The Beat Goes On! Looking Back on Paul Molitor’s 39-Game Hitting Streak

For almost a month and a half in 1987, no one in the American League could stop Paul Molitor. 

A few weeks back, I covered the Brewers’ May 1987 woes – when they gave back nearly all the success they’d had that April. A big reason for their struggle was the absence of third baseman Paul Molitor. Molly missed the entirety of the 12-game losing streak and, when he returned, proved to be the spark the team had been missing. For the 1987 season, the Brewers went 77-41 when Molitor was in the lineup and 14-30 when he was not.

The most memorable part of Molly’s 1987 season was his franchise-record 39-game hitting streak, which ran from July 16 to August 25 – a stretch in which the Brewers went 24-15. With the Brewers far back in the standings, and with Molitor an accomplished but relatively low-profile player, the hitting streak did not get much attention at first. The streak nearly ended after 23 games in Chicago on August 9, when it took Molitor until the ninth inning to lace a double off Sox reliever Jim Winn. Four days later in Baltimore , Molitor belted a 2-out homer in the ninth to keep the streak alive, which was now at 28 games. Two days after that, a leadoff single off Mike Flanagan in Baltimore pushed the streak to 30 games, and the national press began to take note of yet another Brewers streak (Milwaukee’s 13-game winning streak to open the season and their 12-game skid a month later both already having drawn the national spotlight.)

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Although a local hero for years, Molitor did not develop a national profile until the streak.

On August 16, Molitor doubled in the third inning to reach 31. At Cleveland ’s Municipal Stadium – the same place Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game streak had been stopped – Molitor beat out a bunt to reach 32. The next night, a sixth inning single pushed him to 33 straight games. It was now the longest hitting streak since Pete Rose ran up 44 straight in 1978. Molitor was doing regular interviews with the national media. WFAN Sportsradio in New York began interviewing him nightly after the streak hit 30 games. “Mostly guys from New York ,” Molitor said nonchalantly of the attention. “They were some big names for me… what’s Bryant Gumbel’s brother’s name?”

On August 19 in Cleveland , Molitor had his finest game of the streak. After grounding out in his first two at bats, Molitor tore through the Cleveland bullpen, blasting a three-run homer in the fourth, a double in the fifth, and singles in the seventh and ninth to leave him only a triple away from the cycle. The next day, Molly pounded out three more hits, including a pair of doubles. During games 34 and 35 of the streak, which was now the longest for an American League hitter since DiMaggio, the Brewers outscored the Indians 27-4.

On August 21, the Brewers returned home for the first time since the streak was at 27 games. Molitor received a 60-second ovation before his first at bat and – with 37,000 fans behind him – spanked a fourth inning double to reach 36 games, tying Tommy Holmes for the fifth longest streak of the modern era. The next day, Molly ended the suspense early, singling off Royals ace Brett Saberhagen to lead off the first inning. The next day, Molitor singled off Charlie Liebrandt in the fifth to reach 38 games. Molitor’s 3-year-old daughter Blaire was on hand and was as thrilled as anyone in the place when Dad rapped his base hit. She had been promised an ice cream cone if the streak continued.

By now, the attention to Molitor’s streak had expanded beyond the sporting world. Each of the major channels had covered the streak on their nightly news programs. Nightline and Good Morning, American had interviewed Molitor. WFAN was still hosting nightly Molitor conversations and the Brewers set up post-game press conferences for visiting media and their star third baseman. ABC’s Wide World of Sports devoted a segment to the streak and NBC planned to cut away from their Saturday night football broadcast for live coverage of Molitor’s at-bats should the streak reach the weekend.

On Tuesday, August 25, Molitor rapped a sixth inning single off Indians reliever Don Gordon to reach 39 games as the crowd chanted “And the beat goes on!” Asked after the game if he was relieved to see the ball make it through the infield, he answered “I think that’s a gross understatement.”

The following night, with just 11,000 people braving the cold and rainy weather, the Indians sent rookie John Farrell the mound. Farrell had been called up the Tribe just a week and half earlier and it was only his second Major League start. The veteran Molitor found the rookie tough to handle. He struck out in the first inning, rolled into a 6-4-3 double play in the third, and grounded out to the shortstop in the sixth. It was a 0-0 tie when Molitor strode to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with Dale Sveum on second base. Molly grounded sharply to second, who fired in time to first baseman Pat Tabler. But with Molitor baring down, Tabler bobbled the ball and it popped from his mitt as Molly reached the bag. Without hesitation, the official scorer ruled it an error. The streak remained in jeopardy.

Ted Higuera, on the mound for the Brewers, was matching the young Farrell scoreless inning for scoreless innings. Farrell closed out the Brewers in the eighth. Higuera set down Cleveland in the ninth. Farrell retired the Brewers in order in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Higuera returned to the mound and stymied the Indians. For the bottom of the tenth, the Indians sent in reliever Doug Jones. Molitor was due up fifth in the inning. Leading off, Rob Deer was hit by a pitch and speedy Mike Felder was sent in to run. Next up was Earnie Riles, who grounded out to move Felder to second. With one out and first base open, Jones walked Dale Sveum. Light-hitting infielder Juan Castillo was due up, but manager Tom Trebelhorn called him back and sent reverse outfielder Rick Manning to the plate. Paul Molitor grabbed his trademark black Louisville Slugger and walked into the on-deck circle.

Rick Manning, the only Brewer to ever get booed for a game-winning hit.

Rick Manning had never been popular in Milwaukee . He came to the Brewers in 1983, the main player in the trade that sent the wildly-popular Gorman Thomas to the Indians. His primary assets were his glove and speed – but he had produced little in his five seasons with the Brewers. The contributions he did make were often overshadowed by the resentment fans still felt over the Thomas trade. On Opening Day 1986 – nearly three years after the trade – the home town were still booing him.

Manning now had a chance to redeem himself. If he popped up or struck out, Felder would stay at second and Molitor would get one more shot at 40. When Jones first pitch was called a strike, the crowd cheered. “I had to step out,” Manning said of the reaction. “I figured I’d been traded back to Cleveland in the middle of the game but didn’t change my uniform.” The second offering was also a strike. An even bigger cheer went up. Then, on 0-2, Manning did something that some Brewers fans still haven’t forgiven him for. He lined a single to centerfield and won the game.

When Felder came streaking home and cross the plate, County Stadium was filled with an odd, pensive silence. Then came the boos. While the 11,000 on hand were heartbroken, the man on deck was not. Molitor rushed onto the field and was the first to congratulate his put-upon teammate. As Molitor patted him on the back, Manning apologized for his hit. With their hero on the field, the crowd broke into an extended ovation. They stood and cheered as the team left the field and kept standing until Molitor came back from the clubhouse for much-deserved curtain-call. In the locker room, Molitor expressed no regrets about the end of the streak. Manning found himself a curious man of the hour. “It figures. It’s me,” he said of the boos. “Normally I hit into a double play in that situation. I don’t know what happened.”

Molitor’s 39 game streak remains the fifth longest of the modern era.