Most hitless at-bats to start a season
by battlekow on May 16, 2009 10:21 PM CDT
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PrintFor those who were wondering, Brewers outfielder Brad Nelson did not set any kind of record by going 0 for 21 before being sent outright to Class AAA Nashville on Wednesday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there is no record in the book for most hitless at-bats to start a season.The least they could have done is consulted Baseball-Reference.com. Since 1954, the longest streak of hitless ABs to begin a season is Bob Buhl's 70 in 1962. In fact, Buhl famously failed to record a single hit that entire year, ending with a fat .000 batting average in his 35 games. Buhl was a longtime Milwaukee Brave and actually started the '62 season with team, though he compiled 34 of those hitless games with the Cubs (ha!) after being traded.
A couple players registered long season-opening hitless streaks in the next decade, but since 1972, the record belongs to none other than Jeff Suppan, who inaugurated his 2004 season for the Cardinals with 43 hit-free at-bats over 23 games. In second place is another familiar name, Doug Davis, who put up 42 similarly afflicted ABs in 21 games that same year for the Brewers.
Nelson does indeed own the Brewers(/Pilots) position player record for season-opening hitlessness, coming in ahead of the 17-AB streaks achieved by Jim Gosger in 1969, Tony Muser in 1978, B.J. Surhoff in 1991, and Gerald Williams in 1996.
If we remove the season-opening criterion, we discover that the most at-bats over which a Brewers batter has gone hitless is 49, again by Doug Davis, starting in 2003 and incorporating his 2004 streak. Greg Vaughn owns the non-pitcher record with 34 in 1990; Craig Counsell is a surprising second with 32 in 2004.
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“there is no record in the book for most hitless at-bats to start a season.”
So, um, a record is only a record if Elias tracks it?
Also, cheese.
If a record falls in a forest and Elias doesn't hear of it, did it happen?
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
Hard to compile 70 ABs at all
when you only play every 5 days, usually not the whole game, and spend half the damn season on the DL.
Haha, I actually had a paragraph in there about Sheets originally
He only went 25 at-bats in the Great Hitless ’04, but managed a 34-AB streak in ’05. His longest streak overall is 40 at-bats over 22 games, starting in August 2003 and ending in June 2004.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
And Sheets and Davis were starting back-to-back in the first two months of 2004.
That must have been depressing to have automatic outs two days in a row all the time. Luckily it predates my own Brewer fandom by half a year, so I’m just experiencing it through B-R now…
Sheets' pitching breakout more than made up for his offensive offense
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
On that note,
is it possible the Brewers have the best-hitting pitching staff in the NL?
Poor CC not getting any at-bats…
Lazy Elias
I always liked that Bob Buhl managed to walk six times during that season and steal second after one of them. That pitcher’s kind of like the guy who walked Jose Mesa in his first plate appearance: you might as well call it a day right there.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
Laynce Nix
He was 0 for 12 in the 2007 season, then went 0 for 6 in 2008 to run his hitless streak to 18 AB’s before singling against Houston. Thats a long time to go without a major league hit.
My favorite is Corky Miller
Not a Brewer, but he was 0 for 25 from 9/11/2004 to 8/2/2007.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
Miller
Is a favorite of mine also. His .092 BA from 2004 to 2008 covering over 160 plate appearances defines futility. This included his 1-39 in 2004, and his 5- for 60 in 2008. I always point out Miller’s line when a friend of mine claims that he could hit .200 in the majors.
by Infield Fly Rule on May 18, 2009 10:10 AM CDT up reply actions
It was all in one year
But Enrique Cruz managed streaks of 22, 15, and 12 at-bats all in the same year, 2003.
"I didn't realize his velocity was that high," said Macha, noting that radar readings aren't flashed during exhibition games.
Jayson Stark in his ESPN column
keeps track each year of the LGTGAH compition. Nelson was one of 2 remaining competitors Jason Smith now of the Astros was the other, currantly 0-24.
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Cincinnati
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Houston
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Milwaukee
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
St. Louis
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
(updated 2.16.2012 at 7:03 AM CST)
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