On August 16, 1964, Curt Flood picked up eight consecutive hits during a doubleheader split against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.Unfortunately, the Dodgers sent this guy by the name of Sandy Koufax to the mound in the first game, and Koufax was able to work his way around Flood's four hits in a row by striking out 13 men. Other than Flood, the only men who could scratch out a hit against Koufax were Bill White, Dick Groat, and Julian Javier. Those three men picked up one hit off the hurler who ended the game as a 19 game winner. It would prove to be the last win of '64 for Koufax, as he ran into elbow trouble, which derailed a shot at a 20 win campaign.
Back to the man of the hour, Flood went out in the second game and rapped out four more hits in a row, knocked in two, and scored a run, as he helped the Cards take the second game by the score of 4-0 behind the stellar pitching of Curt Simmons, who scattered nine hits, and struck out four. The papers of the day focused on Flood falling short of the major league record for consecutive hits in a doubleheader with nine. The record had been set in by Joe Kelley of the Baltimore Orioles in 1894. Flood struck out in his last at bat against reliever Perranoski, which was a rough way to end a great day, but when that day went in the books it was great nonetheless, and that is something that Curt Flood knew very well.
Mark over at RetroSimba wrote about this game last year. His piece includes some quotes by the star of the day, as well as a play-by-play of each of the hits. You can read that here: http://retrosimba.com/2014/08/11/the-day-curt-flood-drilled-8-straight-hits-against-dodgers/
By the way, Mark is a fantastic follow on twitter. If you do not already follow him, I urge you to do so. You can find him @retrosimba You can find me at @CardinalHistory
Here's a pair of box scores for you as well
Game 1: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196408161.shtml
Game 2: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196408162.shtml
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