When St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday drew a free pass in the 11th inning Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, it kept the 35-year-old’s season-opening on-base streak intact at 23 games.
Holliday’s streak has reached the top 15 for the club all-time. It is the longest for a Cardinal since Albert Pujols was on base during his first 28 games in 2009. Pujols also holds the team record of 42 consecutive contests, which he set at the start of the prior season.
With an on-base percentage of .455, Holliday leads the Cardinals and is third in the National League only behind Chicago’s Anthony Rizzo (.471) and Miami’s Dee Gordon (.463).
Here is the list of the Cardinals’ all-time bests, courtesy of researcher Tom Orf.
St. Louis Cardinals, on-base streak to open season, number of consecutive games
| Rk | Cardinal | Games | Start | End |
| 1 | Albert Pujols | 42 | 4,1,2008 | 5,15,2008 |
| 2 | Albert Pujols | 33 | 4,5,2005 | 5,11,2005 |
| 3 | Enos Slaughter | 29 | 4,19,1938 | 5,23,1938 |
| T4 | Albert Pujols | 28 | 4,6,2009 | 5,7,2009 |
| T4 | Rogers Hornsby | 28 | 4,15,1924 | 5,25,1924 |
| T6 | Whitey Kurowski | 26 | 4,21,1943 | 5,23,1943 |
| T6 | Johnny Mize | 26 | 4,15,1941 | 5,16,1941 |
| T8 | Mark McGwire | 25 | 4,6,2000 | 5,12,2000 |
| T8 | Joe Torre | 25 | 4,6,1971 | 5,1,1971 |
| T10 | Mark McGwire | 24 | 4,5,1999 | 5,5,1999 |
| T10 | Al Dark | 24 | 4,16,1957 | 5,16,1957 |
| T10 | Frankie Frisch | 24 | 4,15,1930 | 5,11,1930 |
| T10 | Jim Bottomley | 24 | 4,14,1925 | 5,15,1925 |
| T14 | Luis Alicea | 23 | 4,23,1988 | 5,18,1988 |
| T14 | Matt Holliday | 23 * | 4,5,2015 | 05,03,2015 * |
| * current |
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