Remembering Mets History (1975) Mike Vail Ties Rookie Hitting Streak Record At 23 Games

Monday September 15th, 1975: In a crazy year for the 1975 New York Mets, the club was at 76-74 in fourth place, 9.5 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

The Manager was Roy McMillan who had taken over after Yogi Berra was fired at the end of August. The previous month the Mets had also parted ways with long time outfielder Cleon Jones. On a brighter note, Tom Seaver would win his third Cy Young Award that season.

In August the Mets brought up a young outfielder, named Mike Vail who would win the AAA International League Player of the Year. Vail would make quite an impact in his first months in the big leagues.

MLB Debut: On August 18th, Vail debuted with the Mets, pinch hitting & collecting his first hit, a single off the Astros J.R. Richard in his first career at bat. 

On August 22nd, Mike Vail singled off the Giants Charlie Williams at Candlestick Park. It was the start of his rookie record hitting streak. Vail would collect another single in the 8th inning of the 6-4 Mets win.

Four Hit Game: On August 25th, Vail collected four hits, with two singles & a pair of doubles in a 4-0 win at San Diego. In the top of the 5th. he drove in his first run with a single off Brent Strom. 

The next night, Vail collected three hits in a 7-2 Mets win in San Diego as well. 

On August 27th, Vail had two more hits, extending the hit streak to five games. He had nine hits in the three-game sweep at San Diego. By the end of the night, he was batting .480. On this night Tom Seaver pitched a six-hit shutout for his 19th victory of the season.

The Mets moved on to Los Angeles, they won the first two games to complete a five-game win streak. They would split the series with Vail collecting a hit in each game to extend his hit streak to eight straight games.

On September 1st at Shea Stadium, Vail hit his first career HR, coming off the Pirates John Candelaria. The Mets won the game behind Tom Seaver's 20th victory & fifth shutout of the year. On September 2nd, Vail extended his streak to ten games as he collected his first career triple.

Over the next five games, he would drive in a run in each game while extending his hit streak to 15 games & hold a .379 batting average. On September 5th, Vails hit streak extended to 13 games, as he hit a two run HR off the Cardinals Eric Rasmussen, as well as an RBI single for a season best three RBI game. 

As the Mets went up to Montreal for a three-game series, Vail started out with a solo HR off Woodie Fryman. He then collected hits in the next two games as well to get to 17 games in the hit streak. The Mets were swept in Montreal & on a six-game losing skid. 

On September 10th, the Mets went to Pittsburgh; after dropping the first game, Jerry Koosman stopped the losing streak with a six-hit shutout. In the 6th inning, Vail hit an RBI single off Kent Tekulve extending his streak to 19 games.

The Mets moved on to St. Louis where Vail collected hits in all three games. On September 14th he led off the 4th inning with a single off John Denny to reach twenty games in the hit streak.

By now Vail was getting national attention with his hitting streak. He had hit safely in 22 straight games & was just one game away from tying the rookie hitting streak record, held by the Phillies Richie Ashburn in 1948. In 1962 Ashburn was an original Met & the team's first All Star & first player to hit .300.

On September 15th, the Mets hosted the last place Montreal Expos (65-84) as Jerry Koosman (12-13) went against Steve Rogers (10-11) in front of a small crowd of 7,259 at Shea Stadium.
 

In the 1st inning, Vail came up to nice ovation & grounded out. In the 4th inning, he hit a screaming liner that was snagged by Expo third baseman, Larry Parrish. 

Vail thought to himself, if he hit it that hard & it was an out, his chances of tying a record were slim.

But in the 6th inning, with the Mets down 2-0, Vail came up with Del Unser on second base. Vail took Steve Rogers' pitch up the middle for a base hit. He extended his hit streak to 23 games, tying the Rookie Record. Unser also score from second base.

Cooperstown: The game ball Vail hit was sent to Cooperstown to be displayed at the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Quotes- Mike Vail:  "I never thought something like this would happen. It's unreal. I hope to get in there someday myself. I was lucky I did it in my first year," he said, but then laughed realizing what he had said.

To top off his record setting night, he singled again in the 8th inning bringing in Gene Clines with the games winning run. Quite a night for the youngster. 

Trivia: Vail's 23 game hit streak was also the longest MLB streak of the year. The Boston Red Sox Denny Doyle had a 22-game hit streak earlier in the year.

Mike Vail hit .305 that year & his future looked bright. He was penciled in as the Mets outfielder of the future. The organization was so excited about him, they traded away Rusty Staub in the off season. 

Over the winter, Vail injured himself at home & would miss most of the 1976 season. He was never the player he was expected to be.

In 1977, after hitting .262 he was traded to the Cleveland Indians. In a ten-year career Vail hit .279.