May 24, 2016

Remy And Lyons Recall Their Own Hitting Streaks

After Jackie Bradley doubled in the second inning on Tuesday night and extended his hitting streak to 28 games, Jerry Remy and Steve Lyons, the two former players in NESN's booth, talked about their own hitting streaks.

Remy thought his best hitting streak was 18 games. ... It was actually 19 games: July 28 to August 15, 1978, with the Red Sox. The only other thing Remy said was that he played the pop-disco hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie" every day during the streak for good luck. The song was released themonth his streak began and became a huge hit that summer. (Lyons correctly named A Taste Of Honey as the band. "That's my era," he explained when O'Brien expressed surprise at his immediate recall.) ... Remy also had a 16-game streak in 1981.

Lyons said (with authority) that his personal best was 12 games and after getting a hit in the 12th game, he was inexplicably benched the following day. ... Lyons's best hitting streak was only 11 games, from May 11-25, 1986 (also with the Red Sox). Contrary to his memory, Lyons actually did play on May 26, going 0-for-4. It was only after his streak ended that he was benched. He did not play on May 27, but returned to the Red Sox lineup on May 28.

(Interestingly, Lyons had two games during the streak in which he played in the field as a late-inning sub, but never came to bat, so the streak remained intact.)

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