You’ve probably heard of Ken Griffey Jr. and Don Mattingly. They are icons, Hall of Famers, and household names for anyone who has ever picked up a glove. But if you look at the Major League record for the most consecutive games with a home run, they don't stand alone. There is a third name etched into that particular granite slab of history: Dale Long.
He wasn't a superstar in the traditional sense. Honestly, for most of his career, he was the definition of a baseball journeyman. He bounced between thirteen different minor league teams and played for six different MLB franchises. He even turned down an offer to play for the Green Bay Packers just to keep chasing the dream of standing at first base in the big leagues.
The Week Dale Long Became Unstoppable
It happened in May 1956. Long was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that wasn’t exactly known for world-beating dominance at the time. He was 30 years old—an age where many players are already looking at a second career in insurance or coaching.
Basically, everything clicked at once. Between May 19 and May 28, Long stepped to the plate and launched a ball over the fence in eight straight games.
Think about that. One week. Eight games. Eight home runs.
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He didn't just break a record; he shattered a ceiling that had held up for decades. Before he did it, the record of six games was shared by absolute giants like Lou Gehrig and Willie Mays. Long blew past them. During that stretch, he hit .411 and drove in 17 runs. He was so popular that he ended up on The Ed Sullivan Show and got a mid-season raise of about $2,200. That was serious money in 1956.
Why the Streak Still Matters Today
Even now, in an era of launch angles and specialized hitting coaches, nobody has ever hit nine in a row. Mattingly tied him in '87. Griffey tied him in '93. But the record still belongs, in part, to a guy who spent half a decade riding buses through the minors before he finally got his "cup of coffee" that lasted.
The Weird History of the Left-Handed Catcher
If the home run streak wasn't enough to make him a trivia legend, Dale Long did something even weirder in 1958. He put on the tools of ignorance.
He caught.
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Now, if you follow baseball, you know that left-handed catchers are basically unicorns. It just doesn't happen because of the physics of throwing to second base on a steal. But while playing for the Chicago Cubs, Long was pressed into service behind the plate for two games.
"I just reached out and caught it with my bare hand," Long once remarked about the experience.
He was the first southpaw to catch in the majors since 1902. Since he did it, only two other guys—Mike Squires and Benny Distefano—have ever suited up as left-handed catchers in the big leagues. He actually used his first baseman's mitt because, well, what else was he going to do?
A Career of Persistence
Long’s career wasn't all highlights. He struggled. He was traded. He was even convinced by the legendary Branch Rickey to try catching early in his career, an experiment that Rickey later admitted probably set Long’s development back by a year or two.
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Here is a quick look at the path he took:
- 1951: Debuts with the Pirates, then gets shipped to the St. Louis Browns.
- 1952-1954: Vanishes from the majors, grinding it out in the Pacific Coast League where he wins an MVP with the Hollywood Stars.
- 1955: Returns to Pittsburgh and leads the league in triples. Yes, triples. The big guy could move a bit.
- 1960-1962: Winds up with the New York Yankees, eventually winning a World Series ring in 1962.
He finished with 132 career home runs and a lifetime average of .267. Those aren't Hall of Fame numbers, but they represent a man who refused to quit. He even became a minor league umpire after he retired from playing.
What You Can Learn from the Dale Long Story
Dale Long represents the "everyman" of professional sports. He wasn't the most talented guy on the field, but he was the guy who stayed ready. When his window of greatness opened for those eight days in May, he jumped through it.
If you're looking to dig deeper into the history of the 1956 Pirates or the mechanics of left-handed catching, start by looking at the box scores from the May 28, 1956, game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. That was the night he hit the eighth one off Ben Flowers. It's a masterclass in hitting a knuckleball when the entire world is watching you.
For modern fans, his story is a reminder that records aren't always held by the guys with the biggest contracts. Sometimes, they're held by the guy who just wouldn't go away.
To truly appreciate the magnitude of Long’s achievement, compare his 1956 spray charts at Forbes Field to modern power hitters. Forbes Field was a massive graveyard for fly balls, making eight homers in eight games there even more statistically improbable than doing it in a modern, hitter-friendly park.