For all the great hitters the Brewers have had over the years, one relatively interesting record is held by a guy many fans have probably never heard of.
Veteran infielder Dickie Thon had played 14 seasons as a member of five different franchises and was a career .264/.316/.377 hitter when the Brewers picked him up for the 1993 season. He started at second base on Opening Day and went 1-for-3. Then he started again the next day and went 2-for-4. By this day that year, he had at least one official at bat in 13 games and had a hit in all of them.
Thon's 13 game hitting streak to start a season is the longest in franchise history:
Player | Season | Games |
Dickie Thon | 1993 | 13 |
Rickie Weeks | 2010 | 10 |
Ronnie Belliard | 2000 | 10 |
Dale Sveum | 1987 | 10 |
Steve Hovley | 1970 | 10 |
Four others tied | 9 |
Jonathan Lucroy is one of the others tied at the bottom, as he had hits in each of his first nine games in 2011.
1993 was Thon's last year in the majors. He hit .269/.324/.331 in 85 games.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2009 Brewer Frank Catalanotto, who turns 38.
- Burlington, Wisconsin native Paul Miller, who turns 47. He's the only Carthage alum ever to play in the majors, having spent three seasons as a Pirate between 1991 and 1993.
- 1985 Brewer Brian Giles, who turns 52.
- Madison native and UW-Madison alum Charlie Chech, who would have turned 134. Chech played four MLB seasons between 1905-09 as a member of the Reds and two other teams.
Today is also the eighth anniversary of Chad Moeller's 2004 cycle. We covered that event in this space last year.