It came to an end last night...in Rochester. Brandon Watson of the Columbus Clippers had hit safely in 43 straight games, breaking an International League record that had stood since 1912.
From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle... But on Monday he struck out looking in the first, flied to center in the third, struck out swinging in the fourth, grounded to third in the sixth and struck out swinging in the eighth. As he walked to the dugout after his last at-bat, many fans gave the left-handed hitter a standing ovation.
Ironically, the former record of 42 games was set by Jack Lelivelt who played for the Rochester Hustlers, which was the nickname of their minor league team back then.
Bisons Manager Torey Lovullo offered these thoughts on Watson's accomplishment. "When you've played the game as I have and hit for 20 games you feel pretty good about your approach and here you have a guy who doubled it. He should feel very proud of what he managed to accomplish."
Lovullo drew a few laughs when he talked about watching highlights of the record breaker the night before on ESPN's Sportscenter. The game took place up in Ottawa's Lynx Stadium. "I said to myself... That's Ottawa? They got cameras there?"
The absolute best hitting streak in AAA goes back to 1933... Joe DiMaggio put together a 61 game hitting streak for the PCL San Francisco Seals. At the corner of 16th and Bryant in San Francisco is a tavern named "Double Play", kitty corner from what was the site of Seals Stadium. Yes Joltin Joe's feat is showcased there among all the awesome Seals baseball memorabilia. And yes, the USRT made the pilgrimage to soak it all in. Why are you not surprised???
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