2021 World Series continues crazy streak involving John Smoltz
from Larry Brown Sports, with Darryn Albert, and from YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
The Atlanta Braves are in the World Series this year, but that is not the only reason that it is feeling familiar for John Smoltz.
Reddit user S1TBD pointed out this week that this year’s World Series continues an incredible streak involving the retired Baseball Hall of Famer. Since 1982, every single World Series has had a player who was teammates with Smoltz. The streak began with former All-Star catcher Ted Simmons, who was Smoltz’s teammate on the 1988 Braves. It continued this season and last season with current Braves pitcher and former Tampa Bay Ray Charlie Morton, who was Smoltz’s teammate on the 2008 Braves.
You can see the full list here.
So, without further ado, the current holder of the Shaq Streak in MLB… is HOF Pitcher John Smoltz! Smoltz’s streak goes all the way back to 1982!
1982 – Ted Simmons (1988 Braves)
1983 – Ozzie Virgil (1988 Braves)
1984 – Darrell Evans (1989 Braves)
1985, 1987 – Terry Pendleton (1991-94, ’96 Braves)
1986 – Danny Heep (1991 Braves)
1988, 1989 – Walt Weiss (1998-2000 Braves)
1990 – Norm Charlton (1998 Braves)
1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999 – self
1993 – Terry Mulholland (1999-2000 Braves)
1994 – STRIKE
1997 – Marquis Grissom (1995-96 Braves)
1998 – Mike Stanton (1989-95 Braves)
2000, 2001 – David Justice (1989-96 Braves)
2002 – Kenny Lofton (1997 Braves)
2003 – Chris Hammond (2002 Braves)
2004, 2007, 2013 – David Ortiz (2009 Red Sox)
2005 – Willie Harris (2007 Braves)
2006, 2011 – Albert Pujols (2009 Cardinals)
2008 – Rocco Baldelli (2009 Red Sox)
2009 – Mark Teixeira (2007-08 Braves) h/t to u/SaveKyrie
2010 – Jeff Francoeur (2005-08 Braves)
2012 – Octavio Dotel (2007 Braves)
2014 – Tim Hudson (2005-08 Braves)
2015 – Kelly Johnson (2005-08 Braves)
2016 – Jon Lester (2009 Red Sox)
2017, 2020, 2021 – Charlie Morton (2008 Braves)
2018 – David Freese (2009 Cardinals)
2019 – Josh Reddick (2009 Red Sox), a major thank you to everyone in the comments section for this one…..
The streak is nothing short of insane considering that Smoltz only ever really played for the Braves (he made 15 appearances between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals in his final MLB season in 2009).
We saw a similar streak recently get broken in a different sport. Smoltz’s streak is even more impressive seeing as it has gone on for longer and is somehow still active.