Matt Holliday reached base for the 42nd straight game to start the season.
Only Albert Pujols has equaled that feat to start a season for the Cardinals. And he stands only 11 off the modern baseball record:
Games on base to start year (since 1914):
99 Jeter – 53
96 F. Thomas – 52
96 McGwire – 48
84 A. Davis – 47
23 Heilmann – 44
15 Holliday – 42— Tim Trokey (@tim_trokey) May 27, 2015
Cardinals fans have always had a bit of a hard time putting Matt Holliday into perspective. But I think that a recent Grantland piece by Ben Lindbergh sums him up better than I’ve ever been able to:
Holliday, now 35, is a sunny sky in San Diego, a pleasant scent we can’t smell because it has surrounded us for so long.
The whole article is worth a read, but one passage I thought put Holliday’s bankable excellence into perspective:
With almost 200 plate appearances in 2015, Holliday is more than a third of the way to a 10th consecutive season of qualifying for the batting title while delivering a park-adjusted offensive line at least 30 percent better than league average.
Since World War II, only 13 other hitters have managed such a streak.
Six of them are Hall of Famers: Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Reggie Jackson. Two more are on the verge of induction: Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell.
Another two will be elected when eligible: Jim Thome and Albert Pujols.
And the final three would be shoo-ins or strong candidates if not for their ties to PEDs: Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, and Alex Rodriguez.
That group of 13 hitters includes more than a third of the 500 Home Run Club, and its least prolific power hitter, Piazza, went deep 427 times.
Who knows how long this streak will last… but let’s enjoy it (and Holliday) as long as we can.
Photo: CardsBlog
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