South Jersey Baseball History:
Pitcher's Winning Streaks

Sunday, June 13, 1999

By Charlie Schick
South Jersey Baseball Historical Society

On Monday June 7, 1999, the sport section of all the country's major newspapers headlined the end of Roger Clemens 20-game win streak. The big New York Yankee right-hander lost his streak when the New York Mets pounded him for 7 runs in just 2 2/3 innings, and went on to a 7 - 2 victory.

Clemens 20-game victory march ties him with the Giants left-hander Rube Marquard of the early 1900's, for third place on the all-time longest win streak list. Second place on the elite list belongs to Roy Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who posted 22 consecutive victories during the 1958-59 season. The all-time major league record is held by Hall of Fame southpaw Carl Hubbell, who put together a fabulous 24-game string for the New York Giants in 1936 and 1937.

Historically, South Jersey scholastic baseball has had a number of double digit undefeated single season pitching accomplishments. The best of these was Pennsville High's lefty Steve Hirt, who in 1984 produced a perfect 15 and 0 season. However, when it comes to extending that undefeated performance over a two, three, or four year span, that's another story. Surprisingly though, our search found two South Jersey high school hurlers that actually topped Carl Hubbell's major league record of 24 straight wins without a loss.

Our first history making workhorse pitcher was a chunky right-hander from St. James High by the name of Ed Rieger. A bulldog competitor, Rieger put together a masterful 25-game winning streak from 1960 to 1963. His undefeated string helped St. James capture four straight South Jersey Parochial C championships and a phenomenal 32-game team winning streak. Rieger finished his four year scholastic career with a 28 - 1 record.

Quite arguably the greatest South Jersey high school pitcher of the 20th century is our all-time win streak leader. His name is Bo Gray, a husky right-hander of the national powerhouse Cherry Hill West High teams of the early 1990's. With Gray hurling his magic, West posted a 98-7-1 record from 1990 to 1992.

Amazingly Bo Gray never lost a game in his scholastic career - that's right never! The big guy completely dominated the opposition as he went on to set a record that may never be broken with a 30 and 0 perfect slate. His astonishing performance included numerous key victories in national tournaments against the finest teams in the country, the strong Olympic Conference, the Diamond Classic Tournament, and the State Championship playoffs.

So here's to Bo Gray, a young man who took South Jersey baseball to new heights, and led Cherry Hill West to three of their four straight state titles and its #1 National Ranking in 1992.

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