In 1997, during a 20-game hitting streak for the Cardinals in which he batted .418, John Mabry applied lessons taught to him by St. Louis hitting coach George Hendrick.
Mabry improved his batting average from .240 to .309 during the 20-game streak from May 19 through June 9 in 1997. The left-handed batter had 10 multi-hit games during that stretch. It was the longest hitting streak by a Cardinal since Willie McGee hit safely in 22 consecutive games in 1990.
Hendrick, cleanup batter for the 1982 World Series champion Cardinals, urged Mabry to be aggressive with first-pitch fastballs.
“I’ve tried to do that all the time,” Mabry said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in explaining the streak. “That’s the whole deal, to hit that fastball when they try to get ahead of you. That’s usually the best fastball to hit.”
Told of Mabry’s praise, Hendrick responded, “Credit his success to his understanding of work ethic. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Mabry had several outstanding games during the hitting streak. The best was on June 3, 1997, when he had three hits and six RBI in the Cardinals’ 15-4 victory over the Rockies at St. Louis. Mabry cracked a three-run home run off Jeff McCurry in the fifth inning. Boxscore
After the game, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Mabry is “seeing that ball like it’s huge.” Said Mabry: “It doesn’t look huge. It still looks like a mouse running across the floor at times.”
Mabry spent three stints as a Cardinals player: 1994-98, 2001 and 2004-05. He and Matheny were teammates in 2001 and 2004.
Mabry hit .281 overall with the Cardinals. That’s 18 points better than his career average in 14 big-league seasons with eight clubs.
As the everyday first baseman for the 1996 Cardinals, Mabry hit .297 with 161 hits in 151 games. He had 30 doubles, 13 home runs, 74 RBI and a .342 on-base percentage.
Mabry hit for the cycle on May 18, 1996, against the Rockies at Denver. He singled to center in the second, doubled to right in the fourth, tripled off the center-field wall in the fifth and homered 400 feet to right in the seventh.
Mabry became the first Cardinal to hit for the cycle since Ray Lankford in 1991.
Some of the joy from the accomplishment was diminshed by the game’s outcome. Handed an 8-4 lead to protect in the bottom of the ninth, Cardinals closer Dennis Eckerlsey surrendered five runs and Colorado won, 9-8. Boxscore
“This is a really strange feeling,” Mabry said. “You’ve got to win the game. That’s all I know.”
Two months later, July 6, 1996, Mabry was 5-for-5 in a 9-5 Cardinals victory over the Pirates at Pittsburgh. Boxscore
Asked to compare Mabry with other batters, La Russa said, “Guys who hit well into the threes (.300) take every at-bat like it’s their last. (Paul) Molitor, (Wade) Boggs, (Frank) Thomas. They use the whole field, they handle a bunch of different pitches and, most importantly, they don’t throw at-bats away. I don’t think I’ve seen (Mabry) throw one away since spring training.”
The 5-for-5 performace at Pittsburgh was one of 11 times Mabry had four hits in a game for St. Louis during his career.
Mabry hit one grand slam and it occurred for the Cardinals against the Royals’ Zack Greinke on May 20, 2005, at Kansas City. Boxscore
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