Nolan Ryan and Danny Frisella, two pitchers Joe Torre hit well in his career, combined to stop the Cardinals third baseman’s historic April hitting streak.
Torre hit safely in the Cardinals’ first 22 games of the 1971 season, April 6-April 28, setting a big-league record for the longest hitting streak in April.
(First baseman Charlie Grimm of the Pirates opened the 1923 season with a 25-game hitting streak. Because the season started later then than it does now, Grimm’s streak stretched over 13 games in April and 12 in May, April 17-May 14).
Outfielder Andre Ethier of the Dodgers broke Torre’s mark in April 2011 with a 23-game streak that extended from April 2 to April 26.
Torre’s streak gave him a .386 batting average entering a Thursday day game against the Mets on April 29, 1971, in St. Louis.
Batting fourth, Torre went 0-for-3 with a walk against Ryan and Frisella. The New York right-handers were unlikely candidates to end Torre’s streak.
For his career, Torre hit .318 (7-for-22) against Ryan and .500 (7-for-14) against Frisella.
Facing Ryan in the first inning with two runners on base and one out, Torre rapped into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the fourth, Ryan, then 24 and in his last season with the Mets before his trade to the Angels, got Torre on a pop-up to shortstop Bud Harrelson.
Torre led off the sixth with a walk, one of eight Ryan issued in the game.
Frisella, who relieved in the seventh, struck out Torre leading off the eighth.
The Mets won, 7-0, as Ryan and Frisella combined to limit the Cardinals to three hits. Boxscore
With the streak broken, Torre experienced a brief skid, going hitless in four of five games (1-for-15) and seeing his batting average drop to .340.
He went on to lead the National League in batting that season with a .363 average and 230 hits.
Ken Boyer, hitting coach for the 1971 Cardinals, cited Torre’s “short stride, quick stroke and great stength” for his success. Another Cardinals coach, George Kissell, told The Sporting News that Torre was able to focus on hitting when the Cardinals settled on him as their third baseman.
“For the first time since he joined the club (in 1969), he was able to have a closed mind about playing one position,” Kissell said. “Before, he had to be thinking about first base and catching as well as third base.”
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