Once again, it’s time for Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. This week, we’re looking at a couple of fielding records – MLB’s longest error-free streaks.
On July 10, 2022 in the eighth inning of a Tigers/White Sox game in Chicago, Detroit LF Robbie Grossman apparently lost a fly ball in the sun and had it bounce off his glove for an error. That would not be a big thing except for the fact that it was his first error since June 13, 2018 – a span of more than four years and an MLB record of 440 consecutive errorless games.
During his streak, Grossman suited up for the Twins, A’s and Tigers; cleanly handled 816 chances; and appeared in 302 games in LF, 152 in RF and 3 in CF. (I know this adds up to more than 440 games, but he played multiple position in some contests.) Surprisingly, despite the long string of errorless games, Grossman’s .983 career fielding percentage as an outfielder, ranks 362nd among players with at least 500 OF games played. For those who like to know such things, the current leader in OF fielding percentage is Myles Straw at .9967 – four errors in 1,268 chances over seven seasons (2018-24).
Still active, Grossman has played 12 MLB seasons (2013-24 … Astros, Twins, A’s, Tigers, Braves, White Sox, Royals) going .242-93-41 as a hitter. In 951 games in the field, he has made 28 errors.
Grossman’s was an impressive streak, but how about Casey Kotchman, who holds the MLB record for consecutive chances handled without an error at 2,379. As you might expect Kotchman was a first baseman. His errorless streak began with an assist in the ninth inning of a June 21, 2008 Angels/Phillies games (Kotchman was with the Angels). Ironically, Kotchman had made two errors earlier in the contest. The error-free string of chances stretched until Kotchman mishandled a ground ball in the eighth inning of a game against the Yankees on August 21, 2010 (Kotchman was a Mariner at the time). The 2,379-chance errorless streak included 274 consecutive errorless games.
Kotchman played in 10 MLB seasons (2004-2013 … Angels, Braves, Red Sox, Mariners, Rays, Indians, Marlins), hitting .260-71-388 in 939 games. In the field, he made 18 errors in 870 games and his .9975 fielding percentage currently ranks first among first baseman with at least 500 MLB games at the position. From 2009 through 2011, Kotchman played in 376 games and made just three errors in 3,161 chances.
Neither Grossman nor Kotchman ever won a Gold Glove.
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