Baseball trivia aficionados, you can finally remove Darren Lewis from your memory bank. The former journeyman outfielder of the 1990s is no longer the answer to the question “Who holds the record for most consecutive games played in the outfield without committing an error?”
The honor now belongs to Nick Markakis of the Atlanta Braves. Markakis set the new mark on Thursday night when he completed his 393rd consecutive outfield game without an error. The two-time Gold Glover, in his first season with the Braves, last had an error on Aug. 10, 2012 while with the Orioles, according to MLB.com.
“Markakis was an American League Gold Glove winner in 2011 and '14, and from '12 until now, he is tied for first with Michael Brantley for the best fielding percentage among qualified outfielders.
Now in his 10th year in the bigs, Markakis sets this record a bit differently than Lewis, who went the first 392 games of his Major League career with the Athletics and Giants before being charged with an error on July 9, 1994.”
In 1,408 career games in the outfield Markakis actually has committed 18 errors, but they all came between 2006 and 2012. In 2009 alone he committed six errors, which was the third most in the American League. But since that August game in 2012 he has been letter-perfect.
Lewis’s defensive record is still equally impressive as Markakis. In 1,273 games in the outfield over 13 seasons he committed just 16 errors, and he never had more than three in a single season. Lewis won his only Gold Glove in 1994 with the Giants, and retired with a .994 fielding percentage as an outfielder, good for eighth best all time.
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