Teddy "84" Ballgame

After Darin Ruf extended his consecutive games reaching base streak to 32 on Sunday, we posted a list of the Phillies' career leaders in that department. That was topped by Mike Schmidt's 56 consecutive games over the 1981-82 seasons.

Monday, someone asked who was the major league's record-holder, and while the answer (Ted Williams) would surely be your first or second guess (Joe DiMaggio would be the other), some of the other people on the list are surprising.

Jim Thome, for instance, is not one you would expect on that list. But when he joined the Phillies at the beginning of the 2003 season, he was working on a streak of 55 games. He would pick up another five in the red pinstripes before the Pirates hung an 0-for-4 on him.

It is also worth noting that in addition to having the first- (84) and third-longest (73) streaks in major league baseball since 1916, Williams also had streaks of 48, 47, 46 and 44 games.

Schmidt's 56, by the way, is tied for 15th.