Dan Uggla: From automatic out to record-breaking streaker
This was the hit that stretched the streak to 31 games. Old news now, though. (AP photo)
A man hitting .224 sent a Carlos Zambrano pitch over the fence in left-center, and with that swing, his first of the festive night, the .224 hitter passed Rico Carty to annex the record for hitting in consecutive games by an Atlanta Brave.
It was another in a series of Bobby Cox testimonials at the ballyard — on this night his No. 6 was retired in a pregame ceremony — and Dan Uggla gave us no cause to linger in suspense. First at-bat, second pitch, ball over the wall, streak extended to 32 games. (That the pitcher was Chicago’s Zambrano only figured. Last year the not-so-big Z yielded Jason Heyward’s Opening Day homer.)
And here we pause to note with equal parts wonder and disbelief: The record-setting hit enabled Uggla to push his batting average to .226.
When Rico Carty hit in 31 straight in 1970, his batting average on the night his streak ended was .421.
There have been longer hitting streaks in the history of this sport, though not many. There has been none so improbable. Dan Uggla was hitting .173 on the Fourth of July. He hasn’t gone hitless since. All those outs he was making in April and May and June — and he made a lot of outs — have been turned into soaring homers and infield singles and everything in between.
He’s as hot as he was cold, and he spent more than half a season being Mr. Freeze. Now he’s the hottest male this side of Brad Pitt. It goes to show … well, something surely. But what?
It goes to show that baseball is a funny game, but we knew, or should have known, that much already. It also goes to show that Uggla, who looked lost for the longest time, had it within him to find himself with all of us watching and carping and wondering why he hadn’t been shipped to Gwinnett if not cut altogether.
Think there’s pressure on Danny Uggs to sustain this run? It’s nothing compared to the pressure of showing up in a new town with a $62 million contract and then turning into the All-American out. Nobody really expected a hitter of such portfolio to keep hitting less than his weight, but May became June and Uggla was hitting .178. Then June became July and he was still at .178. Could anyone do so little for so long and still keep the faith that tomorrow — some tomorrow someday — would be any better?
Dan Uggla did it. We may never know how. He may never know how. But he did it, and now he has hit in 32 consecutive games, which is something Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron and even Ted Williams never did. Uggla has gone from being Nick Esasky without the vertigo to inducing vertigo in everyone who has watched this transformation.
It would be nice to see Uggla keep this up a while longer. (He had two more hits Friday, including a second home run that soon led to Zambrano’s ejection.) Only 13 more games — “only” 13; easy for me to say — and Uggla will have the National League record, ahead of one Peter Edward Rose. Twenty-five more games and he’ll pass the sainted Joseph Paul DiMaggio, and should that happen Uggla might well have raised his average above .250. But even if it ends Saturday night, we’ll be able to say we were witnesses to one of the greatest about-faces sports has even known.
For three months Uggla couldn’t buy a hit. Now everyone in Atlanta wants to buy him a drink. Who’d-a thunk it? And to anyone who says, “Me, me!,” I say this:
You’re a liar.
By Mark Bradley
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77 comments Add your comment
Macon Braves Fan
August 13th, 2011
1:56 am
Lost in the reporting of this game is that in Uggla’s 2nd AB, after homering in the first, Zambrano plunked him.
Tron5000
August 13th, 2011
2:11 am
Don’t call me a liar, Mr. Bradley. I backed this dude the whole way. I saw what he was capable of on a Marlins team with a weaker lineup than the Braves’. He was obviously pushing too hard the first half of the season. It was only a matter of time before he got locked in. And the worse he looked and the longer the slump lasted, that only meant that when he got his swing back it was gonna be serious trouble for other teams. I never doubted that his consecutive 30-HR campaign streak would continue. He’s too good, and too much of a professional hitter, to have allowed that slump to continue any longer than it did. I was more surprised at the length and depth of the slump than I have been at his 32-game hitting streak and ridiculous HR barrage.
kurula
August 13th, 2011
2:13 am
kudos to you, mark. fantastic piece.
BravesfaninNashville
August 13th, 2011
2:17 am
Mark……………. seriously …. “cut altogether”? It seems that again and again we see it repeated that at the end of the year players produce what’s on their baseball card. Especially a sample space as large as Dan Uggla’s. Of course he was pressing as he was trying to prove he was worth the contract he signed. How do you “cut altogether” a player with his resume that you just signed to a $62 million dollar contract? I often feel that your articles shoot more for flair than substance. I’d rather read from a real baseball mind than a writer trying to be clever just for clever’s sake..
GT71
August 13th, 2011
6:59 am
And Zambrano is a total jerk and a$$hole. Couldn’t happen to anyone more deserving than that total waste of protoplasm.
If you’re his mother and reading this, excuse me.
But it’s true.
We elected to go see the G-Braves last night. McCann looked ready to play. Teheran looked like a hard-throwing AAA player – was out-pitched by the Sox guy. He ain’t ready for the show – yet. The Sox showed why they’re in 1st place. Good all-round ball club.
Watch out for the Pawtucket 3rd bagger – guy named Luna. He’s a player.
motor
August 13th, 2011
8:14 am
Way to go Danny boy,way to go.
A GREAT game on a great night with some sweet sadness.
God bless Ernie and family.
NickGranite
August 13th, 2011
9:24 am
I liked it when the camera panned to the young couple with a baby in the crowd and they held up a sign that read “My first word was Uggla”.
NickGranite
August 13th, 2011
9:29 am
I would be one of those “liars” Mark is talking about. I do not recall a more unlikely transformation…not that he might have improved a bit but that he went on a polar opposite streak. I remember not so many at bats ago me and my buddies were crunching his numbers on the brave’s yahoo board and the liklihood of him reaching .220 or .230 all the way through September seemed remote…even .200 looked like a mountain the way he was swinging. The fact that he’s sitting at .229 on Aug 13 is amazing.
Hal Todd
August 13th, 2011
9:32 am
Will someone ask the photographers to stop showing the dougout scenes? As the innings progress the players begin to wade in the used cups. Looks like a pig sty. Maybe the team can afford a garbage container, and ask the players to use it.
PLEEEEASE
August 13th, 2011
9:35 am
Kudos to all of you true fans that don’t boo your own team players and lamely make fun of someone’s last name…really, that hasn’t been funny since middle school ! For future, have you ever thought that maybe booing and cursing them could be adding more pressure and frustration hmmmm…..weird! Congrats Ugg, you never let those Yankees at heart bring you down!
JD
August 13th, 2011
10:08 am
Very little being said about Zambrano hitting Uggla in his next at bat after his first homer. Injuring Uggla during his streak would be about normal for the bush league Zambrano.
squires8
August 13th, 2011
10:34 am
The actual NL record holder is Willie Keeler, not Pete Rose. Keeler hit in 45 straight. You can look it up.
quazi
August 13th, 2011
12:11 pm
pete rose owns the streak ,you need to look it up,send that bro jhey back to aaa,he is worthless piece of shyt
quazi
August 13th, 2011
12:13 pm
hal tod
looks like your house huh?get a life you idiot
Chief76
August 13th, 2011
1:00 pm
I think MLB makes a difference between Wee Willie Keeler and Pete Rose by saying Rose’s streak is the ‘modern day’ NL record. Keeler’s happened in the 1890’s when the rules were a little different.
squires8
August 13th, 2011
1:51 pm
In 1897, Keeler had a 44-game hitting streak to start the season, beating out the previous single season record of 42, set by Bill Dahlen. Keeler had a hit in his final game of the 1896 season, giving him a National League record 45-game hitting streak.
The only major rule difference that I know of was foul balls did not count as a strike, but should this invalidate a record any more than the “lively ball,” or the “color barrier”, or astroturf hits, or PEDs, etc. etc.? A record is a record.
Keep hittin’ ‘em where they ain’t Uggla!!
iTiSi
August 13th, 2011
2:17 pm
Hal Todd, I, for one, would agree with you. I noticed the other night they were all throwing their cups down in the dugout and there was one big trash can at the end of the dugout and a smaller one in the middle. Sure hope their homes don’t look like this! Don’t they realize someone has to pick all this trash up, or do they care? By the way, Uggla’s official nickname is now “H’UGGS”. All of Columbia TN is proud of him. Those in Columbia never doubted he would turn it around. You have to have faith in your “hometown boy”.
iTiSi
August 13th, 2011
2:24 pm
Hal Todd, I, for one would agree with you about the cups in the dugout. That is a mess toward the end of the game. There is one big trash can at the end of the dugout and a smaller one in the middle, yet they all throw their cups straight down on the floor. Wonder what their homes look like, if they have these bad habits? Don’t they realize someone has to clean this mess up? By the way, Uggla’s new nickname is, “H’UGGS”. All of Columbia TN is proud of him. Got to have faith in your hometown boy. Minor is also from near the area. Chapel Hill, I think it is.
LoweGoAway
August 13th, 2011
7:29 pm
He did it!!!!! But we still have to contend with that lousy Lowe on the mound. He is worse than a bad penny, keeps showing up.
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August 13th, 2011
7:58 pm
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Shakey
August 13th, 2011
8:08 pm
Just got a robo call on my cell phone saying “Hey, this is Jim Powell for Braves…” which is all I heard before I hung up. Don’t they know better than to call customers during a ballgame? They need to call when I’m at work!
JOD
August 13th, 2011
8:42 pm
GD LOWE!!! IS THERE SOME KIND OF BEER SPECIAL BUCKHEAD? CAUSE THAT FOOL IS TRYING TO GET OUT OF THE GAME.
LoweGoAway
August 13th, 2011
8:53 pm
Typical Lowe night
Sparky
August 13th, 2011
8:58 pm
What kind of $$$ would the Braves have next year when Kawakami and Lowe (hopefully) are gone?
LoweGoAway
August 13th, 2011
9:05 pm
Another typical Lowe night
Danny
August 13th, 2011
9:20 pm
Wow. The highest paid pitcher on the team is absolutely DERAILING us.
John Doe
August 18th, 2011
10:16 am
It was luck!!!! Story soon to come.