Starting Nine: Red Seven
The Hall of Fame's Starting Nine includes must-see artifacts from every big league team. Check out the Reds Starting Nine online.
It would be hard to rate the bigger surprise.
The Cincinnati Reds were up 2-games-to-nothing over the Oakland Athletics after the first two contests of the 1990 World Series. And Cincinnati center fielder Billy Hatcher was a perfect 7-for-7 at the plate.
Hall of Fame Membership
There is no simpler, and more essential, way to demonstrate your support than to sign on as a Museum Member.
No one saw either coming.
“I’ve been hot before,” a seemingly unimpressed Hatcher told the Associated Press. “I was 13-for-15 once.”
But that didn’t happen on the game’s biggest stage – and against a team that was heavily favored to win the World Series.
Hatcher – batting out of the No. 2 hole – was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a walk in the Reds’ 7-0 win over the A’s in Game 1 on Oct. 16, 1990. He scored on Eric Davis’ home run after a first-inning walk, doubled in Barry Larkin in the third inning, doubled and scored on a Davis single in the fifth inning and singled in the sixth inning.
The next night, Hatcher was 4-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk in the Reds’ 5-4 victory. Hatcher doubled home Larkin in the first inning and later scored on a Davis groundout, doubled in the third inning, reached on a bunt single in the fifth inning, tripled and scored on a Glenn Braggs groundout in the eighth inning to tie the game at 4 and then was intentionally walked in the ninth.
Hatcher’s seven straight hits broke the previous World Series mark of six set by the Senators’ Goose Goslin in 1924 and matched by the Yankees’ Thurman Munson in 1976. His five extra-base hits in consecutive games matched a record set in 1968 by Lou Brock.
“They can have the records,” Hatcher told the AP. “I just want that ring.”
Hatcher wouldn’t have to wait long. The Reds won Games 3 and 4 to sweep the series, with Hatcher adding two more hits in Game 3 before being hit by a pitch in his only plate appearance in Game 4.
Hatcher, who had platooned in center field for most of the season with Herm Winningham, finished the series with a batting average of .750 and an on-base percentage of .800 – both World Series records. His OPS of 2.050 is second all-time to Lou Gehrig’s 2.433 mark set in 1928.
The bat Hatcher used to record the seventh-and-final hit of his streak is on display in the Hall of Fame’s Autumn Glory exhibit.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Starting Nine
The Hall of Fame's Starting Nine is a lineup of must-see artifacts from our vast collection containing tens of thousands of pieces that preserve the magical moments and memorable stories of our National Pastime. Our curators have spent countless hours hand-picking special objects from every major league team to create a lineup of pieces you simply won’t believe we have!
