There’s an old saying that records are made to be broken, while that’s true, historic moments should still be remembered.
The record for the most consecutive batters retired is 46, which was established by Yusmeiro Petit of the San Franscisco Giants in 2014. Petit broke the old mark of 45 set by Bobby Jenks of the Chicago White Sox in 2007 over 14 relief appearances and later tied by his teammate Mark Buehrle in 2009 during three starts, which included a perfect game.
Back on Aug. 29, 1972, a San Francisco rookie right-hander named Jim Barr completed a run in St. Louis of 41 straight batters over two games as he posted a pair of shutouts.
Barr’s journey began on Aug. 23. The Giants were entertaining the Pittsburgh Pirates. Barr went the distance in the 8-0 victory as he retired the final 21 hitters with the last one being a strikeout of Roberto Clemente to end the game.
After giving up singles to Willie Stargell and Milt May in the second inning, Barr walked pitcher Bob Moose to begin the third frame. He didn’t allow a Pirate to reach base the rest of the way.
In his next start against the Cardinals, Barr tossed his second straight complete game shutout in a 3-0 win.
The 23-year old Barr retired the first 20 batters of the contest until Bernie Carbo doubled with two outs in the seventh.
Despite Barr’s dominating performance, the outcome of the game was in doubt until Dave Kingman blasted a three-run double in the top of the ninth to give the Giants the lead.
Barr’s record lasted for 25 years. Prior to his performance, Pittburgh’s Harvey Haddix had the standard with 38 in a row over two contests in May of 1959.
Haddix retired the final two batters of a game in St. Louis before tossing 12 perfect innings during his famous effort in Milwaukee before losing to the Braves in the 13th.
Rookie Card in 1972
Barr is featured in the middle of his 1972 rookie card.
Dave Rader is on the right side. Rader was the catcher for Barr during the run of 41 straight batters and finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting behind New York Mets pitcher Jon Matlack.
Chris Arnold was on the 1972 team, but he didn’t play in either of the contests when Barr set his standard.
Career Lasted 12 Seasons
Barr posted a 1-1 record after a mid-season call up in 1971, before finishing 8-10 with a 2.87 ERA a year later.
Pitching 12 seasons in the big leagues, Barr was 101-112 over 454 games with 252 starts and a dozen saves.
His best seasons were in 1974 and 1976. In 1974, he was 13-9 with a 2.74 ERA, while two years later he was 15-12 with an ERA of 2.89.
The California native was with the Giants from 1971 to 1978 before pitching with the California Angels from 1979 to 1980.
After a year in the minors in 1981 with Edmonton in the White Sox organization, Barr finished in the majors with the Giants in 1982 and 1983. He ended his career in 1984 at Rochester, which was the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.