the next two innings holding off Washington’s rallies. The Nationals loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh on Bud Stewart’s walk, Roberto Ortiz’s single, and a long drive to right by Eddie Robinson. Robinson’s hit just eluded Zarilla, who “made a frantic leap for the ball, risking life and limb and almost made another of his circus catches.”7 Because the runners were playing it cautiously, Robinson wound up with a long single, and Dente’s fly out scored Washington’s only run of the inning.

In the eighth, Dobson tired. Gil Coan led off with a single to right. Yost drew a walk. Sherry Robertson singled to right, driving in Coan, and Stewart also singled to right, driving in Yost. McCarthy called on former Senator Walt Masterson to relieve the Boston starter. “I blew my wad in the seventh. I didn’t have a thing left,” Dobson said afterward.8 Ortiz grounded into a double play, though Robertson scored on the play.9 Eddie Robinson flied out to center. Francis Stann of the Washington Evening Star wrote that the Senators had “scored three runs almost in spite of themselves.”10

Neither team scored in the ninth. It ended 6-4, Red Sox. It was Boston’s 11th win in a row, and their 14th win in succession against the Senators. The Yankees beat the Athletics and remained one game back.

His last two times up, Williams had struck out in the seventh and walked in the ninth. Not a single newspaper covering the game mentioned his on-base streak. The Globe noted that his base hit was his 193rd of the season, matching a career high he had set in his rookie year, and that the walk was his 157th, three shy of his career best. “I’d like to lead the league in hits some year. But I’m afraid I won’t. … I get too many passes.”11

It was the next day – September 28 – that Williams was kept off the bases. Ray Scarborough threw a four-hitter, beating Boston 2-1. He walked no one.12 Red Sox starter Chuck Stobbs got two of Boston’s four hits and scored the only Red Sox run when he doubled and came in on a DiMaggio single. Washington won it with two in the bottom of the ninth.13  

After the June 30 game, Williams was batting .320. After failing to get a hit on September 28, he was batting .346. Over the course of the 84-game streak, he had 112 base hits:

• Singles: 66
• Doubles: 20
• Triples: 3
• Home runs: 24

Williams drove in 80 runs in the 84 games, with six RBIs on September 18 and five on August 27.

He walked 57 times. (Six were intentional walks.) There were 14 hitless games in which he nonetheless got on base with one or more walks, keeping his consecutive games on base safely (CGOBS) streak alive.14

For the 1949 season, Williams played in every game, hitting .343. His 43 homers led the league. His 39 doubles and .650 slugging percentage did as well. His 159 RBIs led both leagues; he finished tied with teammate Stephens. His 162 walks led both leagues as did his .490 on-base percentage, and his 150 runs scored. He was named league MVP for the second time.15

Author’s Note

This article was inspired by SABR member Herm Krabbenhoft’s 2003 Baseball Research Journal article on Williams’s on-base streaks.16

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kurt Blumenau and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org. A good portion of this essay is drawn from the author’s book Red Sox Threads (Burlington, Massachusetts: Rounder Books, 2008).

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1194909270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1949/B09270WS11949.htm

Photo credit: Ted Williams, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Throughout Williams’s career, if one excludes games in which he had only one plate appearance as a pinch-hitter, in only seven times from 1939 through 1960 did he fail to get on base safely two games running. And only once did Williams fail to get on base three games in a row (May 23-25, 1939). From July 14, 1940, through September 26, 1950 – more than a full decade – Williams never once had back-to-back games without reaching safely, if a pinch-hit appearance in 1941 and another in 1948 are discounted. On September 27, 1950, he failed to reach base in a doubleheader. It was nearly four years later, in September 1954, that he went two straight games without reaching base. It happened just twice more, once in 1958 and once in his final season, 1960.

2 He was in the on-deck circle, awaiting another plate appearance, when Johnny Pesky made the final out of that day’s game. Had he walked or hit safely, or been hit by a pitch, the streak would have continued.

3 On the day after DiMaggio’s on-base streak ended, the New York Daily News – apparently counting games in which DiMaggio had reached base on an error without getting a hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch – noted that it was “the first time Joe has failed to get on base in 83 consecutive contests.” Dick McCann, “Browns Upset Yanks, 6-2, 5-0; DiMag Hitless,” New York Daily News, August 4, 1941: 32.

4 Calvert had been 6-3 after a win in St. Louis on June 3, then lost his next 13 decisions. He took the loss in this game, too. The next game he won was on April 26, 1950, for the Detroit Tigers against St. Louis.

5 Hy Hurwitz, “Ted Beats Pesky in Foot Race; Costs Sox Run,” Boston Globe, September 28, 1949: 24. Joe McCarthy argued strenuously, but umpire Bill Summers held firm. After the game, Pesky said, “Bill was right. I was a step and a half short.” Roger Barry, “‘We’ll Win ’Em All,’ Sox Insist,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, September 28, 1949: 19.

6 Shirley Povich, “Bosox Beat Nats, 6-4, Keep Full game Lead,” Washington Post, September 28, 1949: 1, 17.

7 Arthur Sampson, “Red Sox Beat Nats, 6-4, Hold Game Lead,” Boston Herald, September 28, 1949: 1.

8 Hy Hurwitz, “Sox Win 6-4, Hold Lead,” Boston Globe, September 28, 1949: 1. Dobson had not pitched for 10 days, since a 3-2 complete-game victory over the Browns on September 17.

9 Hurwitz wrote in the Globe that it was the 200th double play of the year for the Red Sox and only the second time in baseball history that a team had turned that many in a given season. “Sox Win 6-4, Hold Lead.”

10 Francis Stann, “Win, Lose, or Draw,” Washington Evening Star, September 28, 1949: 42.

11 “Hit and Run,” Boston Globe, September 28, 1949: 24. Williams wound up with a new high in hits – 194 – and in walks, leading both leagues with 162. The number of walks tied his own mark from 1947.

12 Scarborough was always tough on Ted Williams. Earlier in the season, Williams had said of Scarborough that he was “one pitcher I can’t hit. … I can’t seem to hit that guy. … I’d be better off if Ray never pitched against me.” Francis Stann, “Win, Lose, or Draw,” Washington Evening Star, March 25, 1949: C1.

13 It was quite an ending. With a 1-0 lead, Stobbs surrendered a leadoff single to Ortiz. A sacrifice allowed Ortiz to take second. He scored on successive singles by Robinson and Al Kozar. Ellis Kinder relieved Stobbs. Dente singled, loading the bases. McCarthy called on lefty Mel Parnell. Robinson was thrown out at home on an attempted steal of the plate. Then Parnell let loose a wild pitch and Kozar scored with the winning run.

14 As it happens, Ted Williams holds three of the four longest CGOBS streaks: Ted Williams (1949) – 84; Joe DiMaggio (1941) – 74; Ted Williams (1941/2) – 74; and Ted Williams (1948) – 65. Mark McGwire had a 62 CGOBS streak from the end of 1995 into the beginning of 1996. 62 is 73.8 percent of the way to 84. The closest any hitter has come to DiMaggio’s streak was Pete Rose, in 1978, when he hit safely in 44 straight games. 44 is 78.6 percent of the way to 56.

15 The Red Sox finished one game behind the Yankees in the AL standings.

16 Herm Krabbenhoft, “Ted Williams’ On-Base Performance in Consecutive Games,” Baseball Research Journal vol. 32 (2003): 41-16.