Revisiting Luis Castillo’s Amazing 35-Game Hitting Streak
The year was 2002, Nelly’s “Hot In Here” was a chart topping single and Luis Castillo of the Florida Marlins was tearing the cover off the baseball. From May 8th to June 22nd of 2002 Luis Castillo was the best hitter in baseball as he recorded a hit in at least one time in 35 consecutive games. The Marlins weren’t very good at that particular time so Castillo gave fans, players and coaches something to look forward to while coming to Pro Player Stadium on a day to day basis. Castillo was only 26 years of age and was heading into the prime of his career. Just 2 seasons away removed from a stolen base title in 2000 he was trying to put the baseball world on notice of just how good he was. They didn’t know it then but the world was about to witness history.
The hitting streak began on May 8th, 2002 in a matchup versus the San Diego Padres. The crowd at Pro Player Stadium was a miniscule 6,395 people to take what would become one of the greatest hitting streaks of the new millenium. It all began in the 5th inning when Castillo singled on 2-1 pitch from Brett Tomko. H would finish the night with 2 hits in a 7-4 win for the Marlins. After those 2 hits for Castillo he would proceed to do it about 60 more times over the next 34 games and put himself in historic company.
Although the 35-game hitting streak was a huge accomoplishment it didn’t come without a bittersweet ending. In a June 22nd matchup with the Detroit Tigers Luis Castillo found himself with 0 hits in his 4 at-bats that night. The Marlins at the time were riding a 4-game winning streak and would push it to 5 straight wins with a 5-4 win over the Tigers in the 10th inning. The only problem was that Castillo was left standing in the on-deck circle and never got a chance to extend the streak to 36 games. Tim Raines hit a sacrfice fly to win the game but could have ensured Castillo 1 more plate appearence by walking or sacrifice bunting Andy Fox over to 3rd but luck didn’t have it play out that way. Fox moved to 3rd on a past ball and Rains drove him home on a sac fly leaving Castillo disheartened in the on-deck circle. “You’ve got to win the game. The team comes first. You can’t say enough about what Luis has accomplished and what he’s meant to the team, but you got to win the game” said manager Jeff Torburg.
The streak ended on a bit of a sour note for Castillo, a lot of good things came from that for him. The streak gave him some much needed national attention at just the right time and he was selected to his first all-star game that season. “Now People are starting to know my name” said Castillo in the midst of his illustrious streak. The Marlins were drawing under 10,000 fans per game that year and were dead last in attendence, seats were very empty and I can vouch for that being 7-years old and being able to run around the orange Pro Player Stadium bleachers without a care in the world. “If this was New York, it would be jumping here but because there hasn’t been that much attention yet Luis has been able to do thing” Stated then Marlins manager Jeff Torburg when speaking about the streak. The lack of attention early on in the streak certainly allowed Castillo to focus on hitting.
Castillo’s streak was a huge deal in the baseball world at the time and to this very day the historical context of the streak holds up very well. His 35-hitting streak has him tied for 10th all-time with names such as Ty Cobb, George Sisler and Chase Utley which is some pretty great company if you ask me. As far as his overall performance Castillo collected 62 hits in in 152 at bats which is a batting average of 408. He hit 2 home runs, 4 double, had 14 runs batted in and stole 11 bases. The streak not only put him in the top 10 all-time but is the longest hitting streak of any baseball player of latin descent in MLB history. His streak surpassed the previous record held by Benito Santago at 34 games. Just think about how many great latin hitters have played this game from Roberto Clemente to Rod Carew to Miguel Cabrera no latino ballplayer has had a higher hitting streak than Luis Castillo which I find beyond remarkable. It was also the longest hitting streak in the MLB since Paul Molitor hit in 39 games straight back in 1987. Castillo also managed to collect 17 multi-hit games throughout the course of his hitting streak.
Castillo would lead baseball in stolen bases that same season with 48 and would go on to carve out a pretty great career for himself. He collected 1,889 basehits throughout the course of his career as well as capture a world series title in 2oo3 with the Florida Marlins. He would win 3 gold gloves, make 3 all-star teams and 2 stolen base titles. He complied a batting average of .300 or higher in 7 of his 15 seasons. He also finished 21st in MVP voting in 2003 when he made the all-star team, won a gold glove, hit .314 and beat the Yankees in the world series. He had a good career but that 35 game stretch is some of the best hitting we have seen in the last 15 years.
Anton Joe
Brendan Taylor