Cleveland Indians Hit Streaks
Below is a “complete” list of the longest single-season hit streaks in Indians history. However, I fully acknowledge that this is not actually a complete list of every hit streak to reach 20 games. The list was compiled using a combination of Indians media guides and Baseball-Reference. The first issue is the fact that Baseball-Reference is missing stats from certain games pre-1973 and all games pre-1914. The second issue is the fact that the Indians media guides are unreliable, to put it kindly. I trusted the Indians media guide on all pre-1914 hitting streaks, but there are undoubtedly missing streaks from this span and it’s entirely possible that some of the listed streaks are wrong. For example, for over 90 years Bill Bradley’s 1902 streak was listed as the longest in franchise history—it’s now believed that Lajoie broke his record just four years after he set it.
Notes
- Al Rosen’s 20 game hit streak was still alive at the end of the 1953 season. His total hit streak would eventually reach 23 games.
- Johnny Temple hit safety in four straight games in July, 1960 but an injury ended his season. When he returned in 1961, he hit safely in 19 more (23 total) but never reached 20 straight in a single season.
- Bump Hadley is the only pitcher to end two streaks (Odell Hale and Bruce Campbell). In addition, Hadley relieved Lloyd Brown in the 3rd inning and pitched the remainder of the game to end Dick Porter’s 1931 hit streak.
- In 1953, Dale Mitchell’s streak ended when manager Al Lopez used him as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. He grounded out against Fritz Dorish.
- Former Indian Greg Swindell forced Sandy Alomar Jr. to pop out for the final out of the game to end his 30-game hit streak in 1997.
- Other former Indians involved in snapping streaks: Ubaldo Jimenez/Jason Kipnis, Eric Plunk/Joe Carter, Rick Krivda/Matt Williams, Don Mossi/Johnny Romano, Ken Holloway/Charlie Jamieson, Monte Pearson/Hal Trosky, Lloyd Brown/Dick Porter.
- Of the starting pitchers to end streaks, only Jimenez/Kipnis and Pearson/Trosky had previously been teammates with the Indians.