ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — One punch on a mound hundreds of miles from Florida will turn Matt Duffy into baseball’s leading iron man Sunday.
Duffy will play in his 188th consecutive game, the most by any active player. He assumes the mantle from another third baseman, Baltimore’s Manny Machado, who will begin a four-game suspension Sunday for charging the mound and hitting Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura, after said pitcher drilled said hitter June 7 with a 99-mph fastball.
So, on what would have been 113th birthday, Duffy becomes baseball’s iron man, and he only needs to play in 1,942 more games in a row to catch Gehrig for second place all time!